Review: Orphan Black, Season Two

Boom! Right where we left off. Sarah is darting down a rainy night street in pursuit of her daughter Kira (who was taken at the close of Season One). It’s a galvanizing start to Orphan Black Season Two to say the least. And that’s what we wanted, right? In fact, it gets better: a small diner shooting, as our very own Sarah Manning (just one of the roles inhabited by the iconic Tatiana Maslany) is almost seized by some slick, creepy cowboy, Mark. He turns out to be part of a larger, extreme religious sector (here known as Prolethean). His belongs to a much bigger pay-off though. There is so much electricity surging already, the show continues to be generously full of varying degrees of energy and suspense. It is compelling to see your heroine having to run from and toward the enemy.

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Let’s recap. Science geek Cosima is sick – coughing, vomiting blood – and cosying up with the French colleague Delphine (which team is she batting for, you wonder). They “work” for Dr. Leekie of the illustrious Dyad Institute. And Paul (Beth Childs’ monitor – remember?) appears to be bait for the dictator Rachel (also Maslany). Or at least that’s what they think. Meanwhile, Alison is giving her marriage to monitor Donnie another crack of the whip. The enigmatic Helena is back too, just about. She may have been the assumed villain of the clones, but she has really taken a pounding. The detectives are still investigating or, rather, snooping around. Art and DeAngelis have very different loyalties though. And Sarah is soon reunited with her foster brother Felix in a gay club: “I am in the middle of a five-way,” he declares but is pleased to see his sister nonetheless.

So plot-wise, we know the basic drill. But every corner or crevice could push us off track at any time. We think Rachel and Dyad took Kira to begin with. Then we are led to believe the religious community are the big deal. “Fathered” by Henrik, they desperately want to fertilize Helena’s eggs too. Mark breaks Helena out of hospital – we notice her knife and his belt buckle bare the same symbol. Mrs. S (Siobhan) re-enters the fray with secrets of her own but assures Sarah that her daughter is safe. “Whose side are you on?” rightly asks Sarah of her own foster mother. “Yours. It has always been yours,” Siobhan responds. At times you are not fully aware of who is going behind whose back. That philosophy is a central strand of the exceptional show and our own indulgence. And when stem cell waffle or synthetic sequences banter go over your head, it just fuels that scary science. These unknown elements of the narrative help tighten your stomach, that’s for sure.

What else? Kira’s dad, Cal, turns up. Or rather Sarah and Felix turn up at his out-in-the-sticks house. Alison ends up in regression therapy (by her own admission she is a bottle hider). Vic turns up seemingly progressing marvelously with his rehab, clean shaven and with a positive outlook. Though he was a big softie of a thug, right? Just when we think he and Alison can bond, it is discovered he is scheming with Detective DeAngelis. Art, now suspended from duty, is allowing himself to still provide assistance. Including when yet another clone shows up, Tony (yes, Maslany), with a tiny chin beard, whose dying biker buddy had implored him to seek out Beth Childs.

Although the majority of this is extremely serious stuff, the sprinkles of humor are perfectly scattered about – by no means inappropriate or unnecessary. A lot of this falls with Feliz and Alison, and so juicy are the few scenes they actually share together. Much of Orphan Black tests your impulsive nature to laugh at shocking moments. Not always, but sometimes. I mean, when a gun goes off, brains get splattered, and the ensuing clean-up builds from slapstick mayhem to the redemption of sexual attraction – how can you not find it amusing?

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To say this is character driven is the understatement of the last two years. These people are ordinary for the most part, they are faced with the extremes. That kid Kira is unquestionably smart too. Forgive me if I was not too worried when she is taken yet again, later in the season. She steals a phone from a pocket without being caught, pulls her own tooth out at one point, and covers up for her new dad Cal when a police officer almost gets the better of him. And as we delve deeper into the past or seek to build the future, new names, new faces, twists and turns, all show up uninvited. Even as pieces of the puzzle come together, we are still often not convinced we are any closer to something safe, something good – a happy ending. Maybe there is no happy ending. But we want one. We are way too invested now in the lives surrounding Sarah, Alison, Cosima, and Helena to crave anything else.

One schizophrenic scene has Sarah and Helena bonding when the Ukrainian is making shadows on the inside of the tent. They soon lay in opposite fetal positions (if that is not screaming symbolism, I don’t know what is), and Helena kills the beautiful imagery with her flatulence. It is real moment, one that allows us to believe these two finally trust one another. They are sisters. Only unbeknownst to them there is someone outside the tent. A real emotional rollercoaster indeed.

This season, kick-ass Helena is the real star of this Tatiana Maslany show. A remarkable, fearless character, whose great big heart emerges gradually through the ice-cold monster we perhaps thought she was (Helena’s presence was often swamped by music and cinematography not unlike those Saw movies perhaps). The sentimentality – of which there are squirts here and there, this is a human story after all – is later almost squished when all hell breaks lose once again. Helena comes to realize her role in the grand scheme of things, the brutal truth, and that she must make her decisions based on that. That said, having exacted her revenge on Henrik, she proceeds to burn the farm to the ground. Baby steps.

Tatiana Maslany, then, an actress so good here that even though the whole multi-role concept was established in the first season, she continues to have you double-taking here. Maslany simply bursts with frenetic energy from the screen. It is not just the flawless acting I would love to scream to the hilltops about, but the expert variation she brings to these very unique characters. Every detail and mannerism is individual, right down to the scene all four girls (Sarah, Cosima, Alison, Helena) are in the same scene dancing. Yes, they even dance differently.

Almost every plot turn either provides a twist or a swift change of direction. There are plenty of curve balls being thrown here. It’s pure adrenaline. Orphan Black really succeeds in its intelligent, frisky pacing, and hardly ever takes a moment to gasp for air. On the flip side, the big pay-off creeps up on you right to the very end. You know long before the season comes to a close that there is a hell of a lot more to come. As I was watching that final episode I was already feeling the sadness that this exhilarating experience was nearly over. But it had to end, if just so I could get my breath back.

Orphan Black Season Two is available via DVD on Netflix, streaming on Amazon Prime, and download on iTunes. Season Three premieres April 18 on BBC America. Check local listings. 

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