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Review: Orphan Black: Echoes 1.1 “Pilot”
I wasn’t sure what to expect from the sequel to Orphan Black. I wasn’t quite expecting this.
Set in the 2050s, it at first doesn’t seem to be in the same world except that it feels like it is. Much of this is achieved with cinematography. John Fawcett’s involvement as a director is visible, although he doesn’t do every episode.
Krysten Ritter is no Tatiana Maslany (at least not yet), but this show doesn’t ask nearly as much from its lead. (She’s also Marvel’s Jessica Jones). She plays Lucy, a “4D printed” replica of a human…not a clone, but an actual copy of another human being.
Additive Industries, run by Kira…yes, that Kira…is about saving lives, but Lucy is a failed attempt at immortality…a memory transfer into a full 4D printed body.
It didn’t work. Lucy appears to have all of the skills of whoever her predecessor was, but none of her biographical memories.
In other words, while the first series was sci fi lite with an exploration of cloning and identity, Echoes goes full cyberpunk. Who is Lucy? (Is she Sarah? It seems possible that she is, but it’s unclear, she seems way too competent, but if she’s a copy of an older Sarah…)
Are we our bodies, our minds, or something else?
(For right now, I’m calling Lucy a replicant, because this is Blade Runner technology explained a bit better, until they tell me what to call her).
As a note, there are a couple of sections in this episode in subtitled sign, and one in subtitled Spanish.
I’m liking this a lot. I don’t know where they’re going with it and I don’t see it being as good as the original, but I do see it as being dang good cyberpunk, and sometimes that’s all you need.