Orphan Black has continued to work well by fleshing out its world. For a large stretch of episode six, "Variations Under Domestication", Sarah isn't the focus of the story, but rather two of her dopplegangers. The show takes this time to suggest to us more of what makes Allison and Cosima* tick. This is important because it fits in with a lot of what makes Orphan Black successful. It helps turn these characters from plot devices into actual people with agency. The actions taken by Allison, in particular, knocking out her husband, forms the centerpiece of the episode; it fits in with what we know about this character but it also allows a character whose borderline caricature affect real consequences and change upon the plot. When Allison appeared it was hard to imagine her playing a bigger part in the narrative, nor did I necessarily want her to as she could, intentionally so, be shrill and difficult, but by making her, and Cosima, one amongst many characters worth caring about the show has raised the stakes for the narrative. We not only care about Sarah, but those people on the edges her life.
*Cosima still remains a bit of cipher (the reveal at the end of episode has my interest peaked however - even if it was sort of obvious), though I do like how Tatiana's Maslany plays the character. Also: she's a tinge lesbian, right?
This fleshing out has taken place in other directions as well. The series very early on made Felix an important character to the story. As the foster brother, and confidante, to Sarah he became a character worth following. However, the show has gone out of its way to make him not simply a excuse for exposition or a roadblock to Sarah's journey down the rabbit hole.** But the show has done this in all sorts of areas of its world, elaborating more on Beth's police partner Art (a really great supporting character) to other familiar but less developed faces such as police IT guy Raj and the morgue operator. Though these latter characters are just sort of there, they help give this world a sense of place. World building is a crucial aspect necessary for a series' long term survival, and it's especially necessary for a show like Orphan Black who is constantly delving into mysteries and mindboggling genre mythology. Some great expansion of the show was unexpectedly seen in Paul, a character the show wisely two-foldedly extrapolated as a character while building out its mythology. You might not care about Paul now but you're certainly interested in him due to this elaboration.
**It's a testament to how well the show developed and handled Felix and Sarah's relationship that we never question or are agitated by his appearance/presence even when it feels really slight or for comic relief.
Sarah remains the protagonist but the show has demonstrated it can follow another character for an extended period of time and it can be just as entertaining and worthwhile as the time spent with Sarah. That being said, Sarah as the protagonist is nice sight as a character because she's smart. She may be a couple steps behind and everything may be falling apart around her at times, but she handles herself well under high-pressured situations. Whenever put into some impossible situation, we can see the wheels spinning in her head; her fast thinking on the fly has proven itself to be a great story element.
To go back a bit beyond this group of episodes, there's a scene in the first episode of Orphan Black that is the whole show in a nutshell. Sarah, pretending she's Beth*** but having next to no knowledge about who this person is, finds herself dragged to the police station for an inquest. There's seemingly no way she can get out of this and there's no way she can speak at the meeting without blowing her cover. And yet she finds a solution by running to the bathroom and downing an entire bottle of soap. It's a practical solution to a character's problem that demonstrates Sarah's intelligence and resourcefulness.
***The show is at its most entertaining when multiple clones are pretending to be different or the same clone.
As the show keeps piling on, creating ever more elaborate complications for Sarah, it never loses this realistic, practical storytelling. Take episode six, where Sarah has to pretend to be Allison while Allison is passed out and her husband tied up, Vic shows up asking for money, and Paul shows up looking for answers. The show plays all these plots out at the same time and then converges them at just the precise moment. Obviously the party guests can't find out the truth behind any of these problems so it needs to find a solution so Sarah can fix this. There's no crazy last minute save here: she talks her way out of all of this (and not entirely as perfectly as she would have hoped/imagined). For a show with such heavy sci-fi, mystery, and conspiracy lunacy going on, the show never creates some out of left field solution to fix its problems. This is also a testament to how well plotted the show is.
The show remains as delightful as ever and I'm starting give it the simple benefit of the doubt. There's crazy, cool things happening but there's also some smart storytelling underneath it all to keep it from falling apart.
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