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

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

https://24.media.tumblr.com/7d8a6b81187ab627d81970c07b3ec9d4/tumblr_n6tokkHrBf1rq3iono1_500.jpg

https://31.media.tumblr.com/690cc63a330e3c31f313031e14e76881/tumblr_n6tokkHrBf1rq3iono2_500.jpg

https://31.media.tumblr.com/77968f9f97c070e2f00b70497553009b/tumblr_n6tokkHrBf1rq3iono3_500.jpg

https://31.media.tumblr.com/b930368b47cf712a3b7d0b10ff1aa16e/tumblr_inline_n6xfbfhBEw1sh0u1j.png

https://31.media.tumblr.com/6f19aa9a6f508fa46f0c3c4a60d225eb/tumblr_inline_n6xfc15C3w1sh0u1j.png

Fixed.

https://31.media.tumblr.com/c99f2ed57f62ef7b0ced221f7eea7acb/tumblr_inline_n6xfd9WQjI1sh0u1j.png

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.

Oh Morello...

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.

― Everyone is awful except you. Wait, no, you are also awful. (jjjusten), Thursday, June 12, 2014

season two was so good. only part i thought may have been the slightest bit of a letdown was the final half of the final episode (no spoilers; it's just that some uncharacteristically implausible things happen, but that's tee-vee).

Everyone is awful except you. Wait, no, you are also awful.

ha.

been watching season 1 and 2 this week on a few binge sessions.
really enjoying it.
however, for the last few episodes my teenkid has joined in with the viewing.
think he has learnt a few things he never expected to while sat next to me in the living room.

anybody remember this early mtv hit? turns out the woman playing norma sang it (she was also in the shirts)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHqpdVNd88g

also that nyt review is seriously off base. the best writing is for the male characters? oh, right, it's by a dude critic. smh

^^^Yup.

haha that is insane. i liked that they humanized most of the prison admin and guards, it moved the show away from a cartoonish tendency that weeds never avoided moving toward, so in that sense the writing for the male characters got better this year but still, that is insane.

Oh shit, I had no idea Yael Stone (Lorna) is Australian. Expecting that Long Island accent to come out of her mouth and being greeted with an Australian one is throwing me off balance.

I was definitely put off by the cartoonish end to the finale, but the episode leading up was good enough that I forgave it. solid season all around.

they really upped the poop quotient tho

Poussey = MVP methinks, as well as Taystee for her arc.

Pennsastuckey became way more ancillary than I expected

my week's been so busy that I haven't been able to watch the last two episodes. it's driving me crazyyyyy.

i think this season has been very strong, but the part of me that wants my favorite characters to experience only sunshine and rainbows is suffering. taystee and poussey :( vee exploiting suzanne's loyalty :( :(

i'm still not a big piper-fan, but in several episodes they've used her very judiciously as comic relief, and that's my favorite version of her. loved her asking healy to put alex on her call list and hurriedly clarifying "IT'S NOT A LESBIAN THING!"

Poussey was definitely the S2 mvp, though Suzanne is a close second.

otm.

no way bank robbers are cool

well, vee was a pretty imposing, significant character, and that actress really inhabited the role. she might be mvp.

Rosa good too, but didn't steer any part of the story besides her own.

didn't steer

See what I did there? lol

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/film/2014/06/11/where-the-fuck-are-all-the-guards-an-ex-con-reviews-orange-is-the-new-black/#.U5n43Wk51y0.twitter

haha great link - "There’s a putt-putt golf course near my house with more security than this prison."