Netflix's Orange Is the New Black - Episode 2.01 "Thirsty Bird"
Piper's world is turned upside down when she's forced to confront the consequences of her actions and face new challenges.
One of my biggest regrets from 2013 was that I didn't write anything about Orange Is the New Black's terrific first season. It would go on to be my Number 2 show of the year - but that was the only time I ever said something professionally about it. When both of House of Cards' seasons rolled out on Netflix, I wrote up thoughts on the majority of its episodes - I ultimately gave up after 8 or 9 this year and still haven't finished the season. I even wrote a very big piece about the totality of Arrested Development season 4. Orange Is the New Black's first season really flew under the radar. Unlike those other two series, it had no buzz going into its premiere. Netflix was high on it and had already renewed it for a second season. It was a prison drama from Weeds creator Jenji Kohan (a show that got worse and worse the longer it went on) and was fronted by an ensemble cast of largely unknowns. I felt no urgency to watch it on that day in July when all the episodes dropped - heck, even now, the second season has been online for over 24 hours and I'm just now getting to the premiere episode. But the show came out with such an intriguing take on a world that has never really been covered with this amount of depth on television before. As the season went along we got to know and care about the ladies of Litchfield. It was amazing to watch. Piper may have been the point-of-entry character terrified by her fellow inmates at the start of the season but by the end, there were so many different reasons to watch and care about Orange Is the New Black.Kohan also seems to be the first creator for Netflix to truly embrace the effects of releasing all the episodes at once. "Thirsty Bird" is not going to be for everyone because of its singular focus on Piper - with Alex popping up eventually. This show has such an expansive and varied ensemble cast of different colors, sizes and sexualities. When Orange Is the New Black says something about stereotypes associated with each of those subcultures, it's easy to be open to that discussion because of the honesty the show is displaying with its characters. And yet, Kohan knows setting an entire episode up with just Piper won't keep people from binge-watching the entire season over the weekend. They will watch this and be eager to get to the next episode in order to get to all their favorite characters.
So, "Thirsty Bird" is all about Piper. I guess that makes some sense. When ranking the favorite characters on Orange Is the New Black, she probably wouldn't be at the top of anybody's list. And yet, she's also the lead character. Her journey of being assimilated into the prison culture so profoundly that she would violently beat Pennsatucky was a big driving force for the first season. This hour is designed to reaffirm her status as the leading woman. Yes, the show can balance its ensemble elements really well. But it also wants you to like - or at least love to hate - Piper. She makes choices that are suppose to aggravate you.
The Piper-Alex-Larry love story was also a big component of the first season. For that to take up so much importance in year one, it's really saying something to have Piper yelling "Fuck you" to Alex multiple times during the concluding moments of the second season premiere. That relationship is volatile and the whole reason those two are in lockup in the first place. They are inherently connected. And yet, that doesn't mean their stories always have to be connected. When faced with that choice to tell the truth or lie, Piper sides with Alex out of some kind of lingering love. Alex broke her heart last year and wanted nothing to do with her. Piper is still reaching out and likely hopes that doing this for her and securing her protection will be enough to mend fences.
But Piper really just becomes Alex's victim yet again. She's always so easy to fall under her spell that she can't see that she's being played yet again. She went along with carrying the drugs. She easily fell into the same pattern with her once she got in Litchfield. And now, she's willing to commit perjury just because Alex said so. Piper has changed a lot since we first saw her in Season 1. But she's still the same person when she's with Alex. But taking this opportunity to get out has to be one of the more manipulative moves by Alex. She's kicking Piper when she's down. Piper trusted her and she exploited the influence for her own benefit. Piper is far from a sympathetic figure but by hour's end it's easy to understand how hurt she is - even though it's also largely of her own free will. She made that choice to lie. And now, she's going to be stuck inside while Alex is out. I don't know how Piper functions within Litchfield again - or what her new dynamic with Pennsatucky will be now that it's revealed she survived their encounter - but I'm super excited to see her back with the familiar faces.
Some more thoughts:
- "Thirsty Bird" was written by Tara Herrmann & Jenji Kohan and directed by Jodie Foster.
- It's just so nice to see Uzo Aduba, Danielle Brooks and Natasha Lyonne in the opening credits. Not sure about Taryn Manning because that character really got on my nerves last year. And disappointed that it seems that Michelle Hurst's Miss Claudette is gone for good.
- Orange Is the New Black's use of flashbacks is the most I've enjoyed that narrative device since Lost. This added insight into Piper's early childhood does help add to the fuel of that decision she is forced to make when on the stand.
- The hour also does a nice job mimicking the feeling Piper got when she first got sent to Litchfield when she gets uplifted from solitary to live in a new Chicago prison with a bunch of new personalities - and men! She makes connections because she doesn't know how long she'll be there but she's also not afraid of them any longer.
- This story was fine but I'm really excited to get back into the walls of Litchfield in Episode 2.
