I've just finished watching season 1 of the 2013 Orphan Black "sci-fi thriller" series, and I enjoyed it. The concept was somewhat novel, but mostly I was impressed by the multiple-award-winning acting skills of Tatiana Maslany, who portrays six (?) clones and imparts to each one a separate character.
My question for the group is whether I should dive into four more seasons of episodes. My experience with other long-running series is that they tend to become derivative and predictable. Mad Men was best in its first couple seasons IMHO; same for House of Cards and Westworld.
I'll start season 2 when the DVDs arrive from the library. Will I be disappointed?
Addendum: Done with season 2 and delighted with all the surprises and plot twists. Well written and superbly acted. Starting season 3. Season 3 was excellent; starting to really love Helena. Season 4 got a bit dark, but was still outstanding. Starting season 5 tomorrow.
In my opinion they have would have been better off limiting it to three seasons. There were a lot of episodes that didn't really further the story just kind of took up space.
ReplyDeleteOn the whole though I found it extremely enjoyable. It gets particularly enjoyable in some of the episodes where Maslany manages to carry off one of her characters impersonating another of her characters impersonating yet a third and you can see all three in the performance.
I know the differentiation is accomplished for the audience using different hair colors and hairstyles and clothing, but she really alters her behavior, voice, speech patterns etc quite skillfully.
DeleteTo me it's a brilliant performance and if you want to see some more of her work that's really fun, if you have Hulu available, check out She-Hulk - Attorney at Law.
DeleteI loved the series and would recommend a full watch.
ReplyDeleteThat said, watch as you wish - if it stops being meaningful and engaging for you, then stop.
You do you.
I loved the entire run. One of my favorite series. The new Orphan Black:Echos is pretty cool too.
ReplyDeleteI liked the first 3 seasons, but in my opinion they started running out of ideas in the 4th season, I didn't end up finishing that one.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rocky, the last few seasons were pretty rough. I don't know exactly where I'd recommend to cut off, but at least the final season is fine to skip unless you're both totally hooked and fine with a weak ending a la Lost or Game of Thrones. I definitely think season 2 was still solid though. And I agree with anon 1: if you start to lose interest, trust your feelings, stop there.
ReplyDeleteI was totally hooked all the way through. tatjana is amazing.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great concept, and Maslany is remarkable, but OB overall is hugely disappointing. The show lurches between contrived plot developments to the point that any kind of dramatic stakes essentially stop existing. It's one of those shows where all the characters change roles (e.g. ally to villain and back) so many times, it hardly matters if you follow the story arc at all. If you watched to the end of Season 1, you saw one character brutally murder an innocent woman -- her own surrogate mother in fact. The show completed rehabilitates the murderer in short order, and never holds her to account for the atrocity she committed. Obviously a lot of people really love OB, but stuff like that sticks in my throat.
ReplyDeleteWhile the 4th season isn't as good as earlier ones, that's a case of praising with faint damnation.
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