Loved Oz, not really seeing the comparison except in basic ways. Yeah, there are probably some similar plot devices considering they are in the same enclosed institutional setting, but the swastika scene was really the first really brutal scene of the series. Unless I'm forgetting something? Oz was just brutal all the time. [Reply]
I really, really wanted the women to riot in that scene in the cafeteria when Poussey was killed. And I had been waiting for something to happen with the gun that the CO brought in. So I was pretty happy when they finally went off. The only thing in the whole episode that I thought would have been cooler (other than eliminating the Piper-Alex bullshit High School girlie talk segments because both of their characters suck and neither one of them can act) is if they had a gunshot sound right when they faded to black. I was waiting for them to do it, but they didn't, and I was disappointed because I thought that that's where they were going with the cliffhanger.
There are still a few "blah" characters in the show that don't do it for me. Unfortunately one of them is the main character and the other is the G/F, Alex Vause. They're boring, they're poorly acted, their dialogue (which I assume is at least some ad lib) is glib and forced, their story arcs are uninteresting. When they have scenes in the show it's like watching How I Met Your Mother when that insufferable prick of a main character was on screen. It's still a very enjoyable show. I'll watch it again when the next season drops. [Reply]
Originally Posted by unlurking:
Yeah, and honestly, I kind of hope they keep it to a minimum. I like the show for what it is. And they better bring back Tank Girl.
She (with some occasional help from Mulgrew) made all of those scenes she was in. Piper-Alex were superfluous. The stuff she did with Healy was great too-the end(?) of that arc is actually painful to sit through. [Reply]
Originally Posted by listopencil:
She (with some occasional help from Mulgrew) made all of those scenes she was in. Piper-Alex were superfluous. The stuff she did with Healy was great too-the end(?) of that arc is actually painful to sit through.
The end of that episode was tough to watch. She was honestly my favorite character on the show.
I find it odd that two of the main characters (Alex and Piper) are just so unlikeable. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Pestilence:
I find it odd that two of the main characters (Alex and Piper) are just so unlikeable.
I agree. I think they missed the mark on trying to explore how people would relate to Piper if she was not just an "average girl" who "got in with the wrong crowd" and made some poor choices, but fundamentally "doesn't belong here." I actually think the mistake was made way back at the beginning with her backstory and marriage arc. None of the threat to her for instance in this season is as dramatic as it should be because they weren't clear about who she was at the start, and her path to her actions at the end of last season is not very believable because she is so inconsistent in her motivations.
I actually had the same issue with Weeds. They seem to get the side characters so amazingly right, but the main character horribly wrong. [Reply]
Originally Posted by listopencil:
Now that I am all caught up...
Spoiler!
I really, really wanted the women to riot in that scene in the cafeteria when Poussey was killed. And I had been waiting for something to happen with the gun that the CO brought in. So I was pretty happy when they finally went off. The only thing in the whole episode that I thought would have been cooler (other than eliminating the Piper-Alex bullshit High School girlie talk segments because both of their characters suck and neither one of them can act) is if they had a gunshot sound right when they faded to black. I was waiting for them to do it, but they didn't, and I was disappointed because I thought that that's where they were going with the cliffhanger.
There are still a few "blah" characters in the show that don't do it for me. Unfortunately one of them is the main character and the other is the G/F, Alex Vause. They're boring, they're poorly acted, their dialogue (which I assume is at least some ad lib) is glib and forced, their story arcs are uninteresting. When they have scenes in the show it's like watching How I Met Your Mother when that insufferable prick of a main character was on screen. It's still a very enjoyable show. I'll watch it again when the next season drops.
I hear yah. I wasn't a huge fan of the cut to black. I was hoping for something more. [Reply]
Season 1>2>4>3 , but season 1 for me was far and above the rest.
I really didn't enjoy it that much after season 1-2, some episodes were hard to watch or dragged on about something I didn't care about. They made it more about the identity of random inmates which was cool but it made things predictable.
Also, I think they started pandering to the fanbase and I liked the suspense of not knowing who or what Piper would be facing in the first season. The inmates were mysterious. Now with all the backstories, the women (and men) are all soft and you feel "bad" for them, and through the backstories you can predict how a character will always act. It's hard to really explain but it's like "Okay we did an episode about girl A, the backstory is sad and now we know how she got here, please, feel bad for her. Next episode they do it with a different girl. Maybe its not for me anymore, I was more of a fan of Pornstache (suspense, loose cannon, loud idiot but sometimes funny) and Bennett and the original girls when you didn't know them [Reply]
That's been OITNB's biggest sin over the past two seasons. Establishing everyone's back story, central characters or not, has been a monumental mistake on Kohan's part. They spend more time on developing characters with flashbacks rather than natural, present day situations that would round them out.
It's also been painful watching them try to extend the life of the Piper Chapman character. They did everything they could to ground other characters, but somehow keep bringing her back to center stage with even more ridiculous plot devices.
Orange jumped the shark and now I'm over it. [Reply]
