25 Tees To Celebrate Orange is the New Black’s Return

We’re goin’ to Litchfield, ladies!

Back to Litchfield, that is.

Season 5 released on Netflix. Have you have time to binge-watch it, yet? It’s a wild, wild ride! Don’t worry, we won’t spoil it for you.

Last season was the season that sent shockwaves through Litchfield, especially with Poussey’s death, Alex’s fight with her attacker, and Piper’s entanglement with white supremacists. We learned Suzanne’s tragic backstory, followed Red’s struggle with Piscatella that eventually escalated to a prison-wide protest, Nicky’s relapse, and Sophia’s time in SHU.

Season 4 may have followed Orange is the New Black’s normal pattern of themed episodes following certain characters’ plotlines, with other characters fading into the background, but Season 5 kicks off with a whole new storytelling model. It feels much more like a movie, and much more chaotic. Every episode contains every character, and while it might be a stylistic choice on the director’s part to give the viewer a taste of that mass hysteria the characters are feeling, at times it’s a little hard to follow.

On the upside, while the series may, at times, seem like a comedy, it never fails to deliver on the tough issues. Poussey’s death is dealt with remarkably well. The writers and directors don’t merely use the death for shock factor. Instead, it’s the lifeblood of Season 5, driving nearly every character forward to work for lasting change at Litchfield. Taystee, Cindy, Janae, and Alison make use of their negotiation skills and social media to try and improve life and Litchfield and make Poussey’s death mean something in the madness.

Of course, it’s not without conflict. Other characters have their own agendas – agendas that may or may not make everything come crashing down.

All in all, Season 5 feels claustrophobic – as it should. The story gives us what we’re looking for: an inside look at the very human side of privatized prison life. It’s the sort of binge that will have you on the edge of your seat, struggling just to breathe, fearing for the lives and wellbeings of your favorite characters.

It’s notably darker than other seasons, playing with themes of morality, revenge, and intense grief. The corruption of Litchfield is front and center. Some parts are hard to watch, but that doesn’t make the series any less worth sitting through.

Orange is the New Black remains one of the best TV series in existence – mostly for its realistic approach to everything human. We can find humor in the ugly parts of life, relate to characters (and, thus, people) who we never thought we had anything in common with, and be emotionally invested in a story that will thoroughly whisk us away and lock us up inside it.

Have you watched Season 5 yet? What did you think? Love it, hate it? Tell us! And don’t go: check out the rest of our awesome Orange is the New Black tees. You won’t want to miss them.