Welcome everybody to the Orange is the New Black Season 6 9 Deuce discussion! I have split this into 2 parts. I will provide a link to the other part a little further down. My name is Kent, and I am the guy who came up with the questions. I also leave comments in bold every once in awhile. I have 3 ladies here to help me out, start up a bit of a conversation. So thank you to Cece, Kristi, and Jamie for taking time out of your schedule to help out. While I do enjoy the show, I am by far the most negative person here, to nobody’s surprise. If you have any thoughts on these questions or just want to voice your opinion, please leave a comment. I’ll read them and respond. Without further adieu, let’s do this.
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Second (Deuce) 9
- Nicky had a redemption season and Lorna was pregnant, and at times full of anger and stupidity. Do you find Nicky more interesting when she is making good decisions or bad decisions? Are you looking forward to Lorna as a mother?
Cece: I love Nicky as well. She has always been one of my favorite people on the show. I like her better when she is being a little bit naughty, but also fun. Also, Lorna as a mom is very problematic, but maybe it will change. Who knows?
Kristi: I liked good decision, Nicky. I may be alone on this but it was nice seeing her clean and attempting to help Red and stop the war. Lorna as a mother is going to be annoying as hell. I see a lot of crying in the future. I think on the outside she would do good but being separated is going to be irritating for us. Unless it goes the other way and she turns into a badass to fight to get out for her baby. Unlikely but wishful thinking… (I would love to see Lorna go bad ass. It would be a wonderful change of pace.)
Jamie: Nicky has always been a favorite of mine. I like her good bad and ugly decisions. Well, Lorna isn’t going to handle them taking her baby away so really it’s not going to be pretty.
Kent: Nicky is clearly a fan favorite. This was a nice, well needed change of pace for her character that I thoroughly enjoyed. The backstory with her and her parents may have been the best backstory of the season, aside from the Little Debbie murder. I murder Little Debbies every night. I really liked Nicky a lot this season, she shined bright while most of the characters dimmed significantly. Speaking of dimming, Lorna is a dimwit, and she was not able to be reasoned with for far too long. It’s almost what it feels like to be married, HA! Lorna, if she doesn’t miscarry, which was my prediction during the first episode, is going to be beyond obnoxious as a mother.
- Blanca’s story revolved around the idea of wanting to have a baby. Just when you thought that she was getting out, they did that immigration tweest at the end. Honestly, did this feel completely tacked on at the end, or is this an interesting story to tell?
Cece: This was so messed up. Poor Diablo waiting there with his flowers and shit. Ugh. That was kind of a cop out by them doing that. (The funny thing is that I felt worse for Diablo than anyone else this season aside from child Nicky.)
Kristi: It was bullshit! I hated that part. Why lie and say shes getting out if shes getting taken by ICE? Why would they have her call her man? This really pissed me off. (Yeah, that’s what I have been trying to figure out. I don’t think she’d be calling Diablo if they knew that was how it was going to happen. It was really poorly done.)
Jamie: no happy endings have really happened so far. But you did answer something i missed of why i saw him there then he wasn’t there. (I sat here trying to come up with a counter to the no happy endings thing. The best thing I had was Cal getting married, but he doesn’t really count. Does Sophia count now that she is getting out and getting paid? This is tough.)
Kent: Poor done twists are not worth doing. It’s better to tell a logical and predictable ending rather than go illogical just for the twist. I feel like I am as close to an expert on this as anyone being a fan of horror movies and professional wrestling. If I add soap operas to that, I will have the 3 biggest genres of shitty twists out there. This was a shit show. Diablo is a great character, and I felt horrible for him. I felt bad for Blanca too, but more so for him, which is silly.
- Pennsatucky had a brief adventure outside of the prison walls with Donuts and CO Dixon. She turned herself in, and had a really underwhelming season. Would you have preferred to see her do more on the outside with Donuts and possibly Dixon? Will we ever see Donuts again?
Cece: Nah, I don’t think she was underwhelming. I think this was just what we needed from her since every other season she is very in your face and out there. I am not sure if we will see Donuts anytime soon.
Kristi: I liked that she turned herself in and saved Donuts from possibly getting in trouble. I think we will see him again.
Jamie: So much focus has been on her in past seasons it was nice to just have it be brief. i hope not to see Donuts again.
Kent: I like the focus on Penn, so I was disappointed. I think Taryn Manning is a wonderful actress, one of the best on the show, and considered all the time wasted on shitty characters, at least 80% of the season, yeah I’m pissed that she didn’t have a bigger role because I at least like her. She’s in a fun movie on NetFlix called “The Vault” which is a bank heist/ghost film. It’s pretty well done. I feel that her and Donuts would have been fine, but I admire what she did. I really liked CO Dixon this season. He was very underrated in his relatively small role this season. Donuts will make a come back. Now, I could go for a coconut or cinnamon tweest donut. I’m not the only one craving donuts right now, right?
- While Suzanne was present often throughout this season, did this season feel like a waste of her talent? We also know Loli was there, but we rarely saw her. Do you feel cheated that we didn’t get to see more of these two ladies doing what they do best, or did you enjoy the break?
Cece: I would have loved to have seen more of both of them. They’re both such fun loving characters and the actresses are on point.
Kristi: I definitely would have liked to see Loli more. She’s great. Suzanne is by far my favorite. I think she had a good season. She wasn’t so dependent on her friends and seems to becoming more of a free thinker.
Jamie: I felt Suzanne was present enough. It was nice to see Loli again. Of course, it’s great to see these characters as much as possible
Kent: Suzanne in the first episode was outstanding. She had other bright spots, but I admit, I wanted way more. Suzanne is probably the best female character on the show on a year to year basis. Loli is so much fun, and I was happy to see her, especially how it was when we last saw her with Healy. That was absolutely sad as hell. Glad to see both, but once again, with so much time dedicated to lousy characters or lousy stories, I would have loved more for Suzanne, Loli, and Penn.
- Caputo and Fig deepened their relationship and at times it was fun, and other times tumultuous. Caputo also spent most of the season in a bit of a redemption arc. Do you think that Joe and Fig will be a couple when the show finally ends?
Cece: I really don’t know. I was starting to hope he would humanize her more and she would be more likeable. I love Caputo, he’s the real cinnamon roll of the season. (Hmmm, second time cinnamon has been mentioned in this blog.) (In a follow up, the next day I got 2 of those cinnamon twist donuts. Sooooo damn good!)
Kristi: I hope not. She is annoying to me. I like Caputo, he deserves better.
Jamie: It’s hard to tell. I did not see this relationship coming at all. It was nice to see a different side of Fig that we hadn’t seen. Caputo is a great character and i was glad they stayed true to his character and had him stay and try and help out. (Caputo has been my favorite character of the show, and I like that he hasn’t had to fluctuate too much. He’s been pretty consistent.)
Kent: Joe is my favorite character. Fig is one of mine too. Let’s face it, she’s not bad looking and she’s really good at being a bitch. I am a bit surprised that it got sorta romantic there. I am going to say that they do end up together by the end of the show. Fig is due for a redemption season, I think. These 2 have great chemistry. Something about the karaoke scene was fun for me.
- Linda got a nice pay out from MCC and a new position. Given everything that she went through, do you feel that she was properly compensated?
Cece: Of course not. She is annoying as all sin. I mean, yeah, she deserved something, but she used it to fuck the system for a power trip.
Kristi: Yes I do.
Jamie: More compensated than she should’ve been do not like her at all
Kent: I think that was a good and fair compensation. Whether you like her, or in most cases, dislike her, she got screwed over and even unlikable people deserve proper compensation after something that heinous. Of course 2 of the ladies above me disagree, 1 agrees, so as a group, we are pretty well split down the middle.
- Luschek wandered his way through another season. Would you like to see him be more focused on next season, or is he at his best when he is a side character?
Cece: I’d like to see him become a better person, overall. I think some of the inmates have made him realize he could be a good person.
Kristi: I would like to see him more focused. He’s an intelligent guy, he is just using it for the wrong things.
Jamie: He’s a good side character that has great moments . I don’t see where they could have him be main. (Spot on, in my opinion.)
Kent: Maybe Luschek could have a good main story, but some characters in TV are meant to do fun things that help break up the main stories, and Luschek’s character has been the best one on the show for that, I think. I would say keep him doing his thing because that is a harder role to fill than a big story arc in a lot of ways. I know that may not seem right, but trust me, it is.
- We were missing a TON of ladies, or we briefly saw them. We found out that Kukudio died. Still, we briefly saw Boo, Sophia, Loli, and Angie. I don’t think we saw Maritza, Leanne, Watson, Yoga Jones, Norma, Gina, Sister, Soso, Chang, and others. Will we see some of them return next season? Was it necessary to cut out familiar faces to tell these “fresh” new stories, or do you prefer the familiar faces? Which characters did you find yourself missing the most?
Cece: I think getting fresh faces was nice. I do believe they are going to set things up more for the next season and we may even be able to see some of the other ladies we missed. I missed Boo, Loli, Yoga and Sophia most. I know we saw some of these, but I feel like some may be written off soon too.
Kristi: I’m hoping we see more of them next season. Maybe Boo will come in and put Badison in her place. I get cutting some characters out to freshen it up a bit but some of these characters were a staple for me. I’d like to see Sister, Yoga, and Norma. And definitely bring Boo back. (You made me like cheer inside of my head thinking about Boo beating Badison’s ass.)
Jamie: I missed the other characters and i honestly wanted to see what happened to them before introducing new stories and characters. Although that might have been way to much back and forth. Chang was missed i love her little pop ups in episodes as well as Norma. and the duo of Miritza and Flacca
Kent: For me, I missed Chang, Leanne, Angie, Boo, and Sister the most. Change, as Jamie pointed out, it’s not like she really has huge parts, but when she is on screen, she makes it count. I know that Leanne and Angie may not be the most popular characters, but they may have been the funniest ones last season, so I missed that. Boo, there is something nice about Boo that is subtle. So many of these women have these woe is me stories and seek the sympathy. Boo is not like that, but her story is very good. Please, have Boo kill Badison. That would get me to care about season 7.
- If you watch Wentworth and Orange, which TV show do you prefer, and why?
Cece: I’ve never seen Wentworth.
Kristi: Wentworth! Orange is like the American rip off of Wentworth. Apparently Aussies do girl prison better.
Jamie: I really Loved wentworth it had great story line but it is done and orange is the new black isn’t so i will decide when this show is done (Jamie and I spoke, and Wentworth is currently airing in Australia, so it is back for season 6 thankfully.)
Kent: The fact that I have binged 4 seasons of Wentworth in 6 days should tell you that I needed to get the bad Orange taste out of my mouth. Wentworth has lots of similarities, but it fucking crushes Orange in almost every dynamic aside from comedy. Orange does make me laugh a little more, but Boomer makes me laugh a lot. If you haven’t watched Wentworth and you want some great acting, and some of the best characters on TV today, especially women characters, this is the show. It’s like if Orange and Breaking Bad had a child. Bea Smith, Ferguson, Jacs, Maxine, Boomer, Liz, Will, Fletch, and Vera are all amazing. Bea Smith may be my favorite female character since Sofia on the Golden Girls. Ferguson may even be better.
Final Thoughts – Was this season a success from your perspective?
Cece: A lot of people didn’t like this season because they thought it was drawn out too much. I enjoyed the extra story.
Kristi: I did enjoy this season. More so than the last for sure. It was a little slow at parts but it was needed to meet the newbies.
Jamie: I was shocked of how much they wrapped up everything by the end and you weren’t left with a huge cliff hanger. It was a good season overall. still unanswered questions from previous seasons. I could definitely tolerate Piper and Alex better this season because Badison took the cake as most annoying ever!
Kent: I preferred last season over this one. Last season had laughs, it had the great Piscatella horror vibe episode, it had a great ending. This season was overly drawn out, boring more often than not for me. It forgot to make me laugh. Only a few characters shined this year. The new characters had WAY too much screen time, and brought such little enjoyment. It was a horrible ratio. I don’t really care if I miss next season. I mean, I will watch it because I like doing the blog, but the time for this being must see opening day is long gone. Not much TV is must see anymore for me. Fear The Walking Dead, Wentworth, Game of Thrones are the 3 that stick out for me currently. TWD, AHS, Channel Zero, Santa Clarita Diet and a few others are always going to have my attention, but are no longer must see in my opinion. One final thought. Was I the only person that was hoping to see Miss Claudette this season? I am pretty sure that she got sent to max, so she would have been a truly welcome addition to this show. She was so great in season one.
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You can find us at the actual 9 Deuce website where we have the past season’s archives as well as other content such as horror movie reviews, wrestling blogs, podcasts, and some other material. We’re on Facebook, on Twitter @official9deuce, or Tumblr @superkent92 or Instagram at Official9Deuce . Share this, like this, write us an email with a question or a comment at kent@9deuce.com. Hell, you can subscribe via RSS. Facebook and the website are probably the best bets. Thank you. Also, I don’t own the rights to any of the pictures, obviously. You know who the owners are and they deserve all the credit.