Piper Chapman and gang are back with Netflix original’s Orange Is The New Black. The comedy-drama series, based on a true story, is about a young woman, Piper, who faces jail time for an offence committed a while ago where she was convicted of carrying cash to her drug dealing girlfriend and abetting drug trafficking. While in Litchfield Penitentiary, she comes across a number of characters that she bonds and crosses swords with, along with trying to find a reason to survive and thrive behind bars.
The series first aired in 2013 and began with Piper’s (Taylor Schilling) conviction and sentencing to 15 months in Litchfield, severely affecting her personal life with her family and fiancé, played by Jason Biggs. She meets fellow inmates in the all-women’s prison and they come in different colours – “Crazy Eyes” – played by Uzo Aduba, former meth addict, “Pennsatucky” – played by Taryn Manning, pregnant “Daya” – played by Dascha Polanco, “Red” – played by Kate Mulgrew and of course, Sophia – played by real life transgender actor, Laverne Cox. As the story develops, we see a clumsy Piper try and make her way through the crudeness of Litchfield and slip up many times, though we have since then see her grow and gain importance, becoming the leader of a prison panty supply gang in the last season. Also, we get inside her tumultuous lesbian relationship with drug dealing girlfriend, Alex Vause, played by Laura Prepon. Her fellow inmates also share multiple relationships with each other, while trying to maintain a low-key entertained life within the walls. The series also takes us through their histories and how they got to being where they are, mostly because they were victims of their circumstances.
The latest season 4 is scheduled for release on June 17. 2016 after a year since its previous one ended. Trailers for the new season have already released, and it looks like the Litchfield gang is about to face their latest opponents. Characters that have stayed on will face their own personal demons, along with the continued ups and downs of Piper and Alex’s relationship. Also, now that the prison has become a for-profit organization, it gets packed with new inmates and the fight for survival and domination continues. A lot of tears, anger and emotions will flow this time.
The show has received critical acclaim, mainly due to its “humanizing of inmates”. It has received a number of awards mostly for its outstanding cast, and also for its storyline. It is said that Orange Is The New Black has also been renewed up to season 7.
