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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Amph orange is the new black

Discussion in 'Community' started by tom, Jul 22, 2013.

  1. tom

    tom Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Mar 14, 2004
    anyone else caught up? i want season 2 now! what a way to leave us hanging. uh, if you're not caught up click the hell out of here now and go watch it because there will probably be spoilers.

    who are your favorite characters? i really like poussey, and piper is such a sympathetic main character, which is refreshing when most good dramas seem to center around anti-heroes these days. pennsatucky is an awful psycho, but taryn manning does an unbelievable job in the role.

    this show has moved me to tears multiple times. i think the scene that got to me the most was when janae was talking to yoga jones about why she went to prison. and miss claudette's story line is just heartbreaking.

    anyway, discuss!
     
  2. Sebulba-X

    Sebulba-X •X C2 C3 MW RSA• star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Mar 11, 2000
    Made it thru Season 1, really like it...had to re-adjust my expectations thanks to Oz, but once I realized people weren't going to get killed every 10 minutes I was able to settle in. Good stuff!
     
  3. Obi Anne

    Obi Anne Celebration Mistress of Ceremonies star 8 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1998
    I've started watching it. I don't get caught enough to sit through several episodes in a row, yet at least, but it's interesting enough that I'm probably going to go through the whole season. I'm just 2 or 3 episodes into S1.
     
  4. Darth Guy

    Darth Guy Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Aug 16, 2002
    I don't know. I've watched the first couple episodes, and it seems too Weeds-like... too lighthearted considering its subject matter? I mean, it didn't seem to take its main character going hungry for days very seriously. I get that it's sort of a dark comedy, but it seems afraid to be dark.
     
  5. Obi-Zahn Kenobi

    Obi-Zahn Kenobi Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 23, 1999
    I love Miss Claudette. She's my favorite.
     
  6. tom

    tom Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Mar 14, 2004
    i haven't watched weeds so i can't speak to the comparison, but i would say stick with it. i wasn't immediately sucked in either, but the show gets better as you get to know the other characters and their stories.

    the show probably does water down its subject matter though. almost all of the prisoners are sympathetic, the cliche guards, the two main characters are attractive white women, etc. to me it seems like the creator(s) wanted to use a prison as a device to get these disparate characters together, rather than to tell a realistic story about prison life.
     
    Dark Lady Mara likes this.
  7. dp4m

    dp4m Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Nov 8, 2001
    One of my high school classmates is Gina Murphy in this. Go her! <3
     
  8. PRENNTACULAR

    PRENNTACULAR VIP star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Dec 21, 2005
    and you're not invited because they don't let gay people on their rapture bus!
     
  9. NYCitygurl

    NYCitygurl Manager Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 20, 2002
    I haven't had a chance to check this out, but it looks really good! (As does House of Cards, which I also haven't had time to watch ...) Good for Netflix, making quality programming.
     
  10. SoloKnight

    SoloKnight Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 13, 2003
    I like the cast as it's one of the most diverse on TV right now. (Does it count as "on TV" if it's a Netflix original?) I think they handle Sophia Cox's trans character really well which is nice to see. Quite different from the book it's based on, but I'm hoping that means Larry and Piper don't end up together as he's an ass and she's pretty messed up. I like Alex, but I dunno if I want her to end up with Piper either. Nichol's is probably my favorite character though Pennsytucky gets most of the best lines.

    The one thing that bothers me is Piper's insistence that she's "not a lesbian anymore." I know the character is in serious denial, but the way it's portrayed just reinforces the whole "being gay is just a phase" stereotype.
     
  11. Only-One Cannoli

    Only-One Cannoli Ex-Mod star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Aug 20, 2003
    Almost done with this season, it's really addictive.
     
  12. tom

    tom Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Mar 14, 2004
    i was hoping that larry would just go away now. i didn't realize it was based on a book.
     
  13. Coruscant

    Coruscant Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Feb 15, 2004
    Watched the whole season in a couple days. It's really good. The episode ****sgiving was really, well, ****ing messed up, especially the ramifications with Larry. It was amazing how I could lose all my sympathy for a character in one scene, when Larry talked to Chapman after his radio interview.

    I thought something bad would happen that would keep Chapman in Litchfield longer, because the show has to go on. Will Chapman necessarily be screwed over with some kind of murder charge, though? She's gotta be able to prove, eventually anyway, that it was self-defense. Seems bleak, though, with the counselor, Healy, against her.

    Did we ever meet the warden character?
     
  14. SoloKnight

    SoloKnight Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 13, 2003
    It's based on Piper Kerman's memoir Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison. The show changes quite a bit from the book, the main thing being that Alex (Nora in the book) and Piper were never in the same prison together.
     
  15. Only-One Cannoli

    Only-One Cannoli Ex-Mod star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Aug 20, 2003
    Just finished it....kind of hope they move away from what happened in RL. I really hate Larry :(
     
  16. AaylaSecurOWNED

    AaylaSecurOWNED Jedi Master star 6

    Registered:
    May 19, 2005
    I watched the entire thing between Friday and yesterday. I don't actually find Piper all that sympathetic or interesting. For me, it's a case of the Will & Grace syndrome where the main character is actually the least interesting part of the show to me. Poussay and Taystee were among my favorites. When Taystee got out and we saw that glimpse into what it was going to be like for her, I was wondering how they were going to handle that - whether they were going to follow her life outside or leave us hanging - and I liked the way it resolved, even though it was depressing as hell. Also Poussay's voice in the Christmas pageant was just incredible.

    I also liked Tricia a lot, I was glad we got a glimpse at her flashback, the scene where she meets her friend who has a job and an apartment and she's still on the street was one of the most emotional in the whole season for me. I loved everything about that scene, the differences in how the two girls were dressed and their behavior and that feeling of inevitability knowing that Tricia was going to end up a junkie in prison, and how it was just a matter of circumstances and gradual changes that she did end up that way.

    I also like the relationship between Barrett and Daya and I feel super guilty and awful about liking it because the relationship between a prisoner and a prison guard is one of the most terrible, imbalanced kinds of relationships that exists. But they played it so cute and innocent that I couldn't help rooting for them, and in a show full of really unhealthy relationships, I like the irony that this one is the one that seems the healthiest and most loving.
     
  17. Debo

    Debo Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 27, 2001
    Dani, are there shows you don't watch?
     
  18. Jabba-wocky

    Jabba-wocky Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    May 4, 2003
    KINGS

    [face_plain]
     
  19. EmpireForever

    EmpireForever Force Ghost star 8

    Registered:
    Mar 15, 2004
    Stop talking about it I need to finish!
     
  20. AaylaSecurOWNED

    AaylaSecurOWNED Jedi Master star 6

    Registered:
    May 19, 2005
    :( I'm trying to watch Buffy now because I never did at the time, but man, it's a terrible show.

    Other than that, no not really.
     
    Debo likes this.
  21. InterestingLurker

    InterestingLurker Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 15, 2011
    I've only started on the first episode the American version of House of Cards. If you want my suggestions, watch the British version first. Ian Richardson was a great actor and so was who ever played Tim Stamper.
     
    NYCitygurl likes this.
  22. tom

    tom Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Mar 14, 2004
    as much as i loved a lot of the side characters, i don't think i would have been very sucked in if i didn't care what happened to piper. obviously she's bland in a lot of ways, but she has an admirable spirit, human flaws, and genuine compassion. also she makes a great foil for a lot of the other characters, since her background is so different and in many ways boring by comparison.
     
  23. Darth Guy

    Darth Guy Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Aug 16, 2002
    Finished. How is Piper going to avoid being sent to maximum security and/or solitary? Even if she gets to someone who buys the whole self-defense thing, does that really matter? How does "self-defense" work in a prison environment?
    Pensatucky got what she deserved. Stupid meth head bigot. Only prisoner I didn't really have much sympathy for-- well, and Daya's mom who didn't give a **** about her daughters unless they were pregnant, apparently.
    Okay... what exactly is wrong with Larry that isn't matched by Piper? I mean, the worst thing he did was betray her confidence for an interview. He "exploited" her plight by writing about their experience for an article, but only after pressure from the editor and the fact that he, you know, was needing cash. He didn't cheat on her despite having at least one blatant opportunity, he raised **** that got her out of SHU. The biggest lie he told her-- that Alex did not rat her out-- was to protect her, even if it may have been misguided. She was a drug mule (****ing heroin) for her bigshot dealer girlfriend, she cheated on him, etc. Not saying he was justified in doing something that could have potentially gotten her into serious trouble (but really didn't), but is it just because Jason Biggs is playing him? Although this is the best role I've seen him in, he isn't really playing it much different than the "awkward Jewish guy" schtick he's been doing since American Pie.

    Random comments I'm too lazy to fit together coherently:


    -Kate Mulgrew can be as intimidating as she wants as Red. No one can be scarier than Janeway.

    -What is Healy's deal? Is he just a homophobe with a crush on Piper? He's the only character I didn't really get.

    -I was hoping a prisoner would kill Pornstache when Red said "take him out." Yeah, that would've been bad for the prisoner, but still!
     
  24. tom

    tom Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Mar 14, 2004
    i guess maybe i don't like jason biggs, but the only other thing i've ever seen him in was a movie called "saving silverman" which i've now completely forgotten. so it doesn't have anything to do with baggage that he brings from other roles. the thing larry did that i felt was worse than the stuff you mentioned was twice rely on the word of complete strangers above the word of piper, the woman he supposedly loved and who was going through just a bit of a rough time. first when healy told him that piper and alex were having an affair. at the time that healy told him that it wasn't even true, yet larry refused to even talk to piper for weeks. of course by the time they did talk it was true, but that's no excuse for being that immature when your girlfriend just spent thanksgiving in solitary confinement while you were awkwardly trying to pimp her story to ira glass. and then the second time was letting his meeting with alex determine the entire fate of his and piper's relationship. but going behind piper's back in the first place probably meant that he was looking for an excuse to end it. i think that's pretty messed up too, considering the whole "let's get married right now" spiel and making piper choose that had literally just happened.

    yeah, piper is far from perfect. but her mistakes come from a very human place. larry is just a tool.
     
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  25. Coruscant

    Coruscant Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Feb 15, 2004
    Larry didn't take Piper's calls for a whole week. Essentially, he completely closed off communication when his relationship needed it the most. Then he told Piper that he didn't think they could make things work, and hung up, when they finally did talk (after the radio interview).
     
    Bacon164 likes this.