After 26 episodes, it's as funny, moving, compelling, and fresh as ever.

Season 3 of Orange might be a slow peel with some sour bites, but its overwhelming richness reaffirms its standing as one of television’s ripest, zestiest shows.

This season has done a much better job at focusing on the characters and stories that really pop, and sidelining or writing out the relationships that were boring.

Season three makes no significant step forward, but improves by spreading its charm out to the supporting cast.

In the extended picture, it looks like season three might be playing a bit more with the larger concept of freedom--through the lens, naturally, of those who don’t have it.

Fortunately, the series is able to carry on making the ebb and flow of life at Litchfield matter even in spite of the writers' efforts to keep Piper at the center.

The structure of most OITNB episodes--in which one character is brought to the fore and we see flashbacks to that person’s past history, details about how that woman or man was shaped and became the person she or he is--has by now, in the new season, become predictable, either comfortingly or tediously so, depending on your degree of engagement with the series.... It’s all pretty pleasant, even if the jokes are often corny.

I don't understand the criticism of some people towards this third season. This season is a continuation of the other two , that is to say as much. If you like the prison world , characters and previous seasons , there is no reason why you did not like this season. The filmmakers are added flashbacks of the life of some secondary characters . Ceuci help explain why the characters react in this way. Moreover , There are some characters that I did not like before and I enjoy today. I hope the directors will continue in the same vein and stop at the right time , such as: breaking bad

My wife and I have been watching Orange is the New Black on Netflix and I have to honestly say that after viewing the first four episodes, as far as I am concerned, Piper could remain in prison for the rest of her life and I could care less. While my wife likes the show I'm actually depressed watching this program, maybe because of its depiction of prison life.

This season didn't really have much going on. A new girl is introduced, Piper takes on a new business, and pretends like she's becoming a gangster. There's also a pregnancy story filled with family drama that plays out like a Mexican soap opera. My major complaint would have to be this... Just because you put a wig and lipstick on a 50+ year old woman, it doesn't make a flashback believable. It looked like 60 year old women pretending to be in their 20s, so much so, that you couldn't really even focus on their actual acting. However, it looks like the introduction of the new character at the end of season 3 should make for a very pleasing 4th season.

This series suffered from Jenji Cohen's (writer/creator) inability to keep things realistic. I couldn't even finish season three because I stopped caring about the characters. And the series never fully knows or commits to what it wants to be - the tone it wants to set; sometimes it wants to be a drama, other times a comedy, other times even a romantic comedy and the musical score forces these tones on the viewer during times that were set up to be something completely different - i.e. a seemingly serious scene is reduced to a comedic one because the music in the background is lighthearted and mildly silly forcing the viewer to adopt a different view on the action on screen than what was expected due to the writing. This show ended up being like Cohen's other show Weeds where it just got dumber and dumber each season.

Well I found season 1 entertaining and season 2 was watchable but gah, season 3 is so damn boring. It's like they decided to abandon any real plot and just go for introspective conversations where characters talk in mind numbing details about their histories... and the view doesn't care so it's just artsy fluffy wannabe edgy borderline social justice warrior self indulgent pretentious bull **** Almost as if the show is so taken with itself that it's forgotten about the viewers. As I said - was OK with the social programming in the first 2 seasons as there was some sort of plot there that was interesting enough to warrant the slog... but now... its lost it. Time to move on.