Orange Is The New Black Delivers Big in Season 2

By Brad Short Jul 02, 2014 10:01 PM EDT

Orange Is The New Black Delivers Big in Season 2

One month into the second season of the Netflix series "Orange is the New Black", and we're already feeling the edgy tension that media's hottest sophomore is known for. Critics have waited for the shoe to drop, but so far, 'OITNB' has delivered as expected. Piper has risen to the top of the 'laundry crew' and viewers across America are jazzed up.

Based upon her New York Times Bestselling book, author and former inmate, Piper Kerman, has touched a nerve in the most sought after, restless demographic in media today. Her autographical black comedy has redrawn the boundaries of standard viewership. And in turn, Netflix has come away looking like a hungry lion.

Piper's character has already felt the ramifications of last season's finale where she nearly killed her arch-rival, Pennsatucky. Nasty Sneers and deathly glances from the rival crew, seem to suggest a dangerous, foreboding undercurrent as we move forward. Every anxious encounter reminds us of that 'Sopranos'-like tingling on the back of our neck. It is delicious.

When interviewed on NPR, writer and Executive Producer Piper Kerman described her early days of incarceration as confusing. "There is an incredibly steep learning curve...What you really have to figure out is where you fit in the social ecology of the prison." It's that very cliff that the viewer stares down every week.

So as the second season of "Orange is the New Black" unfolds, the loyal viewers will continue to walk the razor's edge. Piper, Red and "the girls" are sure to keep us glued to the edge of our seats. All the time, standard Television ponders its archaic technological future. Grab a laptop and dial it up. But make sure you've got your whittled toothbrush shiv under your shirt....