Orphan Black (TV Series) The Mitigation of Competition (2016) User Reviews

[8.2] Mommy, mommy, she ... the deer!

[cjonesas · 8/10 · 31 July 2021]

An episode like the previous one, to my tiny deception, a little more eventful though. It featured more comically developed scenes than dramatic ones.

The storylines in this season got broader and that impacts a little negatively on Maslany's amazing performance, though remaining excellent, at times it doesn't have the impact that it should because of the ever changing scenes and sub-plots. In short, her characters aren't given enough time to really shine and it's like a race against time for her to do her awesome magic.

Many questions remain unanswered and with only one episode left, it's inevitable that the attention is shifted toward season 5 with possibly one or two cliffhangers, which script-wise isn't very good. That's not how the two-three last episodes of a season should feel like; they should have a faster, direct and dramatic pace to them to really deliver, not seeing swans, "glitches" and hunting in national parks! My opinion.

Very good episode featuring the return of my favourite clone

[TouchTheGarlicProduction · 7/10 · 9 June 2016]

I liked this episode a lot. It begins to wrap up this season's plot threads, or at least sets them up to be wrapped up. I do sometimes wonder where this show is going on a grander scale; I'm always surprised by how relatively abruptly plot threads end in this show. For example, I was disappointed at the way the creepy cop went out last episode; it seemed oddly like it didn't really affect the story overall. I also thought that he was going to serve some greater purpose in the narrative. I thought he might even kill Art in the finale. His death made for an effective episode, yet it also felt like a disservice to the broader narrative of the show. I felt much the same while watching some parts of this episode. What will future seasons do when all of this season's story lines reach an end? Well, obviously each season will have its own central story-line, just like the previous seasons have done. I don't mean to say that a season should leave every arc on a cliffhanger, that they should never provide any payoff. I just personally wish that there were more story arcs that stretched between seasons and evolved over time instead of just being introduced and ending almost as fast. I am just being really nit-picky here. It really is a good show. This is just something that bugs me.

Helena makes her return this episode. I have missed her. She has a great bit of action. The clash with Brightborn comes to a sort of head. Cosima works with Susan Duncan. Sarah and Art follow a trail left by Neolution.

Orphan Black has always been semi-officially set in Toronto, not just filmed there. However, they've also shot the show so that it could be interpreted as simply a generic, ambiguous suburb. That is, until this season. A couple of episodes ago, they showed us the city skyline for the first time, as Sarah was on the bridge. Lo and behold, there was then CN tower. I wondered if they were finally going to canonically embrace the Canadian setting. Well, this episode appears to confirm my suspicion by featuring a cameo from a man I believe to be George Stroumboulopoulos. I'm not completely sure (I was more of a Rick Mercer fan), but I thought that was him interviewing Evie Cho.

This was a strong episode of a strong show. I hope that at some point the show re-develops the strong sense of forward thrust that the narrative of the first two seasons had, but I can't say I'm not enjoying it.