Two summers ago, I neglected all of my responsibilities for three days because I was infatuated with season one of “Orange is the New Black,” (OITNB) a Netflix original. I talked about it more than season one of House of Cards, another Netflix show that came out earlier in 2013. I think Netflix might be the next big thing, so let’s see how many more times I can write Netflix in this article before my editor yells at me about the repetition of Netflix.

Flash forward to a rainy day this past summer. I have a whole day to do nothing, but even if I had something to do I probably would’ve turned to (you guessed it) Netflix anyway, and I decided to begin the next season of OITNB. After a few days, I saw the final episode fade to orange (cause it’s the new black) only to feel a bit cheated.

First, let’s look at the show’s biggest strength, the flashbacks. Piper has lost autonomous control over the show and is replaced by Taystee and her relationship with the new antagonist, Vee. The show sheds light onto new characters such as Rosa, Poussey, Morello, Crazy Eyes and Mendoza. The unassuming cancer patient was a bank robber. Poussey was an army brat fluent in German. Morello, well, you’ll see. Crazy Eyes was an adopted girl trying to fit in, and Mendoza was a struggling mother trying to do the best for her children. Their background stories give them depth and compelled me to continue the show. I wanted to know as much as possible about the characters who were role players in season one. The show’s approach to explore all of their characters creates a wonderful ensemble cast, and allows the writers to play around with multiple storylines.

These background stories only take the show so far. The first episode moves Piper to an FBI maximum-security prison, which at first left me shocked, but by the end of the season I wished that they left her there and created new characters. Season two circles around only to end where the first one seemed to end. No new characters stuck or left much of an impression. Alex is absent most of the season leaving Piper with no conflict. Larry has no story, and seems to be left in the show simply because he is played by semi-famous actor, Jason Biggs. Pennsatucky is nice. Enough said.

The only source of tension comes from the war between Red and Vee, but the story felt too much like a generic motif pulled from any show or movie about prison. The show had so much potential after the first season to explore interesting topics, but overall decided to spend a season developing some secondary characters, with little or no plot advancement. The ending felt forced and too storybook for a show supposedly about the struggle of prison, and, more importantly, a lot of characters were ignored, as they had to make room for the new storylines. I’m looking at you Sophia, Alex and Yoga Jones (who had the most heart wrenching origin story). Overall, I’d say binge on this show, as I have high hopes for season three, but do not expect season two to replicate the magic of the first. OITNB is a going to be a Netflix (yay I got another one in there) cornerstone for years to come.