2 TV shows you should be binge watching and 1 parting word

1. Orphan Black

The first five minutes: Sarah is a down on her luck single mom fighting to regain custody of her daughter. She’s standing on a platform waiting for a train when a distraught woman drops her purse and shoes on the ground and moves toward the edge. A train approaches. The woman turns and looks at Sarah, and Sarah stops cold—the two women could be twins. The other woman then leaps in front of the train. Sarah grabs the woman’s purse and bolts.

Why you’ll stick around for more: You guys. THIS SHOW. My husband and I ordered sushi one Friday night and sat down to watch the first episode on a whim, and twenty minutes went by and I realized I was still sitting there, holding a pair of chopsticks over an untouched spicy tuna roll. There are so many things to love about this show—Clones! Secret medical experiments! Heart-stopping suspense! CLONES! But really, what makes this show is the absolutely brilliant acting of Tatiana Maslany, who balances seven different roles and makes each of them unique and sympathetic. She deserves to win ALL THE AWARDS. For serious. Buzzfeed agrees with me. (LINK: http://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelhorner/why-tatiana-maslany-should-be-on-your-radar)

Catch Orphan Black on BBC America. (Warning: Mild sex, nudity, language and some violence.)

2. Continuum

The first five minutes: It’s 2077 and corporations are king. Literally. Policewoman Kiera tracks the leader of a terrorist organization intent on bringing down the corporations. Kiera moves in, but before she can stop him, the leader triggers a series of explosions, killing tens of thousands of people. Six months later, the leader and several of his followers are set to be executed for their crimes. Kiera is providing security. But then the terrorists enable a time travel device, whisking themselves and Kiera back to 2012. When Kiera wakes, the terrorists are gone, and she knows she has to find them.

Why you’ll keep watching: There’s a lot to like about Continuum. It’s a classic fish out of water story, albeit one with some pretty cool, futuristic gadgets thrown in for good measure. But what I love most about Continuum is the time travel world. It’s very different from my own time travel world, but it raises a lot of interesting questions for you to puzzle through. You know, if you like that kind of thing.

You can see Continuum on SyFy, and it’s also available on Netflix. (Some violence).

And as a final parting note, I’d just like to thank the League for inviting me to be an affiliate this month. I had a blast! And if any readers what to chat about anything further—time travel, action scenes, rabid Orphan Black fangirlishness—feel free to drop me a line at merediththewriter at gmail.

Meredith McCardle is June's Affiliate Blogger. To find out more about our guest author positions here at the League, click here.

Meredith McCardle is a recovered lawyer who lives in South Florida with her husband and two young daughters. Like her main character, she has a fondness for strong coffee, comfortable pants, and jumping to the wrong conclusions. Unlike her main character, she cannot travel through time. Sadly. Her debut, THE EIGHTH GUARDIAN, will be published by Skyscape/Amazon Children's in Spring 2014.

The Eighth Guardian

by Meredith McCardle

More info

Iris's world is turned on end when she's plucked out of her top-secret government training school and dropped into an organization she’s never heard of: the Annum Guard. It’s a team of highly trained operatives who have the ability to travel back in time and tweak the past to improve the present. Enhancement, not alteration—or so they claim. But the deeper she gets into the organization, the more she learns that the Annum Guard is keeping some very dangerous secrets. So now she has to start digging for answers without getting caught. For if she fails, it won't just be her life on the line. It will be an entire history's worth of lives.