A thread for Netflix's women-in-prison dramedy ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK

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♥

just watched first ep. oh piper.

nnnhhgghh I have to wait for GOT and 24 to finish before I switch from Sky to Netflix and watch this + House of Cards.

very lukewarm review from the nyt.

idk that seemed a little more positive than 'lukewarm' to me

Variety also more or less called it a comedown.

interesting to me that much of the nyt's criticism is that the show presents a sanitized/suitable for tv-face on the prison experience, when many people -- here and in articles assessing the show -- say it's fairly accurate (for at least some prisons).

Tasty is still my fave

three episodes in. i know it's cliche to diss on piper, but episode 2 without her was a straight-up delight. they kinda lampshaded her role in the show when natasha lyonne made that crack about her thinking she was the star of everyone's movie, but ughhh i just find her so aggressively boring.

loved the little girls they got to play young taystee and young suzanne, and the casting of the little girls at the slumber party with suzanne blew my mind: they were like delicate, bitchy songbirds, so tiny and high-pitched.

Just finished episode 2. I don't think I have it in me to binge for 13 hours this weekend, but I'll probably be done by mid-week. Agree that the little girl who was cast for young Taystee was an amazing choice.

Anybody else encountering missing captions on the fifth episode? I've read that Netflix's recent app update doesn't play nice with Roku as far as captions are concerned, but there is way too much Spanish and Russian in this one for me to keep up with what's going on.

most of the way thru season one, and i hate the american-pie actor's character more than i hate the pennsatucky character.

You'll hate them fairly equally by the time you reach the end.

holy s--t.

Three episodes of s2 down and holy hell i'd forgotten how much i loved this show

Episode four has so many touching moments. This is good.

"I'm not an alcoholic. I'm Australian!"

season two really is much better than season one. the intensity on everything is turned up.

Really? I've been thinking everything in S2 seems like low stakes compared to S1. Not that it's a bad development, but there's a lot less tension.

the racial tension (with the major undercurrents of violence), the initial story about piper stay at a different facility and how that plays out, piper's changed personality, the turning of one guard because of his personal issue, all seems like an across-the-board increase in the stakes to me.

(final episode of season one was equally intense, i'd agree).

Stakes definitely get higher deeper into S2. I've got two episodes left and I'm trying to decide whether to savor them by waiting or just go ahead and knock them out.

Those aren't prison roaches in Episode 1. They're Madagascar hissing cockroaches (the kind you get at pet stores). Entomology FAIL. ONE STAR.

in all seriousness tho it's great so far

two-thirds the way through season two. vee's a great villain, but they've given no glimpse into any "good side" of her personality. she's just there, as a manipulative evil presence, stirring things up. there are all or mostly evil people, but this show tries to show fuller, messier characters.

enjoying the season thus far but the writers seem to always want to insert poop-related elements in every other episode.

happy to have a character that isn't nice once you get to know them. rosa is season 2 mvp for me. kinda love that as crazy as we thought lorna is it didn't begin to compare to just how batshit crazy lorna actually is. the flashbacks felt more like lost this season (maybe i just forgot or maybe there were more piper ones last season and it didn't feel as much 'backstory' of the week), no complaints as that was one of the stronger facets of lost. elements of oz's flashbacks there as well though those were alot briefer and more to the point, few of the flashbacks here actually end w/ the arrest and only a few really tip you off on how they ended up in prison, it's usually just a detail in their backstory.

I guess watch out for spoilers but the Lorna reveal was great. It does contradict something said in Season 1 (an off-hand comment about how Christopher hadn't visited her since her first year in prison, when he'd never ever visit her - though she could have merely told him he visited, so I was ok with that), but it's one of those things that makes sense but you never really had any reason to distrust her narrative in Season 1 that they were, at one time, lovers. I like how long they waited to play that card.

him = them

happy to have a character that isn't nice once you get to know them.

― balls, Sunday, June 8, 2014

yeah, i see this point, too. i'm going back-and-forth on it, as i watch.

kinda surprised there wasn't a major cliffhanger to end it? sorta felt like it was all tied up, for the most part.

I don't mind not having a cliffhanger, because most of the resolution in that final episode was worth the build-up to get there. (Still don't give any shits about Piper and Alex.)

"Noble" male characters in the final episode is a total 180 from the end of S1, though, where every one of them ended up a shitheel.

i'm watching the final episode now. wasn't season two in the can before they decided to go forward with a season three? that would explain the lack of cliffhangers.

yes cuz there was a chance that netflix, the company that hasn't cancelled lillehammer, might not renew what is by far their biggest hit.

I still haven't watched House of Cards, but after the second season of that I'd think the two shows are on equal footing popularity-wise. Anyway, I don't think ambiguity about a possible S3 had much to do with how S2 resolved itself.

house of cards gets the award show love and mag covers, orange gets the crit love so in terms of what actually matters to netflix it's probably a wash but literally the only piece of data netflix has released about their total viewers for shows is that orange is the new black is by far their biggest hit and it drove their subscriptions to a record high last year. i could imagine the margin maybe narrowed (understandably, s2 of hoc >>> s1) and admittedly this is just anecdotal data but hoc's return garnered 'o hey this is back' and renewed debates over whether it's any good and whether it's awesomely bad or just bad while half the women (at least) i know have been breathing 'the animal the animal' under their breath for a month now. ppl were geeking over trailers. anyhow i anticipate having regina spektor stuck in my head for a week or so every summer for years to come.

Yeah, the rate that time moves on this show, they'll be able to stretch Piper's eight remaining months into at least 3 more seasons.

When Fig tried to distract the accountant with the NY Giants socks on by saying Tiki Barber would be at her husband's cocktail party, I called bullshit at my television. No Giants fan still likes Tiki Barber!

Watched the first episode with growing dread that we were going to get a whole season in a new prison, so seeing the rest of the cast in episode two was such a relief.

Ensemble cast >>> Piper at this stage but this show is really good at casting its minor characters and making them distinctive.

Yeah, the rate that time moves on this show, they'll be able to stretch Piper's eight remaining months into at least 3 more seasons.

― Johnny Fever, Monday, June 9, 2014

one storyline, left dangling, seems to hold open the possibility of an extended sentence for piper.

this show is really good at casting its minor characters

Kinda bonkers that Lori Petty was cast in such a tiny role in just the first episode. This kind of show is made for her.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/08/lori-petty-on-orange-is-the-new-black-the-halcyon-90s-and-discovering-jennifer-lawrence.html

I found out that the casting directors were in New York on my favorite corner, Sullivan and Spring, and so I called my manager and said, “I’m in New York for one more day and I want to meet Jennifer Euston, who casts Orange and Girls.” She said, “You want me to call her and tell her you’re in town for just one day and want to see her?” And I said, “Yes, please.” So, she called her and they said, “Oh my god, we love her”—because to them I’m someone they grew up with and they probably went as me for Halloween or something. I went and visited with them to put my name in their ear, and this role came up so they gave me a call.

whoa, I didn't realize Jodie Foster directed the premiere! neat.

last episode of season-two may have wrapped things up a little too neatly, but with a show like this (a season's worth of episodes released on a single day), it's okay. i'm looking forward to a new set of storylines developing in season three.

whoa i thought that character was really familiar but i just couldn't place her! xps

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Fixed.

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Just finished the new season. Will not spoil. Until then, just want to say it's fucking great, and continues to be maybe the best cast show on (sorta) television.