this weird Canadian science fiction renaissance

AV Club review of Orphan Black's pilot

The series is also a part of this weird Canadian science fiction renaissance we’re in right now. Fellow members include Lost Girl and Continuum, and like both of those shows, the low-budget production values will be a deal-breaker for some. (The show is so low-budget that there are few—if any—times when Maslany shares the screen with herself, seemingly a prerequisite for a series about people who look identical to each other.) But for those who can look past the low budget and get over their fears about how on Earth this could possibly be a long-running series instead of a miniseries, there’s so much fun to be had in the depths of Orphan Black’s labyrinthine plotting and endless forward momentum, and there’s even more fun to be had watching the young woman at its center make her way through the maze.