Over the weekend, I binged-watched Jenji Kohan's prison dramedy "Orange is the New Black" on Netflix. While I had a frustrating relationship with Kohan's previous show, "Weeds," the prospect of such a female-heavy cast was too much to resist. And to my delight, I found the experience of watching the show to be heartbreaking, moving, and exhilarating. Where "Weeds" had repelled me by its insistence on reducing many of its characters to nasty tropes for the sake of glib humor, here Kohan seemed committed to creating full-bodied characters. As the theme song says, perhaps "everything is different the second time around."
And then the finale happened. SOME SPOILERS AHEAD.
While it was not wholly unexpected, I felt like I had been gut-punched (or perhaps in this case, tit-punched). Sick and uncomfortable in the way I felt after finishing a Thomas Hardy novel. Perhaps it was the nature of binging, the intense emotional roller coaster in a short period of time. I intend to rewatch the episode and scene again with a clearer head.
Though the advantages of Netflix's whole series dump are clear, the one big drawback is the the lack of discourse available. For weekly shows like "Mad Men," for instance, one of my favorite parts of the experience is reading the recaps throughout the web that dissect small details and find a larger context for the conversation. With a show that not all of America is experiencing at the same time, however, it can be difficult to discuss major plot points without spoiling the experience for everyone else. So the other day I put out a call on Facebook for people who had finished all 13 episodes, and was fortunate to receive a reply from my new friend, actress Adriana Jones. Below is a copy of our dialogue.
- Conversation started June 6
Adriana Jones
It was lovely talking to you after Fresh Blood tonight! Let's stay in touch; I think we could become good friends .
- Tuesday
Lisa Huberman
I just felt the whole piper freakout was completely unearned. I guess i knew it was going to become that show eventually. but I hoped it wouldn't
- Tuesday
Adriana Jones
I understood why Piper would be upset about Larry leaving her and Alex goading him in their secret meeting, because on top of that her business is failing because Polly is useless, so it made sense to me that she would be coming undone. It was just a weird tonal shift to suddenly have Pennsatucky want to kill her.
Lisa Huberman
I don't think it was a tonal shift for pennsaltucky to go after her. But seeing her take violent action over pennsaltucky means piper has passed the point of no return and will get an extension of her sentence.
Adriana Jones
Yeah, I was wondering about that. Did she kill pennsatucky? Or just beat her up really badly? Healy won't vouch for her, since he was ready to just let her die, so there's probably no way to prove it was self defense. Will she get transfered to a maximum security prison then (and become roommates again with miss claudette)? I imagine not because that would eliminate the rest of the cast, but it will be interesting to see where this goes in the next season and to see if it becomes "that show"-the violent, gritty crime show-or if it will just be a slightly darker version of this season.
Lisa Huberman
Having watched (and been frustrated by) Weeds, I figured this was coming. But I had so loved the restraint of the first part of the show. As the theme song says, taking steps is easy, standing still is hard
Adriana Jones
Ah, I never watched Weeds, so I had no idea what to expect. Coming into it from that perspective, I was pleasantly surprised because they avoided a lot of the more annoying cliches and developed a pretty wonderful, fleshed out cast of characters.
Lisa Huberman
I totally agree--especially coming from Weeds. Weeds had some great actors, but everything was played for some crude absurd joke. I felt so much warmth and sadness watching this show. Miss Claudette broke my fucking heart
Adriana Jones
Ah! I almost cried for Ms. Claudette. I also really love Kate Mulgrew as Red.
Lisa Huberman
Right? And Jodie Foster directed episode 3. Some serious heavies. Also fun fact: the woman who played Yoga Jones was the voice of Patti Mayonaise on Doug
That completely blew my mind
Adriana Jones
Oh my god, that's awesome! I am going to have to rewatch some episodes and see if I can detect the patti resemblance.
Lisa Huberman
Love how much female camaraderie the series showed. There was something 90s about it--films like a League of Their Own and Girl, Interrupted.
Adriana Jones
Yeah, I've been getting really exasperated by the lack of genuine portrayals of dynamics between women or just women period in film, so it's nice to see such a strong cast of women on a hit tv show exploring so many different types of female relationships. I miss the girl power 90s.
Lisa Huberman
I do too! I miss the grumpy women of 90s pop culture
And I mean WOMEN. Not teenagers
Adriana Jones
Yes! And even the teenagers were more mature. The comparison between buffy the vampire slayer and twilight is made often, but I'm always struck by how much stronger buffy and the other girls on that show are than any female character in twilight and the difference in power between the girls on the two shows.
Adriana Jones
Well, twilight is a move not a show.
But you know what I mean.
Adriana Jones
Blargh, I'm going to get stuff done now, but I'm glad I got to decompress about "Orange" with you. Talk to you later! -A
Lisa Huberman
Hey--would it be okay if I published this convo on my blog?
Adriana Jones
Absolutely, blog away (just send me the url so I can see the post it's a part of?)
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