Orange is the New Black: Donna Pinciotti is a Lesbian in Prison

Hello everybody! Here is my review for Netflix’s original series Orange is the New Black.

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK

TITLE: Orange is the New Black

DIRECTOR: Jenji Kohan

STARRING: Taylor Schilling, Laura Prepon, Michael J. Harney, Michelle Hurst, Kate Mulgrew, Jason Biggs

GENRE: Comedy-Drama

YEAR: 2013

COUNTRY: United States

Orange is the New Black is an interesting Netflix series the follows the incarceration of Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling), a New York business owner with past experiences as a drug mule. She is ratted out by her accomplice and former lover Alex Vause (Laura Prepon) before the statue of limitations on her crime is up, so she must spend the next twelve months in jail. The show focuses on her daily activities and her interactions with the other prisoners and correctional officers. The main characters the show follows are Piper Chapman, Alex Vause, Sam Healy (prison counselor), Ms. Claudette (fellow inmate), and inmate cook Red. All of the characters make life hell for Chapman at one moment or another throughout the first season. The second will be released sometime in 2014 or 2015.

Orange is the New Black is Netflix’s third original series, after House of Cards and Hemlock Grove. Orange is the New Black is definitely an interesting take on the kinds of people and the lives they live in all women prisons. The storytelling over the course of the first season is unique because over the course of at least the first 10 episodes, the show flashbacks to the past of one of the inmates. This correlates with whatever inmate has more screen time for that individual episode. The show doesn’t just deal with the lives of the inmates though. Many of the characters featured in the show are also correctional officers, counselors, or other prison officials. For example, one of the officers is featured in almost every episode since he is in a relationship with Dayanara, one of the Hispanic inmates.

I am afraid to say Orange is the New Black is far from perfect. There is an over-abundance of racial stereotypes on many of the non-Caucasian characters. While the characters acknowledge the fact that they are walking stereotypes, there are still too many of them and I found that those characters were unoriginal. One of the episodes there was an election being held and all of the characters were separated by their races, where their platforms were based on stereotypes for each race. My second issue with the show is that it doesn’t use any transitions when it changes to a flashback. You will be confused unless you are paying attention.

You can check out the trailer below:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nryWkAaWjKg]

PROS:

• Variety of Characters.
• Analysis of  relationships.
• Blend of comedy/drama.
• That 70s Show Donna is hot!

CONS:

• No transitions for flashbacks.
• Racial stereotypes.

SCORE: 8.5 / 10

If you have any suggestions for films/TV/Games/Music for me to review, drop me a comment!

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