Orange Is the New Black Review: All for None (Season 6 Episodes 1-4)

On Orange Is the New Black Season 6 Episodes 1-4, the women adjust to their new lives in the Litchfield Penitentiary while the authorities investigate the death of Piscatella.

The opening minutes of the premiere, “Who Knows Better Than I,” have a whimsical quality. Like Roxie Heart from Chicago, Suzanne views the events unfolding around her as a form of entertainment (due to the fact that she’s in the midst of a psychotic break).

Whenever Suzanne’s routine is upset, she regresses to a more childlike state as a coping mechanism.

Viewers come crashing quickly back down to earth as Orange Is the New Black starts to sort out the fates of its key players. Orange Is the New Black really cleans house this season, dumping a ton of characters (good riddance to meth heads Leanne and Angie).

On Orange Is the New Black Season 6 Episodes 1-4, the focus is on Red, Taystee, Nicky, Piper, Gloria, Black Cindy, Frieda, Flores, and Suzanne — the final holdouts during the riot — along with Ruiz, Daya, Lorna, Flaca, and Vause.

Further complicating issues for the inmates is the death of Piscatella, accidentally killed by a pepper-ball and poorly covered up to look like cold-blooded murder. It’s a shaky premise to base the entire season on but an effective way to pit the women against each other.

On Orange Is the New Black Season 5, most of the prisoners put aside their differences to fight a common foe — the establishment. The show experiences a renaissance as the status quo flips upside down, and the women enjoy a sense of empowerment.

Even in their last few lingering moments of freedom, the group in Frieda’s bunker lock arms, ready to face — as a cohesive unit — whatever comes their way. This solidarity doesn’t last under the duress of physical separation, the threat of extended sentences, a murder investigation, and new foes.

While Orange Is the New Black Season 5 tackles larger issues regarding the penal system in the U.S.– primarily the downside to privatization — Season 6 returns to more personal stories.

Orange Is the New Black Season 6 Episodes 1-4 prove the series is outlasting its ability to create believable and engaging storylines.

The guards down the hill may be less inept than the crew under Piscatella’s command, but what they lack in stupidity, they make up for in cruelty.

To them, the inmates are literally pawns in a twisted game designed for their own amusement. This fosters an environment where there is little or no motivation to encourage humane behavior.

McCoullough and Luscheck return despite McCoullough’s obvious PTSD. Luscheck remains unphased by just about everything, including being stuck in a room and crapping in a bucket for days.

Season 6 introduces four new antagonists, all of whom possess the same characteristics found in every villain in this subgenre of female exploitation.

Murphy (Amanda Fuller), a.k.a. “Badison,” a mid-level thug trying to work her way up the prison’s social hierarchy; a smooth-talking predator, Daddy (Vicci Martinez), who is an enforcer for the D-block HBIC, Barbara.

Grudges and victimization aren’t entirely random, but we have yet to see why Murphy and Daddy have chosen their particular targets.

Barbara is conspicuously absent in the fist four episodes, but viewers do meet the head of C-block and Barbara’s sister, Carol (Henny Russell). She spends her days playing cards which doesn’t come across as particularly badass.

We learn through flashbacks that Carol’s been hustling and dealing at Litchfield Max for 30 years — where she’s serving time for killing another sister. Given Frieda’s drastic measures to avoid Carol, we’ll no doubt see the inmate’s nasty side soon enough.

The disintegration of family promises to be central to this season. Whether it’s Red and her girls, Cindy and Taystee,  or the dysfunctional sibling rivalry between Barbara and Carol.

Instead of cultural and racial differences fueling bad blood, it’s a civil war among the cell blocks. Color still matters, but it’s the shade an inmate wears on her back and not of her skin that forges alliances and creates enemies.

This shifts the dynamic between the transfers, aka “cookies,” since they’ve been separated from their minimum-security cohorts.

Piper and Vause reunite again on “I’m the Talking Ass,” reinforcing the implausibility of the fortitude of their love affair. Piper continues to screw people over and then get a deer in headlights expression when she realizes what she’s done.

The most compelling theme Orange Is the New Black continues to explore is the complexities of what it means to be a victim and a criminal. Justice is influenced by politics, the press, race, socio-economic status, and detached bureaucrats.

While we sit at home smug in the knowledge that the bad guys (and girls) are locked up, Orange Is the New Black reminds viewers the difference between “us” and “them” could be nothing more than good luck.

The most concise way to sum up the first four episodes of Orange Is the New Black is, “Been there, done that.”

What did you think of these episodes of Orange Is the New Black? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Orange Is the New Black Season 6 is streaming on Netflix.

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