Orphan Black is possibly one of the best shows on television right now. For me, it hits all of the right marks. And with four seasons already down, Orphan Black only has one season left that will be airing in April 2017. There’s no perfect time to start watching the show and I’m here to tell you exactly why:
A plot that will leave you with both questions and answers
Orphan Black’s plot is riveting – to say the least. The premise is a pretty simple one. When Sarah Manning returns to her hometown to get back her daughter who she had abandoned a year earlier, she sees a girl who looks exactly like her at the train station… moments before this doppelgänger jumps in front of a train. Horrified, Sarah gathers up her doppelganger’s things and assumes her identity. But her actions lead Sarah to an insidious plot that she could have never expected. It leads her to a strange family of oddballs and throws Sarah in the middle of a battle for her life.
One of the best things about Orphan Black is the fact that you aren’t waiting for an entire season to have your questions answered. Like many shows on TV these days, Orphan Black has many cliff hangers, and question after question that Sarah arrives at in each episode. But unlike other shows, Orphan Black doesn’t spend an entire season dwelling over a single plot point. Instead of beating around the bush, the show is straight to the point, and resolves things as quickly as they come up.
This is not to say that the show is paced at the speed of light. Rather, it is perhaps one of the most well-paced shows I have come across. Each episode has enough to hook you and keep you entertained, while still feeding the audience the answers that they deserve. And though I’ll be sad to see the show end next April, I’m happy that the showrunners have announced it this early on. It’s another testament to the pacing of the show. The showrunners have plans for the show’s last season; as they did for the past seasons. Rather than milking the show for all its worth, the showrunners are giving it a real chance of simply telling its story as it was meant to be told.
Diverse and interesting characters
I’ve written before about Orphan Black’s cast of diverse female characters. Perhaps the most important thing to remember about the show is that despite having really different and interesting characters, it actually has a very small cast. The reason for this is that the leading lady, Tatiana Maslany, actually plays almost half of the characters on the show. Despite knowing full well that Maslany does this, I’m still baffled every time I see a cast photo. Maslany plays each of the roles with so much complexity that it’s too easy to forget that it’s the same actress playing almost all of the main characters.
Each of Maslany’s characters is fully fleshed out and interesting. One of my favourites, Helena, is probably a prime example of the amount of development that each character goes through during the show. In the first few episodes, Helena was little more than a slightly maniac serial killer who was trying to murder our main character. But as the episodes went on, the show delved into Helena’s history. We learned about her severely dysfunctional past which made her into the “monster” that she is today. Her grey concept of morality comes directly from the lack of love and neglect that she suffered through as a child. At the end of the show’s fourth season, Helena’s character had still come leaps and bounds in terms of development. Though she still has the grey morality from her past, there are more facets to her which make her an important character within the show.
A good balance of the comedic with the serious
From the trailer and promos, Orphan Black often looks like a rather serious TV show. I can assure you, it has its share of seriousness. But often when you watch a TV show that’s all work and no play, it can leave you feeling quite heavy and drained. That’s not Orphan Black. The show does a good job of balancing its serious sides with light-heartedness that still fits into the show’s overall atmosphere.
That being said, the show doesn’t go down the route of having “comic relief” characters. For some shows, comic relief characters can work, but for me, they often fall flat because that’s their only characteristic. Orphan Black is about well-rounded, three-dimensional characters. So even its characters who often provide comic relief serve important functions in the plot. Perhaps the best example of this is Felix, Sarah’s foster brother.
At first glance, he seems like your average stereotypical gay character. Yet he’s so much more than that. He’s an interesting and complex character in his own right. He’s an artist who can’t seem to catch a break since his troublesome sister walked back into his life. Despite Sarah’s serious streak of selfishness and thoughtlessness, Felix still manages to be a supportive brother. He comes through for his sister time and again. At the same time, Felix himself is a character that is comedic and light-hearted. He sometimes wears the most ridiculous clothes and often gets high at extremely inappropriate times. Still, in the past season, many of the characters’ lives hinged on Felix being able to save them, making him one of the most important characters of the show.
It emphasises relevant themes
I’ve written previously about shows that emphasise issues that affect women. Orphan Black is one of those shows. One of the most prominent themes that runs through it is the issue of having bodily autonomy. Most of the women on the show don’t have bodily autonomy. At the turning point of the first season, Cosima tells Sarah, “We’re property. Our bodies, our biology, everything we are, everything we become, belongs to them.” This starts the road to the most important theme that carries the show.
The characters of the show are not simply fighting for their lives, but they’re fighting for a right to their bodies and their biology. They’re fighting to not have their bodies invaded because of “science.” They’re fighting to have the rights to their bodies that they have been denied. In a world where there are women who are still fighting for this right, this is a message that will resonate with many.
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