Orange Is The New Black (Season2)

[Russ]

Guest starring Laura Prepon. At least that mystery's been solved.

[Mara]

I powered through this pretty fast. Really great-- darker and more violent than last year, and less funny (although certain scenes and lines were still hysterical.)

[Gizmo]

2 episodes in and I'm not digging it as much as the first two episodes of last season, though these two seem to be mostly introduction to this year's story lines and characters. I'm hoping things pick up once things come together again.

[Mara]

If this was a conventional show I would have HATED episode one. Come back after a year and stick us with one of the most boring characters for an hour? But because I could go straight to the next episode, it was a cool, disorienting way to bring us back in to the world, and remind us exactly how little control convicts have over their own lives.

Plus we got this:

"He's a hit man?"
"Yes."
"Oh thank God, I thought he was a rapist."

[Mara]

My main complaint about the season is that some of the flashbacks really didn't add anything to what we already knew about the characters, or else were boring. Not all, but some.

A few were great, though. (Lorna! I'd been waiting ages for Lorna backstory, and it did not disappoint.)

[amberlita]

I find it nearly impossible to believe that every woman in there but the transgender inmate was unaware you have a separate "pee hole" from your vagina.

[EyesWideOpen]

I'm taking it slow. I've only watched through the first two episodes. My wife wants to burn through the whole thing in like two days but I don't enjoy shows watching them that way.

[number8]

I find it nearly impossible to believe that every woman in there but the transgender inmate was unaware you have a separate "pee hole" from your vagina.

I think you underestimate just how bad sex ed in America is. Did you see that YouTube video that went viral where they got random middle-aged women from Craigslist to look at their vaginas for the first time and talk about the various reasons why they never learned about their bodies?

[number8]

I powered through this pretty fast. Really great-- darker and more violent than last year, and less funny (although certain scenes and lines were still hysterical.)

I think it's still as funny, but the humor is certainly much darker. I was wondering if this was in response to the complaints of the first season that no one's being hostile to each other in prison. All of a sudden, there's this emphasis on inmates trying to take each other out.

I'm not sure if it's a good move, to be honest. It certainly makes the show more engaging, and I finished this season way faster than season 1, but it feels like it lost something unique about the show. Turf war? Heroin ring? Shankings and beat downs? There's the danger of this turning into any other prison show. I kinda liked it when they're all just chasing around a chicken.

[Mara]

I find it nearly impossible to believe that every woman in there but the transgender inmate was unaware you have a separate "pee hole" from your vagina.

I think they went heavy on it to emphasize how culturally stressed it is for women to be ignorant about their own bodies, but they went a little far with it. (Once again, THANKS MOM for the copy of Our Bodies, Ourselves when I was 11. You are the best mom.)

However, Taystee's adorable reading of "Awww.... it's cute" made up for how silly that plot was.

[Spinal]

I think you underestimate just how bad sex ed in America is. Did you see that YouTube video that went viral where they got random middle-aged women from Craigslist to look at their vaginas for the first time and talk about the various reasons why they never learned about their bodies?

For me, it's not that the show address these topics, but rather the manner in which the show addresses these topics. I find this season that I am more frequently aware of the broad, cartoonish characterizations (Uzo Aduba being the worst offender) and the blunt social messages writ large. There's a sanctimonious tone that underlies most of the show that I don't really think is necessary. It's like listening to the activist friend who you agree with, but who still manages to get under your skin because they seem so sure that they know what's best for you.

[Mara]

I'm not sure if it's a good move, to be honest. It certainly makes the show more engaging, and I finished this season way faster than season 1, but it feels like it lost something unique about the show. Turf war? Heroin ring? Shankings and beat downs? There's the danger of this turning into any other prison show. I kinda liked it when they're all just chasing around a chicken.

I found it interesting in a couple of different ways.

First of all, in the first season it seemed like almost nobody in the prison was a violent offender, except Claudette (who was provoked) and Pennsatucky (who was bonkers, and got off with an easy sentence due to her perceived ideology.) This both did and did not make sense. This is a minimum security federal prison, and you're going to see a lot of drug-related crime, and theft, but violence should still be there somewhere. I actually really liked the introduction of the aggressive old ladies who were transferred from supermax for good behavior.

Secondly, I like that the turn towards violence was because of one smart, violent, charismatic person. One thing we saw over and over again in the first season is that a prison is a delicate ecosystem, and one prisoner (or guard) can upset that balance and power dynamic. Lorna has a line late in the season about how it wasn't like prison was a country club before, but at least there weren't factions actively trying to kill each other. One person changed that.

Lastly, I love ridiculous Soso's comment about how she didn't expect prison to be so mean, but more about women supporting each other and coming together in sisterhood. Because it is so ridiculously naive, but in the world of the show, at least, it's also sort of true. No woman on the show is so callous that she isn't looking for some sort of emotional validation, or love, or friendship, from someone. Although sisterhood is kind of rare-- it's more common to have mother/daughter relationships, where one person takes care of others. This dynamic is constantly played out both literally and figuratively over the course of the show. That tie is seen as deeply emotionally important.

A great example of Soso's silly optimism coming true, spoilered because it's late in the show:

[

Show Spoiler

I laughed out loud when she suggested a sing-along during the blackout, along with her enthusiastic rendition of "Bitch," but I laughed even harder later on when they cut back and she had actually gotten everyone singing. Oh Soso, bless your crazy heart.

]

[Mara]

It's like listening to the activist friend who you agree with, but who still manages to get under your skin because they seem so sure that they know what's best for you.

Ha ha... the show IS Piper!

[number8]

Ha ha... the show IS Piper!

I'm pretty sure they introduced Brook just to make Piper more calm by comparison. Another reason why I think they're deliberately referencing criticisms from the first season. They do address the idea that their situation suddenly got a lot more violent as you said in your post, but in the end the writers did decide to introduce Vee precisely to shift the show's stakes.

[ledfloyd]

I'm six episodes in. Digging it.

[Skitch]

I'm taking it slow. I've only watched through the first two episodes. My wife wants to burn through the whole thing in like two days but I don't enjoy shows watching them that way.

Your wife and mine! I'm good with one episode a day.

I enjoyed the first episode of season two. Waiting to see where it goes.

[Skitch]

Also, was I the only one in total disbelief of a mixed gender general prison population? Apparently it does exist, but that was news to me.

[DavidSeven]

If this was a conventional show I would have HATED episode one. Come back after a year and stick us with one of the most boring characters for an hour?

I've only watched the first episode, and I agree with this part right now. This was extremely frustrating. I think the character is fine, but this episode kept the viewer in the dark for far too long. Was the first 20 minutes of this season seriously a super long van ride followed by a super long plane ride with almost no other comprehensible story?

Flashbacks were rote and forgettable. I think this episode would've been panned pretty hard if released on a conventional schedule.

[Spinal]

Finished the series. That ending ... oh, brother. Doesn't it undermine your "everybody's got a story to tell" ethos to end on a moment that is so utterly glib in regards to good and evil?

[ledfloyd]

Finished the series. That ending ... oh, brother. Doesn't it undermine your "everybody's got a story to tell" ethos to end on a moment that is so utterly glib about in regards to good and evil?

This.

Overall I really enjoyed the season, but that final scene felt completely out of touch with everything else.

[Irish]

Finished the series. That ending ... oh, brother. Doesn't it undermine your "everybody's got a story to tell" ethos to end on a moment that is so utterly glib about in regards to good and evil?

How so?

I took it like this: The flashback sequences in the first season were meant to generate sympathy. The US is an insanely punitive country when it comes to criminal justice. We care more about retribution than redemption. That's almost always reflected in our entertainment too. The only major exception that comes to mind is The Wire, but I think that show had different goals.

If they presented a bunch of guilty characters without explanation, it would be much tougher for the audience to connect with them. (You can get around that with male characters by making them macho badasses, but it doesn't work with women, especially minority women). (This is also why I was surprised they continued with the flashbacks well into season two. Not only had the novelty value worn off the mechanic, it also seemed unnecessary from a character standpoint).

Vee was a sociopath from the start. Those kind of people don't survive in a vacuum; they need to feed off others constantly. There is no better end for her than to die on the run, alone, at the side of the road like an animal. If she had survived and escaped, the audience would have hated it. We need that sense of retribution, too, and a bit of closure at the end of the story. (The biggest weakness in Vee's story was that the show bent over backwards to make her unsympathetic. I also had a hard time believing characters like Tasty and Red would ever trust her again after she so severely fucked them over in the past.)

I'm not sure how high concepts like "good and evil" come into play. One of the show's strongest themes is that these women became what they became by a combination of bad choices and systemic failure, not because of abstract morality.

The way Tasty's backstory unfolds, it's very easy to see that, had she been born white and grown up in the suburbs, she'd be a college graduate now sitting on a cushy white collar job. The complement and counter is to her Piper, who had every advantage in the world and threw it all away because of specific personal failings. (And along that spectrum, characters like Alex, the Sister, and Red fit in very nicely).

[EyesWideOpen]

Great addition:

Mary Steenburgen Joins ‘Orange Is the New Black’ Season 3

[DavidSeven]

I didn't love this season.

Vee was a boring, one-note character and dominated way too much of the narrative real estate. Soso was a paper-thin caricature and a mere afterthought after her first few appearances. The flashbacks for fringe characters were largely forgettable and added little to the overall story. Usually, I couldn't wait for them to end. The racial turf war stuff felt pretty rote to me, and worst of all, the need to fill out factions led them to waste Taystee and Watson for most of the season. I guess I understand the desire to marginalize Piper and Pennsatucky... actually, I don't. That doesn't make sense to me. The ending was indeed awful -- not only for its glibness, but also because it didn't connect up with anything besides throwaway moment earlier in the season. It was a stop short of a deus ex machina and provided little emotional payoff for this season long arc.

The biggest positive of the season was probably Morello. Compelling and well-performed character. Her flashback was one of the only ones that felt like it added something. She almost makes the season worthwhile by herself.

Overall, this mostly felt like a regression back toward the Weeds' standard of lacking quality ideas and mishandling principal characters. Lingering goodwill from Season 1 will keep me pressing forward, but this season definitely left a bad taste in my mouth. Big disappointment.

[Spinal]

The biggest positive of the season was probably Morello. Compelling and well-performed character. Her flashback was one of the only ones that felt like it added something. She almost makes the season worthwhile by herself.

Yes to this. I always thought Yael Stone was the most compelling performer in the show, and this season she was backed up with a heartbreaking storyline.

[Irish]

The ending was indeed awful -- not only for its glibness, but also because it didn't connect up with anything besides throwaway moment earlier in the season. It was a stop short of a deus ex machina and provided little emotional payoff for this season long arc.

Two of the biggest themes of the season centered around controlling one's own body and controlling one's own future (two things which probably resonate on a deeper level for many women than most guys). There's multiple storylines about each, as well as a number individual cross references. Rosa and Vee are written as almost personifications of those themes, so it at least makes some sense that the come into violent contact at the series conclusion. The humor was glib, but the moment was not.

I agree that Morello was one of the stronger characters, and her backstory was the most rewarding. Her story was the biggest around another theme, about narcissism and impulse control.

I almost think they did right by minimizing Piper to the degree they did because she's really one of the least interesting aspects to the show.