The new Netflix drama set at a women’s prison, “Orange is the New Black,” starts immediately with a flash of breasts, probably making the people at Cinemax flinch: Why didn’t we think of doing our own caged heat series?
But it veers from the lurid fairly quickly, focusing on the shock and remorse of one young woman who turns herself in after getting mixed up with a lover’s drug and money transporting scheme a decade before.
The innocent looking girl, as played by Taylor Schilling, almost immediately steps on the wrong toes and practically starves her first week there.
Despite the colors in the title, the adaptation of Piper Kerman’s memoir is largely about a white girl navigating through the established tribal alliances inside and trying to keep connected to her understanding boyfriend on the outside — played by Jason Biggs of “American Pie” fame.
Like Jenji Kohan’s much maligned previous series, “Weeds,” which did a pretty good job over many seasons, this one is full of smart lines and unexpected character turns.
From the first couple of episodes it looks like the dour setting of the federal facility in upstate New York will flash back not only to Piper’s earlier life, but also the pre-jail lives of other prisoners she’ll encounter.
Television largely ignores both the growing prison population and women who aren’t fake “Real Housewives,” so “Orange” looks promising on both fronts.
That it sidesteps the forced commercial breaks and conventions of regular TV for the 13-episodes-at-once full season drop that has become Netflix’ trademark opens it up for some other benefits.
Although it does not play with the all-episodes-at-once formula the way the revived “Arrested Development” does, there is something to be said about writing and producing a full season at once in order to bring a continuity to the whole.
But I’ll have to watch the rest of the season to find if that’s true. “Orange” is so strong, though, that won’t be a chore at all.