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orphan black: a primer
It's easy to write off Orphan Black as "that clone show," but if you have any smidgen of interest in starting a new show and you enjoy tightly paced dramas with original premises, fantastic casts and production values, (Katja's wig notwithstanding) as well as some truly shocking-yet-not-totally-absurd plot twists, this post is for you!
Trigger warning for suicide and drug (ab)use.
THE SHOW;
Sarah Manning is somewhere between a grifter, career criminal, and con woman. Her life is rocked when she is the only witness to a train jumping suicide by a woman who looks exactly like herself. Motivated by her doppelganger's secure financial situation and her own desire to escape her unstable life, Sarah hatches a plan to convince the world she was the one who died under the train, taking on the life of Beth Childs as her own. Doing so, however, introduces a whole new set of problems, and as more lookalikes start coming out of the woodwork it becomes clear that something much more sinister than mere coincidence is behind it, and that all their lives are in danger.
Spoiler-that-isn't-really-a-spoiler-because-it-says-it-on-the-DVD-box: They're clones. Everything is clones.
THE CHARACTERS;
→ clones
The clones are all played by the same actress, Tatiana Maslany, and she does a fantastic job of giving them each a totally unique feel. There are five main clones in the series:
→ non-clones
Other main or recurring characters include Paul, Beth's boyfriend; Art, Beth's partner in the police force; Felix, Sarah's foster brother; and Mrs. S., Sarah and Felix's foster mother and the current guardian of Sarah's daughter Kira. Other clones also make appearances from time to time.
THE EPISODES;
There are 10 episodes in the first season of the show, and it's been renewed for a second season by BBC America which should air this coming April. The show is extremely quick to watch - I may or may not have got through the whole thing in 24 hours - and available on DVD, Blu-Ray, and through other, less aboveboard means.
The show is alternately intense, funny, heart-wrenching, and most of all the characters all feel genuine. Compared to most sci-fi thrillers, the characters in Orphan Black feel like people who could really exist, which extends to the premise as well - a lot of people hear "clones" and assume "space opera" when this is firmly a story set in our world with some sci-fi elements, all treated in a way that seems extremely plausible.
I hope I've succeeded in encouraging some of you to pick up the episodes and give them a shot before Season 2 starts if you haven't already! It's so worth it. Trust me.
Oh yeah, and I still have no idea what the title means. Sorry.
gif credit: x / x
Trigger warning for suicide and drug (ab)use.
THE SHOW;
Sarah Manning is somewhere between a grifter, career criminal, and con woman. Her life is rocked when she is the only witness to a train jumping suicide by a woman who looks exactly like herself. Motivated by her doppelganger's secure financial situation and her own desire to escape her unstable life, Sarah hatches a plan to convince the world she was the one who died under the train, taking on the life of Beth Childs as her own. Doing so, however, introduces a whole new set of problems, and as more lookalikes start coming out of the woodwork it becomes clear that something much more sinister than mere coincidence is behind it, and that all their lives are in danger.
Spoiler-that-isn't-really-a-spoiler-because-it-says-it-on-the-DVD-box: They're clones. Everything is clones.
THE CHARACTERS;
→ clones
The clones are all played by the same actress, Tatiana Maslany, and she does a fantastic job of giving them each a totally unique feel. There are five main clones in the series:
SARAH is our protagonist; she's a rough type with a devil-may-care attitude in most things, except where her family is concerned - she has a young daughter, Kira, and a foster brother, Felix. She and Felix were foster children in Britain brought to Toronto by their foster mother as adolescents, and neither knows their birth parents. She is no stranger to crime, and before the series starts she was in an unknown location for ten months. Her goal is to get enough money to take Kira and Felix somewhere where they'll be clear of the dangerous life she lives.
BETH is the woman Sarah witnesses die by suicide in front of a train at the beginning of the series. Sarah assumes her life, figuring out what that entails as it goes - that Beth was a police detective struggling with mental health issues and abusing prescription drugs, that she was suffering after a major scandal on the job, and that she was in touch with other genetic identicals. Though dead from the start, Beth continues to have an impact on the plot of the series throughout the story.
COSIMA is a PhD student in the field of evolutionary developmental biology. She's one of the primary characters involved with uncovering the truth behind all of the clones' past, and her research allows her to assess their DNA and other genetic material in her search for answers.
ALISON is a housewife and so-called soccer mom living in the suburbs. She, Beth, and Cosima formed the backbone of the local clone network Sarah stumbled upon while impersonating Beth. While she and Sarah never got along, following the death of Beth and other traumatic events, Alison becomes increasingly paranoid.
HELENA is a European clone who is soon revealed to be one of the major forces moving against the other clones. Her motivation and background slowly come to light as the story progresses.
→ non-clones
Other main or recurring characters include Paul, Beth's boyfriend; Art, Beth's partner in the police force; Felix, Sarah's foster brother; and Mrs. S., Sarah and Felix's foster mother and the current guardian of Sarah's daughter Kira. Other clones also make appearances from time to time.
THE EPISODES;
There are 10 episodes in the first season of the show, and it's been renewed for a second season by BBC America which should air this coming April. The show is extremely quick to watch - I may or may not have got through the whole thing in 24 hours - and available on DVD, Blu-Ray, and through other, less aboveboard means.
The show is alternately intense, funny, heart-wrenching, and most of all the characters all feel genuine. Compared to most sci-fi thrillers, the characters in Orphan Black feel like people who could really exist, which extends to the premise as well - a lot of people hear "clones" and assume "space opera" when this is firmly a story set in our world with some sci-fi elements, all treated in a way that seems extremely plausible.
I hope I've succeeded in encouraging some of you to pick up the episodes and give them a shot before Season 2 starts if you haven't already! It's so worth it. Trust me.
Oh yeah, and I still have no idea what the title means. Sorry.
gif credit: x / x
no subject
Not sure how plausible I find it, but I'd definitely recommend it.
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When you watch this show, you honestly forget that Maslany is playing all these different characters. I had more than one moment of thinking, 'wow, Alison's actress is so funny' before remembering it's all the same actress.
Compared to most sci-fi thrillers, the characters in Orphan Black feel like people who could really exist, which extends to the premise as well - a lot of people here "clones" and assume "space opera" when this is firmly a story set in our world with some sci-fi elements, all treated in a way that seems extremely plausible.
Exactly. A big part of why this show resonates so strongly with people is that is very plausible. And it's plausible because it accurately portrays human behaviour. This is much less about the science and more about how people behave and respond to stress, being in positions of power, doing the right thing versus doing what they want, etc.
no subject
One of the marvelous little bits in the series happens when one clone has to impersonate one of her "sisters" -- and you realize how amazing Maslany truly is.
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Yes, indeed! Where has this girl been hiding?!
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(everyone hides there....whether they want to or not hahah)
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My one gripe is that it will be FOREVER until we see what happens!
"Oh yeah, and I still have no idea what the title means. Sorry."
Oh, good! I thought I was the only one.
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*There's some speculation that Sarah must be original because she can have kids and the others can't
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Thanks.
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In fact, I love it so much, I wrote a haiku about it:
Maslany was robbed
How many girls has she played
Emmys hate sci-fi
;)
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I'm not really sure what compelled me to watch it when it premiered on BBCA but I did and while it took me a few weeks to really get into it (I'd say episode 4 is what made me a true fan), I was interested right from the start. And I greatly envy anyone who gets a chance to marathon it on the first go, as some of those weekly cliffhangers were EVIL.
Tatiana Maslany is BRILLIANT here. Every single character she plays, she plays perfectly. And they're all very different and easily distinguishable just by her body language.
Bonus point: The fabulous Mrs S is played by Maria Doyle Kennedy, who was absolutely fantastic as Queen Catherine of Aragon in The Tudors. I hadn't seen her in much after that so was thrilled to see her in OB.
no subject
Tatiana Maslany is amazing.
:D :D thanks for this post
no subject
Its like a perfect show. Absolutely perfect