1. Tatiana Maslany. Not only does she play at least three or four different characters in any given episode, but she also plays some of those characters while they're pretending to be other characters, acts against herself in half her scenes, and has played a bunch of other characters that don't appear on the regular. And she doesn't just play them — she brings so much nuance to each one that you're able to lose yourself in all of them. If she doesn't get an Emmy nod this year, I'm staging a protest.
2. Felix. Felix is the ultimate TV sidekick. He provides emotional support, comic relief, and serves as a sounding board, like any good sidekick. But very few other TV sidekicks do this in — season two spoiler alert — assless chaps.
3. If you don't like science fiction, you can still get into it. At its heart, it's really a show about the relationships between the clones themselves, as well as the relationships between the clones and the people they love. Plus, you get to see the clones coming to terms with what they are, which is totally fascinating. But also, because it's BBC America, the sex scenes are better than they are on regular old American TV. Do I need to keep going?
4. But if you do like science fiction, it's basically porn. CLONES! Lots of clones! Patented clones, with a propensity for respiratory disease! And also insanity, but just a little bit! And infertility! Except for one of them! And tons and tons of science-speak.
5. The pacing of the plot is perfect. Just enough happens in each episode to keep you glued to your TV and not checking Twitter on your phone, but not so much that you can't keep track of what's going on. Basically, it's the perfect balance between the languorousness of Mad Men and the frenetic hellscape of Scandal.
6. Beth's fake boyfriend Paul. Serve this up on my kitchen counter, please.
7. It's really funny. It's sci-fi, so of course there's action, drama, and violence, but it will also make you laugh out loud on a regular basis. A little levity never hurt anybody, especially on an intense show about a conspiracy to clone humans for unknown reasons.
8. Arguing with your friends about which clone is the best is really fun. Do you prefer Alison, the high-strung soccer mom? Or Cosima, the dreadlocked, whip-smart biology student? Maybe you're into Helena, the psychotic Ukrainian assassin. They all have their strengths! They all have their craziness! Orphan Black is a goldmine of potentially drunken, heated conversations about pop culture.
9. All of the accents. English, Canadian, American, German, the list goes on. After bingeing on two or three episodes, you'll be walking around your apartment trying out new voices all night long.
10. Because there just aren't that many shows out there with this many amazing female characters. So when Hollywood blesses you with one, you have to watch it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjnwweTyOPw
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Photo credits: BBC America
