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Jul. 20th, 2013 10:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsOkay guys, I finished the thing. Talk to me about Orphan Black.
. . . maybe I should first talk to you guys about Orphan Black? Okay, for those unfamiliar, Orphan Black is a recent sci-fi show starring Tatiana Maslany as approximately ten characters, plus some other people. The show starts when Sarah Manning, petty criminal, sees a woman who looks identical to her jump in front of a train.
Sarah thinks: okay, creepy, but also, AWESOME, and promptly decides to impersonate the jumper long enough to fake her own (Sarah's) death, ditch her abusive boyfriend, clean out the jumper's bank accounts, and start a ~new life~ with her foster brother and her seven-year-old daughter.
Then it turns out that there are a whole bunch more identical-to-Sarah people running around and Sarah has accidentally wandered into a SCI-FI CONSPIRACY.
High points of the show: some really awesome physical acting from Tatiana Maslany playing approximately ten different characters; a focus on found and biological family, in all its complexity; the fact that 4/5 of the important relationships and interactions on the show are between varied and interesting women (mostly Tatiana Maslany); also several varied and interesting LGBQ characters (no T as of yet); some of the backstory involves an UNDERGROUND NETWORK of REVOLUTIONARY SOCIAL WORKERS; WACKY HIJINKS.
Less high points of the show: most characters are white (being mostly Tatiana Maslany); there is an unexpected amount of gore (I guess this could be a high point depending on who you are); many of the plot points are VERY SILLY. (This is not necessarily an actual a low point for me.)
Stuff I am super invested in: the family made up of Sarah and Felix and Mrs. S! I LOVE the focus on this foster family, how important they are to each other and how Sarah and Felix are the most rock-solid relationship in the show and how Sarah trusts her family with all this weird clone stuff she's finding out and brings them in, because it makes her stronger not to be isolated. My favorite character arc from the season was probably the story of Sarah and Mrs. S. repairing their relationship. Mrs. S. is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE -- underground revolutionary social worker! She taught Sarah about punk rock! "You took all of the attitude, none of the politics!" -- and if her just-revealed mysterious sinister backstory turns out to overwhelm or invalidate the family stuff I'm going to be really mad.
I am also invested in Art chugging along trying to unravel the conspiracy from the outside, because I am super entertained by stories about ordinary people trying to do their jobs who get accidentally involved in supernatural/science fictional shenanigans and are really annoyed by it. (Honestly that is probably part of the appeal for the whole show for me.)
I am also invested in the relationships between the clones! SUPER BERKELEY Cosima kind of cracks me up. I find Alison fascinating, but she also kind of terrifies me. This is twice now she's basically crossed the moral event horizon -- torture: NOT OKAY! Even if you turn out to be right that the person you're torturing is spying on you, not okay! Letting them choke to death, even less so! -- and I'm wondering where it will go from here. I also want to see WAY MORE of Alison's kids and her relationship with them; I feel like they've gotten sidelined a lot in favor of Kira, which actually really frustrates me, especially since people keep bringing up how sad Alison is that she couldn't have bio-kids. ADOPTIVE KIDS ALSO COUNT. While Kira is obviously important from a mytharc point of view, I want to see some of that family and adoptive-clone-family stuff come out more with Alison's family as well.
. . . plus Kira kind of bores me. Sorry, Kira! I LIKE KIDS WHO ACT LIKE REAL KIDS. I can't tell if it's the actress, or if Kira is supposed to be kind of blandly serene, but either way it jars me. Greatest mystery of the show: why does Sarah call Kira "Monkey" when she is the least monkey-like child ever to grace a screen?
Actually, no, that is not the greatest mystery of the show. The GREATEST mystery -- and I asked this on tumblr -- is HOW THE HECK DID HELENA GET HER BLONDE HAIR? Who took Assassin Clone to the salon to get a bleach job and a perm? Did Evil Religious Dad say, 'okay, kiddo, today you can take a break from stalking and murdering your sisters to spend three hours with your head wrapped in tin foil?' And wouldn't Prolethians be against hair dye as sort of a body modification? SO MANY QUESTIONS.
. . . maybe I should first talk to you guys about Orphan Black? Okay, for those unfamiliar, Orphan Black is a recent sci-fi show starring Tatiana Maslany as approximately ten characters, plus some other people. The show starts when Sarah Manning, petty criminal, sees a woman who looks identical to her jump in front of a train.
Sarah thinks: okay, creepy, but also, AWESOME, and promptly decides to impersonate the jumper long enough to fake her own (Sarah's) death, ditch her abusive boyfriend, clean out the jumper's bank accounts, and start a ~new life~ with her foster brother and her seven-year-old daughter.
Then it turns out that there are a whole bunch more identical-to-Sarah people running around and Sarah has accidentally wandered into a SCI-FI CONSPIRACY.
High points of the show: some really awesome physical acting from Tatiana Maslany playing approximately ten different characters; a focus on found and biological family, in all its complexity; the fact that 4/5 of the important relationships and interactions on the show are between varied and interesting women (mostly Tatiana Maslany); also several varied and interesting LGBQ characters (no T as of yet); some of the backstory involves an UNDERGROUND NETWORK of REVOLUTIONARY SOCIAL WORKERS; WACKY HIJINKS.
Less high points of the show: most characters are white (being mostly Tatiana Maslany); there is an unexpected amount of gore (I guess this could be a high point depending on who you are); many of the plot points are VERY SILLY. (This is not necessarily an actual a low point for me.)
Stuff I am super invested in: the family made up of Sarah and Felix and Mrs. S! I LOVE the focus on this foster family, how important they are to each other and how Sarah and Felix are the most rock-solid relationship in the show and how Sarah trusts her family with all this weird clone stuff she's finding out and brings them in, because it makes her stronger not to be isolated. My favorite character arc from the season was probably the story of Sarah and Mrs. S. repairing their relationship. Mrs. S. is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE -- underground revolutionary social worker! She taught Sarah about punk rock! "You took all of the attitude, none of the politics!" -- and if her just-revealed mysterious sinister backstory turns out to overwhelm or invalidate the family stuff I'm going to be really mad.
I am also invested in Art chugging along trying to unravel the conspiracy from the outside, because I am super entertained by stories about ordinary people trying to do their jobs who get accidentally involved in supernatural/science fictional shenanigans and are really annoyed by it. (Honestly that is probably part of the appeal for the whole show for me.)
I am also invested in the relationships between the clones! SUPER BERKELEY Cosima kind of cracks me up. I find Alison fascinating, but she also kind of terrifies me. This is twice now she's basically crossed the moral event horizon -- torture: NOT OKAY! Even if you turn out to be right that the person you're torturing is spying on you, not okay! Letting them choke to death, even less so! -- and I'm wondering where it will go from here. I also want to see WAY MORE of Alison's kids and her relationship with them; I feel like they've gotten sidelined a lot in favor of Kira, which actually really frustrates me, especially since people keep bringing up how sad Alison is that she couldn't have bio-kids. ADOPTIVE KIDS ALSO COUNT. While Kira is obviously important from a mytharc point of view, I want to see some of that family and adoptive-clone-family stuff come out more with Alison's family as well.
. . . plus Kira kind of bores me. Sorry, Kira! I LIKE KIDS WHO ACT LIKE REAL KIDS. I can't tell if it's the actress, or if Kira is supposed to be kind of blandly serene, but either way it jars me. Greatest mystery of the show: why does Sarah call Kira "Monkey" when she is the least monkey-like child ever to grace a screen?
Actually, no, that is not the greatest mystery of the show. The GREATEST mystery -- and I asked this on tumblr -- is HOW THE HECK DID HELENA GET HER BLONDE HAIR? Who took Assassin Clone to the salon to get a bleach job and a perm? Did Evil Religious Dad say, 'okay, kiddo, today you can take a break from stalking and murdering your sisters to spend three hours with your head wrapped in tin foil?' And wouldn't Prolethians be against hair dye as sort of a body modification? SO MANY QUESTIONS.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-20 04:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-20 04:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-20 04:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-20 04:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-20 07:00 pm (UTC)And you already know how I feel about the letting-people-choke-to-death scene!
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Date: 2013-07-21 01:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-21 09:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-22 01:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-20 07:49 pm (UTC)One thing I couldn't stand, though, were the AWFUL English accents. They kept catapulting me right out of the story.
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Date: 2013-07-21 01:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-20 07:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-21 01:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-21 02:58 pm (UTC)(I tried to pace myself. I...did not succeed. Although now I wish I'd watched it later in the year, because it's going to be a LONG wait til April 2014....)
But yeah, while some of the scenes were a bit gory for me, I overall really enjoyed the first season! And Tatiana Maslany, wow, I am super impressed by her acting.
Things I also enjoyed:
-The foster-family dynamics (I...am honestly considering requesting Felix, Kira, and Mrs. S fic pre-series where they deal with Sarah leaving)
-Felix's relationships with the various clones, in particular his relationship with Sarah and Allison
-Cosima and Delphine's complicated relationship (I mean, yes, Delphine definitely betrayed her and there's a lot to work on, but I did like that her first instinct was to keep Kira a secret)
-The other female cop who is really into the morgue stuff because she cracked me up a lot and I enjoy her dynamic with both Sarah and Art
Things I want to see more of:
-Art crankily investigating everything because I want to see his face when someone says clones, with guest appearances by Raj because Raj is adorable and obviously has/had a crush on "Beth"
-More on Beth because man, how terrible is it that Sarah, a stranger, can step into her life and NO ONE notices until Sarah lets some of her own personality sneak out?
-Allison's kids because of all the reasons you gave
(Btw, I also enjoyed the fact that your review had no mention of Paul because man do I not care about that dude!)
no subject
Date: 2013-07-22 01:04 am (UTC)I heard a rumor there might be a Beth-related flashback episode at some point next season, but I have no idea how valid that rumor is. I would be so into it, though.
Also, MAN, I can't believe I forgot to mention Raj. I LOVE RAJ. Can we start a petition to just replace Paul next season with Raj? Because Raj is adorable and also like the most attractive person on the show, and Paul is boring and no one cares. UP WITH RAJ.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-22 02:57 pm (UTC)Oh man, I would be so into a Beth-related flashback ep too. And I would sign that petition. Ugh, Paul, how are you so terribly boring? The only thing going for him is how into Sarah he is, but then I think of Beth and just go back to eye-rolling at him.
And RAJ. Sweet, precious Raj, definitely the most attractive person on the show and just an all-around good guy unlike Paul or...any other dude other than Felix and Art. (Allison's husband can go sit in the corner with Paul.) And I would be TOTALLY INTO Sarah/Raj!