This review of the series "Orphan Black" contains no specific plot spoilers but does talk about some of the themes of the show, running into the later seasons. "Orphan Black" tells the story of Sarah Manning, a con artist and hustler who one day witnesses the suicide of a woman who appears to be her exact double. Spying an opportunity to take advantage, Sarah steals the other woman's identity but instead she uncovers a complex web of human cloning, body modification and illegal experimentation.Though the later seasons perhaps make the storyline a little too convoluted, when you're dealing with multiple internal subgroups of the various organisations that inhabit the world of "Orphan Black" that proves to be pretty much the only criticism of what is an engaging and exciting show. There is one other slight critique that came to mind having typed that, occasionally the score and sound design are very "on the nose". I'm thinking specifically of the string noise that accompanies Helena's actions. Again, these are minor criticisms of a show that's funny, romantic, dramatic and thrilling. Worthy of special praise is the show's star Tatiana Maslany, who, given the shows premise gets to play multiple characters across the seasons. She manages to genuinely make these characters feel like different people, but also real people - never resorting to stereotypes for them. It's even more impressive when she starts to play the characters pretending to be each other, blending the accents. The special effects team really enhance her abilities when it comes to creating scenes where multiple clones interact with one another, it really is flawless work. One other special praise, Jordan Gavaris as Sarah's foster brother Felix is fantastic throughout and his English accent is amongst the most accomplished I've ever heard.

The first season of Orphan Black was captivating. It wasn't perfect, but it was at least interesting and engaging. Still, it had its flaws. Accents, for one thing. They were way off and distracting. Then there were glaring illogical sequences that were simply not believable, like Art not realizing Sarah wasn't Beth, among others.Then there were the way-over-the-top characters, like Fee. (It's sad to see such stereotypical misrepresentations of homosexuals in the 21st century. Of course there are flamers, but they represent only a small percentage of male homosexuals. And ironically, when Fee and Donnie go to the clinic as a homosexual couple Fee admonishes Donnie for acting too flamboyant. He goes so far as to tell Donnie that 10% of males are homosexual and Donnie doesn't see that because they blend in so seamlessly. What does that say about Fee's character then?) In fact, almost ALL of the characters were over the top. So as much as I liked Helena, she was always over the top. So was Allison in her yuppiness. So was Sarah, etc. So was Cosima. So was Rachel. About the only character who was real was Beth Childs, and she was gone after season 1.And therein lies the rub. This show is so dumbed down with its one dimensional characters and gaping plot holes that the original concept (eugenics is bad) gets lost in the sauce. It got to the point that I did a 180 on my appreciation of Tatiana's acting skills. By the end I hated all of her characterizations. Yes, it took skill on her part to do all the different roles, but not a single role possessed one iota of subtlety, and an actress that can't portray subtlety is not a very good actress.Further dumbing down the show is the weak writing and directing. Bringing back some character from the dead (i.e. Helena) is bad enough. But to keep doing it over and over, right up to the "back from the dead" Susan Duncan, is inexcusable. And compounding the issue is the editing. Things just jump from one scene to the next with no coherence whatsoever. It's not art or cool or cutting edge; it's just lazy writing and directing.But the biggest issue is this: When you pack a show with one loathsome character after another, the show itself becomes loathsome. And make no mistake about it; this show is filled with some of the most loathsome characters in TV history. But there just isn't enough goodness in the lead characters/protagonists to offset that. As a result the show implodes and caves in due to the imbalance. And it's not that I don't like or appreciate dark protagonists; I do. But this show rips off its audience time and time again by opting for shock value over quality story telling, and that's the last straw.By the final season I just wanted the show to be over. I watched every episode but really regretted it. This show could have been a 10. In the end, I grudgingly gave it a 5.

I am late to this party. I've just finished binge-watching the first season and I have to say - this show is excellent. It has just the right amount of drama mixed with a little humour so that it does not take itself too seriously.Tatiana Maslany deserves an Oscar for her performance - being able to pull-off so many roles, whilst effortlessly affording each and every one of those characters a unique & different personality, takes a whole lot of talent.Now on to the next binge sesh of season 2...

I loved the show, especially Maslany's acting, but I feel like the writers have lost a huge opportunity here on some ethical and philosophical debate on science, human trials, cloning, etc.These are all topics that of course get thrown in the show, but everything is clearly delineated by an ethical clarity of what's good and what's bad. There's no space for reflection, and even when some arguments leave space for that, the writers make sure to abolish it completely by presenting some psychopathic, mad scientists. For some reason EVERYONE on this organization is completely mad, an assassin, or a cold scientist who does not care for their patients and just wants to get his "science" done for whatever reason. There could have been a massive amount of interesting food for the mind in this show, is cloning right? is it wrong? what is the limit of pursuing scientific and technological advancement? But no, let's have a stereotypical villain organisation made exclusively by corrupt people and manipulating sociopaths who also use deliberate assassins to play out their intentions, so that the audience will clearly see what's good and what's bad.It's almost like they were scared to touch these points, like they used this as the background for a more common story plot. We've got Blade Runner leaving us for 30 years reflecting on what synthetic life is and if "retiring" a clone is something good or bad to do, and here's Orphan Black's writers that know it all already. Really bummed out by this.Anyway apart from this, S1 is great, S2 and S3 get a bit lost in their wandering, S4 is amazing and S5 starts good with this iconic figure of the bicentennial man only to turn it upside down in the space of a couple of hours. DAMN I'M SO FRUSTRATED AT WHAT THIS STORY COULD HAVE BEEN IF TOLD PROPERLY!