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Positive:
63
Mixed:
7
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews
Apr 15, 2014
Season 2 Review:
Early returns from season two suggest that Orphan Black will be more compelling than ever, as it becomes more confident in its ability, buoyed by the acclaim, and its laudable understanding that a good story is just that--it doesn't matter that it be a straight, familiar drama.
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Jun 9, 2017
Season 5 Review:
The episodes feel pointed and agile in their narratives (as early as episode two, there are tearful goodbyes), while also indulging in the right doses of pure fun and fan service.The episodes feel pointed and agile in their narratives (as early as episode two, there are tearful goodbyes), while also indulging in the right doses of pure fun and fan service.
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Apr 18, 2014
Season 2 Review:
Beneath the twists and turns of Orphan Black's increasingly deep and vivid story lines lie the even more basic theme of revelation: How would you react if you discovered that what you had come to know as your life was based on misinformation.... From the space between wreckage and rebuilding comes much of our great literature, music and art. And now, Orphan Black.
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Apr 7, 2016
Jun 12, 2017
Season 5 Review:
As the story draws toward its end, it reframes its original questions about the power and consequences of creation by adding new wrinkles to ponder that echo current conversations about feminism and a woman’s right to choice. ... The relationships between the various clones and the people around them are what grant Orphan Black a level of humanity other science fiction series lack.
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Apr 14, 2016
Season 4 Review:
Keeping it in the family, so to speak, could rejuvenate Orphan Black if you thought it maybe needed it. For everybody else who remained joyfully entertained by the story and by Maslany's many roles, this slight rejiggering does clear up some distractions and brings back fond memories of season one when this show was such a revelation.
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Apr 13, 2016
Apr 17, 2015
Season 3 Review:
Matters are only getting more complicated and dangerous for Sarah (Tatiana Maslany) and her sister clones as season three of Orphan Black gets under way. The consolation is that this is good for viewers, who get to enjoy watching the show skillfully weave ever more complex entanglements.
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RogerEbert.comApr 18, 2014
Mar 29, 2013
Season 1 Review:
Orphan Black begins with a solid, well-constructed, one-hour pilot that breezily introduces the characters and the show's conceit. It does allow some questions to linger, but it won't leave viewers scratching their heads in confusion, an important distinction and a balance not all genre shows are capable of getting right.
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Apr 13, 2016
Season 4 Review:
Those who have never seen the show will find this the easiest place to pick it up since the pilot, and those who have been along since the beginning have a series again playing to its strengths. The biggest asset is still the one that gives the show its essence: Tatiana Maslany’s performance remains superlative.
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Apr 13, 2015
Season 3 Review:
A menacing batch of Project Castor boy clones (Ari Millen) proves some spark. More please. Orphan Black needs a jump start of imagination that can produce stories worthy of its electrifying star. [17/24 Apr 2015, p.105]
Uncle BarkyApr 17, 2014
Mar 29, 2013
Apr 17, 2015
Season 3 Review:
There are sufficient twists in the new episodes that keep the action moving while preventing me from revealing too much. The pace is swift, the tension runs high--except, perhaps, for the Alison clone, whose suburban soccer mom is used most frequently for comic relief.
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Apr 22, 2014
Season 2 Review:
Individual scenes are terrific, but a few plotlines strain credulity. If it weren’t for Tatiana Maslany, the show’s star, Orphan Black would be just a likable-enough thriller, with Toronto local color--enough to recommend it to a Canadaphilic sci-fi buff like me, but maybe not to you.
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Apr 18, 2014
Season 2 Review:
I'm still not sure how much I buy of the overarching conspiracy that will have Sarah on the run from more than one set of bad guys--the action in Orphan Black doesn't leave a lot of time for overthinking these things--but for those up for a serious bioethics discussion, the openings are there.
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Apr 18, 2014
Season 2 Review:
Orphan Black has apparently just scraped the surface--not only with the overall narrative arc but with the depth of character development in each of the clones that Maslany plays.... [However] It is chewing so voraciously through its story lines--at such a rapid pace--that it often verges on collapse.
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Apr 17, 2014
Season 2 Review:
The weight of expectations on this new season were great, and if this plucky show staggers a little under that weight, that's understandable. I'm fully on board for Season 2, and I have every reason to believe Orphan Black will keep evolving in the direction of perfection. Science demands it.
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Mar 29, 2013
Season 1 Review:
It's just as ridiculous as it sounds, chockablock with clichés, predictable exposition (two taps of the keyboard and entire histories are revealed) and some fairly whacked-out plot twists. But it doesn't matter because Orphan Black isn't so much about plot as it is performance, and as the series continues, the performances are pretty astonishing.
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Mar 29, 2013
Season 1 Review:
It takes a bit longer than it should for the viewer to assemble a working knowledge of the show's core mystery, and there are some tonal issues (some attempts at jokey moments are a bit jarring), but overall, Orphan Black is a quite watchable thriller that plunges its heroine into a murky world that almost seems designed to drive her mad.
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Jun 8, 2017Apr 20, 2015
Season 3 Review:
It’s always interesting--Maslany is particularly transcendent when she acts as one clone disguised as another clone, which occurs again in season 3, and the show even finds a way to introduce waterboarding into its already politically charged narrative. But Orphan Black lost its grip on the story sometime early in season 2, and introducing even more characters has not proven to be a way to reclaim it.
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Apr 17, 2015
Season 3 Review:
There are enough converging storylines to keep those who have become invested in the program hooked right up until the end.... From the perspective of someone who never fully bought into the premise, however, the series remains a modest diversion, with curiosity about the current story tempered by the dizzying contortions.
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