The Asian woman on the committee also represents the old gals, I believe. So she’s just representing as .5 an Asian 
My friend sees racism everywhere. WRT to the fact that there actually is an Asian in the show, when that was pointed out the character was supposedly “played as a joke” so I don’t know what she’s on about. Sorry to hijack about my silly friend.
I assume there are surveilance cameras everywhere in a prison, especially outside. Anyone know if the images are recorded? If so it would show that dick Healy walking back inside when its obvious there is going to be a fight.
I watched the series over a couple of weeks and finished it this weekend. I really liked it, more than I thought I would.
I don’t think any of the characters are one-dimensional, and I’m super happy that Pornstache actually has some smarts/power: “douche who the inmates laugh at behind his back” would have been way more annoying than simply “douche.”
I didn’t watch Lilyhammer (in fact, frankly I don’t remember ever hearing about that show) but I loved House of Cards, and when I finished OITNB I started Hemlock Grove: I’m just a few episodes in, but I’m also enjoying that more than I thought I would. So far, I’m very happy/impressed with Netflix’s originals.
Yes: I love that! Her twin brother played pre-op Sophia in the flashback, which I also thought was brilliant.
Seconded. I think they deliberately made Piper not entirely sympathetic, which is a nice change, and I love that the other characters call her on her bullshit. I’m not sure I was rooting for her to win the fight at the end so much as I’m rooting for her to grow the fuck up, but it does say a lot that I still have some hope for her and don’t just completely hate her. Yet.
Yes! And they helpfully throw a nice little title card in at the end of the opening theme so I know when to press “play” again. 
Regarding Yoga Joan:
She’s there because she accidentally shot and killed an 8-year-old kid. She was drunk, and thought an animal was going after her best pot plants.
Really liked it.
The sex/nudity doesn’t compare to Game of Thrones IMO. For a start there’s no incest.
My favourite characters are Taystee and Crazy Eyes- I hope they get more backstory next season.
That wouldn’t have been a federal crime though, except…
that it happened on her pot farm.
What did the nun do? They said something in the first or second episode about her chaining herself to a nuclear bomb, but would they really toss a nun in prison for that? I watched the penultimate episode last night, and somebody said she
killed someone,
so what am I missing here?
That character is based on a real person. I think it is Sister Megan Rice. She didn’t actually chain herself to anything, but hung banners and defaced property at a supposedly highly secure nuclear site. I think she was on the property for about 3 hours before being caught.
I disagree - one of the good things about the character is that she owns her shit. She is whiny and needy and self centered and selfish and many other things… but generally when someone calls her on it, she does understand that she was in the wrong.
I don’t think she’s supposed to be likable. Relatable to the (probably high) percentage of the audience who never really thought about prisons or that they’d be in one, but not likable.
That was what I came here to ask - are we supposed to be sympathetic to Piper? She’s such a - idiot? Child? Whoever said she needs to grow up, that’s spot on.
True, that’s one of the things I like about her; she freely admits she has no one to blame for being in prison but herself… It’s a direct contrast to her WASP mother’s attitude.
I am three episodes in. I’m doling them out slowly so I can savor them.
I just finished the memoir and loved it. So I have to confess that while I’m not disappointed with the show, I am a bit miffed about some the changes. Like, as a black person, it’s hard for me not to notice how scary almost all the black characters are portrayed on the show, when in the book Piper seemed to connect with them right away. Now maybe the memoir is the exaggeration of the truth rather than the show, but it is still a bit jarring. (Yet I suspect that the scary black people trope is going to dissolve away soon).
I do like the flashbacks, though. Not Piper’s (I don’t really care for those as much), but the other prisoners. I can’t wait to see more.
I don’t understand why some of the names were changed. Why “Red” instead of “Pop”? Or “Yoga Jones” instead of “Yoga Janet?”
Having seen the whole season, I suspect you’re right.
My favorite character is easily Crazy Eyes; I really want to find out more about her back story.
I’m sort of ambivalent about this. Certainly she makes mistakes, but they’re mostly understandable given the circumstances and it’s generally only in hindsight that they’re obvious. What has she done since arriving at prison that makes her a bad or childish person?
I’m not entirely sure why she bothers me; she doesn’t listen very well, she doesn’t pay attention very well, she doesn’t seem to get that she can’t just kind of fumble her way through this experience and bat her eyes and it will all be okay because she’s so cute.
I just saw the end. I said “Shit!” so loud my cat leaped out of the bed.
Dammit, I want the next season right now!
Laverne Cox’s twin brother stood in for her character in the episode where she was a “he”.
My takes now that I’ve seen the whole series:
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Those last couple of epidodes were much more dark than humorous.
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I still feel sympathy for Piper. She made mistakes, but they were all understandable to me.
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Out of the Spanish mamis, I like Gloria the best. Her mannerisms crack me up. I’m still laughing at the cafeteria scene when she was twerking in response to the black dick commentary and had the whole cafeteria following suit. I could see that happening for real.
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The black characters have grown up on me. I like the exchanges between Poussey and Tasty. But excluding Sophia and Janae, the black cast all seem to have interchangeable “goofball” dialogue. They seem to serve as the comic relief while everyone else is in charge of the drama department.
The Spanish mamis also come across as kinda one-dimensional too, despite the subplot with Daya and Bennett.
I guess if I were pressed to offer a racial critique, it would be that the show perpetuates the idea that minorities are all homogenous and that only white folk are interesting enough to break out into subcultures and camps. But maybe this will change as the series continues.
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None of the guys, except for Bennett, are sympathetic. Even Larry gets on my nerves.
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I am glad that show isn’t anything like the book. The book was so feel-good and positive, and it made me like Piper and all the people she was in prison with. It made me want to go to prison just to experience that world she created. But the show has none of that pap, and that’s why it’s good… It’s kind of messed up that the true story has to be exaggerated to make it interesting, though.
I love Poussey (heh…). She’s so cute! There are around 3 women I’ve ever seen that made me think “If I liked women, that’s who I’d like” instead of just idly thinking they’re pretty, and she’s one of them.
I think the best summation of Piper’s character came when…
She was upset that no one attended her memorial for Tricia, saying “I guess I’m the only one who cares if there is a funeral.”
…and Alex responded: “That’s not the most self-involved thing I’ve heard you say, but it’s definitely up there.”
Well we know there are no cameras outside. Otherwise, they’d have caught the chicken right?
Right?
Oh, the chicken-who’s-not-a-chicken. Even they realized by the next episode just how ridiculous that plot was.