Orphan Black: Season One

In the opening episode of Orphan Black, street-smart hustler Sarah Manning (Tatiana Maslany) watches her identical double commit suicide, and then instinctively takes the deceased's identity, only to discover that she's actually the product of a cloning experiment. This lone wolf learns that she's one of at least eight clones, each being monitored and, apparently, murdered by a hidden assassin. As Sarah becomes involved with this community of lookalikes, she learns the truth about her murky past, all while trying to reclaim guardianship of her young daughter, Kira (Skyler Wexler). A sci-fi-ish thriller, this new BBC America original drama is actually a Canadian co-production set in an unidentified (but clearly not American) city, with Canadian actress Maslany playing multiple roles (often interacting with herself in the same shot thanks to digital trickery). While a conspiracy undergirds the plot, the character drama is the draw, and the mesmerizing Maslany makes it work, creating distinctive personalities and lives for her various personas, right down to their differing body language. The layers here add up to quite a psychological soup of instincts, assumptions, and anxieties to create a compelling drama. Compiling all 10 episodes from the 2013 debut season, extras include behind-the-scenes featurettes, and an interview with Maslany. Highly recommended. (S. Axmaker)