I have Regina Spektor’s catchy theme song for Orange is the New Black on heavy rotation inside my head. “You’ve Got Time” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAyFRgdjKU8) is popping into my consciousness all the time, which means at least two things.
I like the song.
I want to see more episodes of the series.
Unfortunately, in the way that it is sad to finish the last few pages of a wonderful novel, I have binged my way through the series. It’s done now. Sigh.
The story centers on Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling – liked her in the short-lived series Mercy, too), a middle class, college-educated woman in her 30s who has to leave her fiancé to spend a year in prison as part of a plea bargain for an old drug charge.
It’s a good premise, and the women Chapman encounters in prison have compelling stories of their own.
Orange is the New Black is adapted from a memoir by Piper Kerman, which I have not read, but the writing on the series is sharp, one of the strongest elements of a riveting series.
If you have Netflix streaming, give it a shot. I liked the first episode enough to keep watching and really warmed up to the series as it unfolded and more and more backstories of inmates were included in the larger narrative.
There are too many good performances to cite them all here from faces new and familiar, and the production values are very high, too.
All around, this is one of my new favorite series. Personally, I like it better than Weeds, also created by Kenji Kohan. See what you think.
Here it goes again!
“The animals, the animals
Trapped, trapped, trapped ’till the cage is full
The cage is full”
Leap ahead to…
“Think of all the roads
Think of all their crossings
Taking steps is easy
Standing still is hard
Remember all their faces
Remember all their voices
Everything is different
The second time around“
Maybe I should just buy the song and play it over and over while I’m driving or walking or whatever to exorcize it from my head?
“You’ve got time
You’ve got time”
The song is good, but the reason it’s trapped inside my head is because it’s inextricably linked to the series.
Just watch the show.
