I would wager that if you visit sites like this one regularly, you’ve at least heard of the BBC America original series “Orphan Black“. I’d also wager, based on the ratings the show gets on a weekly basis, not many of you watch it live. My hope is the encouraging number of people that watch the show time shifted (according to Zap2It, the ratings for the second episode of this season increased by 300% when the L+7 results were added) keep it alive beyond the just announced fourth season. It certainly deserves your attention.
On its most basic level, “Orphan Black” is the story of a street tough girl who is pulled into a conspiracy after witnessing the death of a girl who looks exactly like her. The very first trailer for the show spoiled the big twist at the end of the second episode, this street tough girl, Sarah Manning (Tatiana Maslany), is actually a clone and there are many more identical clones out there. The science fictional clone premise is the driving force behind the show but like all great science fiction, the premise is merely a metaphor.
The real compelling reason to give the show a chance is that you won’t find a better exploration of female identity and sisterhood on television. Over the course of the first two seasons, each clone (all played masterfully by Tatiana Maslany) has a rich inner life, well defined personalities, and agency. They also form a sort of de facto family choosing to see themselves as sisters rather than slightly different versions of the same person.
The first two seasons continually back these women into corners that seem narratively impossible to get out of. What would you do if you assumed another person’s identity and then found out you had to give a deposition about a police shooting… at the police station… and you were supposed to be the cop who shot someone? These are the kinds of twists and turns that pop up over the course of the first two seasons but the show always comes back to its real reason for existing, the sisters.
These types of outrageous scenarios are set at the feet of each clone as we come to know them and each one gets out of their particular situation in a method that befits their unique personality and skill set. As the seasons wear on, you as an audience member can start to see that, yes this is how Allison gets out of this situation but I can also see that if it were Cosima (another one of the clones) in that place, she would do something totally different. Sharing a face is really all these clones have in common and it enriches the viewing experience.
I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say the clones were created by a shadowy organization and that organization seeks to control them. The figurative and literal need of this organization to control these women’s bodies is the main threat they face and we root for them to succeed. Fans of the show, whether consciously or not, actively root for female agency and independence and the series gives it to the characters without the benefit of a “knight in shining armor”.
That isn’t to say the male characters are given short shrift. The world John Fawcett and Graeme Manson created is full of male characters that are imbued with the same type of “heroic masculinity” so expertly on display in the phenomenal Mad Max: Fury Road. Angie Han wrote a piece over at /Film (if you haven’t read it yet you should) that discusses two kinds of masculinity, heroic masculinity and toxic masculinity, in that film. Her thoughts can very nicely be applied to other works and they certainly apply to the male and female characters of “Orphan Black”.
Now that there’s been ample time to catch up on “House of Cards” and “Daredevil” and before we get the next season of “Orange is the New Black” if you’re looking for a show to catch up on, “Orphan Black” should be at the top of your list. The first two seasons are available on Amazon Prime and I think are well worth your time. If you haven’t watched yet, anytime is a great time to start. If you have watched, why not watch them again?
I’ll be back tomorrow with a recap of the third season so far and then again on Monday with a discussion of the sixth episode of season three which is set to air this Saturday, May 23 on BBC America at 9:00pm ET.
Have you watched any “Orphan Black”? Are you interested in checking it out? Who’s caught up on the current season? Let’s discuss!
