TV REVIEW: Orphan Black “To Hound Nature in Her Wanderings”

By Clinton Bell

Earlier this season I talked about how the show has found new roles for many characters, and the season’s sixth episode continues to give the characters surprising new dimensions. Helena, in particular, is a very different person this season, at least when she isn’t overcome by her animal instincts. She can still be scary and brutally violent when she needs to be, but for most of “Wanderings,” she’s someone different. When the season began, I can’t imagine anyone thought we’d see Helena making shadow puppets, singing in the car, or finding love at a bar (a surprisingly romantic sequence)—but all of that happened in this episode.

All of the moments listed above made me realize something: there are many reasons to tune into Orphan Black—the thrills, comedy, and zany plot—but the main reason I keep coming back is because of these characters. Months from now, after season 2 has been over for a while, I’ll likely forget many plot details, yet I’ll still remember things like Helena singing in the car and Alison’s rehab adventures.

Helena explores a new side.

I’ve responded to Helena and Alison this season more so than anyone else, despite the fact that both characters have had considerable screen time unrelated to the main story, Alison especially. This doesn’t mean that I’ve lost interest in Sarah’s quest, but I tune into the show for the characters most of all.

Cosima’s story is, like Sarah’s, closely tied to the main plot, without much room for random adventures, and while I enjoy Cosima, I’m not quite invested in her story. Her illness sprang up late last season, and hasn’t turned into much yet. While we’ve seen her coughing up blood a few times, she appears to doing all right for now. The show isn’t treating her disease like it’s a race against time or a slowly unfolding tragedy—it’s just sort of happening in the background. I expect it’ll move to the foreground—especially now that we’ve learned some new things about Dr. Leekie—as the season draws to a close.

The most intriguing,and ominous part of “Wanderings” is Helena falling back into the hands of the Proletheans. Also surprising is that Helena appeared to go with them peacefully instead of attacking them. It was mentioned that Art was going to try to get Helena released, and I expect that he will soon become aware that the Proletheans have her.

What I took away most from “Wanderings”—a bounce back from last week’s good, but not great, episode—is how much these characters have grown over a short period of time. While the character development in some areas hasn’t been perfect—I still don’t know what to make of Paul—it has been fearless and surprising. There are only a handful of shows on TV skilled at pulling the rug out from under the audience, and Orphan Black is one of the few.

Additional Notes:

– It’s almost June and BBC America has still yet to issue a season 3 renewal—the show was renewed for a second season in early May last year—but you shouldn’t worry about it—the show’s ratings are up over last season’s numbers and there seems to be a lot more buzz about the show this year.

– I’m not a fan of whatever is going on with Angie. She’s not a character that has ever been well fleshed out, and to devote a subplot to her seems like a waste of time.

– If the rural scenes on this show remind you of NBC’s Hannibal, then there’s a reason for that—both shows are shot in Ontario, Canada.