Top Five Impersonations: Orphan Black

Orphan Black is an endless source of acting amazement from the wonderfully-talented Tatiana Maslany.  A perennial favorite of mine on the show, an instance of her pushing that talent to places a little bit extra, is whenever one clone masquerades as other.  These sequences are always terrific; I love seeing the little (or enormous) ways the actual personality/mannerisms bleed through whoever the clone is pretending to be.

Alison as Sarah

Considering that Alison is Clone Club’s resident “actress,” it’s surprising that she doesn’t do more sestra impersonation.  Watching her as Sarah is fun (and I love that Kira isn’t fooled for a second,) but I especially get a kick out of watching her prepare for her first outing as Sarah, with Felix helping her pull a reverse Eliza Doolittle.

Sarah as Cosima

I believe I’m correct in thinking this is the only time anyone ever impersonates Cosima, and it’s as slapped-together as it is dubious.  Delphine, upon kissing who she believes to be her girlfriend, figures it out instantly, but it’s amazing how much automatic trust everyone else places in the idea that it’s really Cosima.  The impersonation itself is okay, if a little inattentive.  But this is an obvious rush job – Sarah’s hair isn’t even in clear braids, just sort of twisted to look like it sort-of is, and no one questions it!  That’s interesting, how even people who know about the clones take for granted that the one they’re talking to is the one they expect.

Sarah as Rachel

This is a cool one.  Since there’s so much bad blood between Sarah and Rachel, watching Sarah impersonate the pro-clone is plenty charged in its own right, but it’s further exacerbated by the deadly stakes involved with Ferdinand and Helsinki.  Kudos to Sarah for how smartly she plays Ferdinand, figuring out the history between them on the fly and doing what she needs to maintain the farce.

Cosima as Alison

We very rarely see Cosima impersonating other clones (in fact, is this the only instance of that happening?), but it’s fun because, while taking on the role of Alison, it’s clear that she is not good at it.  She’s not especially invested in it, to be fair, and her attempt is definitely half-hearted – though she might do better in a higher-stakes situation – but it’s just laughable.  She nearly outs “Alison” as a lesbian in the middle of a school board campaign speech and has to (badly) cover it with “…supporter.”  Ha!

Helena as Alison

Like Cosima-as-Alison (although in a very different way,) this is an impersonation that isn’t good, just fun.  Any impersonating on Helena’s part is always incredibly lazy, with barely any attempt to act or sound different; she’s just lucky in that, whenever she plays Alison, she’s with people who don’t know Alison and this don’t realize what a ludicrous impersonation this is.  Nearly the only concession she actually makes to “being” Alison is pretending Donnie is her husband, which is endlessly entertaining.