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

Not sure why they have to have all the lesbian sex scenes. It doesn't t bother me except itisn't essential to the plot and brings the story to a brief stand still.

 

It's a female prison?

 

It's not a necessary element of the plot though. The sex and nudity is clearly designed to pander to males but I'd rather have scenes that actually add to the drama.

 

Yeah, I know and agree. I was just being flippant - must be the season...

 

Wow... It's out already? I hadn't heard a thing leading up to this

 

Episode one of the new season was a snooze...

 

Which season is just starting now, 3 or 4?

 

Kind of felt the same, but that's probably to be expected. Just felt like they were trying to juggle way too many characters, but I guess they felt they needed to remind us of where everyone was in terms of plot. Hopefully going forward each episode will focus on maybe a few characters at a time. I don't need to see every character in every episode.

 

Season three. I wonder how many more they can squeeze out of Piper's one-year sentence? Though she's become less and less of the focus of the show, so I could see them carrying on even after she gets out.

 

Additionally, I wouldn't mind if they toned the "comedy" throughout the show too. I don't necessarily want it to be like OZ or anything but would like to see the fluffy stuff go away.

 

Whole series is being dumped by the looks of it. That's my next few evenings sorted!

 

Another benefit of the Netflix model, if they feel like releasing something early...they just do it. No network schedule juggling required and it's a nice little gift for fans.

 

I agree with this plus I don't think that the micro-flashbacks were effective or necessary. I think the show would benefit with a thinning down of a few characters to make for a more focused storyline. Maybe they could be killed off in some kind of altercation that serves the plot. At least Piper's ex-fiancé will not be back, so that's a plus!

But anyhow, I've only seen the first ep so far, and the rest of the season might well knock it out of the park.

 

Episode 1 was almost like a re-orientation episode in a way, with lots of different cameo scenes from various characters. I'd forgotten how many characters there were and what they'd done or were known for. There were some great lines though.

 

I'm happy to report that subsequent episodes are much better. I've seen five so far, and it's pretty good stuff, with some LOL lines and interesting plot developments.

 

I take back my previous comment now, having watched the whole season. In fact, I'm probably done with it. The writers really seem to have run out of ideas after the breakout first season (kind of like Orphan Black).

They took the most annoying aspects of season 2 - flashbacks, and doubled down on them in season 3. Do we really still need to see flashback origin stories of various random characters in season 3? They're jarring as they take you out of the prison narrative (which is not much more than a soap this season) who's purpose just appears to be to say, 'see, bad s**t happened in their lives and that's why they're in prison'. Geddit? In fact, it seemed like the prison story was just filler for the flashbacks!

In the last three or so episodes, the prison drama seemed to pick up some speed, but then was totally squandered in the final episode. Worse still, they turned Piper into a nasty and unlikable character (someone for whom I'd always rooted, especially in season 1).

And don't get me started on the cult thing, ugh! Season 3 was a big, fat fail and unless they go back to their roots next season (if there is one), I won't be back.

 

Halfway through the season and I cant wait for this to be over. I'm finding many episodes limp and just all over the place. They upped the comedy which for me is not a plus. This season is a big miss. Season 2 was their best...I'm not optimistic they can better it.

 

I agree with you mostly, however while season 2 was less aimless and soapy, it did suffer from too cartoonish a villain that seemed to be unrealistically untouchable until the end (another cartoonish scene). Season 1 was excellent IMO and is the reason why the show garnered such high critical acclaim and following. But for me, the goodwill has run out.

 

I'm not quite ready to give up on it, but this season was a big let down for me after the first two seasons. The last 1.5 hour episode, in particular. was silly at times in a way I found annoying. Many of the characters just seemed unbelievable this season to me.

 

I watched the first ep of Season 3 last night and I'm not optimistic. The flashbacks were not effective at all.

 

Good lord...you must not be on Facebook.

 

Loved it. One of the best shows on tv.

 

I liked this season a lot. I like all the back stories.

 

I didn't think the third season was as good as the first two. With the previous seasons, I wanted to watch the next episode right away to see what happened next, because it was so compelling. Season three wasn't bad, per se, it just wasn't as compelling and I never found myself wanting to watch more than one episode in a sitting.

They certainly did up the comedy this season. I know it's minimum security, but at times you almost forget the show is taking place in a prison at all.

The Norma cult thing was dumb and dragged on too long. It also seemed out of character for her to let it spin out of control for as long as it did. You also kind of expected her to finally speak to put a stop to the whole thing, too, but she didn't.

The last scene of the finale at the lake went on way, way too long. Trim that down and the finale might have only been an hour instead of 90 minutes (I'm exaggerating, but come on)!

All of the nitpicking aside, it was still a decent season, just the least good of the three so far. I hope it gets back on track with season four. I think the overcrowding plot device introduced at the end as a cliffhanger could potentially make for a more compelling story arc next season than what we got this season.

 

At this point I now prefer Wentworth over Orange. It has a lot more tension.