Orange Is the New Black

Every sentence is a story. This brilliant official slogan precisely captures what gives this essentially melodramatic series set in a women’s prison its power. The narrative about a young woman from the upper-middle class who gets sentenced to more than a year in prison in a minimum-security prison because of a past transgression is only a taking-off point for a variety of captivating life stories and the personalities of other prisoners. The series brilliantly weaves together several narrative strands starting with a classic “fish out of the water” story in which the ordinary protagonist, whose successful little life had previously revolved around picking out organic foods and making luxury soap, is sent to prison, where she is absolutely out of her element and helpless. In addition to this, we are presented with the world of the prison and its internal rules and dynamics, as well as the relationships between the prisoners, including romantic relationships. By themselves, these storylines would be enough to hold viewers’ attention across episodes, but when all of them are combined into a single unit, such as in the famous screwdriver episode, Orange Is the New Black is capable of bringing viewers to their knees. In addition to the excellent screenplays and autobiographical source material, it is of course necessary to highlight the cast. The very fact that we have a series in which women are not portrayed according to the usual stereotypes and comprise the overwhelming majority of the characters, whereas men are relegated to supporting roles, would be reason enough to praise the series. However, what we get here is an ensemble of great actresses of the broadest range of ethnicities and physical types, all of whom equally get from the screenwriters an opportunity to portray fascinating, multi-layered characters. Orange Is the New Black is a great, sometimes funny and sometimes tremendously emotional melodrama  that avoids formulas and clichés while showing the world of a women’s prison, the individual characters and lesbian, heterosexual and non-sexual relationships with maximum openness, empathy and complexity. (08.01.2014)

Thanks to the gradual, detailed revealing of the specific features of the prison ecosystem, which is based on the equally uncompromising territorial behaviour as the world outside (where, however, the conflicts between different races and religions have far more brutal consequences), this character-driven series never gets too bogged down in emotional situations or relationships. In short, there isn’t enough time or space for sentimentality in prison. Thanks also to that, Orange Is the New Black is one of the first (proudly and thoroughly) female-led series that manages to appeal to both women and men with equal force. 85% Second season: The interrupted narrative in the style of Lost is already hackneyed and, furthermore, equally as pleasant as coitus interruptus. It mainly comes across as an effort to stretch the series out by an additional 13 episodes. The flashbacks only rarely complement the current story. They more often only needlessly distract the viewer’s attention, tell us what we already know and deprive us of a moment of surprise (how Vee will behave) and disrupt the pace. The sidelining of the Piper character, or rather the creators’ cluelessness as to what to do with her, also seems like an ill-conceived solution to the problem of how to expand one autobiography into a plot covering many hours. Though the series no longer has the fast pace of the first season (with the exception of the perfectly coherent first episode), fails to create a cohesive fictional world in which everything is in some way connected to everything else, and sometimes seems to be improvised, it still offers a far more diverse cast of female characters than most other television productions, let alone films. And that extraordinary diversity and minimum space for commonly seen female stereotypes are the reasons that I probably will not be able to resist watching the third season. 75% (16.09.2014)

After the first two seasons, I'm fully satisfied. Jenji Kohan has once again created a perfect fusion of drama and comedy. The story gave me some food for thought, just like Weeds. It's definitely not a mindless affair. Those expecting mostly a comedy series will probably be disappointed. Some of the dramatic moments are downright chilling. I’d compare the series to Wentworth. Although the latter is pure drama, both build on excellent writing and a great cast, both feature flashback scenes that offer more insight into the characters’ lives, and both drew me right into the story. // Now that the series is over, let me just sum up: I wasn't thrilled with all of the seasons, especially the third and sixth seasons were weaker, but I did enjoy the series as a whole. (14.09.2016)