TV Season Review: Orange Is the New Black, Season 1

Ahoy!



So I just finished up Orange is the New Black season one, I liked it, It hooked me. I'm actually rather surprised how much easier i associate to Women than men. Or just how much I like Prison shows, cause thinking about it, I loved the first season of Prison Break. And I should add Oz to my watch List.




anyway, I'm gonna try to find a few other criteria to Judge TV shows on (yes yes I know this is technically not TV, but I'm counting it as such.



I'll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, but no promises.



TV REVIEW: Orange is the new Black: Season 1



Characters:

I enjoyed most of the characters, Chapman started out as a wispy little girl and has darkened throughout the series, ultimately ending on quite a brutal point.. I really enjoyed her as the Fish type character, always observing and watching people around her.



Alex was interesting, for the most part I could only think of her as a lesbian version of Donna pinciotti. but every once in a while she dropped that image. I think it's the glasses mostly though.



Red, She was interesting, I didn't so much like her back story, it wasn't hard enough to fit her queen like position. But I liked her Early n the best, when she was Starving out Chapman



I Don't remember Her name but I really liked the 'wedding' girl. the driver, she was an interesting character and I look forward to seeing her Back story in the future.



The Giant haired Lesbian was cool, didn't have a whole lot to do in the end tho.



Just like the Religious Zealot I absolutely hated the meth head Jesus freak. I could not wait for her to get her face punch into pavement. and her weasely little assistant was aggravating too.



Personally I hated Tastee, or tTastey, or Tastie, or whatever, she was just annoying, and i felt ashamed when she returned.



I Like the Track star. and the shaved head girl was cool, I liked her solo in the Christmas play



The whole Pregnancy storyline is so overly cliche. Every damn show has to throw in a random pregnancy. (Lost, Walking dead, Breaking Bad, Dexter, Sons of Anarchy, Mad Men, Friends, Glee, Scrubs) You get the Idea.



As for the CO's, I liked the young female, otherwise they all just annoyed me, even Bennett.



And then theres American Pie. That whole storyline just felt like it was unneeded and there to add drama once in a while. And Biggs just isn't my favorite actor.



Storylines:

I really enjoyed the Overall storyline and I'd be curious to see next season. I liked that for the most part it wasn't a freak of the week type story, most story lines continued on to the next episode and aren't wrapped up neatly after every episode. (like oh say Under the Dome....) sure there was a 'weekly' problem, but it felt like that was secondary to the actual plot going through the show.



Again, hated the Pregnancy storyline, and the Jesus freak needed to shut up earlier.



Acting:

Most of the characters were very well acted and they all had pretty good scenes, but Chapman stole the show. she easily had the widest range out of all the characters.



Feel:

an odd category but the show had a really weird feel. it always felt light and quirky, yet the show had some very dark and depressing moments. It was an strange balance of Dark and Quirk. similar to Dead Like Me was. you know, with prison instead of Reapers.



Overall:

I really enjoyed the show, it had pretty good characters and I liked how they took the time to give back stories to the character's like Lost did, even though the flashbacks were all over the place. I still think having one character as a center per episode is a very good way of storytelling. something other 'groups trapped in a confined space' shows could learn from (...under the dome) yet this show pulled it off.



Final Verdict: 75 out of 100

Good show, and addicting, but will get lost behind other shows in the long run.



So there's that! my first TV review, I think I'll start doing this for other shows also.



Goodnight!...or...Good Morning!
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