As the inmates struggle to fill the long hours and days ahead of them — with petty grievances, with inside jokes, with loud, potentially unsanitary sex in the toilet stalls — it’s easy to imagine Orange Is the New Black eventually moving on from Piper. Rather than continuing to gin up ways to keep her in the joint beyond her original sentence — perhaps she failed to work the requisite number of shifts at the Park Slope co-op? — the show could simply divvy up her camera time among the other cons. Few showrunners are as naturally digressive as Kohan — Episode 2 features disquisitions on constipation and Monsanto — so it shouldn’t be a problem. And as long as there are actors like Uzo Aduba playing characters like Suzanne, a.k.a. “Crazy Eyes,” it’ll likely be essential viewing. The third episode, built around Suzanne’s backstory, is particularly devastating, an undelicate, unexploded land mine of race, liberal guilt, adoption, and anxiety. You could make the argument that another show might tackle some of these messy topics more elegantly but, to be honest, I can’t think of another show that would dare to tackle them at all.
The truth is, I’m not ready to see Piper trade in her jumpsuit just yet. In its first season, Orange Is the New Black was about a stranger in a strange land. Using her privilege and relative stability as a life preserver, Piper was able to float on the surface of Litchfield. It wasn’t until the very end that she was irrevocably pulled under. In Season 2, with Piper no better (and potentially much worse!) off than her peers, the show has finally collapsed the iffy borders that separated the haves from the have-nots, “us” from “them.” Everyone is gen pop now, milling about and mixing in disturbing and provocative ways. In prison, there are no tourists and being scared straight is an oxymoron: Whether they show it or not, everyone is equally terrified. What if I don’t make it out? What if I do? The beating heart of Orange Is the New Black is actually a ticking clock. Your time in solitary is nearly up.
Article Appeared @http://grantland.com/features/orange-is-the-new-black-netflix-season-two/