Jodie Whittaker is in the second season of this British drama series centered around a prison. This is the first of three episodes, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The show has a strong cast, and we’re introduced to an interesting range of storylines.
A prison van transports three inmates to Collingford Women’s Prison. Orla, a struggling single mom who fiddled with her meter to reduce her electric bill, is bewildered to find herself with a six-month prison sentence. Kelsey, a teenage heroin addict, is a repeat offender. And Abi, who’s just been transferred from another facility, is serving a life sentence for murder. As Orla tries to get a grip on what’s happening to her, Kelsey gets some important medical news and Abi is blackmailed by an inmate who knows the real details of her crime.
The Orange is the New Black comparisons are probably inevitable—aside from the setting of a women’s prison, our main viewpoint character is a white woman who’s never been to prison before and thinks she has nothing in common with the other inmates. But this show has a very different style and sensibility than Orange is the New Black. It has more of the feel of a kitchen-sink drama, albeit one set in a prison. Right now, Orla, Kelsey, and Abi’s storylines are still fairly separate, but things are beginning to come together.
I experienced this with Peter Capaldi and Criminal Record, but British shows dealing with the criminal justice system are interesting to me because I don’t fully know how their issues stack up compared to the ones in the U.S. Virtually everyone we see working at Collingford cares about the inmates’ well-being and is portrayed sympathetically, which makes me suspect this series has some sugarcoating at work. That said, the inmates are portrayed as complex and human. They’ve all broken the law, and they’ve all made bad choices—some of them are definitely continuing to make bad choices—and pretty much everyone is on guard against everyone else. But we also see moments of connection where the characters look out for each other or realize where someone else is coming from.
Excellent cast all around. Kelsey is played by Bella Ramsey, who I still know best from their turn as Lyanna Mormont on Game of Thrones (I’ve heard great things about The Last of Us, but I really don’t think I could handle watching it.) Of the three main characters, Kelsey has the roughest edges and gets up to the most trouble—between her youth and her addiction, she often acts without thinking things through. However, we get flickers of vulnerability and introspection from her as well. And Tamara Lawrance, who I loved as Viola in the National Theatre Live production of Twelfth Night, is wonderful as Abi. While she’s incredibly guarded and hard when she needs to be, she offers her experience and insights to those who will accept it, all the while wrestling with her own inner struggles. The show also features Siobhan Finnernan (O’Brien from Downton Abbey) as the prison chaplain.
As Orla, Jodie Whittaker strikes all the right notes. She definitely doesn’t have Piper Chapman’s class privilege, and even before prison, she’d had her share of tough experiences. Orla grew up in foster care because of her mom’s alcoholism, and as an adult, she’s struggling to provide for her own three kids on her meager salary. Still, she enters prison with a whiff of “I need to speak to the manager” energy. She legitimately thinks there’s been some kind of mistake at first and assumes she’ll be out within a day or two, once things have been cleared up. She begs to be allowed two phone calls in one day while she’s in processing, and she definitely sees a divide between herself and the other inmates, not thinking of herself as a “real” criminal. Repeatedly, she argues, “I just fiddled the leccy!”, like she still can’t believe she’s here.
At the same time, Orla is very sincerely going through it. A six-month sentence—out in three with good behavior—is a far cry from Abi’s life sentence or Kelsey’s expected three-and-a-half years. But it’s still enough to throw her entire life off-kilter. Her boss won’t hold her job for her, and Orla already knows she’ll struggle to find new employment when she gets out. She’s terrified that her kids will get put into care, but there’s very little she can do to influence what’s happening to them from her cell block. Although Orla has an attitude with the other inmates, she’s been thrown into the same boat with them and is finding out how much havoc the criminal justice system can wreak, even through her comparatively minor crime.
First impressions:
Accent Watch
Northern.
Recommend?
In General – So far, I’d say yes. The drama gets a little overwrought in moments, but I’m liking the characters and the way they interact.
Jodie Whittaker – Yeah. Whittaker is doing a nice job with a character who’s in an overwhelming situation and not handling it very well.
Warnings
Violence (including self-harm,) strong thematic elements, drug use, and language.
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