Some Thoughts on ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK Season 2
June 9, 2014 by Marisa Roffman
[Warning: This contains spoilers for the ENTIRE second season of ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK. So if you haven’t finished season 2 on Netflix, come back after you’re done!]
The bad thing about finishing ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK so quickly? The loooooong wait for season 3.
But, personally, I was living in fear of being spoiled — which, of course, means next-to-nothing has been spoiled for me since I finished watching season 2 late Friday night — so I quickly made my way through the entire season, and while I loved season 1, I’m infatuated with season 2.
And I’m guessing I’m not alone. (Especially if you’ve already finished season 2.) So, I have a few thoughts about the second season, and I want to hear what you guys thought, as well…
- It was a bit risky to start off the season focused just on Piper (with a few moments of Alex thrown in), and then following it up with a Piper-less episode, but it really worked for me. (And this is one of those cases where the “binge” model works well…I might have been a bit frustrated if I had to wait three weeks to see Piper return to Litchfield, but since I simply just had to watch the next episode, I loved what those hours gave us.) I doubt the show is looking to life post-Piper in prison — especially since the time frame of the first two seasons has been fairly short — but if anyone doubted the show was tied to any one character being a part of the canvas, both of those hours proved the show can be compelling with or without the people you might expect to see on screen.
- Vee was a fantastic “villain.” It’s weird to use those words in quotes because she did some fairly atrocious things both in and out of prison, but she was also complex enough that there were times I was rooting for her. That being said, once she knocked out Red (and turned all her girls against her), her fate seemed clear…and the twist of it being Miss Rosa who took her out — during her “hijacking” the prison bus since she only had weeks left to live — was a fantastic surprise/collision of stories.
- The reveal that Lorna’s fiance, Christopher, was actually just a man she went on one date with and subsequently became obsessed with? Wow. More than probably anything else, that reveal made me want to rewatch season 1.
- It’s easy to identify Suzanne as “Crazy Eyes” — and being able to easily identify a character on a show with dozens of them is generally a plus — but man, it feels kind of mean to…especially after season 2. The flashback and insight we got into Suzanne’s early years was tragic. Her mother loved her, and fought for, and potentially, pushed her too far, and she still ended up there. And Uzo Aduba’s always fantastic performance reached new levels in the finale as Vee’s absence (and betrayal) left Suzanne distraught. Ugh, I just really wanted to give her a hug.
- Pornstache isn’t a character I needed to be in a lot of season 2 (despite the fact that Pablo Schreiber is one of the best actors at playing disturbingly deranged), but I loved the splash he made in season 2. His trail of SHOTs at his return? I laughed a lot.
- Taystee’s desperation for a family connection was beautifully handled. Of course she’d be taken in by Vee with the right words, even if it meant rejecting Poussey — and since she had potentially gotten too close to Poussey, even better. But Taystee finding the strength to see through Vee and rally the other girls should be interesting to see play out in season 3.
- Sophia schooling the women on the anatomy of their vaginas? Amazing. Brilliant. So great.
- There was a lot of talk about Laura Prepon’s limited involvement in season 2, but I thought the way the writers wrote Alex out — and then back in near the end of the season — made sense, and it worked well.
- The characters explaining their definition of love? Amazing. Heartbreaking. So revealing. And one of my favorite parts of the season. (And series.)
- Larry and Polly’s affair was like watching a slow-motion train wreck, but despite Piper’s cheating, her anger seems justified? I mean, her (barely) ex-fiance and best friend (who just had a kid with another man)? Eesh. Curious what this will mean for their role in season 3.
Okay, enough from me…what did you think of ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK season 2?
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I loved the new season, although my main nitpicks would be that there was not enough Piper or even Piper Story-line (Like it had gone stale or something), and Bennett and Daya’s relationship. I mean seriously she needs to give the guy a break, and I think that story-line was there just as melodrama.
The firing of Fischer was also stupid. She was one of my fave characters and the fact that Joe (who really likes her) done it because of the pressure from Fig just defies all logic.
I also hate that a lot of time was spent on ‘boring characters’ and their backgrounds instead of the ones we really actually want to see. We are only teased with Crazy Eyes’s, nothing on Nichols, no follow up on ‘Reds’, nothing on ‘Big Boo’, none of the golden oldies, Nothing on Norma (or why she doesn’t speak)… It annoys me that the whole season focused on Vee. I liked how evil Vee was, I get that it made for some tense moments, but there are about eight episodes of the same thing. I loved Miss Rosa’s background and also loved Gloria’s and Lorna’s. So hopefully season 3 can cover the interesting characters. I loved season 2 though, and I can’t wait for season 3.
Oh one more thing to add, why wasn’t Chang with the golden oldies throughout season 2, and what happened to the WAC? I think the writers just forgot, I guess…
I really dig how this show doesn’t get hung up on “character arcs”. Any other show would have Healy descending deeper into evil after his lesbiano-phobia (I’ll call it that because Sophia doesn’t seem to bother him, we don’t have any signs gay men do either, and what with his marriage he has woman issues) and letting Tucky and Piper fight. Instead he continues to just have his ups and downs, sometimes coming through in a heartwarming and noble way, sometimes messing up. You can say the same with most of the other prisoners and guards as well, with the exception of maybe Vee.
I”m not one for giving Bennett a break. Aside from the fact that he’s the most boring character in my book, he WAS being pretty weak, especially given that Mendez seemed to be looking out for him as much as he ever did anyone. I’ve had enough of that storyline too, but mainly because I want Bennett to either change drastically or get off the show. At least his predicament was used to establish pretty quickly that the new boss may not be same as the old boss, but he did lose his ideals pretty quickly.