‘Orange’ truly is the new black

Lightning never strikes the same place twice. But luckily, nobody told Jenji Kohan that. Kohan, the creator and writer of Netflix’s latest original series “Orange Is the New Black” has done exactly what she did with Showtime’s “Weeds” back in 2005. She’s created a black comedy with a completely unlikable yet fascinating leading anti-heroine flanked by a stunningly riveting supporting cast of crazy characters. Leave it to the woman who gave us the flawed and fabulous Nancy Botwin to bring us Piper Chapman, a white yuppie send away to do time for a crime she committed years before. It’s a fish out of water story like we’ve never seen before.

But this prison-set series is nothing like HBO’s violent and gritty “Oz”; it’s much more personal. “Orange Is the New Black” doesn’t ignore the realities of incarceration. It addresses them with the humor we use to survive unbearable circumstances.

Taylor Schilling plays our lead, Piper — or Chapman to the ladies she’s locked up with — a girl paying for a past romantic relationship with an international drug cartel worker (Laura Prepon). Years before the show takes place, Piper travels overseas with a suitcase full of her girlfriend’s cash. Fast-forward almost a decade and Piper has now settled down and is engaged to a nice Jewish man (Jason Biggs). But the hand of the law shifts and Piper is sent away for 15 months. She begs her fiancé not to watch “Mad Men” without her. You’ll snort until you laugh. It’s hilarious and positively ridiculous how badly you’ll still root for Piper. Sure, she may have white girl problems and wear shower shoes made out of maxi pads, but she’s locked up with her ex-girlfriend and the kitchen staff hazes her by refusing to serve her meals. You can’t help but feel for the poor girl.

But Netflix’s latest in a stream of hits is mostly successful because of how diverse, both emotionally and racially, the supporting cast is. It shouldn’t have to be celebrated as a milestone, but “Orange Is the New Black” is the first show I’ve seen to feature an emotionally complex transsexual woman, and one of color no less. While each episode has Piper as the lead, the B-line is given to one of the supporting ladies and I have it on good authority this trend continues throughout the first season’s 13 episodes.

Though I’m trying to pace myself, I’ll surely binge watch the entire series in no time. It’s hardly a chore when the show is as finely produced as this one.