Orange is the New Black

From the creator and writer of Weeds, Jenji Kohan, comes a new innovative series: Orange is the New Black. The show revolves around the main character Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling), a woman in her early thirties, who is sentenced to one year of federal prison for a crime she committed whilst still in college.  Engaged to be married to, what looks like, a sane and very unusual character for actor Jason Biggs, Piper’s youthful lesbian drug-trafficking crush (Laura Prepon) comes back to haunt her. Despite her minimal involvement (the single transport of a bag of drug-money), Piper is forced to take a plea bargain just two years shy of escaping sentence altogether under the statute of limitations.  
The American comedy-drama series is based on the memoirs of Piper Kerman, who wrote about her year in prison. The show first aired on Netflix, July 11, 2013 and shows great promise for Netflix as a producer. While I have yet to see the rest of the season, the first episode showed originality and moxy. Less Oz and more real world, Orange is the New Black takes away all the glamorous and cliché elements attributed to prison by the film industry. The surprising aspect of its approach is without doubt the reality factor. The sentenced perpetrator isn’t taken away toute suite in handcuffs after the trial, but rather turns herself in after a goodbye dinner with friends. Her surrender at the prison is not met with a smooth and swift Hollywood welcome; no quick stripping of belongings or handcuffed transport to a jailcell, or long walk through a corridor of scary and wildly intimidating prisoners. Rather, a miscommunication that led to the lack of preparation for a new inmate, forces Piper and her fiancé to wait for hours (it is a state institution, after all!) before finally being admitted. It is as if both the front desk personnel and the warden were inconvenienced by the arrival and surrender of Ms. Chapman, whose crime pales in comparison to the other inmates’.

Piper’s first day in prison lacks all Hollywood stereotype and glorification; hardly any intimidation, no knife fights, no rape, no drug trafficking, no prison-bullying, no corrupt prison guards or tyrannical wardens, but instead a very realistic depiction of a woman trying to find her way, socializing with others while being homesick, and unavoidably stepping on some toes in the process.

Some might argue it is rather slow-paced because it is missing the grotesque and intense elements normally associated with and expected in a prison series/film. However, its slow pacing and uncomplicated storyline make it more credible and more relatable. The series’ authenticity and originality is a welcome change for TV fiction.