~Orphan Black This show is actually a Canadian production made in partnership with BBC America. It takes off at a Usain Bolt sprint and just doesn’t stop. Sarah, a British orphan now living in America, is at a train station. Intrigued by a woman who is taking off her shoes and coat she watches in horror as the woman steps off the platform into an oncoming train. But that’s not nearly as horrifying as realizing that the woman looks exactly like herself. Now, being someone of a rather dubious background, Sarah grabs the woman’s bag, thinking that maybe she can impersonate her way into some money. She succeeds pretty well for a while but things start to unravel at warped speed around her. What Sarah ultimately learns is that she is one of multiple clones…all very different. And this is where the fun really starts, because Tatiana Maslaney, brilliantly, and when I say brilliantly, I mean….brilliantly, plays upwards of 7 or 8 different characters. It boggles the mind as to how she manages it, or how many hours she must work in a day, or even how many hours she must spend in the make-up chair. Because every single one of her characters is so different and so clearly defined that not once do you ever remember that this is the same person playing all of them. And sometimes she plays one clone impersonating another. Ab-so-lute-ly brilliant! There’s Alison, the suburban, uptight soccer mom who becomes one of the funniest clones with some of the best story lines and jokes. Helena, a Ukranian psycho with a tortured past who, it turns out, just wants a family to belong to. Rachel, the ice queen business woman who is the coldest of them all. Cosima, a dreadlock wearing geneticist who is the smart one of the bunch. There’s even transgender Tony who doesn’t stick around for long, but is certainly entertaining while he does. And then there’s Felix — Sarah’s foster brother. If it is at all possible for someone to steal the show from a person who plays multiple characters brilliantly, then Felix does just that. He is fabulously flamboyant and just downright hysterical. And I was shocked to discover that the actor isn’t actually English, his accent is so flawless, as, I might add, is Tatiana Maslaney’s as Sarah. This show is jam packed with intrigue and suspense with plenty of twists and turns and sitting-on-the-edge-of-your-seat drama as the clones try and piece together their unique clone story. This show has ended now, with five seasons, so you can watch it straight through which I think is the absolute best way to watch a series. This is a must see.
~Black Mirror I can’t say this will ever be one of my favourite shows. I find some of the episodes to be slow and, quite frankly, a little tedious at times. Frequently, you have no idea what is really going on, you just have to go along for the ride, often with a sense of dread, and see how it all plays out. Sometimes this works for me, sometimes it doesn’t. But all the episodes are nothing if not thought provoking. They all explore the impact of technology on society and the future for us all. And after watching a couple of episodes it’s quite clear that it is dark, dark, dark. Technology, Black Mirror style, would appear to bring out the bleakest elements of humanity. Some episodes are fascinating looks at the future and technology yet to come. One episode shows a time where everyone has an implant that allows them to record every aspect of life that can then be played back on a screen, either for everyone to watch, or just personally in front of your own eyes. God can you imagine? All those horrible things that you’ll never be able to forget. Others shine an uneasy spotlight on current technology. One of the most entertaining episodes involves a satire of social media. Bryce Dallas Howard plays Lacie who lives in a pastel drenched world where every social interaction is rated on an app by the other person involved. Everyone wears contacts and so can see the ranking others have, based on a scale of 1 to 5. Lacie is at a decent, but hardly spectacular, 4.2 and spends her free time practising her laugh in the mirror and perfecting her social media posts. When she wants to rent her (very expensive) dream home, the realtor informs her that she can have a 20% discount if only she can boost her ranking to 4.5. She is unexpectedly given the opportunity to do so, but this episode’s title is “Nosedive”… you can only imagine how it ends up. Meanwhile it is priceless to see people trying to out-nice each other with over-the-top fake friendliness and charm. Hilariously vomit inducing. But I think the best episode is the very first one of all, involving a British Prime Minister and a pig. Suffice it to say — it does not end well.
~Humans This delves into the world of AI and all its moral ambiguities. It doesn’t push the boundaries as much as Black Mirror, but it also has a lot more heart and soul. Revolving around the Hawkins family, this is as much a family drama as it is a thriller and a sci-fi showpiece. Laura is a busy lawyer who comes home from a business trip to discover that her husband has bought a Synth…a robot servant…the quite gorgeous Anita. Now, Laura has been dead set against this and is non too happy to find one in her home. And as Anita creeps eerily around the house, it seems to underscore Laura’s feelings of guilt for not having enough time to take care of her family. Anita prepares delicious breakfasts and reads to her youngest child, Sophie, who is delighted with the new help. Oldest daughter Mattie, something of a brilliant student and a whizkid with computers, starts to give up on school because, well, robots will render her generation obsolete anyway, so why bother? And then there’s Joe, who as an overwhelmed father of three kids with a frequently absent wife, loves having the help. Joe can be a bit of a git at times though and has a tendency to make some dubious choices. In an “oh no, don’t go there” moment, he activates Anita’s “adult only” software. I’ll let your imagination fill in the gaps on that one! Out in society the Synths are responsible for an endless array of menial tasks, including as home health nurses responsible for keeping patients in line and on their meds. William Hurt, plays a grouchy, reclusive widower, George, who clings to his outdated Synth, Odi who is breaking down. Odi, though, holds memories of his wife and George can’t bear to part with him. Meanwhile, it comes to light that there are a group of sentient synths who have consciousness and therefore can think and feel for themselves. Look out humans, things are starting to get a wee bit complicated. All these storylines intersect as many a philosophical question is asked along the way. It’s certainly intriguing to ponder the ways in which robots might fit into our lives and how easy it would be for them to take over. As with Black Mirror, the underlying implication seems to be that it could never end well. It will be interesting to see where this show takes things.
