Did anyone else catch the premiere of this show last night? I liked it enough to watch it twice. My only complaint was the German Sarah seemed more like a Russian Sarah but other than that, interesting premise.
One thing I was confused about, and without too much spoilering if others have seen the whole series if possible, was how two obviously English foster kids (Sarah and Felix) ended up in New York City. I am assuming Mrs. S, who has Sarah’s daughter, was their foster mother - at least they both know her and it seems a logical leap except for the fact that they both have accents.
I only watched about half the episode before I got sleepy but still have the rest on DVR.
For being set in NY or thereabouts, it sure didn’t feel like it. Even the money the girl pulled out of her suicidal doppleganger’s purse looked completely wrong.
This looks absolutely fantastic. Just ignore the pathetic attempts to set what was obviously a British serial in the US. It’s set in the UK, just accept that and ignore the the US references.
Yeah, that’s what tripped me up. When I watched the 2nd half I did notice the Ontario plates, and suddenly it all clicked in place for me that it’s in Canada, eh?
Anyway, on the Nerdist they had a segment where they toured the set with the guy that plays the flaming best friend, and in real life he doesn’t have a British accent at all. It was like a reverse Walking Dead.
Looks like a promising show. I’m eager to see where it goes. I do hope Sarah’s annoying ex-boyfriend falls down an elevator shaft or something; I have little use for him.
Two episodes in, I’m liking it quite a bit. Refreshing to have a protagonist that’s always a step behind and screws up more than she succeeds; she’s neither ultra-competent nor a complete moron, which most TV protagonists fall into. She’s just an emotionally-damaged gal who is in way over her head.
I’m assuming Elizabeth was the clone for Canada, Sarah was the one for the U.K. and happened to move to Canada as a girl, and Alison was the one for the U.S. who happened to move to Canada at some point. Fully prepared to be wrong, though.
Actually her successful mimicking of a dead person’s accent and rapid study/apparently strong presentation before the board of inquiry struck me as a little too competent, verging on ultra-competent. Few people would be that quick of a study. I’m willing to give it a pass for now, especially if it has something to do with her genetics ( i.e. she really is exceptional by design ). But it could just be the writers wanting to have their cake and eat it too.
The accent thing is a bit of a stretch, I admit, though it has slipped a couple times, notably in front of Beth’s boyfriend, Paul. She hasn’t had to speak much to him, thanks to the sex-distraction and his moving out due to pre-existing problems in the relationship (amusing that Sarah winds up having to pose as one of a handful of people whose life is more screwed up than hers).
The inquiry was just a matter of reciting a memorized story, right? And she had some help from Beth’s partner, Art. And it’s a case of Keep It Simple, Stupid, memorize what you can, and answer any question outside of that with “I don’t remember”.
Maybe I overstated my case, but Sarah seems to be possessed of cunning (throwing up soap to escape the inquiry, seducing the boyfriend to shut him up) and an ear for accents, but she’s not a super-genius, nor does she make the sort of mistakes that only a fool would. I think she’s in a nice middle ground; closer to Walter White or Walt Longmire (realistically clever and possessed of skills, but with some blind spots in their thinking; for Sarah it seems to be her focus on the short-term) than to The Doctor (on the ultra-competent end) or Rick Grimes (on the moron end).
In general I think I agree. She is not portrayed as brilliant so much as having excellent mimetic talent. I think that verges on the extraordinary, but could easily be a result of her “special condition.” Or she just might be coincidentally naturally talented that way. Which is a little too much of a coincidence to be realistic, but probably won’t ruin the show for me :).
As others have mentioned, its obviously set in Canada, though there did seem to be some attempts to reference NYC in the pilot.
I, too, thought the German clone sounded more Russian.
I’m curious what will happen when Sarah–posing as Beth–is reinstated as a cop and has to actually do some police work. That will be much harder to pull off.
I don’t think she’s even necessarily that great a mimic. The woman she’s pretending to be had psychological problems, was hopped up on too many psychoactive drugs and was apparently suicidal. So its easy to see where her friends and acquaintances wouldn’t be too suspicious of weird personality changes. I think one of the first things her bf says when he sees her is if she’s gone off her meds.
The accent thing takes a little bit of suspension of disbelief, but it’s kinda necessary just as a device to help the audience keep all the different “versions” straight.
I’m watching still, after two episodes but noticed the confusing locale (U.S. or U.K.?) and her accent inappropriately changing.
This is beginning to remind me of some promising shows that ended up terrible because of the creepily obsessive focus on one actress (and her body and her clothes and her sexiness and her accents and her hairstyles) who the writer/director is obviously smitten with. Sort of like “Look what she can do! Here’s Suburban Barbie. And here’s German Barbie.” Etc.
Canada. It’s a Canadian-sourced production ( despite the BBC America imprimatur ) with a substantially Canadian cast. If you look closely you’ll see Canadian license plates and money - it’s not obscured, just not mentioned. Everybody seems confused because in the opening scene the central character used a British accent and was standing on a train platform when a train for NYC is announced. But it seems to be a inadvertent rather than deliberate confusion. The main character and her foster brother were Brits that were brought to Canada by their British foster mother and retained their accents as adults.
Thanks. I was a little hasty there and probably hadn’t had my nap (or a snack, or my porridge was the wrong temperature, etc.). I did notice the driver side orientation and I thought it was strange they would re-shoot those scenes when they were being so apparently sloppy about other things, but I don’t think about such things very hard. I just accept that video and film production is a black art and leave it at that.
Started the second ep. but didn’t get far. I’ve got a bad feeling though. It looks like it should really rock so I’m not sure why it seems off. Maybe by the end of the episode I’ll have something.
