I just finished S5 about 10 minutes ago and I have thoughts; many of them. I don’t know if anyone else is watching but here goes…
–Season 5 both works and doesn’t work for me. There are several storylines that are well thought out, consistent, and emotionally satisfying. There are some dangling stories that really need to be clipped for the sake of brevity, and then there are the storylines that appalled from a story perspective and from a cultural one. As a whole I don’t think S5 is as good as S4 and I’m not sure OITNB should attempt this type of “bottle” season again where the timeline is drastically reduced to two or three days.
I’m not sure S5 actually delivered on the high stakes of S4. At one point there’s a craft show, for heaven’s sake. There are individual character stories that worked, but I’m not sure the entire Riot Season did
Overall season grade: B
To start off positive though, here are the storylines I thought worked:
–Taystee. Everything about her story this year was impactful; she stayed on point, trying to work toward getting demands met and all in the name of her best friend. I like that the story with her never deviated away from Poussey and it showed how losing a friend/sister in such a cruel manner can affect a person. This was undoubtedly Taystee’s (and Danielle Brooks) year to shine and shine she did. I’m torn between which scene was more powerful: her speech to the media about the system being broken, her burning the Cheetos, or her screaming “I miss her so much” in the abandoned pool before collapsing from grief and exhaustion.
–Side characters like Cindy, SoSo, Janae were also given room to shine along with Taystee.
–Going along with Taystee and her story, it shows a level of depth of understanding about these characters that none of them requested one of the demands be release from prison. The demands are actually just basic human rights (okay, and Cheetos and Takis) like education and health care, to not be treated like animals. I thought that was smart on the part of the writers to recognize that release isn’t a bargaining chip and have the inmates recognize the same.
–Nicky! She stayed sober, she stayed level headed, and she showed all the compassion in her tiny body when it came to Red and to Lorna.
–Gloria’s story worked for me, from start to finish. Her emotional clawing the the grass trying to escape…man that was hard to watch
Storylines that are mixed
–Red and Blanca. I went back and forth over whether this was well done or would go in my “eh” category. I liked the comic relief aspect watching these two on speed–Kate Mulgrew continues to impress and deliver– and while I do have issues (see below) about the Red/Piscatella situation, I liked the theme of family was played high all throughout and the final image of the 10 missing prisoners arm in arm as the walls come down was a touching moment.
–Another mixed storyline but one that ultimately lands more positive for me: the treatment of the guards. It started off as pretty on point given that the ladies were dishing out what the guards have done to them. There was a lot of dehumanization which worked. But the longer it went on, the more pointless it seemed to become and by the end I was tired of going back to the guards in the bubble. I do think, however, that Captuo gets a nice storyline this year even if he’s locked up in the Poo for the most part. He really does care about these women in a way that the other guards or society don’t. It’s not exceptional care but it’s care. I think S6 should be interesting for him.
–Still another mixed one but Piper and Alex didn’t actually bore me this year. I’ve never believed this romance was the center story and Piper has passed the point where she’s the focal point of the show, but this year the push/pull of their relationship felt more normal. Even angry with each other they knew there was love, trust, and faith that they’d find their way back. The proposal was nice, as well.
Storylines that I didn’t care for and need to but cut:
–Angie and Leanne have passed the point where they are funny. I just straight up find them annoying at this point. Angie in particular has little depth (at least LeAnne has a semi-interesting backstory. If Angie was given one, I don’t remember it at all). Their turn with the gun, their hosting of Litchfield’s got Talent and just generally stumbling around like bumbling fools is tiring when the show could focus on other more interesting things.
–Another duo, Flaca and Maritza. Or Flaritza as we’re supposed to call them, apparently. First, I have soooo many questions about YouTube and how they were getting videos uploaded that quickly from a cell phone located inside a prison. They must have really great wifi or unlimited 4G data to render that quickly! Second, while not as annoying as Angie and LeAnne, they don’t serve a larger purpose or storyline. Their friendship is sweet, though, and the idea of them being split up did tug at my heartstrings a little.
–Baxter guilt trip/search for forgiveness or redemption or death. Boy, do I not care. I guess we’re supposed to see the other side; that guards are human too and that’s fine but I didn’t need several episodes of seeing Baxter going through that. It was pretty clear he regretted it and wasn’t solely to blame for what happened back in S4.
–Random inmates who get weird amount of screentime. I don’t even know the girl with the bad teeth’s name but she along with Pidge and Oujia, both of whom I had to look up to remember their names, got more screentime than I think they needed.
Storylines that were just BAD
–Piscatella. Oof; what on earth. I thin S5 would have been so much better if Piscatella wasn’t just a villain for the sake of villainy and so that the show could have a real villain instead of a set of ideas, like in S4. The problem is that Piscatella’s villainy doesn’t make any sense. His one flashback doesn’t help me understand his misogyny or his deep hatred for all inmates given that his boyfriend was an inmate. He hates a very specific inmate, at a very different prison and it doesn’t really translate to his hatred for Red–hatred so extreme that he held her family in a locked room and tortured Red! Does anyone else think the show went a bit far here? I know it’s always towed the line between comedy and drama but this one struck me as jumping off the comedy cliff straight into HBO level drama.
–Doggett. It’s interesting reading up thread and what we said about Penns last season, especially in regards to Coates. I *hated* this story line this year. HATED. Like, I can deal with a weak villain that doesn’t make a lot of sense (Piscatella) but what I can’t stand is a storyline like this one where a woman who was raped begins to have a serious relationship with her rapist, including physical and emotional intimacy, without having serious inner turmoil over this. What were the writers thinking? Especially with Doggett’s last scene of the season where she’s in his house waiting for him, full of domestic bliss. Is it because Boo moved on to Linda and Tucky felt rejected and so she sought out Coates for solace? I dunno but it did not please me at all.
Lingering questions/thoughts
–Suzanne’s story seems to be in a rut. Is that on purpose?
–So…is the Nurse still stuck in the Poo or…? Also, did he not once try to contact the outside world??
–And this year we don’t have Sophia because of CBS’s “Doubt” which is a REAL shame given how quickly it was axed off network TV.
–Linda from Purchasing. Did she really need a flashback? Or storyline?
–Did Piscatalla’s story work for anyone?
–I guess I can forgive Healy never even arriving on the scene because the 13 episodes were really only 3 days but it feels odd that he never showed up to “help”
–Where does S6 go from here?