They say the worst part of serving a lengthy prison sentence is the beginning. The same goes for this sixth season of Orange Is The New Black. The first episode is bad, especially during an annoying hallucination bit that takes place within its first few minutes, but things get better from there. The series is treading toilet water, but it’s a soap opera that’s at least interesting enough to keep watching. If you can tolerate the two worst main characters, Suzanne and Piper still; Lolly is back too but just for cameos; it settles into a decent, albeit hit-and-miss, balance of comedy and drama.

Then there’s the end, which comes as a surprise. Not in the sense that anything particularly surprising happens in relation to the build-up but that it doesn’t. To be clear, this season ends the way the whole series should end. To continue the story further, considering the way it began from Piper’s perspective as a middle-class white woman trying to adjust to a new life in prison, turns it into some kind of extended epilogue, which throws the concept off balance. Forget trying to tie loose ends. The final words here are, “So what are you gonna do now?” The answer should be left to our imaginations.

my rating : 3 of 5

2018

video review : Orange Is The New Black [ Season 7 ]