Orange Is The New Black Review: We Have Manners, We're Polite

Orange Is The New Black (Netflix), Episode 13 of Season 2
"We Have Manners, We're Polite"
Written By: Jenji Kohan
Directed By: Constantine Marks
Flashback Of: N/A

GRADE: A+

Brief Description: My general take on season finales is that one episode can't change a season. A great finale to a terrible season (a la Season 2 of House of Cards) is still a terrible season and a terrible finale to a great season (a la Season 1 of Homeland) is still a great season. The season finale of Orange Is The New Black is the exception to the rule so to speak. The first half of this season was incredible, while the second half stumbled a bit, the 90 minute season finale tied up almost every loose end. "We Have Manners, We're Polite" was the reason we saw the previous 12 episodes and it capped an excellent end to an excellent season.

Orange Is The New Black Review: It Was The Change

Orange Is The New Black (Netflix), Episode 12 of Season 2
"It Was The Change"
Written By: Sara Hess
Directed By: Phil Abraham
Flashback Of: Vee

GRADE: A

Brief Description: A storm is coming to Litchfield! Not only do we get a literal storm, but the war between Vee and Red is finally here. I've been complaining for a few episodes about how the war between Vee vs. Red was not nearly at the level it should be. We finally got the episode I've been waiting for and that we all should have gotten a few episodes back. Even without the last two scenes between Vee and Red, this episode was still an "A". We spent a fair amount of time focusing on some minor characters, mainly Ruiz, but for the most part, this episode was filled with the characters and story lines this entire season had been building towards. Even in scenes without Vee or Red in them, the threat of a fight breaking out lingered over everything.

Orange Is The New Black Review: Take A Break From Your Values

Orange Is The New Black (Netflix), Episode 11 of Season 2
"Take A Break From Your Values"
Written By: Nick Jones
Directed By: Constantine Makris
Flashback Of: Sister Ingalls

GRADE: C+

Brief Description: I have no idea how a show as great as Orange Is The New Black has been can come so far off of the rails as it has become. But truthfully, I don't think we should be surprised. While Jenji Kohan created Orange after coming off of a long running, slightly successful, slightly critically revered show, it's not like Weeds was ever considered the Mad Men of Breaking Bad, or even Dexter, of its time. To it's credit, it does have a handful of major Primetime Emmy awards, but nowhere in its eight year run was it ever considered as great of a show has Orange Is The New Black has been. And now that we're almost done with Season 2, you can see the seems start to tear and the thread start to unravel, just like Weeds did. To be fair, "Take A Break From Your Values" as a stand alone episode is not a C+. It's better than a lot of shows out there. However, the gap for where Season 2 should be this late in its run versus where it is now is just staggering.

Orange Is The New Black Review: Little Mustachioed Shit

Orange Is The New Black (Netflix), Episode 10 of Season 2
"Little Mustachioed Shit"
Written By: Sian Heder
Directed By: Jennifer Getzinger
Flashback Of: Piper & Alex

GRADE: B-

Brief Description: For an episode that should have worked so well on paper, both from the prominent story line of Vee vs. Poussey to having acclaimed director Jennifer Getzinger on board (she directed some of the best Mad Men episodes including "The Suitcase" and "For Immediate Release"), this episode was by far and away the worst of the season so far. A big part of this was that the prominent story lines should have happened at least three episodes sooner (which really makes me re-think the high grades I gave episodes like Episode 5's "A Whole Other Hole" and Episode 6's "You Also Have A Pizza") as well as the fact that little moments for minor characters like Morello and Sophia (plus an unnecessary flashback involving Alex) should not exist this late in the season.

Orange Is The New Black Review: 40oz of Furlough

Orange Is The New Black (Netflix), Episode 9 of Season 2
"40oz of Furlough"
Written By: Lauren Morelli
Directed By: S.J. Clarkson
Flashback Of: Red & Vee

GRADE: B

Brief Description: We are way too late in the season to have an episode like this. If "40oz of Furlough" aired three episodes ago, mainly with the flashbacks, then this episode would be another solid "A". However, we can only hint at the Red vs. Vee war for so long before something is actually done about it. Don't get me wrong, the flashbacks were great and the Red vs. Vee story line is consistently the first or second best story line in a given week depending on how terrible or amazing Piper's story is. But a war has been brewing for so many episodes now that I've lost count on how many times I've mentioned it in my recaps.

Orange Is The New Black Review: Appropriately Sized Pots

Orange Is The New Black (Netflix), Episode 8 of Season 2
"Appropriately Sized Pots"
Written By: Alex Regnery & Hartley Voss
Directed By: Daisy von Scherler Mayer
Flashback Of: Rosa

GRADE: A

Brief Description: This is probably my favorite episode of the season so far, and I don't think it's a coincidence this happened to coincide with the first Piper heavy episode since the season opener.  But before I get into the episode, I need to get some technical things out of the way. First, the only way I was able to understand what the characters were saying in the flashbacks is by having the Closed Captions on. That means I either had to toggle back and forth throughout the entire episode, or I had to leave the CC on the entire time (which I did do and strongly disliked reading what I was hearing). I have no idea why the natural setting of this episode wasn't to have all the Spanish be subtitled? The second is the poor narrative function the show did by using Rosa in the flashbacks. At first glance, I thought we were doing a Blanca flashbacks considering how extremely similar the actress who played Young Rosa looks like Blanca. It was jarring for a brief moment for me, but then I figured it out as not only did Rosa say she robbed banks back in "A Whole Other Hole" (and I actually remembered her name was Rosa and not "That Cancer Prisoner") but the camera panned to present day Rosa's face right before the flashback. However, my wife, who is a pretty smart cookie, didn't figure it out until the second flashback scene. I can't imagine she was the only one.

Orange Is The New Black Review: Comic Sans

Orange Is The New Black (Netflix), Episode 7 of Season 2
"Comic Sans"
Written By: Sara Hess
Directed By: Andrew McCarthy
Flashback Of: Black Cindy

GRADE: A

Brief Description: We are most certainly heading for a Vee vs. Red showdown as both make huge power strides in "Comic Sans". Vee and Taystee's crew starting using the tobacco Vee sneaks in to roll cigarettes and their business explodes immediately. Vee uses Taystee, Watson, and Black Cindy as salesmen while Suzanne handles the grunt work. Outside of the prison, Red's greenhouse pipeline is back in full force. Now that she's completed her good will tour, it's time to start making money. We still don't know where she stands with her prison family just yet, but she's certainly on her way to becoming Mama Bird again. Both Vee and Red show that you don't need the kitchen to gain power, as the Hispanics are clearly third tier during this power struggle right now. Gloria, the leader of the Hispanics has to come to Red to barter, and Flaca, Maritza, Maria ( I still need IMDB to look up the Hispanic inmates' names despite the show doing a better job actually telling the audience their names) and the other Hispanic girls can't get enough cigarettes.

Orange Is The New Black Review: You Also Have A Pizza

Orange Is The New Black (Netflix), Episode 6 of Season 2
"You Also Have A Pizza"
Written By: Stephen Falk
Directed By: Allison Anders
Flashback Of: Poussey

GRADE: A-

Brief Description: Love is in the air in Litchfield.. Not just with the prisoners, but with the prison guards and Larry and Poussey and everybody else. "You Also Have A Pizza" only covers about 48 hours worth of time around Valentine's Day, yet it feels like months. So many characters get great little moments, and this episode shows what a true ensemble cast this is really is and also that Piper is the star of it.

Let's get the major story points out of the way first before we get into the little characters moments. "You Also Have A Pizza" closes some mini arcs while also setting up some new ones. We finally figure out exactly what Red's plan is, as she finds an unused sewage system that she can sneak supplies in and out of. While it's extremely unbelievable that a security flaw of this magnitude actually exists, I'll buy it for the sake of this particular story. Red's power is on the rise as she hands out gifts to the fellow White inmates to get back in their good graces. While it's a great first gesture for some, it doesn't work for Gina and The Mute as they're still mad at her (rightfully so) for causing Gina's burn (which seemed even more apparent in this episode to me).

Orange Is The New Black Review: Low Self Esteem City

Orange Is The New Black (Netflix), Episode 5 of Season 2
"Low Self Esteem City"
Written By: Nick Jones
Directed By: Andrew McCarthy
Flashback Of: Gloria

GRADE: B+

Brief Description: The worst episodes so far this season has been the ones with little to no Piper. That's not to say Orange Is The New Black has any bad episodes so far, but the weaker ones (Episode 2's "Looks Blue, Tastes Red" and this episode) barely feature Piper. While Piper doesn't need to be in every scene like she seemingly was in Season 1, she does need some story arcs that we care about in every given week. While Taylor Schilling got a great moment this episode where she finally confronts Healy for leaving her that night she was attacked by Pennsatucky, other than that, she didn't have a whole to do this week. She learned that her grandmother is dying (in a funny game of Hot/Cold with her brother before the realization of the situation sank in) and I imagine her furlough will be granted so the random Larry and Polly scenes will eventually lead to something. But as for a stand alone episode, this story line was just "eh".

Orange Is The New Black Review: A Whole Other Hole

Orange Is The New Black (Netflix), Episode 4 of Season 2
"A Whole Other Hole"
Written By: Sian Heder
Directed By: Phil Abraham
Flashback Of: Lorna Morello

GRADE: A

Brief Description: Our de-facto three main characters, Piper, Red, and Vee, spend their time in "A Whole Other Hole" in some sort of power struggle with each of the three in different stages of it. At the beginning, Piper is on top, Vee is still climbing, and Red is at the bottom. Piper is back within the general population and the memory of why she was sent to the SHU is still fresh in the inmates minds. She spends the beginning part of the episode taking back items other prisoners took from her when they assumed Piper was never coming back (except for Suzanne's picture she took of Larry and Piper, she can keep that). She even stands up for herself to Big Boo, who looks like she's ready to whoop Piper's ass to keep Miss Claudette's afghan.

Orange Is The New Black Review: Hugs Can Be Deceiving

Orange Is The New Black (Netflix), Episode 3 of Season 2
"Hugs Can Be Deceiving"
Written By: Lauren Morelli
Directed By: Michael Trim
Flashback Of: Crazy Eyes

GRADE: A

Brief Description: Yes! We finally get a flashback episode of Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren. Yet, at the same time, the flashbacks felt somewhat of a let down. It's possible that we as Orange Is The New Black fans, myself included, anticipated a Crazy Eyes flash back episode too much that frankly anything was going to be disappointing. However, I think the real reason it felt like a let down was because there's so much more in Suzanne's background, that what we got in this episode was only the teeny-tiny tip of the iceberg. Similar to the flashbacks that we saw of Piper in Episode 1 of Season 2, we only saw a little bit of what makes this character tick in general, and not what got her into prison to begin with. We knew that Suzanne actually has a legitimate mental disorder, but that wasn't really explored too much in this episode. Some of the reason Suzanne is the way she is is because she was a black girl growing up in white suburbia, but as we see with Litchfield itself in a sense, race isn't the only factor. I wished we got a little bit more about who Suzanne really is, and the flashbacks here seemed so sparse, that there feels like there's a plethora more material to cover.

Orange Is The New Black Review: "Looks Blue, Tastes Red"

Orange Is The New Black (Netflix), Episode 2 of Season 2
"Looks Blue, Tastes Red"
Written By: Jenji Kohan
Directed By: Michael Trim
Flashback Of: Taystee

GRADE: A-

Brief Description: After spending the first episode of Season 2 of OITNB of essentially just Piper, we get an entire episode that's Piper free. Piper Chapman was our introduction into Litchfield, but now that we've had 13 episodes to fully see what Litchfield is like, it's nice to have an episode without Piper. We're in, now let's explore. As shown through "Thirsty Bird", and frankly all of Season 1, Piper surprisingly is one of the least interesting inmates in prison. That's not an indication of Taylor Schilling's acting, it's just the way this role is written. However, after having no Piper for a full hour, I almost feel like I'm in withdrawal. I need a little Piper in my life.