This article contains spoilers for the first episode of 'Orphan Black: Echoes.' Sometimes a new television show illuminates the limitless possibilities of the art form. And sometimes it reveals that art form’s struggles. “Orphan Black: Echoes” is precisely what the title implies — a far-off reverberation of an original event, in many ways mirroring the state of television at the moment, scrambling to reclaim its former glory. This is not to damn “Echoes.
'Orphan Black: Echoes' has Ritter and Hawes, two fine performers, and, as the plot unfolds, an at-times powerful subplot about how far the pain of loss can drive you. But the thing it does best, alas, is remind the world of how truly great and radically under appreciated “Orphan Black” was, and what a mess television has become since it debuted.