Orange Is The New Black - Season 2 - What I've Seen So Far - With Spoliers

So, I'm about half-way through Season Two of Orange is the New Black. So far, pretty impressed with the continued quality writing and acting. Piper (Taylor Schilling) is as self-centered as ever, although her character is shoved into the background in many of the episodes. Other characters get fleshing out - particularly Kate Mulgrew's Galina and Nick Sandow's Caputo - and a few new characters are introduced, mostly to good effect.

One decision that bothered me was taking Morello (Yael Stone) and turning her, basically, into a delusional nutjob. One of the interesting things about her character in the first season was her attempt to maintain a relationship with her fiancee, in addition to the character seeming to have a pretty normal, friendly personality. In this season we learn that Morello was basically making up the entire thing and that she in prison for stalking and threatening to kill her "fiance" and his actual bride-to-be. It's a plot development that comes out of left field and one that has to have a great payoff. It also doesn't help that the episode ("A Whole Other Hole") that focuses on this storyline is probably the weakest of the series, veering away from the darkly comedic, but grounded in the real-world, tone of the series into a farce.

Also, I may be wrong, but it seems like there is an uptick in the nudity and sex in this season. Not that I mind seeing hot chicks (Kimiko Glenn as the chatty and naive Brook Soso is particularly fetching; and guest actor Nina Rausch in the episode "You Also Have a Pizza" has an amazing pair of breasts) naked and having simu-sex with each other, it seems like a sop to the prurient interest of certain audience members (like me).

Generally good writing, good acting, and characters who are, in general, being developed along interesting lines make Orange Is The New Black a strong show with a nice balance of drama and dark humor. Looking forward to the rest of Season Two.