Aviously

In typical Jenji Kohan fashion (See: Weeds) the Season 6 storyline has gone straight up, much better than last season. Now don’t get me wrong, the past few seasons have had fantastic stories, but I think this year has pushed it to a new level, with a wide range of stories, a smaller amount of flashbacks (albeit very solid ones), and a lot of timely and relevant plotlines, without getting super political.

After the siege and hostage situation of Season 5, resulting in a riot and the killing of a guard, the inmates have been moved to Max, although not all to the same location, and with this comes new guards and inmates to get a feel of.
And while a large portion of our crew has moved into the same prison, they are in different cell blocks and different colors, as they are slowly getting questioned by the FBI for their roles in the incidents, and while some are okay with their plea deals, others are going to fight it tooth and nail.

I remember dandelion, but things have changed. I don’t have to trust people anymore. And even though I still love you, I will not let you kill me to take my spot.

It’s not just the prisoners who need to get over what happened, as the guards are slowly going back to work too, all with different emotions and some with PTSD. The guards also have a little side bet going on, in the form of “fantasy inmates”, with a draft and all.

Some things are not forgivable.

Among the new inmates are a bunch of new and exciting characters. I’ve heard some hate on Badison (Amanda Fuller), but I enjoy her attitude and spunk to try and be a good sidekick. But it’s Carol (Henny Russell) and Barb (Mackenzie Phillips) that take the cake…they are sisters and mortal enemies, split into two different cell blocks, each leading theirs against the other, but ultimately just out for a vendetta against Frieda (Dale Soules).

Hey rabbi. It’s your girl Tova. You know, the big black girl from prison.

Doggett (Taryn Manning) is on an outing with her guard boyfriend, and Crazy Eyes (Uzo Aduba) has fully evolved into her character, as her chemicals remain unbalanced.

It’s what the Jews call a shiver…so you don’t get cold.

But it’s our main character, stepping back from trying to do too much, that has one of the funnier scenes of the year as Chapman (Taylor Schilling) and Alex (Laura Prepon) are reunited.

Yet through it all, it’s one of the more enjoyable characters that has moved into the spotlight, as Nicky (Natasha Lyonne) has extended her role to a Piper level, and it’s really entertaining…especially when they go back to her Bat Mitzvah, to help see what formed her into who she is today.

Previous years have all gotten a 9 (Season 3, Season 4, Season 5), but this one I feel is just a step ahead and gets a 9.5 out of 10.