Netflix hit a home run this year with Orange is the New Black, its third major original series (after House of Cards and Hemlock Grove) and unquestionably its finest to date. Taking place inside a women’s federal prison, Orange is the New Black utilizes its terrific ensemble cast to build a fascinating, invigoratingly original show universe. The show opens on Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling), an engaged New Yorker from an upper-class household, as she begins a 15-month sentence for acting as a drug mule during a rebellious, college romance with an international drug smuggler (Laura Prepon). Suddenly immersed in a complex prison hierarchy wherein one poorly chosen word can land an inmate in deep water, and something as commonplace as a stick of gum can spark an all-out war, Piper struggles to reconcile her typically sunny outlook with the warped reality of prison life.
Though Piper acts as Orange is the New Black’s entrance into the prison, the interactions between other prisoners never feel less important or interesting. It would be easy and time-consuming to praise each and every member of the show’s cast, but the obvious standouts include Schilling, who demonstrates a stunning range of emotions and clarity of character, Uzo Aduba, who makes her nutty Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren the show’s most unexpectedly enjoyable and moving character and Taryn Manning as the unhinged, completely terrifying religious fanatic Tiffany “Pennsatucky” Doggett.
Dramatic and comedic aspects of the show are expertly handled, so much so that it can deliver stinging social satire one minute then turn around and stun with dramatic heft the next. The full range of stories on display, some painfully funny, others agonizingly heartbreaking, is simply staggering.
Orange is the New Black is a quirky, ambitious and thoroughly excellent show, as well as one that should signal the dawn of a new golden age for diversity in television.