I’m going to state my bias up front for Orphan Black: the lead actor, up-and-comer Tatiana Maslany, is from my hometown. So I saw her perform in a bunch of local things before she was a big deal, whatever. When she won the special jury prize at Sundance for her breakout performance in Grown Up Movie Star, she showed she was for real, and when I heard she landed this role in a relatively big show airing on BBC America after Dr. Who, I was excited, mostly to watch her do her thing because she’s really good at acting and stuff.
So yes, I am aware that I am more invested in this show than others that are probably similar but aren’t as personally interesting. However, a number of critics have listed Orphan Black as one of few new TV shows right now worth checking out. And it’s for good reason. Maslany stars (initially) as Sarah Manning, who is slowly coming to realize she’s one of a number of clones spanning across the globe. At the time of this writing, only two episodes have aired, so she has just reached the “How many of us ahh thehhh??” point of the show’s promotional campaign, which means it can finally start to get really interesting. The plot has been handled rather well so far, slowly rolling out the details beginning with the mysterious occurrence at the train station where Sarah sees what she thinks is a strange doppelganger figure who steps in front of a moving train. Meanwhile she’s stolen this person’s cop identity while she tries to figure out how many of them thehh ahhh. It has loads of potential involving her estranged daughter and foster brother and drug dealer boyfriend, although this is merely peripheral right now. The most interesting and exciting stuff revolves around Sarah trying to get some answers. But again, that just be my bias showing.
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