Have you seen “Orphan Black?” I’m guessing not. Many people don’t know it exists. But that’s slowly beginning to change. The sci-fi drama, whose second season premieres on BBC America on April 19, has been given a major marketing push from the network. In New York City, the name of the show whizzes past on public busses, and it’s near-impossible to walk into a subway station without seeing a poster featuring the face, or rather faces, of the show’s star, Tatiana Maslany. More people have been talking about this show than ever before, which prompted me to take a look at the first season a few weeks ago, just to see what all the chatter was about.
I became obsessed. I cancelled my plans on a Sunday and watched all 10 hours in a single day, pretty much back to back. When I emerged it was dark, my legs were cramped, I was hungry, and I was certain I had just seen the best television series to come out in a long while.
Set in an unnamed Canadian city, “Orphan Black” opens with Sarah Manning, a down on her luck punk rock mom who’s returned after a long disappearance, ready to make a quick drug deal and take back the daughter she left behind. On a train station platform outside the city, she catches eyes with a stranger who looks just like her moments before witnessing the woman jump to her death in front of an approaching train. Making a quick decision to grab the woman’s purse, Sarah opens the wallet and is startled by the driver’s license photo — the resemblance is uncanny, as if she’d just discovered a long-lost identical twin.
Thus begins the central mystery of the show, and one that continues throughout the first 10 episodes. As the season progresses, Sarah finds out the harrowing truth — there is more than one woman who looks exactly like her, and together they piece together the puzzle of their origins.
What at first might seem like a gimmick manages to escape any kind of Eddie Murphy-style ridiculousness. Maslany, who plays at least five different characters in the first season (and likely more in the second), makes the transition from one character to the next, often played together in a single scene, practically seamless. It’s easy to forget you’re watching the work of one actress, and even more remarkable when the only difference between the characters is often a slightly altered hairstyle or speech pattern.
The relentless pace of the show helps keep your mind off the multiple-character trick as well. The story jumps from one moment to the next, leaving very little room for unnecessary material over its brief (for American television) season. And like so much great science fiction, part of the reason “Orphan Black” works is because the narrative is rooted in a world we recognize and experience, not fantasy but a mysterious reality.
The first season, which answered quite a few of the questions posed throughout the episodes, was still left opened ended. But the most pertinent question still remains: Will people finally begin to watch “Orphan Black” or is it destined to be a cult show forever?
The second season of “Orphan Black” premieres on April 19 at 9 p.m. on BBC America.
