Orange Is The New Black Season 1 DVD

13 reviews for Orange Is The New Black Season 1 DVD

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   G. E. Melone – June 29, 2014

   Originally posted on Amazon.com · not a MarioShroomed purchase

   What’s not to like?

   This series had me hooked from the beginning. I was a fan of Weeds, and I am delighted to see that Jenji is back on deck with another corker. I watched the first episode of Season 1 on an airplane [the old fashioned kind where they actually show movies -for free]. I laughed myself silly from the get go. The women in this prison are at turns, funny, intelligent, stupid, entertaining, vicious, crazy and mesmerizing.

   I loved the technique of showing the back story behind each of the women in the season. The humor was deliciously smart and sassy and had me not only laughing out loud, but reciting the funny bits the next day to my friends. [who don’t know anything about this show, as it does not air here in Australia on free to air TV- and none of my friends watch pay tv]

   Can’t wait for Season 2!

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   M. Bullions – February 24, 2014

   Originally posted on Amazon.com · not a MarioShroomed purchase

   “Orange” gleefully rewrites television rules…

   When a fan loses a beloved TV show, it happens one of two ways: one, when it’s not the right time for it to end, and everything feels kind of rushed. In this way, a fan’s “breakup” with a show can feel bitter and resentful. But when a show has run past its prime, yet came back with a brilliant final season, the way Jenji Kohan’s “Weeds” did, in 2012, the fan isn’t left bitter and angry. We saw these characters, whom we’ve loved and hated throughout the years, come to a conclusion that was bittersweet, but felt right. I feel like series creator Jenji Kohan felt a void in her heart after “Weeds” ended. But like any other working person, she needed a new project.

   Kohan has talked about how when season seven of “Weeds” was starting, she wanted to do a “women-in-prison” season, but decided against it because it would break up the family dynamic that the show had for the previous six seasons. Season 7 of “Weeds” was probably the lowest point, creatively, of the entire series. But when the show was awarded a surprise eighth season, she didn’t let fans down.

   In the back of her mind, Kohan was already conceptualizing “Orange is the New Black,” a series based on the best-selling memoir by Piper Kerman. Since Jenji left me with a brilliant final season of “Weeds,” I vowed to follow whatever she wrote in the future. I expected “Orange” to more or less be Kohan’s ‘rebound project’ from “Weeds”, if you will. I expected the feeling for this to still feel like “Weeds”, but be a little different.

   Jeez, was I wrong.

   “Orange is the New Black” is such a silly title for such a serious and affecting show. We follow Piper Chapman (a different name than the memoirist, for reasons that we’ll get to later), a WASP-y and successful Manhattanite who was a wild child in her glory days. She worked alongside her then-lesbian lover Alex Vause (Laura Prepon), who worked for an international drug cartel. Ten years later, the statute of limitations for her crime is almost over (12 years), and she’d long forgotten about the whole thing. She and her fiancé get a knock on the door one day, telling her that everyone in the cartel has gone down. She can either go to trial, or surrender to 15 months in federal prison.

   Each character who she meets on the inside has her own superbly written backstory. Every one of them is flawed and complicated. The show is less about Piper’s existential journey while behind bars, and more about the fascinating people, good and bad, who she meets there. There are so many fantastically written female characters in this one show, that even I was caught a little off guard.

   Standouts of the supporting cast include Kate Mulgrew, as the inmate who runs the kitchen, nicknamed Red. Her backstory is probably the most interesting, since she has obvious mafia connections, but it’s not completely drawn out as to how she wound up behind bars. Mulgrew is fantastic in this part, as a vicious, tough-as-nails broad who is really vulnerable and human at the same time. Also, Laura Prepon is excellent as Alex, who becomes an ally to Piper, even as she’s the reason that she wound up behind bars.

   Also, Natasha Lyonne, of the “American Pie” series, is superb comic relief as Nicky, who is the one character who’s automatically likable. Laverne Cox plays male-female transgender inmate Sophia, who is one of the best characters in the series. Sophia’s the subject to a lot of inhumane treatment, when she is denied medications that might slowly erase all of the work she’s done to become a woman. Even characters who seem like they’re not that pivotal to the story are. In each episode, we explore a different character’s backstory, and they’re all vastly different, and superbly fascinating.

   Another thing I admire about Kohan’s approach is that she’s not scared to show the ugly side of prison. Corrupt guards and sketchy prison counselors rule with an iron fist, and every inmate is in a gang – tribal stuff – the blacks, the whites, the Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, old people, teenagers, what have you. There’s a mother and a daughter, both there for different crimes. And a prison guard is carrying on an affair with an inmate, which is surprisingly one of the happiest subplots in the whole show. It’s surprising that this is really how it is in a federal prison.

   In one excellent episode, we explore how different life is in solitary confinement, versus minimum security prison. In SHU (short for “special housing unit”) a person is treated like an animal. They’re quite literally in a box, with a metal toilet and a cot, where they are completely cut off from other people. They’re fed a loaf of tasteless food, which has enough nutritional value to keep someone alive, but is completely disgusting. I did some research on my own about how accurate this is, and shockingly, it’s all true. SHU is very real, and it’s horrific.

   One reason why this show really does work is because of Taylor Schilling. In an actress whose work I’d never seen, I wasn’t expecting much. But Schilling is a dynamic actress and brings a great deal of depth to the character of Piper Chapman. She’s so unlikable at one point, and we’re rooting for her in others. I don’t really like the relationship with her fiance Larry (Jason Biggs), but Schilling never lets the viewer forget that there’s more than meets the eye. Also, there’s a reason why the character’s name is Piper Chapman, rather than the real-life Piper Kerman. These are two different stories. Chapman and Kerman are not the same woman. This allows Kohan and Schilling to create subplots and other story elements that may not have happened to the real woman. This is no docudrama.

   In 13 hour-long episodes, Jenji Kohan creates a vast new world and a slew of extraordinarily interesting characters. I had read the book, by Piper Kerman, before watching the series. If this had been a straight adaptation of the novel, it would have been over by episode 13. The series probably covered three months of time in its first season, so clearly this show could run for a while, even with the obvious endgame. If it continues to be this good, it should go on for as long as possible.

   I was very surprised at how dark “Orange” got in its later episodes. Because of this, the show only becomes more compelling, the longer it goes on. With a Netflix subscription, viewers have the option to watch each episode in a row. I tried to make “Orange” last as long as I could, because I truly enjoyed being around these characters. Each episode was more interesting than the last, and it truly ended with a bang. I can’t wait to see where it goes.

3. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Danthong Breen – December 11, 2014

   Originally posted on Amazon.com · not a MarioShroomed purchase

   An excellent series. While the physical conditions of women prisoners …

   An excellent series. While the physical conditions of women prisoners as shown are luxury class by the standards of my country, the tensions and complexities of relationships between prisoners, and of prisoners to prison officials is very familiar. While the presence of female staff in male prisons appears to contribute to prison sanity, the contribution of male staff in a woman’s prison appears highly dubious.
   The story line is the complex interplay of the rich characters to be found in a prison, as the ‘News of the World’ used to boast, ‘All of human life is here’. But prison, designed by men for men, does not fit with the psyche of women. I strongly believe that the prison system for women is not a solution to anything. Women have needs and demands on their motherhood which cannot be met in the isolation of a prison. The imprisonment of women should be a very rare resource, there are other ways of reform and punishment, as proposed in the “Bangkok Rules”. Women ARE different, and should not be treated as lesser men. In my experience of imprisoned women, behind every crime by women there is a man, and men are more skillful in wiggling out of the rigour of law.
   Considered as entertainment, I consider the imprisonment of women too serious an issue to be subject of entertainment. By the second series the theme lags, Piper is no longer the centre of interest, and, to the detriment of the penal implications, the series loses its focus. Prison is not a stage for all the world.
   See attached photo of “Women in Thai prison”