They’re not “good actors” in the sense that Schilling and Stone are good actors, but they are nevertheless effective (occasionally even powerful) cinematic objects. They don’t, and probably can’t, do as much to manipulate our response to them. Here I’m thinking of folks like Laura Prepon and Natasha Lyonne. For lack of a better term, we might call these “good actors.” The second kind of actor is far more limited in range and skill. They’re manipulating our response to them in subtle-and sometimes undetectable-ways. On this show, I’m thinking of people like Taylor Schilling and Yael Stone. The first kind is the performer of great range and skill. We stare at them, project emotions onto them, and develop associations with them. Let’s begin with the ancient observation that all actors are objects. Schilling’s performance here, especially in her scenes with Laura Prepon, illustrates an interesting point about the nature of acting. Young and in love, discovering real sexual passion for the first time in her life, she seems far removed from the older, wiser (well, somewhat wiser), and sadder woman we see in jail. It’s not merely a matter of hair or clothes or makeup. In the flashback, Piper just seems younger. Her performance in this episode is fascinating: playing the same character at two separate points in her life, she subtly creates a gulf of age and experience. Now seems like an excellent time to point out just how goddamn good Taylor Schilling is as Piper. Piper’s Litchfield life is just so much more fascinating than anything Polly could offer. As Alex takes a call from her drug lord boss, her girlfriend comes home unexpectedly and punches Piper in the face. (In the universe of OITNB, romance and love and sex are always combustible emotions.)Įpisode 10 opens with a flashback of Piper and Alex in bed, their first time together, and we see both the passion that they generate together and the hard-to-miss signs that trouble is bound to follow. Alex brings out Piper’s heedlessly romantic side. Larry brings out Piper’s responsible side. I’ve taken a number of shots at Larry in these recaps, but the truth of the matter is that the show sags whenever it focuses on the drama between Piper-Larry-Polly-Pete. The reason for this, I think, is that Alex was missing. Even in Episode 9, which concerned her big furlough, the real focus was on Red and Vee. The drama of the first episode came to a head when Alex betrayed Piper in court, but once she was back in Litchfield, Piper seemed to drift-and the show’s interest in her seemed to drift, as well. Looking back on the season, you can pretty much chart the show’s interest in Piper in terms of Alex. These two storylines converge in a funny way, and “Little Mustachioed Shit” ends up illustrating something important about the character: Piper needs Alex. She occupies both the flashback (which gives us some more details on her relationship with Alex) and the present day storyline (which concerns her relationship with Polly and Larry). (See Wiley talk about it below.After spending most of this season hopscotching between different characters, in Episode 10, Orange Is The New Black swings back around to Piper. The provocative episode, and the finale that followed, saw the black inmate suffocating at the hands of one of the white guards and her death being subsequently covered up, spurring protests of Black Lives Matter and ultimately ending in a cliffhanger of a prison-wide riot. (Stop reading if you haven't finished the finale.)įan favorite Poussey Washington ( Samira Wiley) died during a prison-wide protest that turned fatal, capping off a season filled with injustice of too many kinds inside the walls of the deeply broken Litchfield prison. The binge-watchers of Orange Is the New Black heard those lyrics spin around their heads 12 times while watching season four, but by episode 13, the "You've Got Time" theme song held a wildly different meaning. The Netflix prison dramedy delivered its most shocking ending to date when it killed off a beloved character in the penultimate episode, titled "The Animals."
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