Every TV Fanatic knows that there is always the good and the bad that comes with a strong first episode of a series because while the story likely hooks the audience immediately, maintaining that level into the following episode can be a hit or miss.
Not with Orphan Black: Echoes Season 1 Episode 2, though.
Once again, the show has delivered a perfectly paced story that doesn’t feel bloated or convoluted despite introducing more characters, both old and new, while still managing to move the character-driven plot along.
If this episode deserves credit for one thing, it’s its seamless shift in tone throughout.
A lot of shows try to adjust tone, thinking that it’ll help with the pacing or atmosphere of the story to strengthen the themes and vibes or as a failsafe to keep audiences interested, but this tactic rarely works as it usually takes viewers out of the story.
Related: Orphan Black: Echoes Season 1 Episode 1 Review: A Beautiful Bird in a Cage
However, Orphan Black: Echoes seems to have cracked the code of switching from an intense thriller to a quippy comedy, mainly due to reintroducing a character from the original series.
Felix: I’ve just flown in from New York, and the backs under your eyes wouldn’t fit in the overhead bins.
Kira: Hello, Uncle Felix.
Felix: Hello, Monkey.
There’s no other way to describe the character besides an Austin Powers set in the future. Oh, wait. That was more or less the premise. Okay, so he is an updated Austin Powers.
Felix: Free champagne and street drugs for everyone.
Kira: Street trucks? Like cocaine?
Felix: Have you got a taste for nose candy now? Ugh, how very midlife crisis of you.
Kira: No, it’s not for me.
Felix: Is it for Lucas? I always wanted a sun I could buy drugs for.
Even beyond the accent and disturbingly similar wardrobe, the character actually said the word “shagging” at one point. Seriously?
Despite the overuse of similarities, Uncle Felix was a welcomed addition to the series, garnering genuine laughs throughout.
And let’s not get that blatant call back to the protagonist of Orphan Black, Sarah, and even though the character wasn’t named, it was a nice easter egg for fans of Orphan Black.
Kira: How is Mom?
Felix: Couldn’t be happier working at the shelter. Helping women. She’s practically like Mother Teresa, if Mother Teresa had discovered she was part of a human cloning experiment gone wrong.
Then, there was just the briefest glimpse into Lucy’s time at the shelter house through a momentary interaction with a possible former lover.
Craig: She never got over you.
Lucy: I bet she wrote a shit ton of poems about it.
Craig: So many.
If the show is headed toward more unexpected moments of laughter, I am all for it because it only added to the quality and segued to less intense scenes without an abrupt switch to the atmosphere.
For the more severe aspects of the episode, we were introduced to Mr. Darros, who was established with ties and a clear connection to Jules and Lucy.
It’s likely he is the series’ “big bad,” as the agents searching for Lucy reported directly to him. While he is likely the villain, it was nice to see he is already as exhausted with Tom as the rest of us.
Mr. Darros: Emily, you are looking at the last Hawkstail tortoises on Earth. We’re saving them from the brink of extinction. See, these orchids, they feed on them, and it makes them more virile
Tom: Huh. Maybe I should eat orchids.
Mr. Darros: Orchids wouldn’t help you, Tom.
At the heart of everything is Kira, played by Keely Hawes, who some might recognize as Ms. Delphox from the insanely popular British series Doctor Who. You may have heard of it.
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Even though the series focuses on Lucy and her struggle to find answers about her past and present, the story seems to revolve around Kira and how she got to where she is after the events of her childhood in Orphan Black.
Felix: When did you become such an old fart, Kira Manning?
Kira: Hm, I suppose the 20 years of intensive therapy it took for me to get over my childhood gave me a taste for being a little boring.
At least the character was also given an opportunity to earn her own laughs because there is just something funny about shouting “Do you have cocaine?” in the middle of a nightclub expressly for scientific purposes.
There had to be a collective groan from viewers everywhere shared with Uncle Felix when Kira’s son said he was a part of “Quakerism.”
Instant cringe. Tell me you’re a cult without telling me you’re a cult.
This series’s acting, writing, and dialogue really set it apart as an AMC hit with an exceptional quality that can rarely be found in sci-fi shows.
Some moments weren’t intended to be funny, including when Lucy breaks into Neva’s office.
Although breaking in isn’t an accurate description since the door was unlocked, the close-up shot at the door saw Lucy look around before entering, and then when the camera pans out, you can see the entire office is glass.
I had to chuckle because why even bother looking around?
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As for Jules, the tenacious teenager definitely has some fire in her and honestly felt closer in characteristics to Jessica Jones than Krysten Ritter did in this episode, and that somehow only adds to the certainty that Jules and Lucy are the same person.
Jules: Let me out of the car right now! Where are you taking me?
Lucy: Stop pretending! If you don’t know anything, then why are they watching you?
Jules: Nobody’s watching me.
Lucy: Then why is there a woman stationed outside of your building with a gun? Who does she work for? A woman who knows my name!
We definitely got more info about Jules’s past than Lucy’s in this episode, learning that she was in an accident that killed her parents and left her with no memory.
Jules: You think losing your parents, everything you know, is convenient?
Craig: What do you mean, everything you know?
Jules: I lost my memory in the crash, too.
Lucy: I didn’t have my memory either when I was made
As a little entrepreneur, we expected Jules to be a bit sharper. Sure, she’s a kid, but did you see how old those photos of her parents and when she was a kid were?
They are thirty years in the future. Honey, do the math. Those pictures should be filtered, social media-ready, and AI-enhanced to get as much faux internet love as possible.
And while her foster mother seems like a sweet lady, the show has already established that not everyone is who they seem.
I’m looking at you, fake grandpa. That guy sucked, and he barely had two minutes of screen time.
Finally, there’s no getting around the most heart-wrenching moment of the episode: seeing how much Charlie is still torn up about killing the agent who attacked Lucy in Orphan Black Season 1 Episode 1.
It just made us want to reach through the screen and give her a big hug, tears at the ready.
It’s safe to say nothing bad can ever happen to that character because there are just some things viewers can’t come back from, and seeing the sweet deaf girl who protected her pseudo-mother get hurt is absolutely one of them.
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This show is already so good in so many ways. It’s wild to think we’re only two episodes in.
I don’t know about you guys, but I am at the edge of my seat and chomping at the bit for even more.
We’ll likely see more characters from the original series, but let’s keep our fingers crossed that this wasn’t Uncle Felix’s only appearance.
What did you think of the second episode of Orphan Black: Echoes?
Did you appreciate the lighter moments of laughter?
Drop a comment below to let us know, and join us again when we review the next episode!
Joshua Pleming is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. You can follow him on X.