“Orange is the New Black” is Netflix’s latest attempt to become the next HBO. The drama focuses on the life of Piper Chapman, played by Taylor Schilling (“Argo”), a white, upper-class entrepreneur helping run a soapmaking business caught up in the dangerous web of her former lesbian drug-dealing lover, Alex Vause, played by Laura Prepon (“The Kitchen”). That synopsis alone is a mouthful, but it goes on. Piper turns herself in, biding farewell to her semi-pathetic fiancé, Larry, played by Jason Biggs (“American Pie”).
The show documents Piper’s life as an inmate in Litchfield Prison. Based on a true story, the series attempts to highlight what life is like for a privileged white female thrust into the strange world of prison. The answer, it seems, is that life in prison is tough. Piper makes mistake after mistake, offending the wrong people, laughing at the wrong times. She learns very quickly that life behind the bars is very different from the life she led before.
“Taking steps is easy, standing still is hard.” This is a line from the Regina Spektor’s “You’ve Got Time,” the show’s theme song, and it encapsulates the theme of the entire show. Piper, along with the other inmates, has nothing but time in prison: time to think about her crimes, former lovers, current lovers and so on. Life on the outside continues to pass; For Piper, it stands still. The issues she amuses herself with don’t make sense to Larry, or Piper’s best friend Polly. When they come to visit, they no longer have anything to talk about. They’re unable to relate to each other. This becomes strikingly clear when Piper gives up an important business call to chase after a chicken.
The shining success of the show comes from the smaller characters. Each episode focuses on the backstory of a particular inmate, as well as with the current storyline. These backstories highlight another one of the show’s key ideas: Prisoners are not bad people. Most of them are good people who have made mistakes. The most emotionally draining plot of these backstories concerns Sophia Burset, a transgender firefighter turned hair stylist. In order for Sophia to receive her sex change she used a fraudulent credit card and racked up more than $80,000 in debt. Her heartbreaking relationship with her son and her wife, tied with superb acting, make for one hell of an episode.
These backstories and minor characters make the show, but they also highlight its downfall. Oftentimes these characters are far more interesting and dynamic than Piper’s whiny and self-destructive behavior. Larry this, Larry that – don’t we all really want to know what Ms. Claudette (Piper’s roommate) did to get herself locked up? The show could be greatly improved upon if it focused more on strengthening the phenomenal smaller characters and lessening Piper’s time onscreen. “Orange is the New Black” tries to encompass too many ideas and characters, oftentimes leaving the viewer feeling shortchanged and scrambling for answers.
Though “Orange is the New Black” is occasionally predictable and cliché in its portrayal of racism and classism, it has such a plethora of wonderful characters that the show never falls flat. It’s predictable but nevertheless enjoyable to watch. As far as Netflix’s original shows go, it ranks second to “House of Cards” as far as overall quality is concerned. “Orange is the New Black,” while worth the watch, still has some rather imprisoning flaws.
