Orphan Black

Recently I finished watching this one – Season 5 of 5.  The premise is that a girl, Sarah Manning (Tatiana Maslany) discovers that she has not merely twins, but actually CLONES.   Just when she thinks she’s found them all, she finds another one.  Each is different, though all played by the insanely talented Maslany.  Over five seasons the drama develops with a fair amount of excitement and some degree of action and adventure.   It seems to take place in Toronto, eh, with no hockey in the picture – initially no actual setting until season 5 when Felix admits they’re in Canada.  I figured it out early enough, since everyone’s heads were flipping around and they all said “aboot”.

DYAD is the company which made the clones, but there’s another secret society out to kill the clones.  Things get very confusing, over and above the clone deal. 

Clones. 

Sarah.  The main character, has a daughter Kira, despite the fact that clones are supposed to be sterile.  Kira has super powers.  (Center above)

Alison.  A soccer mom, married, with adopted children.  Found out she was a clone while tripping on shrooms. (Second left above)

Helena.  Ukrainian, with thick accent. “Stick in baby!”  Apparently a twin of Sarah, as she gets pregnant by artificial insemination.  The most dangerous.  (Far right)

Cosima.  Cute, dreadlocked, lesbian science girl.  Very important.  (Second right)

Rachel.   Runs the bad guys.   Often at odds with Sarah and Helena.  Ruthless and nasty. (Far left)

Beth.  Toronto cop who kills herself early on. 

There are about 6 more clones, but these are the most important.  Some of the others die off early or – in the case of the male transsexual clone – show up briefly and then leave. 

NOTE: Later we find there are MALE clones (all played by Ari Millen).  I never had the patience to tell them apart.  Not as cute as the female ones anyway.  The male clones know they are clones. 

Other people (not a complete list):

Felix.  Sarah’s gay roommate and BFF.  Annoying but sympathetic.

Detective Art Bell.  Beth’s partner.  Sarah assumes Beth’s identity but eventually teams up with Art even after he knows she’s not Beth. 

Siobhan Sadler.  Sarah’s “Mom”, aka “Mrs S”.  In addition to looking after Sarah and Kira, she’s also DEEP in this whole s**t.  Plus she’s handy with a gun.  Don’t f**k with her.

Dr. Delphine Cormier.  Cosima’s off-again-on-again “partner”, sometimes sympathetic and sometimes possibly on the wrong side.  Not sure if she can be trusted.

Donnie Hendrix.  Alison’s chunky husband.  Usually useful but also somewhat funny.

Aldous Leekie, played by Matt “Max Headroom” Frewer.  One of the Dyad scientists.

Modest sex, modest violence, but mostly paranoia and intrigue as we try to figure out who is with which organization, and as the various actors plow through their agendas, a few clones get killed, other characters die, but fortunately they wrap everything up by the last episode and we figure it all out.  There’s some issue of the ethics of cloning, which I zoned out on as the technology doesn’t seem to be here yet, and according to this treatment, clones are sterile by design (with the exceptions of Sarah and Helena).  I got tired of it and wound up completing it as much out of sheer determination as genuine interest.  However, Sarah and Helena remain sympathetic throughout and Maslany’s acting is compelling enough reason to indulge in this.  Seriously, I had no doubt that each clone was a separate person, notwithstanding the fact that the same actress portrayed all of  them.  Maslany’s talent is phenomenally underrated.   

There are also comic books, but I have no patience with that.

Finally, Tatiana Maslany reminds me a bit of Mila Kunis.   Imagine a parallel dimension in which they’re switched on all roles, e.g. “That 70s Show” and “The Family Guy”.  I’ve seen Maslany on “Parks & Recreation” but not a whole lot elsewhere.