Netflix Original Crime Drama Series Stands Out As Streamer’s Best
Orange Is the New Black might not be the first Netflix original, but it was the most important. The dramedy set inside a woman’s prison established the streamer as more than just a repository for old media. It proved that Netflix could run with the big boys when it came to event television.
Orange Is The New Black
Since 2013, when the series debuted, Netflix has created countless follow-ups. Shows like critical darling, The Queen’s Gambit, and the cultural phenomenon Stranger Things.
Yet none of what came after would have been possible without Orange Is the New Black. Crazy Eyes walked so that Eleven could run.
Based on Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison the Netflix series provided an unprecedented look into the American penal system. Author Piper Kerman showed everyone that prison wasn’t all Shawshank Redemption and Oz.
The minimum security federal prison where Orange is set is closer to a resort/summer camp where prisoners are free to walk around and pretty much do whatever they want. Anything but leave, that is.
Shades Of Grey
Kerman, much like her Orange Is the New Black counterpart, Piper Chapman, was indicted on money-laundering charges related to drugs and sentenced to serve time in a federal correctional facility. Kerman served only 13 months of a 15-month sentence.
Series creator Jenji Kohan took Kerman’s book and expanded it into a story that ran seven times that long.
Using Kerman’s memoir as a blueprint, Kohan crafted a world of circumstantial criminals with rich backstories. Some of the women at Litchfield Penitentiary deserved to be there. Many did not.
Each woman had a complex history that couldn’t be easily summarized. In the world of Orange Is the New Black, there is no black or white, just shades of grey. Or, if you prefer, Orange.
Rich Characters
The series starts with Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling), a 33-year-old upper-middle-class WASP from New York City. When a judge sentences Chapman to 15 months in a minimum-security prison in Upstate New York, her cushy life is turned upside down.
Suddenly, whitebread Piper is surrounded by women of color from all walks of life.
Orand Is the New Black features a wide array of interesting characters, from wise-cracking Nicky (Natasha Lyonne), a junkie with a heart of gold, to Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren (Uzo Aduba), a Black lesbian raised in an affluent white family obsessed with fanfiction.
Every major character is given a flashback episode that details the events leading up to their imprisonment.
Piper Is No One’s Favorite
Litchfield’s inmates are all compelling characters, with one glaring exception: Piper. I don’t think I’m alone in saying that the show’s “main character” is also its blandest.
Maybe the writers just did too good of a job making the other characters interesting but it becomes harder and harder to care about Piper’s story Orange Is The New Black progresses.
The creators seem to have come to the same conclusion, as Piper’s role feels significantly reduced in later seasons. All the more time to devote to characters like Big Boo and Blanca Flores—both way more interesting than Piper Chapman.
The show also features a comeback of sorts for Kate Mulgrew. The Star Trek: Voyager star plays a tough, no-nonsense Russian named Red.
Stream It Now
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Orange Is the New Black often uses these fictional women to tackle real-life issues like ICE deportations, transgender healthcare, and the horror that is the for-profit prison system. I guarantee that if you make it through the entire series, you’ll think twice about wishing prison on even your worst enemy.
If you like engaging, well-written characters, laugh-out-loud moments, and women in prison, I can’t recommend Orange Is The New Black enough. You can stream all seven seasons on Netflix.
