The series, Orange is the New Black (OITNB), has been all the rage in the 20-something age bracket. With that to live up to, its newly anticipated second season was not a disappointment.  The popularity of this series is largely due to the fact that it has broken so many boundaries that have not been crossed on television before. It not on daytime TV or prime time TV but it is still easily accessible. This show is very sexually explicit, depicts drug use, and has not shied away from on-screen violence. As an added addictive level, this show goes in-depth with respect to the inmates’ lives and what led them to prison. It becomes very personal and hits viewers on a visceral level.

Orange Is the New Black is centered on the life of Piper Chapman. The show starts off with her getting proposed to by her boyfriend Larry because she is about to serve a 15 month sentence in a women’s federal prison. She was convicted for transporting a suitcase full of drug money for her, at the time, girlfriend. For the sake of clarity, Piper Chapman is a bisexual and her former girlfriend was an international drug smuggler, Alex Vause. By the end of episode 1, Piper is reunited with Alex and Alex tells her that she named Piper in her trail and that is why she was arrested.

While in prison, Piper meets Sam Heely who is married to a Russian immigrant who can’t speak English well, and has two years left until she gets her green card. Heely is a correctional officer and a social worker in the prison. Miss Claudette, who ran an illegal immigration and child-labor cleaning service; the very one she herself had worked in when she came to the United States as a child to pay off her parents’ debt. Miss Claudette later becomes Pipers cellmate and it is revealed that Miss Claudette is very strict.

In episode 1, Piper pisses off Red, an inmate who is the Master Chef of the prison kitchen by complaining about the food. Red ends up starving Piper out in order to teach her a lesson. Before Piper becomes cellmates with Miss Claudette, she denies Crazy Eyes (Suzanne Warren) request to be her prison wife. The consequence of the denial results in Crazy Eyes peeing on the floor in Miss Claudette, who is a neat freak, and Piper’s cell. Prison life also introduced Piper to inmates, Taystee, Nicky, Lorna Morello, Poussey Washington, Daya Diaz, Gloria Mendoza, Cindy Hayes, Joe Caputo and Pennsatucky a religious fanatic and a former drug addict.

Season Two of Orange Is the New Black goes more in-depth of inmates’ lives and gives us an understanding of who these characters are. This shows characters are very well developed and this gives the web series an advantage over other TV series. Orange Is the New Black deserves a chance. This series is breaking new ground and its giving its audience what they have been longing for; a real life show. It is one that is filled with laughter, awe, tears, fear and is full of the unknown.

Blog By Stacy Feder

Sources:
NYTimes
ComingSoon