Critical response
Orange Is the New Black was widely acclaimed throughout its run. It has been particularly praised for humanizing prisoners and for its depiction of race, sexuality, gender and body types.
The first season received positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Metacritic gave it a weighted average score of 79/100 based on reviews from 32 critics, indicating favorable reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, season one has a 95% approval rating based on 58 reviews, with an average rating of 8.3/10. The site's critical consensus is "Orange Is the New Black is a sharp mix of black humor and dramatic heft, with interesting characters and an intriguing flashback structure."
Hank Stuever, television critic for The Washington Post, gave Orange Is the New Black a perfect score. In his review of the series, he stated: "In Jenji Kohan's magnificent and thoroughly engrossing new series, Orange Is the New Black, prison is still the pits. But it is also filled with the entire range of human emotion and stories, all of which are brought vividly to life in a world where a stick of gum could ignite either a romance or a death threat." Maureen Ryan, of The Huffington Post, wrote: "Orange is one of the best new programs of the year, and the six episodes I've seen have left me hungry to see more."
The second season received critical acclaim. Rotten Tomatoes gave a rating of 96%, with an average rating of 9.2/10 based on 54 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "With a talented ensemble cast bringing life to a fresh round of serial drama, Orange Is the New Black's sophomore season lives up to its predecessor's standard for female-led television excellence." Metacritic gave the second season a score of 89/100 based on 31 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". David Wiegland of the San Francisco Chronicle gave the season a positive review, calling the first six episodes "not only as great as the first season, but arguably better." James Poniewozik, writing for Time, noted how the show "had expanded its ensemble so far beyond Piper", also stating that "Larry [and] every element of Piper’s life and family outside the prison needs to go", because of the show "not [being] interested in giving them the same depth of characterization it gives to the rest of its prisoners and even its prison guards".
The third season also received critical acclaim. On Metacritic, it has a score of 83/100 based on 24 reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 95% rating with an average score of 8.1/10 based on 64 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "Thanks to its blend of potent comedy and rich character work, Orange is the New Black remains a bittersweet pleasure in its third season." Richard Lawson from Vanity Fair gave the season a positive review, stating that the season "may find the walls closing in on many characters, but the show feels as boundless and free as it ever has". Spencer Kornhaber from The Atlantic stated that Piper Chapman's scenes "once felt obligatory by mere dint of the fact that they powered the show’s plot, but now they mainly allow Taylor Schilling to demonstrate her comedic chops". Anne Cohen from The Forward said the season used "traditionally anti-Semitic tropes", while Nathan Abrams from Haaretz described a "remarkably upbeat and positive representation of Judaism".
The fourth season received critical acclaim. On Metacritic, it has a score of 86/100 based on 19 reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 94% rating with an average score of 8.6/10 based on 52 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "Orange is the New Black is back and better than ever, with a powerful fourth season full of compelling performances by the ensemble cast." James Poniewozik of The New York Times reviewed the fourth season as "Do you measure the quality of a TV season as a beginning-to-end average or by how well it ends? By the first yardstick, Season 4 is ambitious but uneven; by the latter, it's the series' best." Karol Collymore from Bitch magazine praised the show's past seasons for its representation of women of color, while criticizing the fourth season due to the "visceral racist acts" and racial slurs that occur "constantly, in every episode", stating that "it felt exhausting". The Hindustan Times praised the season for how it dealt with the topic of rape, while negatively describing the new characters as "mere one-dimensional fillers". IGN gave the season a positive review, describing it as "dramatic and insightful".
The fifth season received "generally favorable reviews". On Metacritic, it has a score of 67/100 based on 20 reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 71% rating with an average score of 7.3/10 based on 49 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "Orange Is the New Black's fifth season offers up more of the sharp writing and dizzying tonal juggling acts that fans expect – albeit somewhat less successfully." Chris Orstendorf from The Daily Dot gave the season a positive review, although negatively describing "the decision to tell the entire story of season 5 in the span of three days". Emily James from Vox rated the season 3.5/5, praising the "stronger focus" compared to "the scattered nature of seasons three and four", and criticizing the season for having "[often] desperately cut to something that’s supposed to be funny, and it will only be so in theory". Rafael Gonzaga from Omelete rated the season four out of five star, calling the fourth season better although still praising the fifth.
The sixth season received positive reviews from critics, with many critics noting its improvement over the previous season. On Metacritic, it has a score of 69/100 based on 14 reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an 85% rating with an average score of 7.3/10 based on 39 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "Brutality and humor continue to mesh effectively in a season of Orange Is the New Black that stands as a marked improvement from its predecessor, even if some arcs are more inspired than others." PinkNews praised the season's "unlikely pairings of existing characters who have barely had so much as a scene together previously".
The seventh season has a score of 81/100 on Metacritic based on 12 reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 98% rating with an average score of 7.8/10 based on 45 reviews. The site's consensus reads: "Carried by its exceptional ensemble, Orange Is the New Black's final season gets straight to the point, tackling hard-hitting issues with the same dramatic depth and gallows humor that made the show so ground-breaking to begin with".
In 2019, Orange Is the New Black was ranked 58th on The Guardian's list of the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century.
.jpg?width=400)
