Orange is the New Black: Can the show survive without Piper?
The main star of Orange is the New Black is Piper Chapman whose prison sentence at Litchfield runs for 15 months but, what happens if she were to be released? Could the show continue on without her? Yes, it could and to be honest it may improve.
When Orange is the New Black first premiered the entire show was centered around this scared woman as she often cried on the phone to her fiance or whined to Alex about their past. Then, to stretch out some god-awful storyline the writers turned Piper into some Godfather panty business mogul that made no sense at all. It just got to a point where I felt the writers needed to fade her out more and focus on the other characters that were more interesting.
[Mark]Once the attention was taken off Piper OITNB took off. Which leads many to believe that the show could have a successful run after she’s gone. But, that won’t happen.
This is by far the longest 15 months that I’ve ever seen and I’ve spent time in prison. I get that they have to string the sentence out for seasons but by math, Piper is closing in on 13 months, which should have her right at her release date. Which may be the reason why Season 5 is covering a span of three days. It brings the question of how long of OITNB do we actually have left?
Will Season 6 be the finale or will they continue on by dragging Piper’s sentence on or will they let her walk out the gate and continue to focus on the characters that have made the show stronger? Right now, the show is more centered around the Spanish and African-American girls than anything as they have provided the comic relief and intense moments.
I asked myself while I was writing this if I’ve ever liked Piper’s character? Not really. Like I said, maybe it’s because I been to prison and I know personalities like that rubbed me the wrong way then they were in my presence. I guess my dislike for Piper is the same. But, I will tell you this. When that person was released, I still had to finish my sentence out. He left and the show went on like he was never there.
Can the same happen to Piper?
Mark has been covering Sports and Entertainment for the past six years. His work has been featured on Bleacher Report, ESPN, Fox Sports, Teen Vogue, and many other websites.
