 |
| Michael Harney |
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 Natasha Lyonne |
Brook Soso (Kimiko Glenn) gets help with her hunger strike. Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling) discovers from Alex (Laura Prepon) that she was the only one who went to jail for their crime and that Alex would be visiting soon. Larry (Jason Biggs) admits that he is breaking up with Piper. Diaz (Dascha Polanco) begins to feel bad about making a scene, as people now know that she's pregnant and that there are now rape laws put into effect. Piper publishes Brook's manifesto regarding the hunger strike. The turf war between Vee (Lorraine Toussaint) and Red (Kate Mulgrew) continues as Cindy (Adrienne C. Moore) reveals that there was a snitch on Red's side. Sam Healy (Michael Harney) gets his Safe Place group off to a good start, though Poussey (Samira Wiley) is scared to share her feelings of abandonment, especially since Crazy Eyes (Uzo Aduba) is spying on her for Vee and the group. Taystee (Danielle Brooks) gets defensive and doesn't want them interfering with Poussey anymore. When Red finds out that Boo (Lee DaLaria) was the snitch, she cuts off connections to her. So does Vee. Jane (Beth Fowler) is helping with the hunger strike and eventually passes out, believing that her involvement will help get them attention. It doesn't, thanks to a huge hurricane. The bathrooms are beginning to get fixed. Someone puts a hit out on Vee, though the person who gets attacked is not Vee. Piper discovers that she is being transferred due to overpopulation.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
 |
| Beth Fowler |
Flashback
Jane starts off as a young nun who becomes addicted to protesting after she joins a bunch of friends in an action with hippies. She protests the war and quickly becomes chastised for this decision. Even then, she still continues to do so, believing that she is doing right by using her power as a nun as a way to get media coverage. She destroys buildings and makes public actions while keeping her identity well known as a nun. However, it eventually catches up with her and she lands herself in jail with nobody really caring that she was actually a person of the lord.
MVP:
Galina "Red" Reznikov (Kate Mulgrew)
This whole season has been a turf war between Red and Vee. With the clock winding down, it is starting to get hostile and there's even some violent actions happening. Even then, the rise of Red's power has made her an unstoppable force and in this episode, she does some serious business in making her operation look the best that it can. She disowns Boo and does her best to get Vee out of the picture. Things are getting hostile, but she knows how to play the game. Her fierce confidence controls the episode and is setting her up for a dirty win over Vee. What will happen? Who knows. Either way, Red has a fully functioning operation now and nothing will stop her from regaining the power that she once had.
 |
| Kimiko Glenn |
Overall Thoughts
I will admit that while I continue to enjoy the series, I am not entirely enjoying the world building and season arc that has developed. Yes, the Red and Vee stuff that started over the bathroom issues and kitchen nightmares may be interesting plots, but I do feel like they have been rather redundant this season. There's been a lot of talk and not a lot of action. With that said, the multiple ongoing stories outside of it help to balance things out. Maybe Soso's plot is a little basic and is only now getting interesting. Maybe the show still can mine sympathy from characters who seem below secondary.There's a lot that the series continues to do right despite the main plot's redundancy. We get closure here on Piper and Alex's crime from the opening episode. We get a cliffhanger in which she may be leaving. Is it the show recognizing Taylor Schilling being one of the lesser interesting characters? It could be an easy way to write her off, or even expand the universe. Either way, I am enjoying this world quite a bit and seeing how the operations change over time has been fascinating and I cannot wait to see what happens with two episodes left.
Comments
Post a Comment