‘Orange Is the New Black’ says goodbye

A critically acclaimed Netflix series comes to an end in today’s top new DVD releases.

“Orange Is the New Black: Season 7”: It’s wild to think about now, but Jenji Kohan’s “Orange Is the New Black” premiered as Netflix’s third original series in July 2013. Originally the story of Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling), a privileged 30-something white woman who ends up in upstate New York’s Litchfield Penitentiary after getting caught moving drug money for her international drug smuggler girlfriend, Alex Vause (Laura Prepon), the series was groundbreaking in its storytelling centering on queer women, Black and Black trans women, Latina women and other marginalized populations. The series really found its footing after moving on from Piper’s melodramas to these far richer and more complicated stories.

In the series’ final season, we see Piper’s life struggles to bounce back after being released early from prison, a cake walk compared to many of the other former and current incarcerated women’s lives. The women most involved with the prison’s uprising after the murder of Poussey (Samira Wiley), crushed to death by a police officer, have faced far greater consequences. Daya (Dashca Polanco) is now a killer; Red (Kate Mulgrew) is losing her mind, unable to be reached by her formal rival Gloria (Selenis Leyva); Taystee (Danielle Brooks) has lost her spirit. Meanwhile, ICE has opened a holding pen adjoined to Litchfield, where women, including Maritza (Diane Guerrero) are picked up one by one for their deportation trials.