The DCEU: Where to go from here

The DCEU stands at a crossroads of sorts.

Let's face it my fellow DCEU fans, last November's Justice League was a failure. There's no other way to say it, so let's stop beating around the bush and just put it out there already so we can all move on. Justice League was supposed to be the first film in the DCEU to shatter the billion dollar glass ceiling that DC and Warner Bros. have been eyeing for some time now. The film was supposed to be DC's answer to Marvel's Avengers and the culmination of decades of passionate wishing and hoping among fans of the world's most famous superhero team. Now, in the midst of the record obliterating beast of a superhero blockbuster known as Avengers: Infinity War, a film I've seen twice already and one that is without doubt a game changer for the genre, it's time for an unflinchingly honest reappraisal of the shortcomings of the DCEU and what they can try to do to get things back on track in the future.
Anyone who knows me knows that i've been a stalwart fan of the DCEU since Man of Steel kicked things off back in 2013. From the get go, I was a fan of Zack Snyder's grittier, grounded and more mythic approach, especially as a counteractive to Marvel's increasing over-reliance on jokes and more family oriented approach to the subject material. Despite the somewhat grim critical reception and the whiny backlash from diehard Superman traditionalists, Man of Steel did a fantastic job not only reestablishing Superman as DC's preeminent Superhero in a complex and modern world but also setting the stage for DC's other key characters to eventually show up in that world. The next chapter in the DCEU, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, may still be the most sharply divisive and hotly debated superhero film ever made, but it did, among other things, a fantastic job of introducing a new Batman whose look and combat abilities were closer to the comic book Batman than any previous incarnations, and that includes Michael Keaton, whose Batman also killed (quite gleefully i might add) in those films. The film also did what no other superhero film had the stones to do, introducing Wonder Woman after 75 years on the sidelines. I'll stop there with reasons why BvS did a great job of deepening DC's cinematic universe, but I'll finish by saying that despite the unfairly abysmal critical treatment of the film, it still managed to make 870 million worldwide, surpassing even Wonder Woman, the DCEU's one and only critical darling so far.

All this, especially the smashing success of Wonder Woman, seemed to all but guarantee the fact that Justice League would be, if not a billion dollar blockbuster, then something very close to that. Instead, the film limped out of the gate with a terribly disappointing opening weekend and then stumbled to the finish line having only grossed 657.9 million, over ten million less than MOS's worldwide haul. By now, fans have autopsied the film and most have come to the conclusion that what truly killed it was a greedy, overbearing studio that butchered Snyder's original vision by hurriedly rewriting and re-shooting crucial parts or cutting them out entirely in a desperately transparent attempt to make the film funnier and much lighter. Perhaps worst of all, they cut the whole thing down to under two hours so they could have more showings and therefore make more money. What could've and should've been an epic, superhero team up of mythic proportions became instead a watered down, rushed and joke laden shadow of itself and this is coming from someone who enjoyed the film, bought it the day it came out and has since watched it several more times. However, this does not change the fact that we were robbed of what could've been a spectacularly epic masterpiece of the genre, a fact which, during thoughtful moments, has the tendency to make my blood boil.

The sad fact is that no matter how fans try to dress it up, Justice League was a flat out failure, at least in the eyes of the general movie going public as well as the those who decide whether or not to green light a sequel. Now that we've established that, all that's left to do is pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and look to the future, even if at the moment it does seem somewhat dim. Still, we do have Aquaman to look forward to later this year and so far things are looking very positive on that front. Even better, is the positivity surrounding the Wonder Woman sequel, set to premiere next year, but not before Shazam! which will introduce the streetwise kid Billy Batson and his magic powered alter ego to the DCEU. These solo superhero films are the way to go for the DCEU for the time being. Justice League, despite its faults, got the team together, so now's the time to further develop the individual members, especially the new ones and bring in some lesser known heroes. One of the glaring faults of JL was that it didn't take the time to explore the backstories of its new members. Yes, we knew we'd be getting a solo Aquaman film and (hopefully) a solo Flash film, but giving some more exposure to their backgrounds (especially Cyborg) would've made them all the more familiar and sympathetic. If DC takes the time to really flesh out their more secondary heroes (as well as more deeply exploring the big three, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman) then even casual viewers will feel as familiar with these versions of the characters as they now do with the chief Marvel characters and therefore care more about them.

Additionally, the DCEU needs to deliver both a straight sequel to Man of Steel and at least one great solo Batman film to properly showcase and develop Affleck's Bat. I think he's done a great job with the character even if they did lighten him up too much in some points during JL. He looks, fights and acts like the comic book Batman, now he just needs an equally worthy solo storyline, perhaps something like Hush or the Long Halloween, something epic and cinematic. Similarly, now that Superman's returned and is acting more like the optimistic and confident version of the character (which was Zack's plan all along), now's the time to give people a proper Superman solo film. Despite the uproar over mustache-gate, the return of Cavill's Superman was seen as a high point of the film by just about everyone. Most people like Cavill as Superman even if they weren't crazy about the previous films and the character's still as popular as ever, so give the man a worthy followup with a never before seen cinematic villain such as Metallo or Mongul or a lesser known villain like Conduit, Superman's high school bully turned super-villain who made a cameo in Man of Steel as the bully who pulled a young Clark from the truck.

Perhaps the biggest take away from Justice League is the danger of letting an overzealous studio that only sees dollar signs sabotage a director's film. Love him or hate him, Zack Snyder (with writers like David Goyer and Producers like Chris Nolan) is responsible for bringing DC's cinematic universe to life and kicking it off. He gave us Henry Cavill and Gal Gadot, gave us a Batman rendered incredibly faithfully from decades of comics, developed the story for Wonder Woman and brought together the first live action Justice League. That has to count for something. His distinctive visual style and tone, while not everyone's cup of tea, is decidedly different from anything Marvel has given us and that's what we need. Justice League is a result of what happens when you try to Marvelize a DC film by shoehorning in too many jokes and making everything too light and campy. Despite these hiccups, the best thing for the DCEU is to learn from these stumbles and mistakes and keep moving forward. Keep building and expanding the universe and developing the individual characters, keep polishing the things that work, (Wonder Woman, Cavill's Superman as the glue of the universe) and focus the efforts on each individual, upcoming film rather than trying to keep pace with Marvel's fine tuned movie making machine.

The bottom line is that Marvel got to it first (in a world where getting there first is pretty much everything) and they've also got a five year head start on the DCEU, so there's really no point in the DCEU trying to match them film for film. Instead, what they must do now is really fine tune their cinematic universe, build it up slowly with one quality film after another and therefore rebuild and regain the hope and trust of the DC fanbase. At this point, Marvel is King and their domain seems very unlikely to waver anytime soon, so DC needs to work more on satisfying the core fans with faithful adaptations of their favorite characters and stories and worry less about satisfying the general public. Rather than a reboot (even a soft reboot as has been suggested by a Flashpoint film), DC should simply learn from their stumbles and use them to produce the best quality films they can in the future. Things may seem a bit dark now, but there's still an undeniable spark of hope for the DCEU and if they're smart and let the best directors and creators do their work without the interference of greedy studio execs, they may just be able to rekindle that spark into a blazing fire.

Justice League: Trials, Tragedy and Triumph.

The superheroes (minus one) who make up the Justice League finally coming together.

The time has finally come, comic book fans. After what seemed like eons of waiting, the world's first live action Justice League feature film has arrived in theaters. When Zack Snyder rebooted the Superman legend back in 2013 with Man of Steel, none of us could have known that he'd be ushering us into the DC Universe as well as sowing the seeds for the introduction of the incredible heroes who'll come to form the Justice League. In four short years, we've witnessed several cinematic milestones from the DC Universe, chief among them the first ever onscreen meeting of Superman and Batman as well as the first ever big screen debut of Wonder Woman in last year's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In addition to those epic moments, the film also gave us our first, albeit brief, glimpses of the three other members of the League: the Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg, thereby establishing them in the shared DC cinematic world. After BvS ended with Superman sacrificing his life to kill Doomsday, Bruce Wayne, with the somewhat reluctant help of Wonder Woman, set out to find and recruit these other exceptional beings into a team that could defend Earth in the event of an alien invasion.

For those who watched the Ultimate Edition of BvS, it was no secret that just such an invasion was imminent when Lex Luthor, in the moments after Superman died, was seen communicating with a holographic version of the well known DC villain Steppenwolf, uncle to the despotic ruler of Apokolips and legendary DC villain, Darkseid. When Lex hints at Darkseid's coming invasion when he's visited in prison by Batman at the end of BvS, Bruce decides he'll need reinforcements to fight the imminent attack. For comic book fans like myself, seeing the core members of the Justice League together onscreen has been a long held but often far fetched dream. For years, various directors tried to get a Justice League film off the ground, but never made it past the pre-production stage. The world only got the very first Wonder Woman film this past summer, more than 75 years after her comic book conception. Riding high off the critical and commercial success of that film and its overall lighter and more inspirational tone, the word on Justice League in the months leading up to its release was that it would continue DC's lighter, more optimistic path (although i argue passionately that Zack Snyder's first two films had optimistic moments), and show these heroes as the inspirational beacons of hope that many fans longed to see from the get go.

These shifts in tone and approach were signaled by a number of changes to the film in the months leading up to its release. Back in May, it was announced that Snyder would be stepping down from the film, then in post-production, to deal with the tragic suicide of his daughter and be with his family, turning over the duty of finishing the film to fellow director Joss Whedon, known, among other things, for directing both Avengers films. Right off the bat, rampant fan speculation circulated that Whedon was brought in to fix the film because WB execs weren't happy with Snyder's product, but the official story and one that myself and many other fans echoed was that Snyder personally brought Whedon in to simply put the finishing touches on his work. Either way, many saw Whedon's involvement as well as Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics Geoff John's more hands on role as producer as a sign of the film's lighter, more inspiring and humorous tone. Additionally, not long afterwards it was announced that the film's original composer, Junkie XL, who worked with Hans Zimmer on his epic score for BvS, including Wonder Woman's scathingly awesome theme song, had been replaced with veteran composer Danny Elfman. Although Elfman was no stranger to comic book films, having done the music for Tim Burton's Batman and Sam Raimi's Spiderman, news of his sudden addition sent waves of worry among those of us who loved Hans Zimmer's scores for MOS and BvS and hoped to hear them incorporated into Justice League.

The final omen of change was the revelation of the film's hotly debated runtime. Many fans, myself included, were still a bit cross with WB for cutting Snyder's original version of BvS down into the theatrical version which among other things, was criticized for its odd pacing and messy narrative. When the three hour, R-rated Ultimate Edition was released, we got to see the film as originally intended, one which delved deeper into the motives of the characters and helped to clear up some of the messiness. For weeks, fans went back and forth arguing the Justice League runtime, some claiming that it would be almost three hours long. It came as quite a shock then, when the official runtime was revealed to be just about two hours. Again, many fans were outraged to think that two hours was even close enough to accomplish the Herculean task of juggling six main characters, including three whose backstories and personalities had not been explored, getting them to put aside their differences and unite against an unfamiliar villain and also find a satisfying way to bring Superman back from the dead, get him reintegrated back into the world and join his teammates for the final battle. With so many aspects to cover, a scant two hours seemed nowhere close to enough time to successfully explore all these elements in an organic and satisfying way. If WB intended to follow up the huge success of Wonder Woman, which clocked in at 141 minutes and really had one main character, why the hell would they think they could tackle six main characters in barely two hours?

For fans such as myself, the film's runtime created some panic about the quality of the film. Even so, I remained optimistic that if there was a way to pull it all off in that time, they would find a way to do it. So finally, after all the months of wild speculation and near feverish anticipation, I finally got to see Justice League on the biggest big screen, IMAX and after the credits rolled and the lights finally came back to life, the one thought which kept circling around my frazzled brain was...I wish it was longer. There were so many satisfying and epic parts, but ultimately i felt that the film needed to breathe more, stretch its legs. One of the many highlights of the Snyder films for me is the emotional resonance of so many of his scenes and in Justice League there were many good moments which could've been spectacularly powerful and emotionally stirring moments if they'd been stretched out a bit. At times it felt as though the film was rushing to just get the League together so they could fight Steppenwolf. During the lead up to Justice League, I tried my hardest to avoid the trailers, but after seeing it, I watched several of them and noticed that there were several moments from the trailers that were conspicuously absent from the film. Most of these were smaller moments, but their absence still felt like a tease and their inclusion in the film might have helped to make the buildup to the League's formation feel more natural and thought out.

Given the short runtime, the film does the best it can to give some background on the League's three new members such as giving us a scene of Barry Allen visiting his father Henry who, as in the comics, is wrongly imprisoned for the death of Barry's mother and also showing us a few quick glimpses of Atlantis and Aquaman's wife Mera when he briefly visits with her. Aquaman's origins will of course be fully explored in next year's hotly anticipated Aquaman film, so i wasn't expecting a deep examination, but a little bit more about his exile from Atlantis would've helped to establish him more as a man without a place to call home. Cyborg was the one who's origin I felt could've used much more exploration, especially given that his cybernetic upgrade was the work of one of the Motherboxes which Steppenwolf seeks. We saw a brief video clip of the Motherbox fusing the cybernetics to his body in BvS, but i would've liked to see the initial accident which made the cybernetics necessary in the first place. I guess (and hope) we'll see more of his backstory in future films. Still, he does manage to come across sympathetic in the film.

No doubt one of the biggest questions of the film which kept fans rabidly speculating for months was the way in which Superman was going to return from the dead. Everyone knew he'd be returning, but how would they do it? Would it follow the story line from the original series? Would Superman's black regeneration suit or (in)famous long hair make an appearance? And how would he return and readjust to being alive again, not to mention join his teammates in time to stop Steppenwolf? Without giving any details away, I can say that the method by which he returns is reminiscent of the comics while incorporating some new elements, but ultimately his return is tremendously satisfying for fans who've followed his heroes journey from day one in Man of Steel. Despite the protests of certain folks that Cavill's Superman isn't true to the comics (he is in many ways), Snyder said often from the beginning that the plan was always to gradually develop the character into the legendary icon that most people know and love. That goal comes to fruition in Justice League and although i would've liked to have seen his return drawn out a bit more and explored in further detail, I'm still quite satisfied with the result. The bottom line is Superman's back and better than ever.

Since the premiere, it seems that some critics have been savagely attacking the film's villain, Steppenwolf as being a bland, generic and totally uninteresting adversary. While he's by no means a very interesting or compelling villain, he serves the same purpose in the film as he always does in the comics: as the leader of Darkseid's Parademon army, sent to conquer planets and turn them into hellish landscapes like his home world, Apokolips. He's a conqueror plain and simple, nothing more multi-faceted than that and in the film he does a hell of a job, taking down legions of Amazons and Atlanteans single-handed before coming up against the League, who have their own struggles with him. Additionally, any DC comic fan knows that Steppenwolf only serves as the lead in for Darkseid, the first wave of attack before the tyrant himself appears. If nothing else, this film is laying the groundwork for Darkseid to appear in the sequel. On these counts, Steppenwolf does exactly as he's meant to do.

The bottom line is that Justice League perfectly does what it was meant to do: bring these iconic characters together for the first time ever to save the planet from a dire threat. The characters all have great interplay with each other which is often very humorous without feeling too forced or out of character, even for Batman, who despite having a reputation as always serious and brooding, is known to crack a joke now and then. His interplay with Diana is both flirty and tensely charged, even hostile at moments, hinting at the obvious romantic tension between the two.

Aquaman is kind of the group's wildcard, reluctant to join and a combative outsider at first, but gradually his deep humanity shines through. Jason Momoa did a great job conveying both his gruff standoffishness and his underlying charm and humor. Flash is for lack of a better analogy, the Ringo of the group, the happy chap who's just so excited to be included. Barry Allen is essentially a nerdy and enthusiastic guy and Ezra Miller perfectly expresses his impossible to contain amazement at the opportunity he's been given and provides most of the film's funniest moments. I hope to see his character deepen and mature in future films, but for JL his giddiness and enthusiasm were a unique fit for the team. Ray Fisher as Cyborg was another genius casting decision and one of the reasons I longed to see more Cyborg in the film. In the limited time he's given, Fisher manages to convey the feeling that his newly developing "abilities" are much more curse than gift, one that not only makes him extremely reticent to join the team, but even to rejoin humanity. There's a sadness to Cyborg which Fisher conveys beautifully. Of course Gal continues to shine as Wonder Woman, dispensing pearls of hard earned wisdom and tender compassion to the team as only Diana can, not to mention kicking some serious Parademon and Steppenwolf ass when shit gets real. Affleck's Batman more often than not feels like he's ripped right from the comics; he's got the moves, the gadgets and in this film, the attitude that makes Batman who he is. I enjoyed watching Bruce struggle with his dark night of the soul in BvS, but it's nice to see him step back into the light a bit in this film and act more like the traditional Batman.

All in all, Justice League achieves what it set out to achieve, namely providing a fun, dazzling and action packed superhero adventure which often looks like it's ripped right from the pages of Justice League comics, particularly Justice League: Origin. Unlike Snyder's two previous films, JL is a more straight-forward and flat out fun film which one doesn't need to overthink. Having said that, there are still a few burning questions which the film doesn't take the time to answer, chief among them how Clark Kent is able to return to society after being pronounced dead, and it would've been great to delve deeper into Cyborg, Flash and Aquaman's backstories in addition to having a bit more foreshadowing for Darkseid, but my hopes are still up that we'll get an extended ultimate cut like we did with BvS. From what rumblings I've heard, it seems that about fifty minutes of scenes were cut from the theatrical cut, scenes which most likely clear up much of the lingering mysteries and perhaps deepen the story. Still, the Justice League we got is a wonderful introduction to the team, one which makes me even more excited to see what the DC cinematic universe has in store for us in the coming years. We're still in the early stages of exploring this vast universe and now with so many of the key players in place, there's no telling where we might go next.   

A Farewell to Orphan Black

Just a few of the members of Clone Club from Orphan Black.

Early this past month, a little known Canadian television show which aired on BBC America came to an end after an epic five season run. For most people, August 12th was simply another Saturday night in their lives, but for the members of Clone Club, the 12th was a night they'd always remember as the night they bid a bittersweet farewell to the weird and wonderful little show called Orphan Black. This obscure Sci-fi cult hit may not have been much of a contender in terms of ratings, but what it lacked in mass appeal it more than made up for in a rabid and incredibly loyal fanbase, affectionately dubbed Clone Club. If it's not apparent at this point, Orphan Black is about the lives of, you guessed it, clones, primarily a group of female clones, all played to individual perfection by Tatiana Maslany, who discover each other and set out to uncover the complex hows and whys surrounding their mysterious creation and their purpose in the world. Over the course of five years, Orphan Black took us on a journey into some of the seediest corners of Science, where the line between fact and fiction is often paper thin, along the way calling into question the very concepts of individual identity and body autonomy which we take for granted. At it's heart however, Orphan Black is a story about the struggles of these women to unravel the mystery of their creation and define their own sense of self as more than just lab rats in some experiment.

Before we delve into the ending of this wonderful show, we must go back to the beginning in which we're first introduced to Sarah Manning, a leather jacket clad British street urchin who's just returned to Canada after several years adrift in the world. We first meet Sarah as she's pulling into a train station, presumably somewhere in Canada. Later, on the train platform, while Sarah's on a payphone talking to another woman about seeing someone named Kira, she sees a woman further down the platform in apparent distress. Sarah watches as the woman paces the platform in tears and then slowly removes her shoes and jacket, leaving them on the platform near her purse. As Sarah approaches the woman from behind, she suddenly turns around, bringing Sarah face to face with her own face staring back at her. While Sarah stares in stunned amazement, the woman suddenly throws herself in front of an oncoming train, to Sarah's horror. Right out of the gate, Orphan Black hooks you with this intense opening and takes you on a wild trip into a labyrinthine world of shady corporations, conspiracies and clones.

Over the course of the next couple episodes, Sarah slowly learns that the train jumper, Beth, is not her long lost twin but is in fact only one of several identical copies of her. As season 1 progresses we gradually meet the group of clones who'll come to make up the heart of the show. In addition to Sarah, the scrappy orphan with the sordid past who's trying to sort out her life in order to be there for her daughter Kira, we soon meet Cosima, the show's big hearted resident geek girl and evolutionary biologist who's determined to understand the science behind their creation, Allison Hendrix, the tightly wound suburban housewife with a love of musical theater and an itchy trigger finger, Helena, the bleach blonde Ukranian assassin with a passion for sweets and finally, Rachael Duncan, a self-aware clone since birth who sits at the head of the Dyad Corporation, a shady scientific conglomerate with deep ties to the cloning world. These are only the core group of clones in Orphan Black and along the way we meet at least eight more clones, all portrayed in singular fashion by the chameleonic Maslany.

Once Sarah learns of the existence of her clone sisters, they work together to uncover the reasons behind their conception and learn just how deep the conspiracy to control their bodies and lives really goes. From the start, the show served as a powerful warning not only of the pitfalls of unrestrained scientific experimentation, but also and perhaps more importantly, a compelling statement on the ways in which an individual's sense of identity can be manipulated and controlled by powerful, external forces. Whereas these women once believed themselves to be wholly unique, autonomous beings with the power to define themselves and their lives, they come to learn how their lives have been secretly monitored and controlled since birth with even their genes being patented and owned. Upon discovering that they're little more than lab rats in some elaborate experiment, the sisters take it upon themselves to expose this far reaching scientific conspiracy, one which takes them deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole with each succeeding episode.

The show perfectly married creepy pseudo-science with plenty of pulse pounding action, suspense, intrigue and black humor, but the heart of the show always remained the "sestras", as they became known, and their united quest to free themselves from the frightening control of their numerous makers and masters in order to define their own identities and sense of purpose. Over the course of five years, we watched as they fought against and outmaneuvered their enemies, laughed with them in rare moments of joy and cried with them in the throes of tragedy, shared in their triumphs and suffered their devastating losses, all in their struggle to be free of those who see them as nothing more than property to be controlled and exploited.

Through the magic of television and storytelling as well as Tatiana Maslany's unparalleled ability to fully inhabit these characters and imbue them with distinctive and endearing characteristics, all of us in Clone Club came to love the "sestras" and their extended family as our own. Their myriad struggles held a mirror up to our own desire to be able to cast off restrictive social labels and define ourselves however we want. The show and it's endearing characters reminded us that no one else can tell us who we are, what our value is or what we're able to do. It showed us time and time again that, like the sestras themselves, we are greater than the sum of our individual parts and collectively we make up the full spectrum of human diversity. This is more important than ever in an age when technology has already begun providing us the means as well as the motivation to regulate and control the human body.  Like all great Science Fiction and to a greater extent all great drama, Orphan Black, through it's wonderfully weird prism, succeeded in shining a light upon the fundamental aspects of our own vast humanity.

Although the epic saga of these clone sisters may have come to an end, the legacy of the show lives on in the countless members of clone club who were brought together from so many divergent walks of life by its message of individual identity and shared humanity. This is a testament to the enduring power of this weird little show and the passion and love that went into every second of making it.  Much like the sestras of Orphan Black, bound by their shared experiences, the members of clone club will always be bound by their love for the show and the characters who became like members of a secret little family. For those of us who bought the ticket and took the strange trip through the bizarre and beautiful world of Orphan Black, it's a story that will always hold a special spot in our hearts.             

Wonder Woman: Where No Man Dares to Go

It's been far too long since there's been any new material on my blog, so I figured what better way to stretch my blogger's legs so to speak than by taking a crack at what was arguably the biggest film of the summer, Wonder Woman. I know I'm quite late to the party and there's already been plenty of ink spilt discussing the colossal impact which this criminally overdue film is having on people, both men and women, from all walks of life. As of now, the film, which was released on June 2nd, can still be found playing in many cinemas across the country and, I imagine, the world, some three months later. This fact, along with the overwhelmingly positive critical and commercial response to the film gives clear proof that a film about the world's first and most famous female superhero was something that people had been dying to see for years. Now, more than 75 years since she debuted in All Star Comics #8, the legendary Amazon warrior known as Wonder Woman has finally been brought to glorious life on the big screen with all the strength, grace, determination and humanity which have remained hallmarks of this iconic character.

It should come as no great surprise that I myself saw the film no less than five times. With each new viewing, the symbolic impact of this ultimate champion of truth, justice and equality was more and more profound, particularly given the current social and political atmosphere in which we find ourselves, a time when the core values most of us in America once assumed to be fundamental to our national identity seem to be called into question more and more. In a period when we're coming face to face with egregious assaults against the very progress we as a people have paid for in blood, it's beyond moving to see a flesh and blood personification of our best qualities brought to life onscreen. Wonder Woman's onscreen debut in last year's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice merely whet our appetites to see this classic icon of female empowerment and equality in her own film. Given that the film is set to be released on Blu-Ray later this month, I figured now was the right time to delve into why I feel this film is the perfect culmination of all Wonder Woman has stood for over the decades and absolutely worth the 75 year wait.

When it comes to DC's big three heroes, Wonder Woman has always stood toe to toe with Superman and Batman in the comics, but unlike those two icons, she's been conspicuously absent from the big screen since her inception. Other than the 70's Wonder Woman tv show, Diana Prince, a.k.a. Wonder Woman has mostly been confined to the panels of the comic book world. That all changed when Zack Snyder, not simply satisfied with bringing Superman and Batman together in a film for the first time ever, decided to throw the Amazon warrior into the movie mix for the first time in history. Regardless of what you might have thought of the resulting film, one can't deny the history shattering power of Wonder Woman's first on screen appearance, arguably outshining Supes and Bats and pouring kerosene into the growing fire for a Wonder Woman film. Luckily, an origin film was already underway with Gal Gadot, Zack Snyder's initially surprising choice for Wonder Woman, resuming the role in her own solo venture. Many like myself who saw her in BvS were quickly convinced of Gadot's ability to convincingly embody the strengths of the character, but there were plenty of others still reserving their judgments until they saw her carrying her own film.

Diana examining the first man she's ever seen, Steve Trevor (Chris Pine).

Picking up roughly where BvS ended, with Diana keeping a low profile among mankind after she walked away from us one hundred years prior, we are quickly wisked back in time to her childhood as daughter of Hippolyta, Queen of the immortal Amazons of Themyscira. The origins of the Amazons in Greek Mythology are covered nicely, including Diana's original comic book origin in which she was sculpted from clay by her mother and brought to life by Zeus. Themyscira is a heavenly paradise populated by the fiercest warriors, chief among them Antiope, Diana's aunt, who, against the wishes of Diana's mother, trains her to be the greatest warrior among the Amazons. Diana's mother keeps Diana on Themyscira, hidden away from the horrors of man's world, that is until man's world comes to Themyscira in the form of Steve Trevor, an airplane pilot who crash lands on the island and is rescued by Diana. While she marvels at seeing a real life man for the first time, the people Steve was attempting to escape from, the Germans, follow him into Themyscira. This is one of the best treats of the film; it takes place during WWI, the world's first modern war on a global scale. After an epic battle on the beach where we see the Amazons in spectacular fighting form against the Germans, Steve is compelled by the famous lasso of truth to reveal that he's working as a spy for the British. Diana is horrified to hear Steve recount the horrors of this war to end all wars and the millions already dead. Not surprisingly, Diana ends up accompanying Steve back to our world, convinced she can single handedly end the war by killing Ares, the Greek God of War who she believes has poisoned men's hearts into starting the war.

Gadot so believably conveys Diana's wide eyed naiveté about the world without a shred of irony or cynicism that you don't doubt her sincerity for even a second. It's her complete innocence and inexperience which creates most of the film's funniest moments once she comes to our world and attempts to navigate the many subtle and confounding aspects of our strange society. This, I feel, is a reflection of Gal's own genuinely kind and down to earth character, something I had the honor of experiencing for myself when I met her at Rhode Island Comic Con. She effortlessly radiates natural warmth, charm and grace as well as strength, both inner and outer, in every scene.

Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman crossing No Man's Land.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the already legendary scene in which Steve and Diana are moving through a trench where Allied soldiers have been stranded for years fighting the Germans. Despite Steve's insistence that they can't stay and help the villagers held hostage by the Germans on the other side of No Man's Land, Diana takes it upon herself to help, revealing her iconic Wonder Woman armor and walking out of the Trench straight into the bombed out, barb-wired wasteland in between. What follows is undoubtedly the most awe-inspiring and powerful moment of the film and I unashamedly admit to getting choked up as Diana confidently walks forward through the mire, deflecting machine gun bullets with her bracelets and mortar rounds with her shield. This one scene singlehandedly conveys the immense power and awe of this character and all she's come to represent over the course of her 75 year history. The symbolism is not lost in the fact that here's this warrior woman, strong and determined, standing up for what's right and pushing forward in a land where no man can even take a step. From this moment on in the film, Diana is simply unstoppable, rolling through enemy troops singlehandedly with an astonishing grace and power, proving beyond a doubt why Diana is one of the greatest fighters in the DC Universe.

One of the film's many strengths is its ability to pay homage to the light tone of classic Superhero origin movies without shying away from the grittiness of the real world or falling into the clutches of campiness. The film never takes itself too seriously yet respects the seriousness of the subject matter and the grim realities of war. In this film, we see how Diana's initial innocence and unwavering optimism in the goodness of mankind is tarnished by the human atrocities she witnesses, ultimately giving way to the edgier cynicism we first see in her in BvS. In keeping with the portrayal of these classic heroes in the grounded and more realistic DCEU, Diana is shown to be a character who always tries to do what she believes is right, but quickly discovers that in our deeply complex and messy world the best way to go about doing that is often a very difficult thing to ascertain.       

Despite being set one hundred years in the past, the world presented to us in Wonder Woman is one very similar to our own, a world of smoke and fire where darkness and light wrestle for control of every human heart. The film's strength lies in its ability to take an icon like Wonder Woman and bring her through the muddy trenches of the real in order to rise triumphantly and continue fighting for what she chooses to believe is worth fighting for. Despite Diana's shocking discovery of the duality which lies in the hearts of men, she still chooses to believe in our capacity for good and it's this message which the film delivers so powerfully. Diana is confronted with the same dark temptations we humans wrestle with everyday and her acceptance of this as a reality and her determination to keep fighting for what she believes are what make her the hero and icon that millions of people, regardless of race, religion, gender or identity, have looked to for inspiration and guidance for over 75 years. Today, perhaps more than ever, people are desperate for heroes who shine a light on the best aspects of our collective humanity and now with Wonder Woman finally off the cinematic sidelines and shining in her own film, many people feel they have a champion to look up to, one who can show the way forward through the smoke and muck of this world. Take heart, brothers and sisters, Wonder Woman is here!

Why I Still Prefer Cavill over Hoechlin

Ever since Superman came soaring into National City to help his Kryptonian cousin Kara Zor-El in the Second season of the CW’s Supergirl, there’s been a seemingly endless debate raging between fans as to whether this new tv Superman, played by Tyler Hoechlin, is a better representation of the Man of Steel than the still controversial and admittedly grittier version played by Henry Cavill in the DCEU, beginning with 2013’s Man of Steel. Since that films release and its more controversial aspects, many longtime fans have been passionately arguing that Cavill’s Superman is too dark, too brooding and not the symbol of light and hope that Superman, particularly embodied by Chris Reeve, is supposed to embody. Even after the events of this year’s hotly debated Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, in which Superman sacrificed his life to save a world that largely feared and hated him, many fans still feel that this cinematic Superman is missing certain key elements of the classic Superman. As both a lifelong fan of the classic Chris Reeve Superman and an ardent fan of the DCEU, I’m here to say that although I’m happy to have Superman back on television in any form and feel that Tyler’s doing a fine job, I still feel beyond a doubt that Cavill’s Superman is the better of the two; a new, modernized embodiment of Superman who deep down still has the same heart, but who grapples with real, relatable doubts and insecurities.

                There’s no doubt that even to this day, Christopher Reeve’s classic portrayal of Superman is still the yardstick by which all following Supermen are judged. Almost forty years later, Reeve’s portrayal as the Last Son of Krypton and the ultimate champion of Truth, Justice and the American Way is still the go to version for many fans. Reeve’s endurance stems from the fact that his portrayal perfectly embodied everything that Superman represented back in the late seventies. Back then, he was still very much the straight-laced, clean cut big blue boy scout who was an unfaltering symbol of Justice and Hope. Reeve embodied this untouchable quality flawlessly, bringing every kid’s favorite superhero to glorious life on the big screen. As the following decades brought us edgier and darker heroes with deeply personal and more relatable reasons for doing what they do, Superman’s clean cut image started to make him seem boring and one dimensional. Fans wanted more depth, more complexity in their characters motives. This was reflected in the Superman comics, where the character started to grapple with more inner conflict and doubt, still trying to help everyone while balancing a personal life with Lois.

            When Man of Steel came out in 2013, it was clear from the start this version wasn’t going to be the classic Superman who simply chooses to be a champion of Justice for humanity. Snyder gave us a Superman who grew up in the real world we know all too well, one where the most well-meaning individuals come up against scrutiny and criticism in our increasingly cynical and politicized society. This new Superman grew up with the knowledge that humanity would most likely fear and hate him for what he can do, and therefore he was taught to hide in plain sight until the day came when he was ready to face the world. Despite this and Jonathan Kent’s desire to keep his adopted son safe from being treated as a freak, young Clark helps people whenever he can because of his strong moral code. He helps people without taking any credit and disappears to avoid being exposed. It takes earth being threatened by General Zod to get Clark to reveal himself to the world, but only because he knows once he does the world, his and ours, will change forever. Many elements of MOS rubbed long-time fans the wrong way, most notably the still controversial neck snap that ended Zod’s plans for worldwide genocide. Although I myself was not bothered by Superman killing Zod because I understand that sometimes real heroes have to make the impossible choices for the greater good, I know that to hardcore fans of the classic Superman, this was blasphemy. These people are forgetting however, that Superman has been forced to kill before, in fact he once executed alternate versions of Zod, Faora and another Kryptonian with Kryptonite after they murdered billions on a parallel earth. Considering that this is what Zod wanted to do to this earth, it’s understandable that this completely novice Superman would make the hard choice to save humanity. People like to argue that Man of Steel lacks the uplifting moments that made Superman: The Movie so inspiring. To this I say, yes overall Man of Steel is an edgier and grittier version of the Superman world, but Cavill’s Superman is still ultimately an inspiring figure, just not as over the top as Reeve’s version. As a fan, how can you not feel elated and inspired when you witness Clark’s joy at soaring through the sky for the first time? How can you not feel inspired when he first reveals himself to the world, floating gracefully in the sun, the flowing red cape of his people billowing in the wind behind him? How about when he emerged from the wreckage of the locomotive in Smallville, with all the soldiers looking on realizing that he’s not their enemy and Hans Zimmer’s beautiful and haunting score playing? Or how about when he saves the entire planet by destroying the world engine, defying the gravity of his home world and resembling, for the briefest of seconds, Chris Reeve as he soars up into the machine and destroys it. What about when he turns up at the Daily Planet, ready to fight for his adopted world as Superman and lay low as mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent with the help of his new love, Lois Lane.

            Man of Steel showed for the first time Clark Kent really becoming Superman. After a lifetime of laying low and keeping himself in check, he finally can be himself, but that means being the only one who can fight off a global threat from the last of his own people. With no training or experience, he defends us against Zod and his soldiers and chooses his adopted world, a world that might ultimately reject and hate him over the last of his own people. One of the big but shallow complaints against Cavill’s Superman is that he doesn’t smile enough and that he doesn’t convey the essential lightness of Superman. This is something that Tyler’s Superman alleviated in the season 2 premiere of Supergirl by beaming triumphantly just about every minute. I don’t understand what smiling or winking has to do with being a hero, but even so, to say that Cavill’s Superman never smiles is not only a very petty complaint it’s also wrong. He does smile at several points in both films, it’s just that the circumstances surrounding him, particularly in BvS don’t warrant him smiling constantly like an idiot. At what point in BvS should he have been smiling; the moments when he sees that many of the people he’s trying to help consider him to be a threat or a false god? How about the moment when he has to watch helplessly as the people around him in the Capital building are incinerated by Lex’s carefully hidden bomb? How about when Lex reveals that he’s kidnapped Martha Kent and will burn her alive unless Superman kills Batman? The fact is that Cavill’s Superman is the same Superman we all know and love, but it’s not the same world it was in the Reeve films. It’s a world that would be irrevocably altered by the presence of an alien being with god like powers, a world that all too often resorts to panic and hatred when it’s faced with the unknown. Cavill’s Superman is trying to do right by everyone, but knowing how to do that is nearly impossible when you live in a world where what’s right for some isn’t right for the rest.

            There’s no doubt that Tyler’s Superman is a continuation of the version portrayed by Chris Reeve. He’s effortlessly charming and heroic, is always smiling and witty and even delivers some of the same lines as Reeve’s, particularly the bit about air travel statistically being the safest way to travel. Unlike Cavill’s Superman, he’s also been doing the superhero thing for many years and has it down like clockwork. It serves as a nice tribute to Reeve and the classic image of Superman, but it leaves a lot to be desired for character development. As a fan of Superman as a living, breathing character and not just a caricature, I prefer to see him struggle and grapple with being a hero in a world that either sees him as a devil or savior when in reality he’s just a guy trying to do the right thing. What makes his ultimate triumphs more triumphant is watching him stumble and fall at first, make mistakes and learn from them so he can pick himself up and be the hero we know he is. This is what constitutes the heroes journey in classical mythology, the human struggle from everyman to Superman. Physiologically, Superman might be an alien, but emotionally and mentally he’s more human and therefore experiences real human doubt and desire. It’s how he handles these doubts and insecurities and still tries to do what he feels is right for the greater good that make him a hero, not whether he smiles or not.

            Fans who are still criticizing Cavill’s Superman for not being “heroic” or “light” enough seem to be forgetting that since he first revealed himself in Man of Steel he’s saved the entire planet at least three times. He destroyed the World Engine at great risk to himself, preventing the entire population from being flattened into dust, then he stopped Zod from killing every single person on earth like he promised to do unless Kal stopped him. With great hesitation, he was forced to break Zod’s neck to stop him from killing just one family, an act which caused him to scream in agony. After saving the world twice, he has to contend with a large percentage of the population who fears and hates him despite his continued heroic acts all around the world, including rescuing one girl from a factory fire in Juarez, Mexico. When Lex unleashes Doomsday in a last ditch effort to destroy Superman, Superman sacrifices his life to stop Doomsday and once again saves the planet even after we nuked him and he did all this in only two years as being Superman.

            Having said all this, I’m still happy to see Superman back on television and understand that the tone of the show is deliberately lighter in order to appeal to a wider demographic. There’s nothing wrong with this; the fact that people are still talking about Superman and enjoying his exploits in any form is a great thing and the show satisfies those fans seeking a simpler, more straight forward version of these characters. Tyler’s doing a great job conveying the classic mannerisms of Clark/Superman which are ingrained in our culture, but for me his version is a bit like Diet Coke, a watered down version of Cavill’s Superman, who has the full flavor of Coke. One isn’t inherently better than the other, it’s all about preferences, I just don’t feel that anyone can discount Cavill’s Superman because they think he’s too brooding or doesn’t smile enough; if you just don’t like him that’s fine, but don’t stoop to shallow reasons like that to put him down. Superman’s about so much more than what’s on the surface; it’s about his heart and his ability to always do what’s right in the end despite grappling with the same shortcomings and failings as the rest of us. Superman represents all humanity and the desire to take what’s best in each of us and use it to make the world a better place.          

Suicide Squad: Bad has never been this good.

Photo Courtesy of heroichollywood.com

They say a hero is only as good as their villains and when it comes to great villains, DC Comics has no shortage of the world's most infamous and iconic bad guys. From Lex Luthor to General Zod, Two Face to the clown prince of crime himself, the Joker, the DC universe is teeming with countless rogue's running the gamut from crime bosses, assassins, rogue super-humans, megalomaniacs, tragic figures and downright psychopaths.  In addition to these well known rogues, DC is home to many lesser known yet still badass villains and antagonists who keep our heroes busy on a daily basis. Now that we've taken our first giant step into DC's connected cinematic universe and seen DC's three biggest icons, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman on screen together for the first time ever, laying the groundwork for the Justice League, it was about time to introduce DC's most infamous group of super villains, Task Force X, or as they're more commonly known: Suicide Squad.
David Ayer's Suicide Squad is the third film in the DC cinematic universe which was kicked off by 2013's Man of Steel and followed by Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. While those two films laid the groundwork and established the grittier, more realistic tone of the universe, Suicide Squad  introduces the viewer to a few of the key meta-humans and anti-heroes lurking within the vast depths of the DC Universe. The film is a great comedic and thrilling counterpoint to the more serious and mythic tone of the previous two films while building upon the grittier, edgier tone already established.
For those not familiar, Suicide Squad is a team of anti-social bad guys brought together by master manipulator, Amanda Waller, played by Viola Davis. After Superman's heroic sacrifice in BvS: Dawn of Justice, Waller worries that the next being with god-like powers won't share Superman's values and seeks to form a team of enhanced people whose "unique" skills might come in handy when the next threat arises. The Squad consists of a few well known DC villains, most notably the Joker's girlfriend, Harley Quinn, played by Margot Robbie. Harley's been in the comics for a few decades, but we've never gotten a live action version of her until now. Harley Quinn started out as Harleen Quinzel, a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum who was given the task of analyzing the Joker. Instead, Joker crawled his way under her skin and she became infatuated with him, ultimately joining him in his crusade of chaos and death. The film picks up with Harley already confined at the notorious Belle Reve prison, providing a few flashbacks showing her being seduced by the Joker and ultimately being apprehended by the Batman, played once again by Ben Affleck.

Jared Leto's shocking new take on the Joker
Photo courtesy of www.elheraldo.hn

Imprisoned along with Harley at Belle Reve are the other core members of Task Force X. Chief among them is Deadshot (Will Smith), the world's greatest hit man for hire who's trying to make a life for his daughter before also being apprehended by Batman. Smith does a great job conveying both Deadshot's razor sharp humor and his underlying heart. Next up there's Captain Boomerang, an aussie who's known primarily as an enemy of the Flash. As his name suggests, he commits crimes using a variety of deadly boomerang gadgets. Jai Courtney plays him with quirky humor which never veers into campiness. He's portrayed as seriously as can be for someone named Captain Boomerang. Then there's Killer Croc, a.k.a Waylon Jones, a fairly well known Batman adversary born with a rare skin condition that left him covered in crocodile scales. Further experimentation turned him into more of a croc than a man and at Belle Reve he's kept in an underground sewer cell. Next up is the aptly named El Diablo, a former gang member with pyro-kinetic abilities who in a fit of anger inadvertently killed his wife and children. Since being imprisoned at Belle Reve, he's sworn off violence forever, that is until he's unwittingly recruited into Task Force X. Finally we have Enchantress, a.k.a archeologist June Moone, who becomes possessed by an ancient sorceress who overtakes her whenever she utters the word "Enchantress."  Toss in Katana, a Japanese super-heroine with a sword that traps the souls of its victims and the group's handler, Colonel Rick Flag and you have the Suicide Squad.
Using entertaining and informative flashbacks, the film does a great job of concisely showing how each of these people ended up in Belle Reve and demonstrating their unique skills. Not good at playing nice with others, they're each coerced into working together for Waller to prevent a supernatural threat. The film's appeal lies in how these renegade characters and their extreme personalities clash, often to humorous effect. Margot Robbie shines as the wildly unhinged and mercurial Harley Quinn, providing most of the film's humor while Will Smith knocks it out of the park as Deadshot without stealing anyone else's thunder. Each character brings something unique to the table. Whereas DC's two previous films were epic, almost mythical explorations of what it means to be a hero in the real world, Suicide Squad is a burst of pure thrills, all out action and humor which comes across naturally given the charismatic and extreme nature of these characters.
Undoubtedly, the film's most anticipated character is the one and only clown prince of crime, the Joker, played by Jared Leto. It's been almost a decade since Christopher Nolan's masterpiece The Dark Knight, but the comic book world is still reeling from the late Heath Ledger's unforgettable take on the Joker as a psychopathic terrorist of anarchy and death. While Ledger's portrayal was the Joker stripped down to his raw, terrifying essence as an unstoppable force of chaos and devastation, Leto's seems a bit closer in spirit to the classic Joker of recent comics. He's still brutally unhinged, psychotic and unpredictable, but rather than wanting to watch the world burn, this Joker feels more like a sadistic crime boss who's main priority in the film is getting Harley back. In the little screen time he had, Leto did a great job conveying Joker's sadistic creepiness, but he wasn't in the film enough to make an impression anywhere near as impactful as Ledger. Still, Harley Quinn with her beloved "puddin" Mr. J was something right out of the comics. I'd like to see more of their crazy relationship explored in future films. The Joker acts as a wild card in this film, following his own separate agenda and the main focus is the Squad as a way to introduce this assortment of wild and unpredictable characters. Ultimately, Suicide Squad didn't have the same intense impact on me that Man of Steel or BvS had, but that's mainly because I have such an emotional investment in Batman and Superman. Suicide Squad's not a movie that'll have you contemplating for days after seeing it, but in this case, that's a good thing. The characters don't warrant super serious attitudes because they're anti-heroes who don't play by the rules and embrace the absurdity of life. Superman and especially Batman on the other hand have traditionally always been more serious characters because of their consciences. Suicide Squad is a great counterpoint to DC's previous two films, an indication of the thrilling fun and excitement to come in the DC universe now that our heroes have come through the existential darkness and will soon be doing what we all know they do best, going head to head with the countless villains and anti-heroes who make up the vast world of DC comics.

Attack of the Clones: The beautiful weirdness of Orphan Black

 



Welcome to Clone Club: The clone sisters of Orphan Black

What would you do if you came face to face with someone who looks just like you? What if you found out that this person was not your long lost twin but was instead a genetic copy of you, one of many living all over the world? This mind melting concept is the basis of Orphan Black, which just recently began its fourth season. The show follows a British orphan named Sarah Manning, a punk rock street urchin and con artist with a shadowy past. After a year in London, Sarah returns to Canada with the intention of getting away from her shady past and starting fresh with her 8 year old daughter Kira and foster brother Felix. Arriving at the train station, Sarah sees a woman who appears to be in distress, taking her shoes off and leaving her purse and jacket on the ground. Sarah approaches the woman who then turns around to face her and Sarah comes face to face with herself. Before she can say or do anything, her mirror twin leaps in front of an oncoming train. Amidst the commotion, a stunned Sarah quickly grabs the woman's purse and flees the scene. This is how Orphan Black begins and it only gets more wonderfully weird as it goes on.
I have a bad habit of being a latecomer to many acclaimed phenomena, both in television and film and Orphan Black was no exception. I'd heard of the show and caught random episodes here and there, always intrigued but unsure how to get into it. Finally, I found all three seasons available On Demand and from the second I watched Sarah and her doppelganger on the train platform, I was hooked. What begins with Sarah stealing her dead doppelganger's identity in an attempt to get a clean start turns into a quest to solve the mystery of her origins after she discovers that she and her doppelganger (named Beth Childs) are just two of several genetic clones. She soon meets Alison and Cosima, two more clones who bring her into what is affectionately referred to as "Clone Club." Knowing that there are more clones out there, some of whom have been murdered in Europe and some who are dying of a mysterious illness, the three clone sisters attempt to get to the truth of how and why they were created.
The show is a terrific blend of thrilling Fringe-like Sci-Fi, creepy suspense, drama and dark humor. Playing these various and varied clones is the brilliant and beautiful Tatiana Maslany who so thoroughly embodies so many uniquely different clones that you continuously forget you're watching only one person. All told, Maslany portrays or has portrayed up to eleven clones, also including the feral and unpredictable Ukrainian Helena, the German Katja Obinger and the cold, calculating Rachel Duncan.  Maslany is a clone chameleon, disappearing entirely into each one she's playing and imbuing them with their own quirks, mannerisms and speech patterns not to mention very varied accents and tones of voice. Watching Maslany shift from one clone to another, often in the same scene, is like watching a master's acting class.
Despite Maslany's almost constant presence on the show, she doesn't take anything away from the supporting cast, all of whom manage to seem like fully realized and multi-dimensional characters off of whom the many clones play in very different and fascinating ways. Chief among the supporting characters is Sarah's cheeky but loving foster brother, Felix. Both raised by a woman named Siobhan Sadler or Mrs. S as they call her, Felix and Sarah have an unbreakable bond punctuated by biting humor. Felix is an artist and painter who lives in Galerie Rimbaud, his beautiful bohemian paradise that's often a safe haven for Sarah and her clone sestras (sisters). Being a devotee of Arthur Rimbaud's poetry, this reference was another immediate hook for me.
Being a Canadian show rather than an American show allows Orphan Black a freedom and frankness it otherwise might not have enjoyed on an American Network. Both Felix and Cosima are gay, but this fact is not the defining trait of either character; their sexually is depicted as openly and honestly as it should be, as just one of the many aspects which make them who they are. The themes of identity and the idea of self are crucial to the show and are represented by the extreme variations among the clones, particularly the idea of these concepts being fluid and dependent on perspective rather than being fixed and static. Identity exists on a wide spectrum containing an endless variety of forms. Orphan Black does a wonderful job of challenging and questioning our predisposed notions of identity and individual sense of self, showing how we're all composites of both our genes and our environments and therefore slave to neither entirely.
Given their often drastic differences, it's natural to at first play favorites with the clones, but the show does a great job of developing each of them and imbuing them all with their own motivations for doing what they do. Given their vastly different upbringings, each can be at least understood if not condoned for their actions, even those which might hurt the others. Each clone has at least one redeeming quality although it may not always be readily apparent. Most of this goes back to Tatiana Maslany and her total absorption in each character's motives. Over the course of three seasons, the show twists and turns and dives deeper into conspiracies and long buried secrets regarding the clones and the reasons behind their creation. Although still Science Fiction, the show's science basis does seem grounded in reality, especially given our real world advancements in the realm of cloning. The show's a treasure trove of scientific concepts sure to fascinate hardcore science geeks, but it's still grounded enough for regular viewers to understand the basics. Orphan Black is a weird and wild rollercoaster ride full of surprises and secrets and at the helm is the wonderful and versatile Tatiana Maslany whose clones continue to venture further down the rabbit hole to unravel the mysteries behind this thing we fans call "Clone Club."