Orphan Black: Season 3/ Episode 1 “The Weight of This Combination” – Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

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Overview

Between the Castor clones, the reveal of Rachel’s plans, the character of Ferdinand, and the daunting task of trying to figure out whose side is Delphine on, the season 3 premiere throws enough at you to almost require repeat viewing.

Director: David Frazee
Writer: Graeme Manson

Review (with Spoilers) – Below

Characters & Story

As always, just as Sara has a moment of peace, she gets dragged into some major drama which cannot be solved overnight. Case in point, Helena has been traded by Mrs. S for Sara and Kira’s protection and, due to Rachel missing an eye, Sara has to masquerade as Rachel, and Allison has to masquerade as Sara. It doesn’t end there, though! Delphine and Cosima end things, and Delphine is back to being an unfaithful ally who would just seems solely focused on protecting the clones due to their being Dyad property rather than human beings.

And speaking of Dyad, the reason Sara is pretending to be Rachel is because a man named Ferdinand (James Frain) is coming in to deal with the security issues Dyad has. Leading to Sara trying to push him to find a way to get Helena, since Delphine isn’t putting enough effort; us learning about project Hellsing, which seemingly is about killing all the clones once Rachel had the ability to make a baby; and all that is only the tip of the iceberg.

Praise

While a bit overwhelmed, to the point I may actually have to watch this again to fully understand all the ins and outs, it was definitely a quality episode. Tatiana Maslany flawlessly, with her stand in, juggled everyone and even presented the oddness of watching Sara transform into Rachel; Delphine remains someone you love to hate as she remains a sort of wildcard, as does Mrs. S to a point; Kira remains a cute little darling, just as Felix remains a quality comic relief; and we see enough of the Castor clones for them to remain relevant.

Criticism

Ari Millen is no Tatiana Maslany, which is a serious problem for with him possibly having maybe half as many clones as her, it sucks that they aren’t as definitively different has the set she works with. Though considering Millen’s clones are being introduced season 3, and it is probably much more difficult to make men look drastically different than women, perhaps a pass should be issued.

But Millen aside, I must admit that the show going full speed ahead was more jarring than what I’m used to. If only because the show, thus far, has somewhat broken down what the hell is going on. Albeit not to the point fans wouldn’t be left with things to create theories on, but usually, it isn’t like this episode in which the focus seemed more geared toward laying down a new foundation vs. building off what exists.

For with Project Castor’s scope not fully being discussed, outside of it being geared toward military use; Hellsing being a genocide project, that was part of Ferdinand and Rachel’s odd relationship which dealt with undermining Miriam; Delphine trying to make moves, which keeps her in the grey area when it comes to whose side she is on; combined with past storylines which aren’t fully resolved, it almost makes it seem like these crash course videos that both fans and the production team post are damn near required to fully be able to follow along.

Overall

While season 3’s premiere isn’t on the same level as season 2’s, it seemingly is due to the show expanding upon what is already known at a rapid rate. Something which could lead to the show collapsing on itself, or perhaps we will see just how strong the talent of those involved are. As of now, though, it feels too early to tell and fond memories of the past two seasons are keeping my hopeful.

Things To Note

Both Helena and Rachel are alive, but Rachel is a bit out of it and Helena just gets out of the box she was being kept in at the end of the episode.

Allison is going to run for school trustee.