Netflix released the third season of their arguably most
popular series Orange is the New Black
last Thursday. It was an early release so I had an extra day to hurry up, relax
and enjoy the ongoing adventures of Piper and her mischief inmates. While the
show has been known to carry an equal amount of drama and comedy, this season
seems to have been more dramatic than the rest. Armed with new backstories and
characters making their debut appearance, this season started off where the
last one left us some time after the death of last season’s antagonist Vee. By
the end of this season, a lot of questions will be answered and we will be
losing people that have been there since the beginning.
For those of you who don’t have Netflix or have never heard
of the show, the main character is Piper Chapman played by Taylor Schilling who
is imprisoned because of drug offenses. Since the show blew up in 2013, audiences
have fell in love with the ongoing drama that goes on inside a woman’s prison now
ran by Joe Caputo. It holds a resemblance
of the old HBO hit series OZ with the
difference obviously being gender. Just like in a prison, there are different
groups that hang out in their own sections and each have a different offense.
With every episode, you learn the backstory of someone inside that prison and
it somehow always interlocks with the episode playing.
Unlike most shows where there is usually one or two breakout
stars, this show a spawned a whole cast where virtually everyone is a main
character. While most of these thespians are virtually unknown there are familiar
faces that come to light like Piper’s love interest Alex Vause, played by Laura
Prepon known for her role as Donna on That
70s Show. The other is the mother like character of the prison known as “Red”
played by Kate Mulgrew, former captain of the starship Voyager in Star Trek Voyager. American Pie cast members Natasha Lyonne and Jason Biggs have their
own storyline but Jason Biggs storyline ended last season and didn’t return for
the third. Doesn’t really matter considering there were new faces to look at
this season.
The season starts off with Alex returning to prison after
braking her parole and Red returning after being viciously attacked by Vee. Now
fearing for her life after testifying against her drug supplier, Alex becomes
paranoid as she believes a new inmate is sent to kill her played by notable actress
Lori Petty (A League of Their Own, Free
Willy, Point Break). Caputo is struggling to maintain control of the prison
after it’s bought by a corporation and things take a dark turn for the inmates.
This turn of events will cause veteran cast members to be removed from the show
in various ways which I won’t spoil, you’ll have to watch. If I could spoil one
thing, the hardest thing for me to watch was a rape scene on an inmate,
committed by a new guard.
The only one who seems to profit from the misery is Piper
who takes on a new enterprise in the midst of the changes while handing a love
triangle between her, Alex and a new inmate played by Ruby Rose. She eventually
comes into her own as a ‘boss’ in the prison and develops a reputation that
makes her a name among the inmates. The ending no doubt foreshadows a dark fate
for Alex, a new beginning for the veteran inmates and a new batch of
backstories that will keep the series fresh. It’s been a dark season this year
for the show, I know things are dark in a prison but there are times when the
light shines and it did this season. Those moments however felt like they were
few and far in between.
Orange is the New
Black is arguably Netflix’s most popular show right next to House of Cards and the newly released Daredevil. Every series has its season
where it seems weak and while I wouldn’t say this season was weak, it
definitely felt like it could’ve been better. Piper is hot one minute and then
turns cold, Red has control of the kitchen but not the way she wanted, and
Dayanara has the baby only for something to happen. This season was good but it
took a turn that caught people off guard and many weren’t prepared for
considering the tone of the last two seasons. We’ll see what happens next year
but if the ending of this season showed anything, it’s that there’s light past
the fence.
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