"Orange is the New Black" Netflix series...any fans

Low expectations are justified after the S5 trainwreck (not that S3 & S4 were much better).

I'm 9 eps into S6 and so far, it's much better than S5. I mean, it still isn't a top tier show by any means, but it feels a little more grounded. Four to go...

 

I gave up someone in the middle of S4. Loved the first few seasons, but it went off the rails and I lost interest. I get that a prison has a lot of inmates, but it's like they have to tell the story of all 493 of them. Just too unfocused and bouncing from minor character to minor character on a whim.

 

Season 6 is a whole lot better than S5 IMO. Some drama towards the end too...

 

Yeah, I agree. I've seen the whole season now and, overall, I liked it much more than the last few seasons.

spoilers...

The not so good:
Red's story-line was lacking. Pennsatucky's story was a detour without much payoff. The same applies for the Daddy character - much ado about nothing.

The supposedly tough-ass 'Badison' actor was totally miscast. Her tough act was laughably unbelievable - she came across as a powder-puff that could be easily neutralized, if anyone tried.

The usual criticism about unnecessary flashbacks (still!) applies.

The good:
I liked how the kickball climax was handled, going against what was telegraphed. The irony of the death of the two feuding sisters was pretty sweet. Caputo (pornstache) is still the most likable character. Nichols was pretty good fun as was Morello (though her character turned kinda nasty towards the end).

Looks like there will be another season...

 

Never seen the show, but the actress who plays Rhea Boyle, Yelena Shmulenson, is my wife's best friend... met her last year and she's a very, very nice lady, it has to be said.

 

I'm at S6 E7, it's still not getting much better, bottoming out quite a bit with not much going for it. And they're writing Tastee like some sort of folk hero when she's a criminal who's no better than any of the other inmates.

These past two Seasons have been a bit disappointing IMO, the writing just seems to have gone down the toilet, it feels more one dimensional and flat as apposed to the much higher quality of writing in the earlier seasons.

 

I'm only mid-season three, so I have a long way to go, but I don't know why I ignored this show for so long-I am absolutely hooked.

 

Season 3 was pretty good IIRC, it had the underwear business and the Australian Man-Chick.

 

I don't know-I think you know the scene-she's lookin' mighty feminine.

 

Binged the new season over the weekend. Very surprised to see Mackenzie Phillips, who shows up in the latter half of the season (hope that's not a spoiler). Overall, I thought it was much better than the last two seasons.

 

Caputo isn't Pornstache. Pornstache is currently a leprechaun on 'American Gods.'

 

I think you've entirely missed the point of Taystee's storyline.

I skipped seasons 4 and 5 but my girlfriend started watching this season and I kept peeking in because I like some of the acting (Natasha Lyonne is always a bright presence). Overall it held my interest better than the first few episodes of season 4, which caused me to bow out on the series. The flashbacks are still a problem, but in two instances this season I thought they really worked well: the extended one with Taystee and her friend (now the guard) working at the fast food place, which emphasized the sadness of the present-day situation; and the origin of the "ice water" joke in the last episode, which I found to be a small but very effective reveal about the nature of these two sisters, especially in light of how they end up.

Like probably everyone, I'm wondering how

Spoiler

Piper's release will change things next season.

 

I assumed that was the point. She's only intimidating (or funny, even) in her own mind. Everyone else just finds her an annoying nuisance. I don't think anyone cared enough about her to even bother to neutralize her.

 

I still loathe Piper. "Badison" is now up there with her.
Enjoyed the killer sisters story line. Liked how that played out. I was kind of getting annoyed by Red and the Freida plot got boring. But, still a decent season. And Blanca got screwed. I hope her story continues next season.

 

I’ve only watched the first two episodes of season 6 so far. They feel a bit like the revival of Arrested Development — like everybody in the cast is now too busy to shoot at the same time so they’ve had to give everyone their own cell and their own storyline.

 

As usual, the season started out slow and picked up towards the end. Hopefully they end the series after the next season, because I’m finding it very hard to feel any sympathy for many of the characters, including almost all of the guards and prison staff.

• ”Badison” really got grating and this season's villains were just too cartoonish.
• The best thing about the show is still Suzanne.
• I always enjoy Blanca and the scene at the end was heartbreaking.
• I hated Pennsatucky in S1, but she's also become one of my favorites.
• Red is also one of my favorites, but she's been wasted ever since she was taken out of the kitchen.
• I wish they'd done more with some of the older characters that had been sent to max in earlier seasons. Sophia had some scenes but Lolly only appeared once.

 

I agree with a lot of what you said, except I'm glad they didn't spend more time on Lolly. That was heartbreaking about Blanca, even though I thought, "Talk about 'ripped from the headlines.'"

For those of you who are trying to slog through it, I think the season got noticeably better around ep 9 or 10.

 

good show, i'm enjoying it.

 

Just finished the last season. Much better than the previous few seasons (though the whole ICE thing is a bit heavy handed). But I liked the way they wrapped up everything the season finale. Not everything was cheery and happy endings, but fairly satisfying.

 

Eh, I thought the final season was one of the lesser ones. Now to catch up on Wentworth which I feel is a better 'prison' show.

 

I'm trying to stay with the show, although it's been going off the rails. Haven't watched the final season yet, but I will.

Weeds and Orange is the New Black are from the same creator, Jenji Kohan, and Weeds went from a very enjoyable show to one I just had to stop watching because it had become ridiculous. OITNB got really close to me saying "F- it" as well.

 

The show has gone on too long (much like Weeds did). I lost interest some two or three seasons ago. I can't be arsed to care anymore.

 

I liked a lot of what happened in the final season as a whole, but that last episode was just awful. Three complete songs (all of which I hated) padding the running time, an endless montage of seeing almost everyone from seasons past and that annoying outtakes collage with the closing credits? What were they thinking?? I loved so much of the show but the way the ended it just left a bad taste. The finale of 'Weeds' was just puzzingly pointless, but this was badly executed. And it would have been fine if it were a regular-length episode.

 

The Karla character was only in the last season and got the worst of them all. I'm glad about Blanca and Gloria and I still loathe "Pipes."
I know if they hadn't ended the show with the montage of old characters a lot of fans would have complained about that as well.
You can't please everyone.
I liked it.

 

I liked it too. The last two eps were quite good, but the rest of the season was pad city! Definitely overstayed its welcome.