Prison is an opportunity we get people
when they're at their lowest point to
err is human but exactly how you go
wrong may be what defines the specific
human you are for seven seasons orange
is the new black explored character
through a diverse group of women who
were paying for the errors of their ways
and for most major characters the final
season zeroed in on a moral each woman
had learned or a broader theme she
represented I want to apologize for a
lot of things here's our take on the
ending of orange is the new black
character by character and what the
series taught us about continuing on
when life doesn't turn out the way you
hoped even if you served your time they
still find ways to punish you
this video is brought to you by dashlane
an online password manager and digital
wallet that makes all your online
activities simpler and faster with
dashlane you can auto fill forms log
into accounts without having to wrack
your brain for the password and breeze
through checkouts on every device you
own so click the link in our description
below - Lane comm slash the tape to
download - Lane and get a free 30 day
premium trial in the end Piper Chapman
story was about accepting what's not
gone according to plan before she went
to prison Piper's life looked perfect
miss me you're not watching madman
without me the starting premise of
orange is the new black was essentially
that this person really didn't belong in
Litchfield what you do
I read that you're not supposed to ask
that you read that are you studied for
prison seven seasons later Piper is at
last out of prison and her life trying
to make ends meet as next con is
anything but perfect I am still paying
my debt
she grapples with an unbridgeable
distance between her and others of her
socioeconomic class that distance is
this experience she's had of being
behind bars it's not only that her peers
can't fathom it and view her as tainted
the other ladies left because they heard
the former felon thing it's also that
this chapter fundamentally changed Piper
I'm scared that I'm not myself in here
and I'm scared that I
thanks to her privileged obliviousness
and lack of self understanding it was
hardly mentioned how many bathrooms four
or five there was a half bath off the
playroom hyper suffered from what boxes
Emily vanderwerff called likability
issues when you say that everybody hates
me they're being a little hyperbolic
right even the actress who played her
Taylor Schilling had her problems with
Piper
she said that while Breaking Bad's
Walter White always had a reason even if
he did horrific things
Piper's behavior oftentimes feels
groundless sisters we may be
incarcerated but our panties will travel
the world by the end though Piper did
grow into a relatable character she
became a more grounded feeling human
being thanks to what she suffered now
when she looks at the self-involved
upper middle class hippie types around
her she sees the person she might still
be if not for prison she's more than
that now I went to prison and I met
parts of myself lurking inside of me
that I didn't even know we're in there
and that's because her life has been
imperfect because she went to stray from
her plan prison wasn't the detour from
her real life it was her real life for
percent of my life
absolutely everything the main thing pre
Litchfield Piper lacked was deeper
perspective of the world and how she fit
into it only three new generations of
iPhones and since Piper is ultimately a
stand-in for us the audience entering
this alien environment the message is
that we too are better people for having
spent time empathizing with these women
and processing the obstacles life has
thrown at them maybe this was the best
thing that ever happened to you because
now you can never be nice and normal
again over the seasons
Piper gave up much of her primacy to let
more marginalized characters take the
focus show creator Jenji Kohan called
Piper a Trojan horse who got viewers
interested before the writers shifted to
putting black and Latina women center
stage you could take this yuppie white
girl and follow her in and through her
as like a gateway drug
you can tell all these other stories as
well and even while the final season
uses Piper to show how hard it is to get
back on your feet after serving time I
didn't realize that early release meant
I was responsible for all of my
monitoring and testing fees the show
takes pains to point out that she has it
less hard than almost every other ex-con
I got coming in here for kids no support
where could three jobs ultimately she
does have a network to fall back on I
don't know why you won't just ask they
had to help you out she asks her dad for
help and everything turned out all right
as the story wraps up Piper grapples
with the decision that will shape her
future should she hold on to Alex or
leave this person behind over the
seasons oranges the new black has framed
this relationship in a variety of lights
as a toxic tale of the negative
influences that pull people into a life
of crime as a love story thwarted by
striving to fit a middle-class
heteronormative ideal and finally as a
real love that's nonetheless stuck in an
unhealthy vicious cycle I don't she put
you in prison she continues to make you
suffer to seemingly everyone but Piper
it's obvious that Alex isn't good for
her
while this awesome new woman she's Matt
Zelda is a far better catch she's on her
way and she likes you and all you can
think about is Alex
Piper's ex-fiance Larry offers the
cynical interpretation that Piper is
drawn to Alex out of a self-destructive
desire to feel interesting and special
Alex was your ticket to special it's
safe to say many viewers were agreeing
with these critiques and willing Piper
to make the logical and constructive
choice of leaving Alex behind for this
person who appears to be better yet
nobody else can tell you what's true in
your heart and casting out everything
that's damaged in your life or yourself
to admit only the shiny and new is like
cutting off your own limb we met and I
grew another limb I think she's a part
of my body
if Piper ditched Alex when it got hard
this would be the same as everyone
giving up on her because she's been to
prison and her life is a lot Messier now
orange is the new black is about why we
must care about people that society
writes off as lost causes
we can't go around discarding people the
second they no longer spark joy does he
spark joy are you asking me to Marika
undo my wife
Piper chooses instead to do the hard
work of rehabilitating a love that has
problems she ends the series with talk
of becoming clean clean living clean
conscience interestingly these final
lines bring to mind our culture's most
beloved prison movie ever which is still
number one in the IMDB top 250 Shawshank
Redemption Andy Dufresne who crawled
through a river of [ __ ] and came out
clean on the other side the image of
purification is a natural stand-in for
the process of reflecting on and
repenting for one's crimes but here
becoming clean takes on the meaning of
giving others and ourselves another
chance
and a clean slate
Piper embodies the truth that embracing
our hardship finding a way through it
can make us wiser kinder and more
fulfilled human beings as Piper Chapman
became less protagonist and more framing
device over the seasons another
protagonist emerged
Tasha Jefferson tasty the true heart and
soul of orange is the new black you a
full blown Slytherin I'm the
lion-hearted Gryffindor with the
intelligence of a ravenclaw tasty story
is the inverse of Piper's whereas Piper
ends her story back on her feet thanks
to a little help from her friends and a
job from her dad when tasty gets out of
prison she lacks any kind of support
network or viable means of income
besides crime
I ain't selling drugs no more if I keep
pop they gonna send me back it's dad out
of street so she ends up back inside
ain't got no place to stay I was
sleeping on the floor of my second
cousin apartment like a dog everyone I
know is poor and jail a gun season six
concludes with Piper leaving Litchfield
while tasty is convicted for a crime she
didn't commit
shut up deeper into the bowels of this
vicious prison system probably never to
escape it's no accident that these two
characters opposite verdicts
realistically reflect the difference in
their racial and socio-economic
backgrounds Piper gets to start over but
tasty a black woman who spent her whole
life in the system well I'm a child of
the system finds ultimately that the
world doesn't care about her innocence
about the injustice about her add to
this tasties fight for justice for the
killing of her best friend poussey is
not only denied but cruelly punished all
I wanted was for the person who killed
my friend to be up here where I am now
telling you why he murdered and the
show's final season is really about this
protagonist grappling with despair I
mean is every night for the rest of your
life looking at the same king darkness
in the same box it's twenty thousand
nights suicide appears to be her last
available means of agency but if I'm not
alive but I'm not in prison that's the
only way that I can have some kind of
control over my own life not to mention
her only way out of Lichfield
ever at least you know find your way out
this place orange is the new black has
presented countless stories of people
getting crushed and forgotten by a
system that doesn't care about human
beings our fight is what a system that
don't give a damn about poor people and
brown people and poor brown people
meanwhile the show has also reveled in
the humor and spirit of these characters
who have so many strengths worth
celebrating so does the series want to
end with despair over a broken world or
hope in the clever creative loving
individuals who persevere in spite of
everything
I can't hope I I don't have no more
fight ultimately through tasty orange is
the new black chooses hope tasties last
season arc also bears a notable
resemblance to Shawshank Redemption a
wrongfully convicted inspirational
character the audience fears will commit
suicide sees the plucky young mentee
they've tutored tragically died shortly
after passing the GED and at the heart
of both stories is an affirmation of
hope hope is a good thing maybe the best
of things and no good thing ever dies
not only when it seems justified but
even more so when life appears utterly
hopeless tasties turning-point comes
through a flashback to a call with
poussey who reminds her that in spite of
all the darkness life includes joys and
loves we can never anticipate
what kind of life would that have been
if I never met you thank you
there's good [ __ ] working this way to
you that you don't even know about in
the end the hope tasty finds isn't in
the world that in herself the wrongs
against her may never be righted but she
could make a positive difference for
others if they don't use some kind of
assist within the first 72 hours they
probably go in though crime in Atlanta
NASA's Becky here like idea and she
shows that optimism is found through
creating something you believe in
contributing to a better world helping
someone else is financial
[Music]
daya's story ends just as it began with
her getting attacked by her mother
Dayanara and Aleida Diaz represent the
toxic cycle of generational trauma and a
pernicious system that destroys whole
families when orange is the new black
begins a later comes off as a nightmare
mom you need to look after them better
how about you I got better things to do
I'm eating oysters [ __ ] while daya is
a sweet artistic romantic flower daya is
clearly a victim of circumstance and of
a mother who made a lot of bad choices I
take a fall for them of the least you
could do is busy okay I have an idea you
want to ask how we're doing
but the final season delves into how a
leader herself was a victim of
circumstances pushed into this life of
bad choices by her own mother
he's Alaskan contingently and his breath
smelled like dog treats he wants to let
him beat you
moreover this woman who was taught
terrible coping techniques from
childhood is often acting out of a
fierce desire to protect her children
tragically her misguided actions tend to
push her kids toward the very dangers
she's trying to prevent
I can't have another one like that daya
is more than any other character changed
beyond recognition for the worse by her
time in prison on this place it's
symbolic that the drugs tasty considers
using to kill herself come from daya
facing down an entire life without
escape from these walls she gets hooked
on drugs and her addiction turns her
into a cold-hearted crime lord and
killer in this final mother-daughter
moment on screen a latest violence is
triggered by daya's plan to involve her
sisters in crime the family stuck to me
because he was gonna do whatever I saw
how to do and we maybe even bring Lucia
the image of this desperate mother
trying to kill her own daughter to save
her family captures the tragic losing
battle she's been fighting all along it
helps us understand that the first slap
had the same meaning the latest misery
that she couldn't stop her daughter from
ending up where she did all this peace
to hit you for me
actress dascha Polanco confirmed that
the writers assured her a diet doesn't
die here but Polanco interpreted the
symbolism of the ending her story is the
product of a cycle that we as a
community need to intervene in the
system is broken and it's very obvious
when we see all these stories they're
the Forgotten ones what happened to you
you used to be sweet drying and talking
about bored [ __ ]
[Music]
maritza the beauty who defines herself
by how much she gets looked at I've had
a lot of stalkers over the years right
because of your face and my body ends
her story on orange is the new black
with being disappeared after getting
picked up by ice she's shocked to
discover that she wasn't born in the US
as she always believed but while she
eventually has a good defense shaping up
and if it means up with a lawyer she
said I actually might have a good case
she makes the gutsy move to help other
detainees access a lawyer and she's
quickly deported her story proves the
moral that no good deed goes unpunished
in our world was always about a cross
trouble but that makes it all the more
important that you do the right thing we
see this determination and Merete says
eyes when she decides to extend a hand
to the other women in her situation even
though she knows it will likely cost her
maurices ending also illustrates how
much of life comes down to luck the plot
of her hitting it off with an NBA player
represents how close she comes to
getting the fairy tale she always
dreamed of soon as I get back we're
gonna plan some traveling's who buying
you in citizen visit me in LA
it seemed incredibly plausible that
maritza would be rewarded by our society
for her looks
oh these comments are about you there's
a bitter unfair randomness in her
getting picked up in a raid after she's
made the smart responsible choice not to
risk violating her parole
you did the right thing better than
ending up back in prison she almost got
exactly what she wanted I could have
been a wifey or a trophy wife or a real
housewife all I ever wanted to be was
anything with the word wife in it you
know and the only thing that separates
her from one of those rich basketball
wives is timing a bad break the series
uses Maritsa to speak to incredibly raw
current events this is America in here
and it masterfully makes viewers feel
these events on a deeply personal level
through someone they've come to care
about over years of watching and I
called them and I told them all about
you how cute and fly you are basically
like the next company Jenner and they
have to save you Maritsa is the perfect
character to enter this world through
she's a young beautiful person who's
fully American 2-port maritza she's been
to Colombia she's always been a comic
joyful character stupid dumb Colombian
Barbie okay one I'm Colombian American
and two what does my hotness have to do
with this and we can easily imagine
things going well for her all this makes
her sudden disappearance shocking and
painful to behold meanwhile her final
image highlights just how many others
like her that we haven't got to know are
going through equally unimaginable pain
as they're denied their rights
disappeared and treated as if they never
existed at all what happened
she disappeared stay tuned for our next
orange is the new black video covering
what happens to the rest of the ladies
in Orange
is broken up this video is brought to
you by dashlane an app that gives you a
shortcut for everything you do online
with dashlane
you can log into accounts with a single
click autofill forms with personal
information and payment details and buy
tickets to shows and movies on the fly
their built-in VPN allows you to stream
the content you want when you want it
and their password sharing function lets
you share online accounts with your
friends and family without actually
having to reveal your password if you
want your digital life to be convenient
and lightning-fast - Lane is a must-have
so click the link in our description
below - Lang comm slash the tape to
download - Lane and get a free 30 day
premium trial
[Music]