Review: ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK S2 E02, LOOKS BLUE, TASTES RED (Or, How To Become A Teenage Drug Dealer)

Season 2, Episode 02: "Looks Blue, Tastes Red"

As a counterpoint to the first episode of the new season, which focused exclusively on Piper in a new, strange, and hostile environment, the second episode turns back to Litchfield, picking up many of the story threads left dangling at the end of Season 1.

The key backstory related in the episode belongs to Taystee (Danielle Brooks), who finished serving her sentence in Season 1, but then ended up back in the joint because 'there's nothing out there,' even for the ebullient and positive-thinking Taystee. Rewinding to Taystee's teenage years, we learn she was hard-working and industrious, initially resisting the criminal temptations offered by neighborhood drug boss Vee (Lorraine Toussaint). Eventually, though, living in a group home and having to fend for herself breaks her down. She demonstrates her impressive mathematical abilities to Vee, who agrees to take her on, and then schools her in the ways of drug-dealing.

Taystee is more attracted to the family environment than the profit potential. Vee is cold and calculating, but she allows her humanity to show through in her dealings with her son and also with Taystee, becoming a surrogate mother, which is all Taystee has ever wanted. But Vee is a criminal at heart, as self-protective and merciless as the streets demand, and her ultimate abandonment of Taystee leaves a big hole in the young woman's heart.

All this leads to Vee's incarceration at Litchfield; it concludes the episode on a not-unexpected note -- the same gag was pulled in Season 1 with Piper and Alex -- and points forward to a major story arc. Even though it's reminiscent of the Piper/Alex dynamic ("I hate you" / "I love you"), the mother / daughter relationship, and also Vee's stature as a criminal kingpin (queenpin?) of sorts opens things up for different stories to be told.

The present day narrative of the episode revolves around a mock job fair, which allows for social commentary that is acidic and on-point, and the plight of Red (Kate Mulgrew), who finds herself out of favor with the other inmates now that she is no longer head of the kitchen. Without the ability to smuggle in little goodies, she's also lost the ability to intimidate and influence, and sits by herself in the cafeteria. The only ones to welcome her are the "Golden Girls," the grey-haired, long-time prisoners who are outcasts, and Red begins to doubt herself and her capacity to deal with her situation.

Watching the episode reminded me how much I enjoyed these characters in Season 1. After the bold departure of the first episode, I was preparing myself for a complete reboot / overhaul, but, all things considered, I'm glad that was only a temporary change in perspective.

Season 2, Episode 01: "Thirsty Bird"

Essentially, this episode reboots the series.

It begins with a disoriented Piper (Taylor Schilling) being awakened in the middle of the night. She's in solitaire, the result of her actions in the final episode of Season 1, and now she finds herself being transported out of the minimum security facility where she's been incarcerated, heading to a mysterious destination.

Piper has no idea where, or why, she's going somewhere else. When her destination is revealed, she finds herself in completely different surroundings; it's still prison, but the rules of engagement have changed, and she's nearly as adrift as she was at the beginning of the show. Then, finally, she sees a familiar face, belonging to a character who has had a profound impact on her.

Directed by Jodie Foster, who also helmed S1 E03, "Lesbian Request Denied," the episode has a much darker tone and a more claustrophobic feel, reflecting in harsher lighting and the greater prevalence of bars and cages in the shots. Piper is hemmed in, cramped for space, and surrounded by strangers.

* Herewith begin the major spoilers for Season 1. *

Season 1 found Piper moving inexorably toward her ex-girlfriend Alex (Laura Prepon). Their relationship was passionate and their bond was strong, and now that they are once again in close proximity, Piper has been unable to resist the attraction she still feels for Alex. But when Piper's fiancee Larry (Jason Biggs) suggests they not wait until she is released from prison before getting married, Piper dumps Alex.

Their affair, however, was leaked to Larry by prison counselor Healey; Larry, understandably, feels betrayed, and breaks off their engagement, sending Piper into a tailspin, exacerbated when Alex refuses to play security blanket anymore. Thus, when religious fanatic Pennsatucky (Taryn Manning) threatens Piper's life, Piper responds in kind.

So, even though the circumstances of the episode make it feel like a clean reboot, Piper's state of mind is completely different. Undoubtedly she has learned survival lessons from her time behind bars, but she's still inclined to make the same kind of mistakes that she did in the past. She thinks of herself as a better person, but she's deluding herself to an extent, a condition that extends, of course, to the entire human race.

Yet the rebooted Piper is now being forced to stand -- and survive -- on her own. She has a tougher hide, and is developing greater intestinal fortitude. She may well be feeling embattled and unable to defend her choices in a way that makes any sense to someone else, but she is owning those decisions, and is rueful about the inevitable consequences.

It's a great place to start the season, because now we don't have the faintest idea what's going to happen.

Season 1

Under the direction of series creator / executive producer Jenji Kohan, Orange takes the ball and runs with it. Kohan's resume as a writer and producer stretches back to the Paul Reiser/Helen Hunt sitcom Mad About You and Tracey Ullman's sketch comedy show Tracey Takes On … in the late 90s, leading up to Weeds, which followed suburban mother Mary-Louise Parker as she entered the drug trade.

Orange reflects Kohan's creative sensibilities, so it has much more in common with her own work than with anything as audacious and groundbreaking as Oz. The backstories of the inmates, told in whole or in part, tend toward the melodramatic and formulaic -- hint: all the women are innocent -- which means that the series is not ideal for binging; the similarity of the narrative rhytyhms means that the episodes work best when considered on an individual basis. (I confess, however, that I watched three or four episodes in multiple sessions last week as I caught up; it may not be a thriller, but it goes down easy.)

Where the series excels is in the juxtaposition of the more outrageous sitcom elements with the mundane details and dehumanizing aspects of prison life. When Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling) surrenders herself, accompanied by her fiance Larry Bloom (Jason Biggs), she is shell-shocked and not a little petrified at the prospect of being locked up for 15 months. As she gets to know her fellow prisoners, she is constantly surprised, either by unexpected kindnesses or casual cruelties . The same goes for the correctional officers, who range from naive to inhumane to downright nasty in their actions.

The inmates include longtimers Red (Kate Mulgrew), the kitchen chief, and Miss Claudette (Michelle Hurst), who becomes Piper's bunkmate; ex-druggie Nicky (Natasha Lyonne), boisterous Tasty (Danielle Brooks), religious fanatic Pennsatucky (Taryn Manning), mentally unstable Crazy Eyes (Uzo Aduba), transgender Sophia (Laverne Cox), and Alex (Laura Prepon), Piper's ex-girlfriend, who recruited her into the drug ring tht caused both their downfalls.

For pure comic inventiveness, Episode 5, "The Chickening," directed by Andrew McCarthy, stands out; it revolves around a possibly mythic chicken and the inmates' manic search for it. (It's much funnier than it sounds.) Additional layers of the characters are revealed gradually, and the ensemble acting is generally very solid, if not always with much nuance. Schilling, Lyonne, and Prepon are quite good, and Mulgrew is outstanding.

Overall, Season 1 is well worth the investment in time to watch all the episodes