Orange Is The New Black: 6 Reasons It's Netflix's Best Original Series

Ok, it's time to talk about that moment from Season 4. You know the one. The moment that made us all cry; the moment that was so harsh and painful to watch we wish we could forget about it, and can't believe it actually happened.

Poussey was one of the best characters on the show, and when it comes to the inmates, she was the best of them: kind, sweet, caring, funny, and intelligent, there was absolutely no malice to her whatsoever, but she was still a wholly interesting and entertaining character, and her death was a completely tragic moment.

It's the sign of a show at the top of its game that it takes such a big risk, by killing off a fan-favourite character in such shocking fashion, but also a sign of how they approach real-life issues. The Black Lives Matter movement served as a painfully relevant backdrop, and with Poussey's death we see a black person killed by a white police officer, crushed to death in a scene tragically reminiscent of those real headlines.

The officer is then the one who is protected, with a PR cover-up to save the prison and MCC from scrutiny and possible punishments, whereas - as Taystee notes - they didn't even say Poussey's name on the news report. But her death does matter, sparking a prison riot, but also giving us the hardest death of the entire series, and the most socially aware.

It's not just here that you'll find the echoes of real-life in OITNB either. Last year the show introduced a number of new guards, most of whom seem to take delight in tormenting the inmates, but these aren't just cruel men; they're former soldiers, and clearly suffering from PTSD. The show has, in this season and across all of them, taken a close look at issues such as rape, mental health, and the prison and judicial systems; it has a conscience, it has a voice, and it makes sure to use them, shedding light on important matters, giving them context, and helping to better understand them.