Watched: Orange Is The New Black, Season 1
I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t something with as much meat as this - I’ve listened to Piper Kerman on The Moth before (which makes me sound so, somiddle class, I know), and she always grated a little, in part because you get the impression that she still takes an anthropological rather than human view of her time in prison.
What a delight this was, then - although the show initially focuses on Piper (here renamed to Chapman), it soon becomes much more about the other inmates, and (usually) chooses to humanize rather than demonize. In fact, the notion of shattering preconceptions is a theme that runs throughout this show, and while that could be just as cloying (oh, wait, not all black people are terrifying criminals? Whodathunkit), the decentralized perspective and down-to-earth attitude lends itself to tear-jerking rather than eye-rolling most of the time. There’s also the fact that while Piper is still presented as a sympathetic protagonist, she’s by no means represented as perfect, and often a victim of foot-in-mouth disease - when there’s ignorance on display in this show, it’s narratively vilified rather than said with a wink.
As for the plot - another thread that runs through this show is how the institutionalized nature of a prison elevates the drama that happens within it, and you feel that elevation. Through flashbacks, we glimpse the inner lives of each inmate, and almost every character gets this treatment, to the point where you’re so invested in their lives that the slightest change can be just as shocking as a death or burgeoning love affair.
The second season lands in June. I can’t wait.