Orange Is the New Black pulled off an amazing feat of storytelling in its last season. It made Piper Chapman interesting (has she ever been more engaging than when she got Stella sent to max?), it validated Alex’s paranoia, it humanized Chang, it made Cindy tolerable, and it made Suzanne Warren more “Suzanne” than “Crazy Eyes.” It was confident, bold ensemble storytelling, and it doesn’t look as though the show will let up any time soon. Season four of OITNB, thus far at least, seems like its own beast while also acting as a natural extension of season three.
The show is confident enough to pick up right where it left off – there’s no time jump, and no change of scenery like at the beginning of season two. The inmates are frolicking in the lake, and Piper is basking in her new self-appointed identity as a gangsta – “with an A,” as she points out to Chang. This leads to a hilarious dressing-down from Chang, who doesn’t give a portion of a fuck about the used-panty kingpin she’s addressing. Throughout “Work That Body For Me,” Piper repeatedly warns people about talking to her “like that.” And then she goes off to read a Nick Hornsby book. On any other show, the comeuppance she’s bound to endure would be comical, but Orange Is the New Black isn’t that kind of show. This is a show that now deftly knows how to balance comedy with darkness, which should confuse Emmy voters even more.
Nowhere is that clearer than in Alex’s storyline. Whitehill sees Ian strangling Alex and quickly steps in – literally – to save her life, stomping the shit out of Ian, before casually telling Alex, “A bunch of people are going down to the lake, so…” Lori Petty’s performance seems more measured and human, and her pitch-perfect delivery is a nice juxtaposition with what is some seriously developed mental illness. But she and Alex are fun together (I’m a big fan of Whitehill calling Alex “Morticia”).
The sequence wherein Alex and Whitehill chop up Ian’s body and plant it in the garden is a perfect case for OITNB‘s mastery of tone. The sequence is set to Papa Roach’s “Last Resort,” which could have been too obvious by half (“Cut my life into pieces”) if the show played it straight. And while it isn’t gut-busting comedy, it achieves a nice balance that prevents a gruesome sequence from being too gruesome.
Elsewhere, “Work That Body” checks in with everyone at Litchfield without feeling overstuffed. It finds time for funny, intimate scenes like Luschek hanging out with Judy King; the two are good foils for each other, and their back-and-forth makes me miss Nicky that much more.
Overcrowding seems to be a problem, as breakfast now starts at 4:30, and more worryingly, Flaca identifies Piper as the ringleader to a new inmate, who boasts about killing “three somebodies.” Piper, I know you think you’re Queen Shit of Turd Mountain, but that dog-eared copy of About A Boy is only going to stop a shiv so far into your stomach.
Overall, “Work That Body For Me” was a damn good episode of Orange Is the New Black, showcasing its identity as a drama with occasional belly laughs, and a comedy that gets really dark at times. If this is indicative of the quality we can expect from season four, then I am all in.
A Few Thoughts
- Whitehill thinks Piper’s name is “Spout” or “Cylinder.” She really is unique. Also: the alien emoji isn’t representative of what aliens actually look like. The more you know.
- I think Kukudio’s name was said more in this episode than it was in all of season three. To wit: I now know what Kukudio’s name is. She’s definitely unstable, but smarter than she seems. I’m looking forward to more of her.
- “It’s stupid to dig a six-foot hole when you can dig six one-foot holes. That’s murder math.”
- Is it super weird for anyone else to see Healy in civilian clothes? How many necklaces does that guy own?
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