In case you've been away on a prolonged journey or given yourself a TV blackout for some reason, you'll be more than aware of Orange Is The New Black. Given to you by the gods of Netflix, it's a prison drama based on IRL prison action – Piper Chapman (played by Taylor Schilling), a white middle-class Brooklyn inhabitant, fiancée of mood-hoover Larry (Jason Biggs) and maker of craft soap, is sentenced to 15 months in prison for carrying a suitcase of money. Her drug smuggling ex-girlfriend Alex Vause (Laura Prepon) is, (un)fortunately, also serving time in the same prison.
Made specifically for Netflix by showrunner Jenji Kohan – if you're a fan of Weeds, you'll recognise her name – the show launched with little to no fanfare but soon became a must-see for me, you, your mum and everyone in between. Launched in one batch, it was impossible not to binge watch all 13 episodes at once. Set in the fictional Litchfield Correctional Facility, the show includes a wide cast of characters ranging from Big Boo – a butch dyke played by cult hero Lea DeLaria, to Taystee Jefferson, a sweet but troubled girl played by recent Juilliard graduate Danielle Brooks.
The show has broad appeal. Yes, it's 13 episodes of a show that is set in prison, where the central characters are female former lovers. There is sex, both heterosexual and gay, but the show is not a lesbian show per se; it's about women and what happens when you put them together in the same place at the same time. There are black women, rich women, Spanish women, poor women, elderly Chinese women, yoga-obsessed women and a very fabulous transexual played by the somewhat iconoclastic Laverne Cox.
Although Netflix don't release their stats, it's obvious that Season 2 is hotly awaited and the show is a smash; season 3 has just started filming, Laverne Cox is on the cover of Time magazine, the cast are on billboards across New York. You get the picture. Which is why we sat down with Taylor Schilling and Jason Biggs for ten minutes - apparently it's all their day release would allow.
Hi guys. Have you watched the new season?
Taylor: No! I didn't even watch the first! I can't wait to watch the second season. I don't know why I didn't watch the first season. Actually I do. We started filming season two really soon after we finished with season one, so it felt like I was already in it. If you know what I mean.
Jason: I watched it. It was ok. I'm kidding, for the record.
It's ok, I'm British, I got that irony. Why do you think it's so appealing?
J: I think people didn't expect It. And that's why word of mouth was so amazing on it. There's no specific demographic. I think initially everyone thought it would just be for women and now.... even the marketing has changed because they've really found it appeals to a lot of people. I personally love the show because it's funny and poignant and dark and dramatic. I love getting the backstories of all these characters. On paper they are bad people - they're in prison. But by learning about their backstory it humanises them and you learn to love them. And it's such an amazing group of women, led by Piper, that it's easy for different people to latch onto someone's story.
T: Totally.
Obviously I stalk you on social media. There seems to be a real sense of camaraderie of cast members that comes across.
T: There's a really specific feeling, it's like when you're in a play, and you're in the rehearsal process and you're all in the dirt together and supporting each other. So the show has this, 'we're all in this together' feeling. A lot of us have backgrounds in theatre. It's like lightening in a bottle, when you meet people, friends, like this. And I guess we are all aware of it and take care of it. I feel so fortunate that there's not one person who... We all like working together. And like each other. Everybody is at a different point in their lives, and everybody so appreciates having this job, there's no ego, or, 'fuck we have to be here for two more hours', or whatever.
J: I get what you are saying. I don't really work with the rest of the cast [Larry is not in prison, obviously, so his scenes take place either in the free world or the visiting room], and I'm like, wow they're going to award shows together, they're going out. It's cute.
T: We really have each other's back.
J: I've never seen it like this, normally you make one maybe two friends on set. They're not friends with me though.
I gathered, from your shocking absence on their Instagram feed. Both the cast and the crew are largely women, how does that feel?
J: I love it. I am weirdly comfortable with women. Honestly, there's a cool responsibility that the few guys in the show have as the only guys in the show. The truth is that a good crew is a good crew and a good cast is a good cast. And the cast are amazing, but the crew are an amazing group of people too. There are a lot of aspects of the story that are personal to the crew too - we have a lot of gay crew members.
Piper is a really dark character. We get to see more of her Machiavellian character this season.
T: I love that you say that.
Alex really does one on her and then she turns into this she-devil.
T: Right. And at the start she was Polly Princess, Soap Maker from Park Slope. And now she's like, 'Don't fuck with me'. What was so exciting were how extreme the circumstances are that she is in, and how that plays out on the human psyche. But I had a sense that things weren't looking up for her, they go from bad to worse. But who's to say that she's not discovering herself? She's not maintaining any status quo about who one needs to be in the real world. She's in prison - but maybe she's freer than before.
Orange Is The New Black Season 2 will be on Netflix from June 6th.
Love this? You might also like these:
If You're Going To Do Something Bad, Do It Good. The Right Way To Binge Watch TV Boxsets
Box Sets Are Ruining Our Sex And Social Lives: It's Kind Of Worth It Though Isn't It?
Follow Hanna on Twitter @HannaHanra
Picture: Getty
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.