Orange Is the New Black

[MarkGrace]

Newest original series from Netflix, and some are hailing it the best yet. The first half of season 1 went up on Netflix Instant last night.
http://www.metacritic.com/tv/orange-...critic-reviews

[MartyFunkhouser]

This show is really good.

[All-American]

Entertaining and well done, if you can get past various R- (and arguably NC17) rated elements.

[Pelado]

Entertaining and well done, if you can get past various R- (and arguably NC17) rated elements.

Get past them? Aren't those the draw?

[All-American]

Get past them? Aren't those the draw?

If so, yikes.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Entertaining and well done, if you can get past various R- (and arguably NC17) rated elements.

NC17? Now that's what I'm talking about!

I was watching Oz a couple years ago but I came to a point where I had to stop.

MV5BMTYyODc0MTI2N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNDYwMjk3Mw@@._V1._SY314_CR8,0,214,314_.jpg

This guy pictured above spread his butt cheeks in one of the episodes, I'm not kidding you. It was probably the most graphic thing ever shown on HBO, which is really saying something. Shame on whoever on here that recommended that show. You could have warned me about the anus shot.

[Flystripper]

Watched the first episode. It was pretty good. Lots of boobs, some lesbian sex and the drama was pretty interesting. I guess it depends on how slow the show progresses, but the main character is only supposed to be in the clink for 15 months. I wonder how long it can go on.

[YOhio]

Watched the first episode. It was pretty good. Lots of boobs, some lesbian sex and the drama was pretty interesting. I guess it depends on how slow the show progresses, but the main character is only supposed to be in the clink for 15 months. I wonder how long it can go on.

Whoa! Spoiler alert that shit, bro!

[marsupial]

Watched the first episode. It was pretty good. Lots of boobs, some lesbian sex and the drama was pretty interesting. I guess it depends on how slow the show progresses, but the main character is only supposed to be in the clink for 15 months. I wonder how long it can go on.

Pretty sure danimal is interested, then.

[Indy Coug]

Watched the first episode. It was pretty good. Lots of boobs, some lesbian sex and the drama was pretty interesting. I guess it depends on how slow the show progresses, but the main character is only supposed to be in the clink for 15 months. I wonder how long it can go on.

Long enough for Goatnapper, I hope.

[SoCalCoug]

Pretty sure danimal is interested, then.

Big drama fan, huh?

[Coach McGuirk]

Meh. I am through 6-7 episodes. It's good, but not amazing.

[Commando]

Yeah it was good the first 2, starts to slooooowwww down at about ep. 3. The more I watch, the less surprised I am that it's "from the creator of weeds"

*Okay I trudged through the 13 episodes and it has a pretty compelling cliffhanger ending that had me clicking for another episode, but alas... I guess I'll be checking out season 2.

[All-American]

Having made it through the first 13 episodes, I am very interested to see if they continue down the path the plot lines have led them so far.

Compare this show to Breaking Bad, which is making waves particularly because it takes a good guy, Walter White; gets the audience to identify and sympathize with him; and then, over the course of the show, punishes the audience for doing so as Walter White slowly digresses into sheer evil.

Spoiler for Plot reveal:

As Orange begins, Piper Chapman is presented as a universally-likable (though admittedly imperfect) character. She doesn't belong in a federal institution: she's kind, she's sweet, she's pretty, and (yes, this matters) she's white. The show's earliest plot lines emphasize the fact that she is in a new, foreign, and hostile world-- the comment about the poor food leading to Red's attempt to starve her out; Crazy Eyes adopts her as her "wife"; being placed in the "ghetto" with other black inmates.

Bit by bit, though, the show begins to reveal the sort of morality that exists among the prisoners, chief among them being loyalty. The prisoners only have each other, and they will fight to get one another through. As the season progresses, however, it becomes increasingly clear that Chapman doesn't share in these morals. In the second-to-last episode, Crazy Eyes, playing the part of archetypal wise jester, springs the trap. Chapman isn't nice. In fact, by the end of the season, she has betrayed her fellow inmates in a number of ways-- turning over the phone, abandoning Alex, and condemning another to the Psych unit, letting her out only to salve her burning conscience (arguably a selfish act in and of itself). By the end, she has assaulted (and possibly murdered-- it's left unclear) another inmate. Chapman, as it turns out, may be the very worst of the prisoners in the facility.

I'm not sure if the producers will continue to pursue this theme or not, but if they do, Orange will stand as condemnation of the tendency of modern society to write off prisoners as outcasts, the very dregs of society. Rather than merely showing that prisoners are people just like us, however, Orange makes an altogether different statement: we, the ones who condemn our fellow human beings to lives in institutional hell, are far worse off than those whom we wish, however unsuccessfully, to forget.

[Commando]

Having made it through the first 13 episodes, I am very interested to see if they continue down the path the plot lines have led them so far.

Compare this show to Breaking Bad, which is making waves particularly because it takes a good guy, Walter White; gets the audience to identify and sympathize with him; and then, over the course of the show, punishes the audience for doing so as Walter White slowly digresses into sheer evil.

Spoiler for Plot reveal:

As Orange begins, Piper Chapman is presented as a universally-likable (though admittedly imperfect) character. She doesn't belong in a federal institution: she's kind, she's sweet, she's pretty, and (yes, this matters) she's white. The show's earliest plot lines emphasize the fact that she is in a new, foreign, and hostile world-- the comment about the poor food leading to Red's attempt to starve her out; Crazy Eyes adopts her as her "wife"; being placed in the "ghetto" with other black inmates.

Bit by bit, though, the show begins to reveal the sort of morality that exists among the prisoners, chief among them being loyalty. The prisoners only have each other, and they will fight to get one another through. As the season progresses, however, it becomes increasingly clear that Chapman doesn't share in these morals. In the second-to-last episode, Crazy Eyes, playing the part of archetypal wise jester, springs the trap. Chapman isn't nice. In fact, by the end of the season, she has betrayed her fellow inmates in a number of ways-- turning over the phone, abandoning Alex, and condemning another to the Psych unit, letting her out only to salve her burning conscience (arguably a selfish act in and of itself). By the end, she has assaulted (and possibly murdered-- it's left unclear) another inmate. Chapman, as it turns out, may be the very worst of the prisoners in the facility.

I'm not sure if the producers will continue to pursue this theme or not, but if they do, Orange will stand as condemnation of the tendency of modern society to write off prisoners as outcasts, the very dregs of society. Rather than merely showing that prisoners are people just like us, however, Orange makes an altogether different statement: we, the ones who condemn our fellow human beings to lives in institutional hell, are far worse off than those whom we wish, however unsuccessfully, to forget.

I like your analysis. I just don't think the writers have the wherewithal to do what Breaking Bad does on any level. I still see this as Weeds level schtick(the girl w glasses so typifies that smug Weeds shit), just with slightly more mature writing. I like Jason Biggs in this, but his character is slightly brighter than a loaf of bread.