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Any OITNB fans here interesting in discussing the show? Feel free to start the discussion with any aspect of the show that interests you.
Some suggestions….
– Favourite character?
– Most interesting social issue explored on the show and your opinion of how well it was done.
– Theories about Season 5.
[adrotate group="5"]I have a lot of feelings about OitNB. It’s show that I adore but that often makes me uncomfortable (in a good, question your own reality, kind of way). What I like so much about OitNB is that it is, essentially, telling stories of people who are disenfranchised, who’s own stories are often simplified and uncomplicated so that “the majority” will find them easier to understand. This includes women, as a broad category, and then gets down to the details of color, race, immigrant status, sexual orientation, and economic standing. The reason why OitNB often makes me uncomfortable (again, in a good way) is that it forces me to reckon with my own status in society and this is where it’s helpful to talk about Piper. I think, by and large, most of the fandom of OitNB will tell you that while Piper is the main character, she’s by no means the favorite–in fact a lot of people consider Piper the worst character, though I think this is done deliberately. Piper for all intents in purposes is a middle class (upper middle class, even) white, (mostly) heterosexual woman with a good family, a good economic status, and a good education. She has no inroads with her fellow inmates because most of them are neither middle class, nor white nor heterosexual, do not have strong family ties, little economic standing outside of what they made by working hard, both legally and illegally, and do not have the sort of education Piper does. I talk a lot–A LOT–on these boards about privilege and the white heterosexual male perspective that makes up our TV narratives but OitNB reminds me that, when all is said and all is done, I am a lot more like Piper than I am like Taystee or Sophia or Red or Poussey. I’ve never had to exist with the level of disenfranchisement that they have as people of color or transgender or an immigrant or gay (and in almost all those non-Piper cases, being more than one of those disenfranchised categories). Piper’s privilege and her own tunnel vision for her concerns probably comes across best in S4 with her (accidental) forming of a Nazi gang. It was done to protect her (ridiculous) business ventures but with heavy overtones of unintentional racism and frankly misogyny.
Season 4 is my favorite because it felt so gosh darn relevant. Obviously it’s tackling the American phenomenon of “Black Lives Matter” but in a way that shows how complicated us vs them mentalities can be. Can we say Poussey was murdered? Accidental homocide? Who’s to blame–the officer who held her down? The rioters? The system that treats criminals like animals so that they must act like animals? The corporate overlords who turned the Litch into a prison for profit? Does that make it Caputo’s fault? Narratives are rarely simply–straight up heroes and villains is child’s play–and when you’re dealing with something as labyrinthine as the American justice and prison system it should never be uncomplicated and S4 did such a great job of of complicating everyone’s narrative for both good and ill. Cuputo–semi good guy who is actually trying to make life at the Litch easier, trying to improve the women’s chances once they leave his facility, but also has little backbone when doing all that conflicts with his own personal love life. One of the most horrifying moments for me in S4 was a small one: it’s Caputo learning that his girlfriend Linda has never set foot inside the Litch, has no idea what it looks like or what the situation is, simply sees it as a place to make a buck for her company, let’s her totally railroad all his good-intentioned education plans…and then goes home with her anyway. Linda, to me, is the real villain of OitNB s4–or at least what she represents, the sort of myopic white privilege that never seeks to examine or question the system that she benefits from. She’s… a stand in for white privilege and institutionalized racism.
What comes next in S5? I suspect it’s only going to get darker. OitNB does a great job or balancing humor and reality–S4 was no exception–but I think the days of laughing more than thinking are long gone. After the death of an inmate, Daya holding a gun to an officer’s head, the riots, the anger spilling out in every direction, I can’t imagine that it’s going to return to Red chasing a chicken for dinner (all time favorite OitNB quote: “All I wanted was to eat the chicken that was smarter than all the other chickens to absorb its power. And to make a nice Kiev.”)
Favorite character: Taystee probably gets my top choice. I think that she’s a leader in her community and I like that she’s actually quite intelligent. Of all the inmates she’s the one I have no doubt will survive once she’s on the outside (she tried once, it didn’t work, but I don’t think that story line will repeat with her). After her, Red, Sophia, Doggett (post S1), Nicky and Suzanne (who broke my heart with her story this past season).
Questions:
Piper and Alex–does anyone care anymore?
Suzanne’s girlfriend–Maureen–why is she in prison? Every time it’s brought up, it’s kept couched in language that lets the audience know it’s a big deal and is worthy of a gasp once it gets revealed
Have we seen the last of Aleida Diaz (Daya’s mother)
Watching Moritza swallow an infant mouse with a gun to her head…I still can’t get pas that image. Nor past the image of the other officers deciding not investigate what happened when it’s clear she’s traumatized because “brotherhood.”
Were you satisfied with the ending of the Doggett and Officer Coates story? I think forgiveness is complicated and I was sorta with Boo about Doggett not letting Coates off the hook, but at the same time, Tiffany is right–you have to try and make peace, even if toast can never be bread again.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"I really love this show and have so much to say about it that I doubt I can fit it all into one post. But here goes….
What I love about OITNB is that it it presents such an unsanitised view of humanity. Nothing is hidden, nothing is sugarcoated; sex, swearing, comedy, pathos, weakness, brutality, injustice, ignorance, tenderness, it’s all there, so matter of fact, so real. The writers clearly have an agenda about social justice, but it is showcased through empathy, not preachiness. I love how it challenges me, amuses me and puts me through an emotional wringer all at once.
Favourite character: Piper. While she can be frightfully annoying, she’s still the one I find it easiest to relate to (the S1 Piper I mean), even though I’m not an upper middle class, American, white lady. Another big part of why I might like her is because of how Taylor Schilling plays her. Her expressions and delivery are brilliant, and I think she’s somewhat underrated amongst an enormously talented cast.
Others whom I am highly partial to include (in no particular order): Poussey, Taystee, Gloria, Sister, Caputo, Red, Tucky (post S1).
Most interesting social issue: There are many, and I find it hard to pick just one. I found most of the S4 storylines really engaging. The mental illness stories were particularly heartbreaking – both Crazy Eyes’ and Lolly’s. The scene where Lolly was taken to Psych and she was asking Healy if they’d travelled back in time was the one and only time I teared up.
Theories about S5:
– Daya does not shoot Humps. Someone takes the gun from her.
– Taystee turns dark. Daya does too, and Ruiz uses this to her advantage.
– Something really bad (death, serious injury, transfer to max/psych) happens to Alex or Piper. This was foreshadowed by Leanne and Angie talking about how bad things happened to those who went into the cardboard time travel box.
– We learn that Piscatella murdered someone at the men’s max facility.
– The old guards return.
The reason why OitNB often makes me uncomfortable (again, in a good way) is that it forces me to reckon with my own status in society and this is where it’s helpful to talk about Piper.
I agree with your thoughts about Piper. Privilege is an interesting thing – you often don’t realise that you have it until you compare your experience to someone to doesn’t. While I like Piper, I don’t really think of myself as being like her. I do consider myself privileged, but I’ve seen a bit of both sides of the track at various times and in different areas of my life.
Season 4 is my favorite because it felt so gosh darn relevant.
Absolutely! I want to talk a bit about Poussey’s death as it’s probably the biggest moment of S4. After reading a few articles, I gather that many people are upset about both the fact that it happened and how it was handled. It’s obviously about “Black Lives Matter”, but the argument goes that it was unnecessary and hurtful to kill off such a beloved and relatable character to illustrate a painful reality to (mainly privileged, white) people who frankly, should have known about it anyway. The counter argument is that we live in an unfair world, and as painful as they might be, shock tactics are often necessary to spread awareness amongst the oblivious masses. Personally, I see both sides of the argument, but if I HAD to pick, I’d lean towards the “it was an evil necessity” argument. I’ve been thinking about whether the same effect could have been achieved by killing off another character in place of Poussey. Soso for instance, represents a similar type of innocence, but is nowhere near as popular (as far as I’m aware). But would this substitution have an the same effect on the audience? More importantly, is the level of emotional investment in the character proportional to the action audience members will take on this issue? I honestly don’t know.
The other criticism is how the killer, Bailey is portrayed as an innocent and sympathetic character. I’m in two minds about this as well. Clearly, the message they are trying to convey is that the fault lies with the system, not the individual. In real cases of police brutality, I would guess that while the same may be true, there are also many instances where BOTH the individual and system are at fault. So should the show have made it a point to show individuals being held accountable? Is it acceptable to show complex situations for the sake of complex situations, when doing this may undermine the deeper message? I can’t make up my mind conclusively. On the one hand, reality is never simple, and rarely are there clear cut heroes and villains. Highlighting this has always been one of OITNB’s strengths. However, I can appreciate the frustration affected viewers might feel at this message of “It’s complicated” and “It’s the system’s fault”. Because, really, what exactly is the system? Where are its boundaries? Are we talking only about the criminal justice system? The government? Are taxpayers included? What about the public who turn a blind eye to these injustices? Spreading the blame across a vaguely defined, abstract entity is nowhere near as emotionally satisfying as heaping it onto a single individual.
Piper and Alex–does anyone care anymore?
I am interested to see where they take this ship. It’s made abundantly clear that 1) this relationship is very unhealthy and 2) the two of them do have a connection. I think the best they can do is show the relationship develop and mature into something more functional, along with the individual characters’ growth. If we look at this show as Piper’s hero’s journey, then I think the Piper/Alex ship represents one of the two extremes that Piper is trying to reconcile in her life, i.e. her need for excitement and novelty. The other extreme is Larry, who to me, represents her need for safety and certainty. Everyone needs both certainty and uncertainy in their lives, and I am curious to see where on the spectrum Piper will end up when her prison journey is complete, and how that will be reflected in her lifestyle and her relationships.
I do think their constant on again/off again dynamic has become tiresome. I’d like to see them remain friends and slowly develop trust. However, their relationship needs to be kept in the background and remain very much secondary to their primary arcs – at least for the next few seasons.
Suzanne’s girlfriend–Maureen–why is she in prison?
No idea, but I too, am curious.
Have we seen the last of Aleida Diaz (Daya’s mother)
I wouldn’t mind if we have. She was never one of my favourites. I thought she was a bit of a jerk and her story arcs weren’t that interesting. Daya needs to come out from under her mother’s shadow. Having said that, I do still expect to see her, if only intermittently.
Were you satisfied with the ending of the Doggett and Officer Coates story?
First off, I want to say that I thought the rape story was very well done. While I might not agree with every single part of it, I thought it was explored with sensitivity and thoughtfulness. The conversation between Boo and Tucky about forgiveness was an absolute gem. While I totally get where Boo was coming from, I think Tucky nailed it when she said that forgiveness is not about what the offender deserves, but about giving yourself peace. That’s wisdom in a nutshell. It also showed how much Tucky’s grown since S1.
What was interesting about this arc was how they chose to humanise the rapist, Coates. While it was emphasised that he was in the wrong, he was also shown to have genuine remorse when he realised how much he’d hurt Tucky. They also made a point of showing that he had more compassion than the other guards. Now, personally, I don’t disagree with this choice. I suspect that there are many real rapists like Coates. However, the flip side is that there really is no excuse for his behaviour, and hence there was no need to portray him in such a sympathetic light. I would have had no problem with purely evil Coates either, if they had gone that way. What are your thoughts on this? Another thing that stuck out for me was Coates’ entitlement. He just assumed that Tucky wanted what he wanted. This type of male entitlement is too prevalent in society for comfort, so well done to the show for pointing this out.
The only part of the story that I didn’t like was the final scene with Tucky and Coates, where she kisses him. Frankly, this shocked me. Forgiveness is highly commendable, but it does NOT oblige you to be friends with your rapist. In fact, I’d say common sense dictates that you should stay away from him (or her). People usually don’t change quickly; in fact, Coates was shown to still have his sexual impulse problem. As for initiating a kiss? Heck, no!!! The reason I was shocked was because I thought Tucky, in her newfound maturity, would understand all of this. This felt like going three steps back, and I didn’t understand what they were trying to do with this scene.
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?
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"OITNB S5 disappointed me. It’s hard to admit this. After S4, I was SO excited that I binged S5 over two days.
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.
Agreed. For me, S5 is the worst so far. It had a number of problems. Firstly, the prison mosaic they were going for didn’t work. SO many stories felt like pointless filler, and this included some of the backstories. Secondly, S5 piggybacked off the built up tension of S4 and felt like an endless series of payoffs. There was not enough suspense built up in this season itself. The ending fell completely flat and was neither suspenseful nor emotionally satisfying. Finally, I agree with the point of culturally problematic storylines.
Grade: C+
Positive thoughts
– Taystee was a hero this season.
– The way that Cindy, Alison and the other girls took care of Crazy Eyes even when she was being difficult was heartwarming. As tempting as it must have been, not once did they snap at her.
– Speaking of Crazy Eyes, it’s good to finally know that it’s autism that’s the issue. I suspected as much, but wasn’t sure.
– As awful as it sounds, I’ll admit it – it was satisfying to watch the guards being dehumanized. When I watched Stratman having a panic attack over his bathroom issues, I remembered Blanca having to stand on a table for two days. When I saw McCullough looking terrified, I remembered how she chose to protect Humps instead of Maritza. Caputo was the only exception. But I agree that it dragged on.
– Red/Blanca vs Piscatella was excellent. Funny, realistic and suspenseful. It was the only storyline that played out in a completely satisfying way from start to finish. Piscatella himself is a separate matter. But Red trying to take him down made a lot of sense and was completely in character.
– Both Gloria and Maria’s stories were great. It was interesting to watch the internal conflict of loyalty to prison mates against family play out.
– Fig and Caputo going at loggerheads was amusing to watch.
– Finally, Ouji’s impressions of Lorna, Nicky and Red were pure gold!
Ambivalent thoughts
– All that went down with Judy King was a mixed bag. It wasn’t bad, it just dragged on with a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and kind of fell flat in the end.
– Soso dealing with her grief was well done, it just got a tad boring at times. But there were some good conversations in there, and it was pleasing to see her return to her activist self towards the end.
– Same goes for Baxter and his guilt. Boring but highlighted how dreadfully bad our society is at dealing with intense feelings. Everyone told him to repress them and get on with it. And people wonder why mental illness is skyrocketing.
– Aleida on television was ok, although at her stupidity was more cringeworthy than humourous.
– Nicky and Lorna and Lorna’s pregnancy was all fine, but it didn’t spark my interest. I’m just glad Nicky/Lorna is over for good.
– Linda adapted to prison surprisingly well and earned my grudging respect. But like many other storylines, her relationship with Boo dragged on. In the end, it wasn’t even satisfying to see bottles being thrown at Linda. What I wanted was to see how her prison experience affected her life in the outside world. I hope we get this in S6.
– Humps’ demise was grisly, even for a psychopath like him.
Negative thoughts
– I did not like the Piper/Alex relationship at all. The house playing got boring. When Piper finally joined the riot and became interesting, Alex started being a witch. I have even greater reservations about the proposal. Personally, I hate it when ideas like “love is pain” are romantised. Piper and Alex frustrate me. I love that the main romance of the show is a same sex couple, but their relationship is so unhealthy that I just can’t jump on board. The healthiness scale crept upwards in S4, but now they’ve regressed again.
– Alex’s aloof and patronising attitude towards the riot angered me. It’s fine that she wanted to sit out, it was just her attitude. She was like, “People will die!” Then Piper correctly pointed out that no, MORE people would die. That about summed it up.
Also, Alex’s guilt over bloody Aden got really old. It was self defense – he was sent to kill her for heaven’s sake!! As for Lolly, she confessed to Healy. If Alex had owned up, they’d BOTH have gone down for it which would not have helped. I know that guilt is not rational, but it’s especially incongruous in Alex’s case. She was a drug importer for crying out loud! Did she think those drugs were going out into the world to create health and harmony?!
–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.
– Agreed 100%. This was just awful, and even worse because it was on OITNB of all shows.
–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.
– Agree with this also. OITNB already had a psychopath – Humps. We needed Piscatella to be more complex. It seemed like they were building up to his motivation, with all the demeaning comments about his car, his hobbies, his hair. But it went nowhere. His flashback simply confirmed that he was a psychopath.
I also find both the character and his storyline culturally problematic. OITNB has had two significant gay male characters so far. One was a adultering, embezzling politician and the other a misogynistic, abusive guard. Both hurt women with impunity and were given no sympathetic motivation. Does anyone else find this problematic?
Furthermore, some of the comments regarding Piscatella made me uncomfortable. For example, when Red told the girls about her plan, Alex said, “What, you’re on a gay witch hunt now?” And Piper replied, “No, didn’t you hear, only BOY gays.” Intentional or not, the implication here is that it’s ok to discriminate against gay males. I expected better from OITNB.
– Finally, there was Alison. It’s wonderful that the show has a Muslim character, complete with a hijab. All the dialogue about prejudice and whatnot is highly pertinent. So if the goal is to increase acceptance of Muslims, why on EARTH put your only Muslim character in a polyamorous marriage?!! As progressive as the OITNB audience is, I suspect polyamory is still too alien for most of them. The fact that it didn’t work out made it even worse. It made Alison look foolish in addition to being culturally unrelatable. They ended up destroying much of their good work with a flashback that was completely pointless.
–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.
I missed Sophia, Sister and Healy. Cal too. And wasn’t Lolly going to make a reappearance?
–Linda from Purchasing. Did she really need a flashback? Or storyline?
Flashback, no. Storyline, yes. Linda’s careless attitude towards the prisoners was carefully built up in S4, and her ending up in prison was great karma.
–Where does S6 go from here?
I’ve been wondering how they’re going to handle everyone being split up. Also, will Leanne and Angie burning prisoner records have any significance? I presume that everything is digitalised, but there’s a small chance that some things aren’t. Finally, one thing that is almost certain is that the Alex/Kubra conflict will be revisited. This was confirmed when the video of Piscatella breaking Alex’s arm was posted online. It should be interesting as long as it’s significantly different from their storyline in S3.
Soso dealing with her grief was well done, it just got a tad boring at times. But there were some good conversations in there, and it was pleasing to see her return to her activist self towards the end.
The last Soso shot of the season where she’s being dragged from the library and the camera switches to her perspectives watching the books fall from the ceiling was haunting and well done.
Also, Alex’s guilt over bloody Aden got really old. It was self defense – he was sent to kill her for heaven’s sake!!
Completely agree with this.
I also find both the character and his storyline culturally problematic. OITNB has had two significant gay male characters so far. One was a adultering, embezzling politician and the other a misogynistic, abusive guard. Both hurt women with impunity and were given no sympathetic motivation. Does anyone else find this problematic?
Yes, extremely. Especially given how layered the lesbian characters tend to be. OITNB gets lauded for its complex LGBT storylines and diversity, but it’s hard to praise them when there seems to be a deep gay male resentment written in there.
Finally, there was Alison. It’s wonderful that the show has a Muslim character, complete with a hijab. All the dialogue about prejudice and whatnot is highly pertinent. So if the goal is to increase acceptance of Muslims, why on EARTH put your only Muslim character in a polyamorous marriage?!!
The opening of that flashback with Alison and her husband sitting at a diner, eating, and discussing various issues in their home life with quick wit was perfect. What better way to de-otherize Muslims than to show that they’re just like every other family unit in America? Then it went down the polyamorous route and it quickly turned into foreign territory.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"I don’t know if my comments about S5 were overly negative. It just feels like OITNB has slipped from its own high standard. Disappointment is the word that keeps coming to mind. So far, I haven’t read anyone else’s comments but yours RG, so I don’t know if the fandom feels similarly. But it’s a bad time to feel let down by Orange, especially as Sense8 was cancelled and Orphan Black is on its last season. Anyway, I’ll post a few more thoughts about Piscatella and Alison tomorrow.
Yes, extremely. Especially given how layered the lesbian characters tend to be. OITNB gets lauded for its complex LGBT storylines and diversity, but it’s hard to praise them when there seems to be a deep gay male resentment written in there.
I have praised OITNB to people for its diversity, but I can’t do that in good conscience any more – not until they fix their gay male portrayal issue. They made a big deal of Piscatella being gay for no apparent reason. It wasn’t relevant to his storyline. All it did was serve as fuel for mockery. When the prisoners made tasteless comments, it was acceptable, simply because it was Piscatella and he abused them. But the dialogue needed to distinguish it from homophobia by making it clear that they were only trying to attack what they perceived as Piscatella’s weak point.
The opening of that flashback with Alison and her husband sitting at a diner, eating, and discussing various issues in their home life with quick wit was perfect. What better way to de-otherize Muslims than to show that they’re just like every other family unit in America? Then it went down the polyamorous route and it quickly turned into foreign territory.
Exactly. The unfortunate thing is that many viewers will come away thinking that polyamory is somehow common to all Muslims and this will reinforce the ‘otherness’ perception.
I don’t know if my comments about S5 were overly negative. It just feels like OITNB has slipped from its own high standard. Disappointment is the word that keeps coming to mind
I don’t believe they were overly negative. I gave it a soft B for the whole season but it’s more like B- or C+ for me. There was just something so…off…about OITNB this year. I’ve other people, both critics and non critics, say that the 3-day riot story stretched on much longer than it needed to and because of that the story suffered. I’ve also seen plenty of criticism about Piscatella.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"
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