When the Litchfield girls burst onto our Netflix screens back in 2013, who’d have known that these eccentric convicted felons would work their way into the hearts and lives of avid television lovers across the globe. Jenji Kohan‘s brilliant American comedy-drama ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK took inspiration from the memoir of Piper Kerman and her experience in prison.

With season one touching down on Netflix in July 2013 and season two following during June 2014, we’ve seen Piper and her fellow inmates tackle some pretty serious trauma’s including issues on mental health, drug addiction, in-house violence, misconduct and abuse. While the show by no means makes light of serious subject, it’s well known for its sharp and quick whit, extensive character development as well as fair and varied reputation of women. 

As the rating continued to succeed, a third season was given the green light and on June 11th 2015 thirteen episodes burst onto the Netflix scene so that the binging could begin. So with super high expectations and a seriously impressive reputation to uphold, does ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK season three live up to its own hype?

Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling) and Alex Vause (Laura Prepon) have always remained thick within the main narrative of the first two seasons, as their turbulant on-again off-again relationship fuelled much of the conflict in the earlier seasons. Their relationship certaintly shares screen time in the third series, but does indeed take a backseat to Piper and Alex’s own personal stories.With Piper busy attempting to claw her way to the top of the business food-chain by sparking a lucrative panty sniffing business, Alex battles with the state of her sanity as she fears for her life as her suspicions of a new inmate leads her to believe that her former boss has plans to have Alex taken out.

While Vause’s story leads to some great tension and an interesting set of flashbacks, Piper’s story goes stale pretty quickly and it gets harder and harder to like our central character. The two of them together add a real sense of familiarity with such a fast paced narrative and while their relationship does sizzle at the very beginning of the series, it soon sizzles out as Piper finds herself bored; something that, disappointingly, immediately reflects on how the audience feels, begging the question; is there any real point to the Vause/Chapman relationship?

While it’s a shame that Vause and Chapman’s development feels as if it’s been put on the back burner, it does make room for some of the other incredible characters to really take charge; something this season has really run with. While ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK is well known for its touching flashbacks, season three makes the very most of such a narrative ploy, giving fans exactly what they want, as more and more characters are opening up for us to explore.

Particular highlights include the journeys of Boo (Lea DeLaria) and Pennsatucky (Taryn Manning) who together are absolute season stealers. Boo and Penn’s relationship is one of the finest examples of exquisite character development as their attitudes towards one-another and the bond they form is utterly unpredicted from the first and much of the second season. Having created such a strong bond between these two characters, Jenji Kohan has enabled the capacity for a crushing and extremely hard hitting story line that flows easy in and out of the character’s own flashbacks as-well as their present storyline. 

Boo’s own flashback gives us a wonderful and humbling insight into her unapologetic attitude towards her own sexuality and representation. We see her journey as a young woman and how her natural need to be her butch self is met with disappointing sighs from her parents. As the flashback evolves and we see her visit her sick mother, DeLaria evokes crushing emotion as her flawless performance leaves one feeling a sense of sheer pride. Her representation of an openly proud character is truly something special, a gift no-doubt aided by the brilliance of the script and the raw honest performance she so skillfully gives. 

Manning also completely outdoes herself as Penn’s journey finds itself in incredibly deep waters, as she becomes clutched in the hands of an abusive new officer. Where Manning once played the comedic villain; a character we love to hate, Penn has certainly evolved into an almost childlike character; one that audience’s feel a sense of pure protectiveness for. This certainly heats up, as not only is she a victim of rape within her current story, but also within a heartbreaking flashback. Manning tackles this sensitive subject with such vulnerability that it’s difficult to watch as Penn attempts to understand exactly what has happened to her and why. 

There are many other key narrative strings that weave themselves in and out of the series and one that will no doubt break many a heart is the total deconstruction of John Bennett (Matt McGorry) and Daya’s (Dascha Polanco) forbidden relationship. With Daya heavily pregnant and ready to give birth at any time, the realisation of entering her dysfunctional family and the responsibilities of becoming a father soon hit Bennett like a ton of bricks; with disastrous effect. With Bennett skipping out on his banged-up baby mama, Daya is left to decide what to do as Pornstache’s Mother shows up, seeking a plan for her to adopt the baby; believing it is still her son’s. 

The general adoption storyline isn’t the strongest as not only does it eventually become obsolete, but fans mourn the loss of Bennett as soon as he skips town, leaving the dream of a happily family literally on the side of a dirt road. How could you, Bennett? Still, it does provoke a hilarious cameo from the brilliant Pablo Schreiber as we get a glimpse of Pornstache sporting a fetching prison mullet.  

While seemingly insignificant at first, another big storyline that aids the growth of many others is the development of mute Norma (Annie Golden). As Norma finds herself lapping up attention from other inmates as they believe she has a spiritual gift, we’re privy not only to her own interesting backstory but some of her new followers also. Characters like meth head Leanne (Emma Myles) open up through touching flashbacks, but it is Soso’s (Kimiko Glenn) attachment to Norma that packs the biggest emotional punch.

With a couple of new characters thrown into season three and immediate favourite has to be the insatiable Stella Carlin, played by Ruby Rose. With Rose already boasting her own flock of loyal fans, the casting for Stella was bang on and gave a little spice to the Piper storyline. Working as Piper’s new love interest, Stella gave a little taste of what could be, but was essentially underused within the series. While there’s great chance she will reappear in season four, Stella’s character could have been used beyond the Piper love triangle. 

While season three of ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK feels like the weakest within the franchise so far, the episodes work sublimely; even if the overall effect is slightly underwhelming. With other favourite character’s like Taystee (Danielle Brookes), Poussey (Samira Wiley), Crazy Eyes (Uzo Aduba) and Cindy (Adrienne C. Moore) taking a comedic backseat after their heavy load in season two and Nick Sandow doing a brilliant job at boosting Caputo’s rep; audiences will find themselves comfortably at home back at Litchfield but will feel thirstier than ever for season four!

Season Highlight: Big Boo and Pennsetucky!

Season Lowlight: Bring back Nicky/Save Sophia!

Verdict

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