Monday, April 22, 2013

What I’m Watching: Orphan Black


Orphan Black: Season 1, Episode 4 “Effects of External Conditions” (B+)

As more of these clones start taking center stage, more of a burden is placed on star Tatiana Maslany, and she just keeps rising to the challenge. Cosima is such a quirky free spirit, and Helena is a downright frightening image of what happens when these clones go bad, especially considering the fact that she believes strongly in what she’s doing, convinced that Sarah is different from Beth and all the others. Though she’s on the wrong side of things, Helena is inarguably tough, able to withstand a pretty severe stab wound and to persevere to continue to manipulate events to her ends. Telling Paul to come urgently to the station was a bold move, and Art definitely has his eye on his partner now that it’s ever clearer that she’s not the person she used to be. The fact that Sarah recorded a message confessing to her true identity for Art shows that she does trust him, and I do hope that she’s not wrong about that. To her credit, Alison stepped up to the plate in a major way after Sarah thought of the great idea to have her pretend to be her so that Mrs. S wouldn’t take away her only chance to reconnect with Kira. It was so interesting to see that, her superb performance notwithstanding, Kira was able to tell right away that she wasn’t her mother. Fortunately, Alison knew just what to do, and she has the maternal instincts and sensitivity necessary for helping out another struggling mother in her place.

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