Trends come and go. In the 21st century the constant shi of what’s in and out can be impossible to follow. To assist in the constant dash to be current on media and culture, here is a tip, “Orange is the New Black” (OITNB) is back, and this year’s season is gearing up to be an irresistibly messy ride.
This summer is the release of Netflix’s fourth season of “Orange is the New Black.” The fourth installment of the hit show took to the internet Sept. 17 and the full season is available online through Netflix’s streaming platforms.
“OITNB” has taken millennials by storm. Past seasons have dominated the conversations of young men and women for its witty humor, the apparent honesty and relatable nature of its characters and the interpersonal drama that keeps its audiences clicking for the next episode hour after hour as they fight off the need to sleep.
The new season of “OITNB,” picks up precisely where the third season left off without skipping a shot. The cast of the previous season return and the introduction of several new characters begins.
“OITNB” has, from the beginning, been adept at combining witty, sometimes dark — but hilarious — humor, with topical issues, conversations and trending media.
Within the first two episodes of this season, the show delivers the expectations audiences have come to anticipate in the series, highlighting the racial, gender, sexual, religious and other personal tensions in prisons and the nation.
As the show resumes where it left viewers hanging last summer, the relationships move forward as expected, romance and friendships continue to culminate and/or fall apart in
a mode relatable to anyone who has ever had a significant other or been comforted or torn apart by platonic relationships.
In addition to the carry-over of the character’s interactions with one another, the introduction of this season’s many new inmates and guards juxtapose the relationships that already exist and will likely propose new and evermore interesting conflicts between the women of the show, living in incarceration, jam packed beyond capacity in their cages.
The show’s effectiveness and popularity can be traced to its ingenious yet familiar story-telling structure. The writers of “OITNB” employ a plot structure first recognizable to the 2004-2010 hit series “Lost.”
e characters of the show all share the same unfortunate circumstance, in “OITNB’s” case, incarceration. Meanwhile as their lives unfold in the present, the writers take us
back to the preceding lives of each individual character. With a prison full of inmates this structure fits impeccably as the possibilities are all but endless. Netflix has taken us through the lives of many of its major characters on the show over the past four years.
Their new installment at the onset of the first episode gave us a glimpse into the life of a character, that up until now, not much was known. Moreover, with the transfer of new inmates into the prison there are now more characters than ever.
“OITNB” has a knack for unveiling the good, bad and ambiguous characteristics of human nature. The show invites its audiences to question what may have been morally black and white to them beforehand, affirming existing beliefs, or demolishing viewpoints they may have been stringent on formerly. “Orange is the New Black” is fundamentally significant to our generation as its inclination to remain topical makes it a sounding board of 21st century thinking (without being a morality sermon). And though it does carry a common tune of our age group, the contemporary nature does not detract from its comedic, dramatic or general entertainment value. So invite over some friends, hop on the couch and Netflix and chill.
That’s an order, inmate.
Kevin Neighbors can be reached at [email protected]