Orphan Black

A few years ago I became aware of a TV series called "Orphan Black". It was made in Canada and shown in Canada and the UK from 2013 to 2017. There are 50 episodes across 5 seasons.

The series' main character is Sarah Manning, an adopted grifter with a daughter she hasn't seen in years. Her adopted brother Felix is about the closest thing she has to regular family, but otherwise, Sarah is a train wreck.

One day Sarah sees a woman on a train platform who looks exactly like her. The woman commits suicide, so Sarah steals her identity and soon becomes aware of a huge international conspiracy - Sarah is a clone, and there may be HUNDREDS of versions of her out there. Various factions want to own, control, and harvest from the clones, so Sarah joins forces with her "sisters" to try and get her life and freedom back.

Tatiana Maslany of "She-Hulk" plays the clones, and she is amazing, giving each of the clones a different feel and voice, with sometimes as many as 4 or 5 versions of her on screen at once! The rest of the cast is also really good, and you grow to care about all of them.

I discovered Orphan Black on late-night TV broadcast locally from 2am to 6am, and that is even too late for this night owl! But I've still managed to catch about half the episodes.

Orphan Black is heading to Netflix on September 1st. I recommend it to anyone who likes sci-fi, drama, and strong female-driven shows.

-- Wyatt Weed
(Sept 1, 2025)