As any responsible college student would, I binge-watched the new season as soon as it was released. "Orange Is The New Black" has become one of my favorite shows. While I was initially intrigued by the “based on a true story” tagline and the life in prison, I have developed a greater understanding of the struggles that everyone goes through. This series does a fantastic job of bridging the gap between seeing these women as “criminals” and seeing them for who they are as individuals.
Warning: If you have not seen season 4 yet, this article will contain spoilers.
The prison has changed since becoming privatized. In other words, the corporation finds ways to monetize the system. Piscatella is one of the new guards, and he is intense. The inmates are treated as criminals, without the realization that they are human beings with rights.
We see how a wealthy, famous white woman is given special treatment as an inmate. Why is she given special treatment? She has money and lawyers that can easily sue. The reality is, the prison wants to hide the corruption from the public. The prisoners don’t have much of a voice.
Lolly is extremely paranoid about the NSA. We realize that she suffers from a severe form of mental illness in which she hears voices. We see how others are affected by loved ones with mental illness. As Healy struggles to deal with his past, he develops a bond with Lolly. In a way, he overcompensates in his job because he wasn’t able to “save” his mother.
We see the reality of how a naive person can get taken advantage of both by inmates and officers. First, we see Suzanne struggle to gain a voice against Maureen, who is persuading her to run away. Then we see Humphrey encourage Suzanne to fight Maureen. We also see how her other friends will do anything to protect her.
Poussey’s death shows exactly why the Black Lives Matter movement is so important. Unnecessary death, disrespect for the dead and lack of awareness is shown. We love Poussey as a character and are so angry that she was killed off. But the haunting reality is that this fictional death echoes what is actually going on right now in the United States.
OITNB does a great job of leaving its viewers at the most intense cliffhanger. The bad news? We’ll probably have to wait another year to see what happens. The good news? The episodes will be released all at once. This calls for another binge-watching session next year.
Years from now, we will look back on this show and see the impact it has made. Few television series can bring light to such controversial issues with such grace and power, but OITNB continues to succeed.
