• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Orange is the New Black S5 |OT| New blood. New rules - Netflix June 9th

LotusHD

Banned
Was
Janae part of Red's beating
in Season 3? If so, fuck the story for trying to keep on humanize her like she actually isn't a piece of trash. I feel bad for Taystee she's stuck with three of the worst characters on the show. Black Cindy in particular is a caricature of a caricature at that point.

Why is this in spoilers if it has to do with Season 3

Also it's kinda weird to focus on Janae, when other prisoners have their own share of crap, but got "humanized" as well.

This season is really awful but Flaritza is still the best combo.

Since Boo and Penn don't hang out nearly as much, yea I agree.

Ending spoilers:
Too bad they're fucking separated now, stupid show always ruining all the relationships I'm invested in. D:
 

Dereck

Member
I was gonna make a post about what I didn't like about this season so far, but instead of doing that I read a page or 2 of this thread and a lot of you folks have done that for me already, rather articulately.

Getting through this season is more of a task than fun fun.
 

Robot Pants

Member
I've only watched the first episode but my god. Right off the bat the show is so.... different in tone and execution. It kinda reels itself back in halfway through the episode but judging by the comments in here I'm assuming it goes back to being.... off.
Is there a new show runner or something or is Netflix just slacking lately. A lot of their content seems to be shoved through without much quality control
 

KurtFehl

Member
Question:
How was Sophia's character written off? I missed that part I think...? I went back a few pages and I wasn't "aware"
she was written off.
 

kirblar

Member
Question:
How was Sophia's character written off? I missed that part I think...? I went back a few pages and I wasn't "aware"
she was written off.
gets out helping nurse guy, is put into max as a temporary measure, learns the nun prisoner was released for old age/medical reasons. Since entire season is only a few days long, that's the end of her story for the season .
 

KurtFehl

Member
gets out helping nurse guy, is put into max as a temporary measure, learns the nun prisoner was released for old age/medical reasons. Since entire season is only a few days long, that's the end of her story for the season .

So by "written off", that means Sophia isn't coming back right?
 

ahoyhoy

Unconfirmed Member
So by "written off", that means Sophia isn't coming back right?

I doubt it. She's a pretty important character for the show so I imagine they'd give her a better sendoff than that.

Seems like she only wanted to be in half the season or they didn't have an arc for her this season.
 

Murkas

Member
Terrible season and I honestly think it's time to step off the OitNB train. I'm done with the show.

Just really boring, flashbacks were irrelevant most the time and another fucking
cliffhanger ending
which I despise. Two fucking seasons in a row!
 

kwogfaf

Member
Man I have pulled a complete 180 to this show. I thought season 4 was excellent, the best of the show.

This season though... it was just pretty bad overall honestly. Because such little time passes in all 13 episodes there's so much padding and too many pointless (and by the end, just annoying) scenes and storylines that go nowhere. I feel like the riot arc could have made for a really good 3/4 maybe 5 episodes but instead we got 13 mediocre episodes.
 

LifEndz

Member
What a missed opportunity. Could've had a really amazing episode that concluded the story arc for these characters and set up a reboot with an entirely new cast of prisoners. Instead, they wasted so much time with the meth heads, the white supremacists, and Suzanne. Good god, what did they do to Suzanne's character? If after season one you told me the character would go from a mentally deranged sexually aggressive threat to what feels like a female version of Hodor, I would've never believed it.
 

- J - D -

Member
That was a very long 13 episodes. There's a good season in there somewhere if you pare it down by about a half. As is, there's just no real sense of urgency despite the season setting itself within the short few days-long riot. I suppose all the women have gotten familiar with each other because despite the crazy situation, there's a lack of tension among ethnic lines. No faction power plays for leadership. Sure there's the thing revolving around the
gun, but that becomes more of a farce as it progresses and changes hands again and again.

All the characters are caricatures now. The formerly threatening Nazis are goofballs, Maria's erstwhile crew take on only vaguely sadistic guard duty over the actual guards. There's some discomfort, but it doesn't really go anywhere too grim where the ambiance can't be undercut by a joke or a tone-shattering gag. There's the whole thing with Humps and Daya that feels oddly anti-climactic, his fate and her fate not adding much to the proceedings. Things just happen casually and nothing is really felt. A lot of time is spent with the coffee-snorting girls but we don't really learn much about them. The meth-heads run amok around the prison causing convenient chaos when the plot requires it. Suzanne has her freak out when tensions need an extra push. It's all very safe, I'd even say cozy.

That changes around episode ten though when
the bear makes his way into the prison and the show treats him like a literal monster skulking around the premises in shadow. Ah, DANGER!
I missed that. The show is somewhat okay again. Taystee makes bad decisions but has a revelation. Plans hatched with the best intentions end as poorly as you'd imagine. Poussey deserved better. The riot ended the only way I imagined it could've given how none of the bits and parts that came prior really connected to each other. There's no cohesion or satisfying snapping-together of pieces when you know you're watching it all culminate into a satisfying finish. None of that here.


FUCKING CLIFFHANGERS.
 

dankir

Member
Goddammit I can't believe they ended it like that. Tonally it was all over the place. But shit got really good the last two episodes when they started using music from Sicario for you know who.


Another year :(

holy shit I thought there was only 10 episodes lol......
 

OnPoint

Member
I got several episodes in and I can't go on. The moment that broke me:

When Red cut the dude's finger print off. I don't even know why. But that was the moment where I put my hands up and said "I'm done"

It's just not an interesting show anymore. The characters are all insanely cartoonish rather than fun cartoonish. Nothing is remotely realistic or, worse, compellingly written.

I read up on the rest of what happens. Seems like I'm not missing anything.

Good bye forever, Orange is the New Black.
 

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
Episode 7, I think (not really a spoiler):
Poussey's memorial/library was touching.
 
Finished last night. It felt like they struggled for material - they had a starting point from last year, and they had a point at which they knew they wanted the season to end, but they struggled to fill the middle. As a result, you end up with a strong start and a strong finish but a lot of hit-and-miss fluff in the middle. It's definitely not as strong a show as it used to be, but I still liked it plenty and will be back next year.
 
I was iffy on this season and I may not continue because it's just so impossibly sad underneath. But I'm really surprised to see some of the responses about
Taystee. She's been repeatedly established as self-sabotaging. Yes, she's smart, she has so much potential, but she swings between overconfidence and no confidence due to the dozens of factors - herself, outside factors, friends, family, everything - that have shaped her. She's not going to succeed. I desperately want her to but she won't and
that's part of the reason I just don't think I want to watch anymore. I am really glad that there is a show that employs so many women, and such a diverse cast of women, even if what they do with them isn't always great, but too many of the characters, like Gloria, Maria Ruiz, Taystee, Janae... they just hurt my heart. Hell, they all hurt my heart.
 

aBarreras

Member
I got several episodes in and I can't go on. The moment that broke me:

When Red cut the dude's finger print off. I don't even know why. But that was the moment where I put my hands up and said "I'm done"

It's just not an interesting show anymore. The characters are all insanely cartoonish rather than fun cartoonish. Nothing is remotely realistic or, worse, compellingly written.

I read up on the rest of what happens. Seems like I'm not missing anything.

Good bye forever, Orange is the New Black.

i mean she was high as fuck

also, fuck taystee
 

Coffinhal

Member
I re-watched Season 4 and continued with Season 5 in the last couple of days. It really became more interesting the moment they turned more political all the way without killing any of the characters stories/attachment you have to them. It even increased that. The whole point of the riot was to show what happens if your turn the prison around, including the domination hierarchy. The show never was supposed to be realistic, it's a comedy that relies on drama to try to portray the American society through the window of a women's prison, shitfting the point of view towards the women (obviously), minorities and oppressed people in general, without ignoring other point of views (hence the use of the flashbacks, sequences with Bayley, the Judy King arc etc etc etc). It's some kind of ambition that I wasn't expected when watching the first season 4 years ago. It doesn't have The Wire's accurate depiction of systems etc. but I can sure find some ressemblances with Hamsterdam in how they make a social and political experiment. Way more interesting than what seasons 2 & 3 pulled out combined.

Amazing to see how people here are missing all that and calling it "garbage", discussing the tiniest little détails and showing us their bad faith (for instance : did really the show pictured the guars as being all evil dudes ? even the assault team
wasn't pictured that way with the little time they had. And some inmates had remorse or didn't agree with the riot from the very beginning so cut off the bullshit of the moral-free bias please
Maybe it has to do with gaf demographics and watch&trash opinions?
Glad I step out of this kind of threads when I watch shit.

On the format of the show though, just like House of Cards, I believe they should have focused every season in 8 to 10 episodes to have better writing and better directing within the schedule. Still love the music they use. Smart use of the flashbacks for character development. Some tasty moments with movies references (biggest being Shining), it was smart and discreet.
 
Finished last night. It felt like they struggled for material - they had a starting point from last year, and they had a point at which they knew they wanted the season to end, but they struggled to fill the middle. As a result, you end up with a strong start and a strong finish but a lot of hit-and-miss fluff in the middle. It's definitely not as strong a show as it used to be, but I still liked it plenty and will be back next year.

season would have been SO much better if they ended the riot halfway through and had the new prisons for the other half. instead we got a filler season
 

OnPoint

Member
i mean she was high as fuck

also, fuck taystee

I know, I watched it. Finished the episode even. That detail didn't make any of what was going on this season well written. It's not the worst thing they've done, it was just the straw that broke my back.
 

balohna

Member
I liked the season overall, I get the criticism but still enjoyed it. Season 4 was possibly the best one though, so it was a step down. I liked the concept of setting the whole season over the course of a few days, and enjoyed some of the grim humour. Some heartbreaking shit happens along the way, though.

I'm fully on board with the show taking on social issues, feels like a natural fit. The whole "prison is scary, guards are creeps" conflicts in the first couple seasons feels quaint now.
 

Oddduck

Member
The writing team for OITNB has changed a bit over the years.

1. Sara Hess, Sian Heder, and Marco Ramirez are no longer involved with OITNB. (at least according to IMDB)

2. Nick Jones and Carly Mensche left OITNB to write for GLOW.
 

WaffleTaco

Wants to outlaw technological innovation.
I'm really surprised by the comments in here. I thought this season was extremely good and a fresh spin on the series. I think it maybe had a few episodes where not a lot happened, but for a series that is pretty much entirely character-focused I thought it was good, where everyone's character had a moment to shine.
 

SpaceWolf

Banned
Just finished it, where the hell was Healy, am I forgetting something?

I had the exact same thought lmao

He voluntary committed himself to a mental institution after having a mental breakdown that culminated in a suicide attempt last season.

Read some comments online speculating that it was the writers intention for Bayley's story arc to culminate with him visiting Haley or meeting him after getting himself committed at the same institution, only for the scene to end up on the cutting room floor, hence the actor's name remaining in the credits all season. Would definitely make sense.
 

Dereck

Member
Suzanne and Lorna are annoying

I always find myself wanting to skip the flashbacks (I'm doing that now actually)

This season is too long
 

Carcetti

Member
That was a very weird season. I was on and off about it but in the end I ended up liking it quite a lot.

Favorite parts include Frieda's EP, and the Halloween pastiche EP.
 
The only really bad thing I completely disliked about the season was in the finale:
Are we really supposed to believe that Lydia is now going to become a prisoner, if even for a few episodes?
 

SpaceWolf

Banned
The only really bad thing I completely disliked about the season was in the finale:
Are we really supposed to believe that Lydia is now going to become a prisoner, if even for a few episodes?

Why not?
All the prisoners' files got torched in the finale, so it wouldn't surprise me if it took them at least a few days to sort everything out during the administrative chaos.
 

Social

Member
What a missed opportunity. Could've had a really amazing episode that concluded the story arc for these characters and set up a reboot with an entirely new cast of prisoners. Instead, they wasted so much time with the meth heads, the white supremacists, and Suzanne. Good god, what did they do to Suzanne's character? If after season one you told me the character would go from a mentally deranged sexually aggressive threat to what feels like a female version of Hodor, I would've never believed it.

Yeah, a lot of the characters just changed like that. Suddenly all the characters are goofy and need to somehow bring comedy or slapstick to the table. It can work in very short bursts but not like this :/.
 
Top Bottom