Netflix released the third season of Orange Is the New Black last week, and I’m sure most of you with a Netflix account have finished watching all thirteen episodes by now.
This season was so very disappointing to me. It took on a lot of tough issues, but handled them poorly and even offensively. Most importantly, the main characters had a flat plot, and so many problems were introduced and almost none were resolved at the end of the season.
Who else wondered why they were watching the show every time Piper and Alex spoke to each other? Piper had an interesting storyline for the first season, as she is the main character, and she faced new challenges in season two with Alex selling her out. What did we get this season? Illegally selling panties through her brother. What? Piper took a step back this season, especially when the writers had ample opportunity to say the word “bisexual” in episode one, but chose to ignore it. While others may delight in the idea that Piper became more of a background character this season, it really proved how weak the storylines were across the board.
Daya was pregnant forever this season, and it was so obvious that they were holding off for her to give birth in the last two episodes. Bennet’s disappearance was strange, too. We had no previous indication that Bennet would leave as he did, and he was yet another problem left unsolved at the end of the season. Pornstache finally learned that Daya’s baby was not his own, but did anyone really care to see that exchange? Not me.
While I loved the flashbacks to smaller characters this season, some of them felt repetitive. I don’t think we needed the reminder that Lorna wanted a wedding since she was a kid. The past season’s used flashbacks to establish a previous event that molded a particular character and how they changed that part of themselves in the present. We learn that Lianne grew up Amish, but we don’t see her transition from that lifestyle to how she ended up in prison. The flashbacks this season didn’t reinforce that reoccurring theme, and they were disappointing and disjointed.
In the previous two seasons it was easy to laugh at Healy’s ignorance but with Birdie’s appearance, we saw how much Healy hurts the Litchfield women. While this comparison was useful and enlightening, the writers did a lot with Healy that I didn’t understand. Red and Healy had something this season, but I couldn’t tell you what exactly. Neither character fully addressed the situation, and they never even resolve what they might do about it in the next season. I am also disappointed that we never learned if Birdie was reinstated as a counselor, I think we all know she rightfully belongs in that position.
Two of my favorite characters were Nicky and Poussey and what did season three give them? Not much. Poussey uses alcohol to cope with loneliness and while we see Tastee encouraging her to attend AA meetings, but her situation never resolves itself. We have no indication if Poussey is any better at the end than at the beginning. Tastee’s pressure to go to meetings dies off and the fact that Poussey drinks her problems away is soon forgotten. Nicky goes to Max. Lorna cries over her for a few episodes, which is nice, but when Piper went to a different prison, we saw it. We saw nothing of Nicky after they sent her away. I’m confident that Nicky is a fan favorite and everyone wanted to see how she was doing more than they wanted to see Piper exchange underwear with a guard.
There were a few sensitive topics that I do not feel comfortable addressing because I have no personal experience regarding them, but the fact that the following things made me uncomfortable says something about each of them. The abuse Sophia faced this season was hard to watch (but I’m sure a very deep reality for transgender people) but what infuriated me the most was that she wasn’t given justice this season. Episode 9, “Where My Dreidel At?”, made me uncomfortable, and I cannot decide if Black Cindy’s conversion at the end was genuine or not.
The most disturbing storyline this season for me was Pennsatuckey’s. I really loved her character this season, which made everything about her story so horrible. We learn more about her past, pre-addiction, and we learn about her abuse. She faces even more abuse from the guard and I cannot articulate how angry it made me, but what is worse is that she never got her justice. I think the writers plan for this plot to continue into next season where it will resolve itself, but the idea of a plot like this going on for so long in a show I used to love is unsettling.
I enjoyed very few things about this season, and I could count them on one hand. It’s unfortunate to say, but Orange Is the New Black’s third season totally missed for me. I did not zoom through this season like I did in the past because unsettling things kept happening in each episode. I only pressed on in the hopes that my favorite characters would get their justice, but the writers failed to give any semblance of a resolution.
[Photos via Netflix]
