Some TV shows are best experienced going into them more or less cold, without having consumed any trailers, synopses, or plot spoilers along the way. A perfect example of a show this arguably applies to is “Orphan Black,” a sci-fi series from Canada starring Tatiana Maslany in one of TV’s trippiest and most unforgettable performances of the past decade. She doesn’t just carry this drama about a clone conspiracy on her back; she plays a rotating cast of women who all look alike but couldn’t be more different from each other, a feat that earned Maslany a well-deserved Emmy. Not to mention a legion of adoring fans, like Patton Oswalt.
“Orphan Black” ran on BBC America for five seasons, built a dedicated following, and scored a near-perfect reception from both critics (93% on Rotten Tomatoes) and viewers (92%). And now, it’s apparently being rediscovered all over again, because the show is also one of the biggest TV titles on Netflix at the moment.
Orphan Black finds new life on Netflix
The show, which is currently sitting at #9 on the streaming giant’s in-app Top 10 chart for the U.S., tells the story of Sarah Manning (Maslany), a single mother and con artist trying to turn the page on her messy past. Everything changes when she sees a stranger who looks exactly like her step into the path of a train. Instead of calling the police, Sarah does something… strange, to say the least.
She scoops up the bag left by the unfortunate woman, seeing in the woman’s keys and police badge a pathway to a better and more stable life for her daughter. It probably won’t come as a surprise to you, however, that things don’t work out like Sarah hoped.
“As Sarah struggles to blend into her new identity while also looking after her family,” Netflix’s “Orphan Black” press material explains, “she stumbles upon the reason Beth walked off the train platform that fateful night. Beth had been secretly investigating a list of women who all looked identical to her — and Sarah. As Sarah starts to meet these women one by one, they begin to question where they all came from, why they were created, and why someone worked so hard to keep them apart.”
Long story short, Maslany across the show’s five seasons brings more than a dozen different clones to life, via a rather tour de force of a performance that elevates the show beyond its already wild premise. For new viewers coming to it on Netflix, “Orphan Black” definitely offers an unsettling binge that should appeal to sci-fi fans — particularly if you’ve enjoyed shows like “Black Mirror” and “Dark.”
