I stumbled across "Orange Is The New Black" (OITNB going forward) on Netflix last year when J was out of town for her training. It's probably not something I would have normally watched, but after having watched season 1 of "House Of Cards", I felt I'd give Netflix the benefit of the doubt and check it out. The fact that it had Jason Biggs and Natasha Lyonne in it from the American Pie movies helped out since I at least knew who they were. So, as I write this now I have just completed watching the 13 episodes of season 2.
Just in case anyone plans on watching OITNB at some point or is watching it and is not current I will try and refrain from any spoilers until the end of this post and I will clearly mark the point where you should stop reading if you don't desire to read any potential spoilers I might include. Please keep in mind that by doing this it will likely cause this post to seem a little disjointed, but I think that's worth it in this case.
For those that are not familiar with OITNB, it's an original series airing on Netflix based upon the real-life experiences of Piper Kerman. The main protagonist in the series is based upon her and named Piper Chapman. The basis of the story is that Piper is sentenced to 15 months in a minimum security federal prison for money laundering and the story centers around her experiences. While Piper is the centerpiece of the show, one thing that does stand out about OITNB, is the development of the secondary characters. In many episodes significant time is given to showing the "back story" behind a particular secondary character. This might not work in many shows due to the limited amount of characters in it, but here it does a nice job fleshing things out and is one of the better things about the show in my opinion. That being said there are so many characters it would be virtually impossible to list them all here and keep this a reasonable length, so for reference here they are: OITNB Character List.
So what do I like about the show? Several things actually. The first is that Netflix releases the entire season at once. Now I don't "binge watch" as some do, but I do like the ability to watch as much as I want when I want and this is a perfect show for that. Secondly the fact that it is on Netflix versus traditional television means no commercials. Granted any television shows that are on Netflix are that way, so I'm comparing it with shows that I'd watch on cable/satellite/ota television, granted a DVR helps with that, but it's nice to not have to fuss with fast forwarding and such. Third, the fact that it is on Netflix means I can watch it about anywhere thanks to various devices such as media boxes, PC, cell phone, video game consoles, Chromecast, and so on. Granted, I pay $7.99/month for the ability to stream Netflix, but at various times all of us use it and we more than get our money's worth from it.
Now, I suppose those are things that I really like about Netflix rather than OITNB, so I guess I should touch on what I like about the show itself. The aforementioned secondary character development is a huge plus. The fact that the show runs on average 55-60 minutes an episode and not in the 42 or so minute range of network television shows is another great thing. The reasonable portrayal of a trans-woman hits really close to home - and yes I'll get into this further down. There are other things, but mostly what I like about the show is that it's entertaining. I don't care how critically acclaimed a show is/isn't, if it doesn't entertain me then why watch it?
Now there are things I don't care for as well. There are some definite plot holes, I'll touch on a couple of those in the spoiler section below. The secondary character development is great as I said, but the constant flashbacks can get a little old - perhaps spend an entire 10-15 minutes getting the entire flashback out of the way in lieu of 3-4 short ones. I'm by no means a prude and I understand the rationale for the sex scenes, but at some point I think it has become a touch excessive.
Now for some random thoughts about the show. Laverne Cox is doing a great job as Sophia. But at some point can't we get over the fact that she's a trans-woman playing a trans-woman? I'm glad to see she got the part, but wouldn't it be better to focus on the fact that she's an actress doing well in a role rather than to focus on her gender? I think she could have played a lot of different roles in this (or any other) show just fine, and I think there are plenty of actresses who could play Sophia just fine who aren't trans-women. I know that this is probably an unpopular view, but I don't think it's a "requirement" for a trans-woman to play a trans-woman in a show like this. I don't think Chris Hemsworth is a demi-god, but he does a nice job playing Thor doesn't he? And somehow I doubt that Emma Watson has magical abilities, but I enjoyed her portrayal of Hermoine Granger throughout the Harry Potter movies. This isn't to say that I don't like watching Laverne Cox, as I do - in fact I love her hair in the show - and I think she does a great job; I just wish we could focus on that instead.
Umm, it looks like I published this by accident and I was nowhere near finished. As such I'll go ahead and leave it be and simply do a part two with the rest of what I had to say.
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