This Canadian sci-fi gem came out of nowhere to deliver one of the most wildly entertaining and ambitious first seasons in recent memory. Credit both lead actress Tatiana Maslany, who can’t get enough praise for her incredible performance, and show creators Graeme Manson and John Fawcett, who wisely kept the focus on tense, character-driven drama while adorning the show with some majorly cool science-fiction trappings.
The show opens on Sarah Manning (Maslany), a streetwise hustler struggling to get by and get out from under the thumb of her abusive boyfriend Vic (Michael Mando). Coming into New York one night, Sarah witnesses the suicide by train of a woman who looks exactly like her. Baffled, but sensing an opportunity, she lifts the woman’s identity and believes she’s found a permanent escape from her troubled life. Things get more complicated when Sarah uncovers more women who closely resemble her and learns that all of them have become the targets of both a vicious killer and a powerful organization. To say any more would be to unfairly spoil the spectacular twists and turns contained within Orphan Black’s ten-episode freshman run.
Maslany didn’t just get snubbed at the Emmys this past year – she got robbed. Playing a diverse group of clones including (but not limited to) Sarah, soccer mom Alison Hendrix, brilliant geek Cosima Niehaus and deranged psychopath Helena, she turned in the best performance of the year not once, but four times over. The sheer brilliance of her performance is in the details – even when clones are masquerading as each other, Maslany builds such distinctive personalities that they’re all unmistakable. At least the Golden Globes got it right by handing her a Best Actress nomination, so those voters should be safe from Clone Club (the show’s rabid, rapidly expanding fanbase) for now.
And though Maslany is all kinds of awesome, Orphan Black isn’t only great because of her. It also boasts razor-sharp writing, top-notch effects, remarkably tight direction and a complex, inventive storyline. Make sure to catch up before the show returns next April – its compact nature makes for highly addictive viewing. Orphan Black is far and away the best sci-fi series on TV right now, but it’s also one of the best series on TV right now, period.
Sexy, smart and endlessly cool, Orphan Black is a finely crafted gift of a show that just keeps giving.