Orphan Black is Back

The wait is over. Orphan Black season 3 premiered on April 18, 2015 at 9pm on BBC America.  The season three premiere was full of twists and turns and all things clone-related, and it did not disappoint.
The show begins with clone favorite, Helena, played by Tatiana Maslany, opening a box full of gifts at her baby shower. She is wearing a frilly pink dress and sitting next to her sister Sarah, who is clad in leather from head to toe and wearing sunglasses. Sarah is a stark contrast to Helena in this scene, which feels intentional. Shortly thereafter, they are joined by Allison and Cosima. They are both fellow clones played by Maslany, who shower Helena with compliments as they place cupcakes and macaroons on the dessert table. The equally perfect and ridiculously funny scene is short lived as the viewers are quickly transported back to reality, where Helena is trapped in a box with a scorpion who speaks to her as she hallucinates.
The show shifts to Sarah Manning also played by Maslany, Helena’s maternal sister and fellow clone and Dr. Delphine Cormier played by Evelyne Brochu at the Dyad Institute where Sarah meets one of the first Castor clones, who we learned last season was the male answer to the Leda clones, also known as Sarah and her sisters. Sarah and the male clone exchange tense words and he tells her to “count her sisters.” After checking in with Cosima and Allison,  she realizes that Helena is the sister who is missing.

Once Sarah discovers that Helena is missing, she asks her adopted brother and honorary clone Felix Dawkins, played by Jordan Gavaris, to meet her at their adopted mother’s house. Mrs. S, played by Maria Doyle Kennedy, is a tough-loving mother who strives to keep everyone safe, even if it is at the expense of someone else.  Sarah and Felix learn that Kennedy was attacked by another male clone looking for Dr. Leekie, who was the head of the Dyad Institute until last season when Allison’s husband Donnie shot him. While at Mrs. S’s house, Sarah and Felix learn that Mrs. S gave the military and the castor clones that they created permission to kidnap Helena. Mrs. S did so in an effort to try and protect Sarah and her daughter Kira. Sarah and Mrs. S argue about the decision she made to give away one of her sisters without Sarah’s consent.
One of the lighter moments in the premiere happens in a scene with Cosima, who is with Sarah’s daughter Kira, played by Skyler Wexler. Cosima asks Kira if she knows why Cosima came back from her outer body/near death experience. Kira replies that she came back so that she could use Kira’s stem cells. Later on in the episode, Kira seems to sense when Cosima needs her oxygen tank. This scene is brief, but it is also important because it hints at the special qualities and possible powers that Kira may have as the only child of a clone. These unexplored special qualities could prove to be useful in the fight to save Helena and the rest of the clones from elimination.
The premiere was full of action with an emphasis of family at its core. Like the show’s premise, the premiere raised the question of how far somebody would go to protect their family. While it was one of the more jam-packed premieres, everything seemed to be important for the clones and the story going forward. Specifically, the new Castor clones are sure to cause trouble for Sarah and her sisters. One thing is true: Orphan Black is back and ready for war, one “Seestra” at a time.
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Photograph courtesy of BBC America