Kirsty Capes reviews the first episode of Orange Is the New Black season 4…
Everyone’s favourite criminals are back in the highly anticipated fourth installment of Netflix’s most popular original series from Jenji Kohan.
With plenty of plot threads in need of tying up after season 3’s cliffhanger ending, season 4 begins, unlike any of the previous series, directly following on from season 3’s finale. Inmates have just escaped through a hole in the fence at Litchfield due to chronic understaffing, and Alex (Laura Prepon) is at the mercy of her old boss’s hitman, who has infiltrated the prison as a guard.
Both of these plot points are tied up fairly neatly within the first five minutes of Episode 1, which is a little bit of a disappointment, considering how serious they are in terms of OITNB’s comedy-realism angle. Mercifully, OITNB season 4 seems to be following the trend of the previous two seasons of moving away from Piper (Taylor Schilling) as the main series protagonist. This is most definitely a good move for writers, as Piper has become drainingly monotonous as a main character. A show that champions diversity is held back by this whiny white girl, even is she is so to comic effect. Season 4 episode 1 indicates that Piper is on the tipping point of either becoming extremely dangerous or a joke. As she is more determined to ascertain herself as a force to be reckoned with within the walls of Litchfield, she becomes more volatile, too.
Episode 1 also sees the blossoming romance between Crazy Eyes (Uzo Abuda) and Kukudio (Emily Althaus) brought to a screeching halt as Crazy Eyes quickly realises that Kukudio is even more crazy than she is, much to the relief of Taystee (Danielle Brooks) and the rest of the gang. We also get to see plenty of familiar faces: Red (Kate Mulgrew), a just-married and my fave Morello (Yael Stone) and the ever-hilarious Chang (Lori Tan Chinn). Plenty of new faces, too, and the promise of a serious amount of tension as a coach-load of new inmates arrive at Litchfield. Jewish convert Black Cindy (Adrienne C Moore) finds herself sharing her bunk with a Muslim inmate, and Flacca (Jackie Cruz) makes a new inmate believe that Piper is the boss, giving Piper an even further inflated ego. Sadly missing were Sophia (Laverne Cox) and Nicky (Natasha Lyonne); at the end of season 3 Sophia ended up in SHU for her “own protection” after getting jumped by the Latina crew, and Nicky got busted for Luschek’s (Matt Peters) heroine.
It looks like writers have wiped the slate clean from a messy season 3 ending and injected a huge new cast list to really shake things up at Litchfield, and I would venture to say that season 4 has the best season premiere of the series to date. Full of bitingly witty dialogue and perfect comic timing, OITNB is shaping up for another excellent season, The episode ends with Vause, Lolly (Lori Petty) and Frieda (Dale Soules) cutting up a correctional officer’s body to the music of Papa Roach, and if that’s anything to go by, this season is going to be a stonker.
Kirsty Capes – Follow me on Twitter
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https://youtu.be/b7Ozs5mj5ao?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng
Originally published June 17, 2016. Updated April 14, 2018.
