I finished watching, in perhaps my greatest bit of binge-viewing yet, the first season of Jenji Kohan’s “Orange Is The New Black” (think that the title refers to the orange jumpsuits that the women wear as well as a commentary on the prison culture that exists in the United States) a week or so ago.  It’s a groundbreaking series that viewers familiar with Kohan’s other works, such as “Weeds,” would be familiar with.

Part of what makes ‘Orange,’ as well as “Weeds,” so fascinating is the fearlessness of the writing.  Lesbianism is a common thread in throughout both her works and it’s done in a fashion that doesn’t feel (I could be entirely wrong about that) exploitative, though I am not sure that this isn’t due to the high caliber of actor that she tends to use more than the material itself.

The series does its best to define the women as human; some decent, others not, but always human, who commit crimes for many reasons and in often very different circumstances.

A key theme that runs through the series is one of powerlessness, though most interestingly a powerlessness that doesn’t only effect the female prisoners, but the people – most of which are male – that are are supposed to ward them (which sometimes makes them act in defensive, mean-spirited ways).

In other words, like humans inside – or out – of prisons.