Orphan Black (BBC)

There are very few things for me to binge watch and this show was one of them. Critically acclaimed because of the acting, in season one alone Tatiana Maslany portrays at least 5 versions of the same cloned person, and counting. The reason why they exist? I’ll learn about it after a few seasons, if I am lucky. During the next four seasons the plot thickens and gets juicier. Between the accents, the mannerisms and situational awareness, the montage of the scenes where she talks to versions of herself are phenomenal, and you keep wanting more clones to appear so she can continue the charade of passing herself off as the others. You wouldn’t believe it is one actress doing all the work for the price of one until you were told so. Kudos to the writers and cinematographers for making this storyline spectacular.

The supporting cast is brilliant and very diverse in terms of personalities and backgrounds. Sarah Manning, the protagonist, has surrounded herself with freaks, lost souls and orphans because of her experiences in foster care and the real world. Her only motivation is to provide a better life for Kira, her daughter, with her foster brother Felix assisting her in this quest. To be able to do so she devices a scheme to pass herself as a suicide victim that resembles her, passing the dead body as hers once she figures out her doppelganger Elizabeth Childs is loaded with cash and is a cop. In an unprecedented twist of events, she gets stuck being Beth who was at the center of uncovering the clone conspiracy. This double life forces her to remain “dead” to her loved ones, including her daughter Kira who has no idea when her mother will return home.

Wikipedia describes Orphan Black as biopunk sci-fi Canadian drama thriller, and trust me, it never disappoints; even the music is superb! It is one of the best, if not the best, series out there that mixes science fiction with drama, led by a young and audacious female lead. Just when you think you know where the action is going or that Sarah will get caught in her web of lies, another layer of deception and intrigue gets added to the mix. At 45 minutes run time, including commercials, it is easy to blow through season one’s ten episodes in a few hours. Don’t bring yourself up to speed too fast though since Season Four just started in mid April 2016. After that you will need to wait for a year!

The show airs on BBC America at 10 pm on Thursdays.