 |
| Laverne Cox |
Welcome to the new recap series on the second season of the Jenji Kohan Netflix hit Orange is the New Black. Over the next few Saturdays, we will be looking through the episodes and highlighting the events that make this comedy/drama a stand-out in general TV. Does the series have what it takes to make another phenomenal season of TV, and can the tales of Piper Chapman and her inmates satisfy expansion? Stay tuned and make sure to follow along at your own pace.
 |
| Left to right: Kate Mulgrew and Taylor Schilling |
Plot
After dropping someone off for chemo therapy, Lorna Morello (Yael Stone) decides to visit the house of her ex-fiance, whom she stalked before getting arrested. Meanwhile, Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling) and Brook Soso (Kimiko Glenn) get moved into a new holding facility. Piper gets stuck with Red (Kate Mulgrew), who is busy trying to reform her smuggling ring. Piper is also trying to get all of her stuff back from people who stole from her. After Poussey (Samira Wiley) makes an invention that changes the way that she pees, there becomes a discussion involving vagina design that Sophia Burset (Laverne Cox) helps them figure out. Larry (Jason Biggs) becomes more comfortable with his life away from Piper. Soso hooks up with Nicky Nichols (Natasha Lyonne) and they become great friends. Lorna makes it back from her ex-fiance's house in time to pick up the chemo patient and drive everyone home unsuspected.
 |
| Samira Wiley |
MVP:
Poussey Washington (Samira Wiley)
For the first time in the TV Recap series, the flashback doesn't quite dictate the MVP. In this case, Poussey has done a wonderful job this season in being a well rounded, comical character with a lot of resourceful features. In this particular episode, she isn't the center of attention, but she gets a lot of important plot points. She introduces the idea of the titular "hole" and gets everyone curious about their bodies. She even hooks up with Taystee (Danielle Brooks). There's a lot of conflicting things that go on, and it's thanks to Poussey and her confident swagger. There's only hope that as the season progresses that she continues to become more invaluable in ways that every other character has begun to feel. The season, after four episodes, already has a lot of great highlights and is ripe for some more.
 |
| Yael Stone |
Flashback
Tying in nicely to Morello's quest to revisit her ex-fiance's house, the flashback chooses to focus on her past. She is seen as a young and more naive woman who is a little careless in her actions. Things are going fine until she becomes too obsessed with a man that she wants to marry. This results in her getting in trouble. She gets a restraining order and can never see him again. As a result, she takes the opportunity in the present to break into his house and see that he has moved onto another woman, whom he is already planning to marry.
 |
| Stone |
Overall Thoughts
While it is all relative to which characters you like the most, this one felt like a less interesting episode. Maybe it could be that the back stories of Crazy Eyes (Uzo Aduba) or Taystee had a lot more weight, but hearing Morello's story was nowhere near as interesting. It is more tragic and doesn't have nearly as much poignancy as Taystee's did. However, it is great to hear the women talk about female anatomy while listening to Sophia. The irony becomes deeper when you realize that it took a transvestite to talk about women's urethra. Also, it does seem like Larry isn't doing much for the series and with the universal disinterest continually present, it makes me wonder how long he will lull the series. Piper is fine and Red's resurgence has promise to be interesting. However, this feels like a transition episode in which a lot of interesting things happen, but they are mere hints to what will come as the series progresses. Even then, the show knows how to mix drama, humor, and profundity in clever ways.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Comments
Post a Comment