Orphan Black is in many ways a brilliant example of good television. One of few shows to feature a female lead, the show stars Tatiana Maslany playing a variety of different clones who look the same but in terms of personality are anything but.
For the uninitiated, the five main clones are less than legal hoodlum Sarah Manning, the insanely intelligent Cosima Niehaus, finicky mother Alison Hendrix, trained killer Helena and ‘pro’ clone Rachel Duncan who was raised with awareness of her clone-ness. There are other clones too and Maslany plays them all fantastically, proving herself to be the hardest women in television as she has different mannerisms, poses and accents for each character – which are so well done that you actually forget that they’re all being played by the same person.
Not only does Maslany’s stellar acting make the show what it is but some impeccable CGI and camera trickery from BBC America means that many of the clones even have scenes together. It’s wonderful to watch and it’s only going to get even more impressive with a line of male clones set to be added into the mix.
Not that we get that much from this latest Orphan Black season three promo, though. The Beeb is clearly staying coy on what we can expect as none of the clones feature in their nigh on identical glory, but what we do get is the sound of ‘You Don’t Own Me’ by Lesley Gore tingling in the background.
When we last saw Sarah Manning and co., there was a battle to cure gay clone Cosima as an autoimmune disease threatened to kill her off and potentially harm the other clones too. A cure could perhaps have been found in the form of Sarah’s daughter, Kira, but thanks to manipulation and impersonation (of course) from Rachel that plan was scuppered and Cosima was still ill as of last season.
There was also a budding romance between Felix (Sarah’s gay brother) and Tony (a trans, male clone) that could potentially be rocked by all of the drama surrounding their budding clone family and fans will also be awaiting news on Delphine (Cosima’s super smart girlfriend) as Rachel shipped her off to Germany in the season finale.
Could the new episodes showcase the clones not being ‘owned’ any more? Rachel did get a nasty pencil to the eye in the season finale. Or will the upcoming season feature the clones waging more anarchy against Rachel and the corporation that created them? It’s unclear from that promo featurette but we’ll enjoy finding out along the way.
Orphan Black season three premieres in early 2015.
