Sci-fi is a hard genre to get a hold on. And while many shows will advertise that they hit the perfect Sci-fi mark, I can guarantee you that they will be lying. Only one show has, in our era of television and media, successfully pulled off all the nuances of a modern Sci-fi. The show’s writing never misses the mark and it carries off its impeccably crafted storyline with enough cinematic beauty and mastery to make Wes Anderson cry.

Orphan Black boasts one of the best actors currently in the film industry and has a full range of incredibly diverse characters that veers away from what has been relied on as the model of the Sci-Fi industry: straight, white men. It simultaneously tells a story fraught with mystery and a dense, complex plot, yet still manages to be driven by themes that are rarely addressed with so much bluntness and so few apologies.

Sci-fi tells stories of the future. It spins tales of scientific impossibilities and unlikely heroes, yet it is often held back by society’s desire for safety, to venture no further than the familiar. Orphan Black has cast aside televisions’ reliance on such tropes and familiarities. It tells the stories that need to be told, not just the ones that are easy.