Orphan is the New Black – The Best Thing of (My) Year

I wrote this after I watched the entire season of Orphan Black all over again and then finally finished Orange is the New Black. These shows are brilliant; they’re the most exciting thing ever because it really makes you think. And I should go further and add these other brilliant series like Top of the Lake and The Fall. They make you question, makes you think. The different and poignant storylines makes you open up your mind, to be outraged, to be in awe, and be in absolute amazement to what is presented to us. Sometimes it looks like a bit excessive, a bit over the top, a bit exaggerated. But what does that even mean? No, there’s nothing of that. The exposure is the essence of Orange is The New Black, for example. But it is also the essence of the other shows. It’s the exposure to human flaws, to the human brain, like different set of brains, to the human body. But ultimately, Orange feels utterly true, like all the others I mentioned.

Orange is so interesting I just want to grab it and take it in and feel it, study and understand all the ins and outs of it. I want to take every single second of this show, every dialogue and monologue, every character, every bad decision, every bad choice, every action and every reaction, every tone and look at it over and over again. I want to read this show, and I’m really curious to read Piper Kerman’s book. If a show makes you feel like this, then it must be good and worth it. So if you haven’t seen Orange is the New Black, then you’re missing one of the best shows of the year.

So resuming this first half of the year, but especially this Summer, I have to say I was taken over by TV programing - series or mini-series, fiction that isn't told through an half hour script. And there are these different tales that made my year. And I don't really think it is too precipitated for me to say that it is very likely that films won't top this. There will certainly be great films; I just find it hard that they'll top these wonderful stories about women.

It started with House of Cards. Then came Top of the Lake, The Fall, The Fosters, Orphan Black and Orange is the New Black. I have a strange or rather inconsistent relation with series, maybe it is the most normal of them; I can consume four seasons in one week and then never watch them again. I watched four seasons of Community in one week then I just stopped in the middle of season 4. Shows like Shameless, The Good Wife, Raising Hope, New Girl, Girls. I did catch up on Game of Thrones.

But these shows, the gratitude, the feedback is tremendous and the need to watch them again stays strongly and persistent.

Top of the Lake brings a tough story, an insightful look on a community. A young woman detective comes back to her hometown to help on a case of a thirteen year old girl who is pregnant and then she goes missing. This is just the starting point of a story about a lot of other things, like misogyny in work and any where else, like secrecy, like forgiveness. It becomes this great mystery story, like the others, you want to see it all at once and then again.

The Fall brings these great moments of pure satisfaction, especially through Stella Gibson. She stands on your own; she's a great professional and she becomes in my view this great role model for women. Like you're finally seeing something worth it, someone real, someone that matters, someone significant and not superficial.

The Fosters brings a sweet family story that really wins your heart for its transparent love. It is transparent in the sense that the show is made with so much care, the writing, the acting that it becomes pretty obvious as the episodes came. It's a show all people should see.

Orphan Black is one of the most exciting things of the year. No matter if you're a geek, if you're into dramas, if you're into comedies, it won't probably matter. I don't think there's anything else to be said. Like the other shows, they succeed in grabbing our attention in the most satisfying way possible.

Orange is the New Black which is revolutionary and pretty much like nothing we’ve seen before. I think this is possibly one of the best shows of the year. I don’t really watch that many, especially the likes of Breaking Bad and Mad Men, but I truly hope this one show has a chance at awards season next year. I would love if they would get awards recognition, from the writing to the directing; I wished Tarylor Schilling was nominated for an Emmy, even if I would probably nominate others, but at least it would bring that recognition. I hope she gets lots of nominations including an Emmy and I truly hope that then they will show the scene where she has to kneel and cough!

I do hope it gets its recognition. And that would be really special.

And now that I am focusing on Television, here’s my most anticipated new show for the season to come – “Masters of Sex”.

This new show starring Michael Sheen and the glorious Lizzy Caplan looks tremendously entertaining. The theme will be an amusement and at the same time it will certainly bring a look between something called taboo in the sixties but still with a great resonance in today’s American society. Not to mention Lizzy Caplan will be an awesome treasure for the show.

I’ve been watching less and less films, I’m not sure if there’s a specific reason. Part of the films I want to see aren’t available, the year hasn’t been great either. Hell, I could just be watching old films instead. But I’m focusing on films made within a two year spam, films made today. And now let’s wait and see what brings the last semester of the year. It will be an interesting year, but I’m not really inspired by it. Or maybe they aren’t as exciting as something like Oprhan Black. It will be about the exceptions, like Blue is the Warmest Colour, like In a World or Short Term 12 or Inside Llweyn Davis. So I have to mark this year of 2013 as The Great Year for Women in Television. Yes, there have been absolutely tremendous and now classic shows over the past few years, from The Sopranos to Breaking Bad and The Wire. But women are being the heroes and anti-heroes, the good, the bad and the complex girls like every human being is; the flawed human beings of their own stories. It is something so unique and exciting and there are other shows that are breaking through along the way, like Scandal, like The Killing, not to mention the work done on the web. I love this, I just love it. Here’s to them. Cheers.