Orange is the New Black

[Night Fury]

After being rather disappointed by Netflix's Hemlock Grove, I was reluctant to watch another Netflix original series.

But I stumbled across 'Orange is the New Black' a show about a woman who spends a year in prison voluntarily to avoid further charges after her past with a lesbian drug smuggling relationship is revealed.

Orange Is the New Black (TV Series 2013? ) - IMDb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2372162/)

It's actually pretty superb, with a strong cast. Very enjoyable! Anyone else watching it?

[Freya]

I saw the first two episodes. It's alright. My verdict is still out on it though. Dunno how I feel yet. I don't love it but i don't hate it either.

[CimminyCricket]

Jasmin and I watched all 13 episodes in two days. Were actually really distraught that the first season is over. We don't know what to do.

[Shlup]

Same here! Except I think it took me three days. I love the characters! Especially Crazy Eyes. It can be frustrating to see helpless people get fucked over so much, but they don't do that too me too often. My only complaint is that they make every inmate a sympathetic character... Aren't criminals ever just shitty assholes?

[CimminyCricket]

I don't have sympathy for the mother of Dalaya(sp?) or for some of the hispanic clique. I definitely feel for Crazy Eyes though, watching her after she heard the radio show hurt. Crazy bible woman gets no sympathy either, she's just crazy crazy. I did feel for Mendez too though. He had a good point, I thought. And sometimes inmates were shitty assholes. Remember Red in the beginning? Shitty asshole. Tastey in the opening scene? Shitty asshole. I'm so mad at myself for finishing the whole season already. I have to wait FOREVER now for it to come back. :C

[Miriel]

I didn't think I would like it. But I ended up loving it. It's my favorite netflix original so far. I marathoned the episodes in 4 days.


Same here! Except I think it took me three days. I love the characters! Especially Crazy Eyes. It can be frustrating to see helpless people get smurfed over so much, but they don't do that too me too often. My only complaint is that they make every inmate a sympathetic character... Aren't criminals ever just troutty assholes?

That's seriously the only criticism I have of the show. Yeah, of course there's gonna be people in prison who are good people who made bad decisions, but there's gotta be SOME women in there who are just troutty asshole people, who aren't insane right? Like the Jesus freak is a bad person but she's nuts too.

Pornstache and Healy are both complete scumbags. It makes me icky just thinking about those two. Ew ew ew.

[Raistlin]

Same here! Except I think it took me three days. I love the characters! Especially Crazy Eyes. It can be frustrating to see helpless people get smurfed over so much, but they don't do that too me too often. My only complaint is that they make every inmate a sympathetic character... Aren't criminals ever just troutty assholes?

I think most people, if you watch them enough, will have some sympathetic conduct or history, to varying degrees. The show might try to hard to express it, but I don't think the lack of one-dimensional characters is much of a criticism. I just read an excellent blog article (http://www.popehat.com/2013/07/29/fruitvale-station-subversive-humanity/) about this sort of thing on the subject of Fruitvale Station (which I have to see as well).

I haven't seen the show yet, but I've heard generally good things. It's on my list of things to watch.

[Night Fury]

I'm going to have to get Phil to get this so I can finish it. Damn Aussies are missing out by not having Netflix!

[Raistlin]

I am enjoying my first night of not having to work by relaxing and starting to watch this. I've only seen the first episode so far, and I'm not thrilled about it yet, but I'm enjoying it and will continue watching.

I'm still left wondering why the fuck she pled out to a 10-year-old charge where the only apparent witness was a felonious accomplice, but I'm trying not to let the defense attorney in me ruin the show. :p

[CimminyCricket]

I questioned it as well, but I chose to ignore it in favor of all the boobs I was seeing.

[Raistlin]

I finished the first season. It was enjoyable, and definitely worth a watch.

I can see what Shlup and Miriel were complaining about, though. It's not the absence of one-dimensional assholes, but the lack of people more complex than the "hard on the outside, pure soft on the inside" trope. Almost everybody is perfectly nice and buddy-buddy with each other after the first couple of episodes, and it makes for a very unrealistic portrayal of prison life. It was good for an easy-to-watch drama-comedy, but not as informative or powerful as I was expecting.

For instance: the show starts out with a fairly good representation of race relations in prisons: prisoners tend to group together with their own skin color, and racism is rampant. And it is treated as a horrible thing when Piper is transferred to "the ghetto" with all the black people. But then nothing happens, and everyone just gets along and are practically all BFFs by the end of the first season, regardless of race (except for crazy Jesus hick). At times it felt white-washed and insincere, possibly to try to appeal to a wider audience than fans of The Wire and Oz.

Of course, part of the whole point of getting the show made in the first place was to show how good people can end up in prison. And so fair enough.

[Shlup]

To be fair, if it was more hardcore about the racism and people just being dicks all the time, I probably would be too frustrated to watch it. I like seeing people get along. ;__________;

[Jinx]

I'm four episodes in, and loving it. So good.