Orange Is the New Black: Season Four Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Orange Is the New Black: Season Four Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 4, 2017

It might just be that Orange is the New Black isn’t especially alluring as a binge watching candidate, for after having made it through both Orange Is the New Black: Season Three and now this fourth season over the course of just a few days, I have to say I’m starting to wonder if this series is inching closer to shark jumping territory. The third season continued some trends that had been evident since at least the second year, including less of an emphasis on the travails of a character based on erstwhile real life inmate Piper Kerman (Taylor Schilling), and a tendency to fragment off into side stories featuring various supporting characters, often with intrusive feeling flashbacks supposedly fleshing out their backstories. But the third season still had a pretty firm grasp on the somewhat variant tone Orange is the New Black has always exploited, with comedy and melodrama coexisting like somewhat unhappy cellmates. The show still offers some fantastic performances, and quite a few of the (many) subplots of the fourth season are arresting (sorry) in and of themselves, but the show is really starting to indulge in more and more fanciful content that may signal that the inmates of Litchfield might be better off at some other institution, or at least another series.

For our reviews of the previous seasons of Orange is the New Black, please click on the following links:

Orange Is the New Black: Season One Blu-ray review

Orange Is the New Black: Season Two Blu-ray review

Orange Is the New Black: Season Three Blu-ray review

Note: Certain plot points of the first three seasons, along with some unavoidable elements of the fourth season, are mentioned in the main body of this review, so those wary of potential spoilers are encouraged to skip down to the technical portions of the review, below.

Typically this series has tended to segue rather artfully between comedy and drama, but there seems to be more of an attempt this season to actually meld the two approaches simultaneously, at least at times. That’s certainly the case with the rather shocking opening sequences of the premiere episode, which finds the inmates scattering like leaves in a windstorm when a breach in the prison fence gives them access to a nearby lake. However, amid this joviality a frightening skirmish is taking place in the greenhouse, where Alex (Laura Prepon) is being viciously attacked by a guy who looks like a Litchfield guard. Lolly (Lori Petty) hears the fracas and takes matters into her own hands, or perhaps more appropriately, her own feet, stomping the guy’s neck until he appears to be dead.

Suffice it to say that when Alex returns later to dispose of the body, she discovers in true Monty Python and the Holy Grail fashion that the guy, who was a hitman sent to take care of her, isn’t “quite dead yet”, leading her to finish the job Lolly started. The actual disposal of the body ends up involving Frieda (Dale Soules), in another sequence that combines comedy with a bit of angstier material. This whole murderer for hire who gets murdered himself subplot takes up a good deal of time throughout the first several episodes of this season, with various “threats” to the body’s resting place posited at various points, but with a rather whimsical initial resolution when Healy (Michael Harney), acting as a counselor, convinces Lolly that she hasn’t actually killed anyone and is suffering from delusions.

Playing out against this perhaps overly baroque element is what is supposedly the main thrust of at least the early episodes, and in some ways the entire season, namely the addition of a huge new population of inmates, many of whom are Domincan. This leads to massive overcrowding and tensions that fester between various groups, but it also allows the series to indulge in yet more flashback material, some of it documenting gang activity and rivalries between various ethnicities. The series at this point is wandering fairly far from the actual confines of Litchfield, which is something that may not redound to the show’s benefit.

Even the Litchfield material is a bit more cartoonish than usual this season, with a bit of (admittedly enjoyable) stunt casting on display with the addition of Blair Brown as a celebrity inmate named Judy King, kind of a combo platter (pun intended) of Martha Stewart and Paula Deen, whose arrival at Litchfield gives Caputo heart palpitations since his corporate overlords are insisting that a veritable red carpet be rolled out for this “guest”, who’s been convicted of fraud. Brown brings a kind of enjoyable smarminess blended with a certain kind of earnestness to the role, but the addition seems at least a trifle needless. That said, some of the interactions between Judy and Red (Kate Mulgrew) crackle with a certain electricity.

There are all sorts of potentially incendiary subjects that are kind of glossed over this year with an unlikely comedic flourish. Little throwaway bits document a “religious war” of sorts between Black Cindy (Adrienne C. Moore), who has declared herself Jewish, and her new cellmate Alison Abdullah (Amanda Stephen), a Muslim. Labor unrest involving the guards, whose careers were sent into a tailspin with the arrival of the private management firm in the show’s previous season, are also sometimes played for laughs, with some kind of demeaning jokes aimed at their love of riot gear and the like. All of this at times forced humor tends to completely undercut supposedly more dramatic moments, including Alex’s early assault and its aftermath and, much later in the season, another shocking death of an inmate.

Almost lost in all of these many strands is Piper herself. As I’ve mentioned starting with the second season of Orange is the New Black, Piper often seems like an increasing afterthought, at least at times, visited briefly here and there and given a few decently compelling arcs, but just as often shunted off to the sidelines as supporting characters take center stage (or whatever the equivalent in stir is). Piper’s “business” is a focal point this year, and it also has at least the potential for some visceral content when she starts feuding with the Dominican newcomers, but Orange is the New Black seems content to play even this material mostly for laughs.

Orange Is the New Black: Season Four Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Orange is the New Black: Season Four is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. While this is generally very much in line with the overall excellent high definition presentations of this series' previous seasons on Blu-ray, there are a couple of both positive and negative issues to address with regard to this season in particular. This year actually gets out and about, both courtesy of storylines that get the inmates out into Litchfield's greens, or flashbacks, and the brightly lit outdoor elements really help detail levels and allow the sometimes tamped down palette of the show to at least minimally breathe. A lot of this outdoor material looks excellently sharp and natural. On the minus side, this season more than the third season suffers from some minor but noticeable splotchiness in some of the darker sequences. Pay attention, for example, to the overly long sequences detailing Red's travails with a new cellmate who snores unceremoniously (and, yes, there is this completely silly plot point taking up considerable bandwidth) and minor issues are evident. Aside from these transitory moments, though, this fourth season of Orange is the New Black maintains the generally excellent quality of the series' previous years.

Orange Is the New Black: Season Four Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Orange is the New Black: Season Four features another winning DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, one that derives considerable energy from crowded scenes like the revelry in the lake in this season's opening episode, or some later showdowns in the cafeteria where simmering crowd noises dot the surround channels. Dialogue is always rendered cleanly and clearly and the show's use of both underscore and source cues also provide opportunities for beds of sound to spread around the side and rear channels.

Orange Is the New Black: Season Four Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc Two

• It Sounded Better in My Head Audio Commentary with Writer/Producer Nick Jones and Lori Petty ("Lolly")


• Visitation: Set Tour (1080p; 9:59) is a fun look at various locales, hosted by the Art Director and Production Designer.

Disc Three

• The Animals Audio Commentary with Writer/Producer Lauren Morelli and Executive Producer Tara Herrmann


• Toast Can't Never Be Bread Again Audio Commentary with Executive Producer Tara Herrmann and Samira Wiley ("Poussey")


• Gag Reel (1080p; 2:03)

(Disc One has no "special features" other than trailers and bookmarks.)

Orange Is the New Black: Season Four Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you simply accept the fact that Orange is the New Black is tipping ever more resolutely into sitcom territory as it navigates its way through a typically labyrinthine fourth season, it might be easier to accept the show's relative lack of subtlety, especially when it attempts to port over to dramatic material. Performances from a (huge) colorful cast help to elevate the show even when the writing seems overly arch or even downright silly. Technical merits are generally strong, though once again supplements are on the light side. Recommended.