First and foremost, I absolutely still recommend Orange is the New Black. The emotions and concerns of the characters paint a fascinating picture of women who, through their own actions, are forced to put their lives on hold. I believe this was the weakest season of Orangeas of yet, but I’ll get into the issues I had with the show a little bit later.

One of the most obvious changes in this season was the departure and arrival of characters. Prison shows like Orange and HBO’s Oz, commonly take advantage of the revolving-door aspect of prison life in order to keep their characters fresh and to deal with the realities of television economics. When a show becomes popular, as Orange has been since its inception, its veterans’ value rises and new blood must be added to replace actors who leave for more money. The first obvious casualty of Season 3 was Jason Biggs, who played Piper’s boyfriend Larry and left to star on Broadway alongside Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Larry as a character, but he played a functional role as Piper’s connection to the outside world. I can certainly live without him.

Another departure from the show is Matt McGorry, who played guard John Bennett, the father of Daya’s baby. McGorry took a role last year on ABC’s (somehow) wildly popular Shonda Rhimes adaptation, How to Get Away with Murder, and I hope his paycheck is better because that show’s quality surely isn’t. I think it will make Daya more intriguing, as her relationship with her mother is now the most important aspect of her character. The romantic subplot between Bennett and Daya was overplayed and saccharine, and I thought McGorry was the least talented actor on the show. Good riddance.

While the losses of McGorry and Biggs were inconsequential (or advantageous) to Orange’squality, another departure was decidedly negative. One of its finest characters was Nicky Nichols, played by Natasha Lyonne. Lyonne was a revelation in Season 1, playing one of Piper’s first and only friends behind bars. As a heroin addict from a wealthy Manhattan family with a raspy voice, unabashed lesbian trysts, and a Bronx attitude, she was a truly vital character, serving as the streetwise aide to Piper’s strict book smarts. Last year Lyonne took a role starring in the fall 2015 NBC pilot Old Soul, created by Amy Poehler. Though Nicky was given a very emotional sendoff with a touching episode devoted to her tortured relationship with her surprisingly caring and loving mother, her departure was sudden, abrupt, and raised more questions than it answered. (i.e. why isn’t Luschek in prison? or even asked about the drugs in his desk? and why did the staff blindly believe his accusations of Nicky?) The show will truly miss Nicky, as evidenced by the final episodes of Season 2 which noticeably lacked her unique style and attitude.

Although the show suffered its share of departures, it also gained a few new, interesting characters, including Australian beauty Ruby Rose who plays Piper’s new girlfriend and business associate, Stella. Though this character seems to have been short-lived, she added a distinct flair and made Piper more interesting, a feat seldom realized on the show recently. Another interesting addition was that of hapless corporate drone Danny, played by veteran comedian Mike Birbiglia, who did a passable job portraying the incompetence of private contractors in prisons. I’m a far bigger fan of Birbiglia’s stand-up than his rare appearances on television or film, but I wouldn’t mind seeing him again on the show soon.

Enough about arrivals and departures, let’s discuss some positives from Season 3. To me, Poussey’sstoryline was the strongest; we see her bittersweet anguish in the first episode when she notices the Calvin and Hobbes comic in the papier-mache of a piñata. It was a sweet and tender moment that in my opinion was almost cheating, just because nothing can get me more emotional than Calvin and Hobbes viewed through a nostalgic lens. Her struggles with alcohol, her emotional strains, and her blossoming relationship with Soso made her an exceptionally strong character this season and I hope they can continue that relationship.

As farfetched as I find Flaca’sflashback storyline to be (placebo acid tripping? really?) I do think she went from a largely forgettable character to actually being a main plot point. I didn’t see her as a Depeche Mode-blasting raver chick when I first saw her eyedrop tattoo, instead she seemed more of a typical Latina from Spanish Harlem, but her appreciation for rave culture and acid added some surprising depth to a character who wouldn’t have been picked out of a lineup beforehand. Also, I’m glad someone finally stood up to Piper, who slowly morphed from do-gooder panty impresario to incompetent prison Mafioso. Flaca, who actually knows how a criminal enterprise is run, definitely one-upped Piper a number of times this season, and it’ll be interesting to see if that rivalry continues or if Flaca’s storyline returns to the Latina prisoners.

Can somebody please tell me where the fuck the Maritza storyline is? How we can go three seasons without a flashback episode for the undisputedly most beautiful woman on television? I understand that next season could be tumultuous for her, especially in that van, but I hope we get a main Maritza storyline sooner rather than later, especially considering the fact that I s
pent the last 11 months feebly hoping for an episode for the Latina beauty only to have Ms. Kohan keep me waiting another damn year. I don’t think I’m alone in saying that episode can’t come soon enough.

One of my only gripes with Season 3 was the seeming lack of a distinct villain.  Red was the first season’s antagonist, and Vee obviously played the part in Season 2; both were very well constructed and represented an important counterweight to prison’s otherwise calm and monotonous world. But this season was more about relationships, with each group and character holding grudges. Admittedly, this allowed the show to expand on characters who otherwise may not have gotten story time, including Chang and Flaca. It also meant that this season’s conflicts were interpersonal and more complex, such as the battle between Sophia and Gloria over how to raise their respective sons, where neither character is entirely at fault or blameless. Without a main antagonist, though, Orange was forced to elevate background subplots to keep the show moving, which spent considerable time on plots that didn’t really go anywhere or intertwine with other characters, the storyline between Vause and her psycho stalker being the most pointless.

Speaking of Vause- what the hell is the point of this goddamned character anymore? Paranoia? To fulfill the mandatory “Piper’s squeeze” role? It’s farfetched enough that the state of New York would decide to send her back to Litchfield to bunk with her ex-girlfriend/criminal associate for a second time, but why is she even still on the show? It’s clear the writers had no idea what to do with her, as Piper spent her time screwing around with Australian beauty Ruby Rose and Vause spent hers worrying about getting stabbed. Sure, the cliffhanger with the undercover guard discovering her in the greenhouse piqued my interest, but as far as her actual performance in Season 3, I didn’t really see the point.

And that brings us to Piperherself. She’s the show’s protagonist, but I honestly see her storyline as secondary, and in the end meaningless to the events of this season. Sure, she showed some fangs when she called the guards on her girlfriend Stella, and she definitely showed toughness in how she handled Flaca, but her rise to organized crime leader was too precipitous and too quick. All of a sudden one of the only characters in Litchfield with both an education and a distinct conscience now seeks to run her own empire based on used panties? What happened to the calculated, cautious Piper from the first few seasons? She made a better and more believable protagonist as the conscientious central character commenting on all the craziness of Litchfield, not purposely seeking to run a crime ring.

Looking forward to Season 4, if I had any say in what goes on in the writer’s room, I might want to remind them that this is, after all, a prison show. When did Litchfield become a multicultural paradise where all people work together regardless of their ethnic background? It seems like racial boundaries were weakened this season and this was an extreme detriment, as the obvious cliques of prison demand racial groups with distinct allegiances. You didn’t see the skinheads and the blacks on Oz interact much, or if they did it ended rather violently. And I can’t imagine that a woman’s prison is so drastically different that by the end of the season we’d have methhead redneck white girls freely interacting with the lesbian and black inmates. Maybe I’m alone in this, but I like seeing the issue of race and allegiance openly dealt with, and this season it felt like that was an afterthought.

So, if they can return to interpersonal prison reality and also focus on television’s most stunning actress, I’ll be more than on board for next year’s installments. I’m definitely ant
icipating the blossoming relationship between Soso and Poussey, as well as the absolutely mandatory Maritza episode that Jenji Kohan has been holding out on us for 3 years.

-Sean