In August 1971, the US Navy funded what was to become the best-known social experiment in psychology — the Stanford Prison Experiment. Professor Philip Zimbardo split up a group of his students into two role-playing halves — guards and prisoners, with the objective being to study causes of conflicts in guard-prisoner scenarios. Within six days, various kinds of psychological abuse were in play, with some of the prisoners even acting as enforcers, to shut up those who objected.
The magisterial fifth season of Orange Is The New Black, perhaps Netflix’s strongest show at the moment, feels a little bit like the show’s writers wanted to bring the Stanford Experiment’s vibe to Litchfield. This time, the entire season covers just about three days — the main event is the aftermath of the riot at the end of last season, where the prisoners have taken over, taking a bunch of prison guards as hostages.
The first five episodes lay a solid platform of subversion — guards like Joel Luschek (Matt Peters) and Wanda Bell (Catherine Curtin) are methodically removed from their humanity. They are stripped, tied up and thrown in a cage along with their colleagues. Soon, officer Stratman (Evan Arthur Hall) has to take a dump, which he cannot do in front of other people. Later, during a hilarious ‘talent show’ hosted by audience favorite Boo (Lea DeLaria), officer Stratman performs a strip show for Leanne (Emma Myles) and her meth-head friends, who lead the new group of ‘guards’. Elsewhere, Brooke Soso (Kimiko Glenn) is driven to a near-catatonic state of grief after Poussey’s death in the last season.
All this is par for the course in a season where because of the formal conceit of swapping prisoners and guards, everything seems to acquire an extra-intense edge. The show gains a momentum that was sometimes missed amidst the powerful dialogue of the last two seasons. Frieda Berlin (Dale Soules) and Officer Desi Piscatella (Brad William Henke) receive the best origin stories — their flashback episodes are among the best ones ever dished out by Jenji Kohan and company.
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Piscatella, in fact, becomes a stand-in for every cop brutality video you've ever seen, by the end of the season. His story arc challenges the viewer's perceptions with every new twist, as does CO Bailey’s (who spends a lot of time struggling with the millstone of guilt around his neck). Danielle Brooks’s Taystee, however, is going to sweep the awards nominations this year — she has some of the best lines, and her eyes convey the sense of pain and moral outrage that the show’s oddball humour sometimes brushes under the carpet. This is a powerhouse actor coming into her own, leading a powerhouse show. Riveting stuff.
Orange Is The New Black is available on Netflix India.
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