“Orphan Black”
Starring:
Tatiana Maslany,
Jordan Gavaris,
Skyler Wexler
Grade: A
“Orphan Black” might not have much competition in the sci-fi-mistaken-identity-action-dramedy genre, but it is safe to say even if dozens of similar series occupy today’s television landscape, few if any can hold a flame to this BBC America powerhouse.
With outstanding writing, fantastic performances and fictional science that is frighteningly plausible, “Orphan Black,” a saga about a group of young women who discover they are all clones, has been among the most gripping television series on air since its premiere this past March.
Saturday’s season finale was one of the most captivating entries in the series to date, starting with a heart-wrenching cold open.
Rachel Duncan (Tatiana Maslany) — a menacing clone in the employ of Dyad — kidnaps Kira (Skyler Wexler), the daughter of Sarah Manning (also played by Maslany).
Sarah then desperately turns herself in to the institute for whatever insidious research it has been hunting her down to perform. The result is a frightening interrogation by faceless captors shot with a shaky camera and edited with rapid cuts to heighten the stress of Sarah’s surrender.
Maslany performs brilliantly as an overwrought Sarah during her invasive questioning and when she is coerced into signing consent for the harvesting of her ova.
However, it is as Rachel Duncan, the cold and cruel “pro-clone” that Maslany stands out in this episode. In her scenes as Rachel, Maslany transitions seamlessly between a heartless interrogator and an emotionally distressed woman still reeling from a traumatic childhood.
In one scene particularly, Sarah is restrained on an operating table by a group of doctors and told she is about to have an ovary forcibly removed for experimentation.
Before the operation, pro-clone Rachel asks to be left in the room alone with Sarah in order to solicit key information for the production of more clones just like the two of them.
When Sarah fails to divulge anything useful, Rachel angrily smashes vials of life-saving bone marrow meant for another clone dying of respiratory illness before delivering what can be described as the strangest and most terrifying line in television history, “Enjoy your oophorectomy.”
The intersection of storylines in this scene builds suspense and anxiety as only the best television writers can manage. Maslany does her part by expertly playing both women off one another.
Of course, there was levity to be found among the scenes of stress and danger. The episode’s highlight comes after Sarah rescues her daughter and both escape the Dyad institute, she reunites with her brother Felix and three other clones with whom she has been in contact.
Soon after they gather, the four clones, Felix (Jordan Gavaris), and Sarah’s daughter Kira dance together in a three-minute sequence. The light-hearted scene is perfectly timed within a very heavy episode, and it demonstrates a level of character development and resolution necessary in a season finale.
By Xander Harty
