It’s always surprising when a series is renewed before a single episode has aired (or streamed, in this case).
But when “Orange is the New Black” received a second-season order late last month — two weeks before the first of its 13 episodes premiered on the streaming service Netflix — you couldn’t be blamed for thinking this new show, from “Weeds” creator Jenji Kohan, was something special.
It’s not. But it’s not too shabby, either.
Actually, I’m somewhere in “the middle of the road” territory after having watched the first two episodes of “Orange.” It’s not one of those “can’t wait for the next episode!” shows — a la “Breaking Bad” or, for some, “Mad Men” (which is referenced in “Orange”) — but it does have interesting elements, a solid cast with quirky characters and some terrific one-liners.
Adapted from Piper Kerman’s memoir, “Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Woman’s Prison,” the series revolves around Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling) who, when we first meet her, is prepping for a 15-month prison term — the result of a nearly-decade-old criminal possession case. Piper — who’s from an upstanding Connecticut family — was, it turns out, quite the rebel after college, when she was found guilty of carrying a suitcase-full of drug money for her lesbian lover, Alex (Laura Prepon from “That ’70s Show,” here with dark hair). She now has to explain the circumstances surrounding her upcoming stay in the hoosegow to her shocked family and to her unsuspecting boyfriend, Larry Bloom (Jason Biggs). “I feel like I’m in a Bourne movie,” he says to Piper. “Have you killed?”
Once she’s ensconced at Lichtfield Federal Prison, we learn more of Piper’s back story via intermittent flashbacks. Meanwhile, she’s acclimating — not well — to her new surroundings. Among her new cell mates is Nicky Nichols (a randy Natasha Lyonne); among her new challenges is dealing with vengeful kitchen matron Galina “Red” Reznikov (an almost unrecognizable Kate Mulgrew) and other indignities of prison life.
The show runs smoothly, but the plotline just isn’t compelling enough for me to go rushing back. The writing is fine, Schilling plays both younger and older Piper with conviction and there are some neat plot twists early on.
Still, I could have done without the gratuitous nudity and scenes of that ilk, which feel as though they were included because this isn’t traditional TV and, well, they could “get away with it.”
But since we know that “Orange” is coming back for another season, you’ll have plenty of time to decide if you’ll want to devlote lots of time to this series — or if it deserves a “one-and-done” sentence.