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Net • flix • ing 6

EDITORIAL 

Compilation of articles 

Ellen Porto 

Maria Eduarda Bervian 

Marina Costa 

ART 

Design, Graphic Project and Image Compilation 

and Treatment 

Ellen Porto 

Maria Eduarda Bervian 

Marina Costa 

PROJECT SUPERVISION 

Carolina Fillmann 

Rogério Abreu 

Antônio Rabadan 

This is the second of four magazines 

published by Netflix, in which we present 

you our original productions as a celebration 

os our 20th anniversary. 

As we look ahead of us, we see a future 

of much more hard work and dedication 

to the people who matter, the people who 

chose Netflix, the viewers. Netflixing was 

created thinking about you. It is a magazine 

entirely for the viewer. We are appreciate 

your passion for our creations and we 

understand that watching our series is not 

enough, you want to know them and that’s 

why this edition presents your top 5 Netflix’ 

original series and answers all the questions 

you ever had about them. 

7

Net • flix • ing 

/’netfliks-ing/v 

1.the act of watching an entire 

season of a show in one sitting. 

2. A totally valid excuse for avoiding 

social obligations. 

e.g. “Sorry, I can’t make it to the 

party, I am netflixing” 


MATERIA 

CURTA 2 

PAGINAS 

9


Netflix is an American global 

provider of streaming films and 

television series. Netflix started as 

a DVD-by-mail service in 1998, and 

began streaming in 2007. Netflix expanded 

with streaming to Canada 

in 2010 and now serves over 190 

countries. Netflix’s first widely advertised 

original series was House 

of Cards, which debuted in 2013, 

and Netflix now produces hundreds 

of hours of original programming 

around the world. The company 

was established in 1997 and has its 

headquarters in Los Gatos, in the 

state of California. 

As of April 2016, Netflix reported 

over 81 million subscribers worldwide, 

including more than 46 million 

in the U.S. 

Netflix revealed a prototype of 

the new device called “The Switch” 

at the 2015 World Maker Faire New 

York. “The Switch” allows Netflix 

users to turn off lights when connected 

to a smart home light system. 

It also connects to users’ local 

networks to enable their servers 

to order takeout, and silence ones 

phone at the press of a button. 

Though the device hasn’t been patented 

Netflix released instructions, 

on their website, on how to build it 

at home (DIY). The instructions cover 

both the electrical structure and 

the programming processes. 

Netflix is a site where you can 

“stream” movies and television 

shows legally. Streaming is a lot 

like watching television on an actual 

television set, but in this case, 

it is on a computer or mobile device. 

The audio and picture quality 

is excellent, and you can, with the 

right equipment, stream it directly 

to your television set with Chromecast, 

if that makes you comfortable. 

Netflix changes their catalogue 

around on a frequent basis, so you 

can always be assured of something 

new to watch. While Netflix is 

quite up-to-date with the newest 

television shows, when it comes to 

movies, the selection on offer is not 

so recent. Many new titles are on 

DVD only, and you will find that most 

of the movies offered are quite old. 

That said, I’m sure there are a lot of 

old movies you haven’t got around 

to watching yet. 

So with Netflix, it is much simpler. 

For an average of $8.99 a 

month, you have access to the entire 

catalogue. Yes they don’t have 

the newest stuff – which can be a 

deal breaker for some people – but 

if you are looking for something to 

watch after a hard day at work, you 

are sure to find something in the 

Netflix catalogue. 


Breaking Bad 

is the most 

watched serie 

on Netflix 

The average time 

the user spends 

on Netflix is 90 

minutes a day 

The company’s 

revenue is 

estimated at 

U$6 billion 

There are 

more than five 

thousand titles 

on Netflix’s 

library 

Netflix’s video library is equivalent to over 

1 PB of data. If you want to download all the 

content from Netflix and save it on hard 

drives of 512 GB, it would take more than 

two thousand of them for this work 

1 1


History 

Netflix headquarters in Los Gatos. 

Netflix was founded in 1997 in Scotts Valley, California 

by Marc Randolph[9][10] and Reed Hastings, who 

previously had worked together at Pure Software. 

Randolph was a co-founder of MicroWarehouse, 

a computer mail order company; and was later 

employed by Borland International as vice president 

of marketing. Hastings, who once worked as 

a math teacher, had founded Pure Software, which 

he had recently sold for $700 million. Hastings 

invested $2.5 million in startup cash for Netflix.[11] 

Randolph initially had the idea to start a company 


Behind 

the scenes 

1 3


about us 

for 

Netflix developed and maintains an extensive personalized 

video-recommendation system based on 

ratings and reviews by its customers. On October 1, 

2006, Netflix offered a $1,000,000 prize to the first developer 

of a video-recommendation algorithm that could 

beat its existing algorithm, Cinematch, at predicting 

customer ratings by more than 10%. 

Netflix envelope in February 2007, the company delivered 

its billionth DVD and began to move away from 

its original core business model of mailing DVDs by 

introducing video on demand via the Internet. Netflix 

grew as DVD sales fell from 2006 to 2011. 

Netflix has played a prominent role in independent 

film distribution. Through the division Red Envelope Entertainment, 

Netflix licensed and distributed independent 

films such as Born into Brothels and Sherrybaby. 

As of late 2006, Red Envelope Entertainment also expanded 

into producing original content with filmmakers 

such as John Waters. Netflix closed Red Envelope 

Entertainment in two housand eight, in part to avoid 

competition with its studio partners. 

Netflix has been one of the most successful dotcom 

ventures. A September 2002 article from The New 

York Times said that at the time, that Netflix mailed 

about 190,000 discs per day to its 670,000 monthly subscribers. 

The company’s published subscriber count 

increased from one million in the fourth quarter of 2002 

to around 5.6 million at the end of the third quarter of 

2006, to 14 million in March 2010. Netflix’s growth has 

been fueled by the fast spread of DVD players in households; 

as of 2004, nearly two-thirds of U.S. homes had a 

DVD player. Netflix capitalized on the success of the DVD 

and its rapid expansion into U.S. homes, integrating the 

potential of the Internet and e-commerce to provide 

services and catalogs that brick and mortar retailers 

could not compete with. Netflix also operates an online 

affiliate program which has helped to build online sales 

DVD rentals. The company offers unlimited vacation 

time for salaried workers and allows employees. 

Netflix is an American global provider of streaming 

films and television series. Netflix started as a DVDby-mail 

service in 1998, and began streaming in 2007. 

Netflix expanded with streaming to Canada in 2010 and 

now serves over 190 countries. Netflix’s first widely advertised 

original series was House of Cards, which debuted 

in 2013, and Netflix now produces hundreds of 

hours of original programming around the world. The 

company was established in 1997 and has its headquarters 

in Los Gatos, California. 

As of April 2016, Netflix reported over 81 million subscribers 

worldwide, including more than 46 million in 

the United States of America. 

Netflix headquarters in Los Gatos. Netflix was founded 

in 1997 in Scotts Valley, California by Marc Randolph 

and Reed Hastings, who previously had worked together 

at Pure Software. Randolph was a co-founder of Micro 

Warehouse, a computer mail order company; and was 

later employed by Borland International as vice president 

of marketing. Hastings, who once worked as a 

math teacher, had founded Pure Software, which he 

had recently sold for $700 million. 

Hastings invested $2.5 million in startup cash for 

Netflix. Randolph initially had the idea to start a company 

that sold something over the Internet, but just didn’t 

know what.The idea of Netflix came to Hastings when 

he was forced to pay $40 in overdue fines after returning 

Apollo 13 well past its due date. He also remained 

a producer and a member of the board of directors for 

a large period of time until finally retiring in 2004 from 

Netflix. It was introduced the monthly subscription concept 

in 1999, and then dropped the single-rental model 

in early 2000. Since that time, the company has built its 

reputation on the business model of flat-fee unlimited 

rentals without due dates, late fees, shipping and 

handling fees, or per title rental fees.o used from 2000 

to 2014. (Netflix added Facebook integration in March 

after lobbying Congress to change an old video law. 

Neil Hunt, Netflix’s chief product officer, told CNNMoney: 

“profiles are another way to stand out in the crowded 

streaming-video space”. 


1 5




Hunt says Netflix may link profiles 

to specific devices, so a subscriber 

can skip the step of launching 

a profile each time s/he logs 

into Netflix on any given device. 

Critics of the feature have noted: 

New profiles are created as “blank 

slates”, but the viewing history prior 

to the creation of new, unique profiles 

stays with the main profile.[98] 

People don’t always watch Netflix 

alone, and shows watched from a 

profile that accommodate one’s 

viewing partner(s) – whose tastes 

may not reflect those of the profile 

owner(s) – affect recommendations 

made to that profile 

In response to both concerns, 

however, users can refine future 

recommendations for a given profile 

by rating the shows watched 

and by their ongoing viewing habits 

Netflix revealed a prototype of 

the new device called “The Switch” 

at the 2015 World Maker Faire New 

York. “The Switch” allows Netflix 

users to turn off lights when connected 

to a smart home light system. 

It also connects to users’ local 

networks to enable their servers 

to order takeout, and silence ones 

phone at the press of a button. 

Though the device hasn’t been patented 

Netflix released instructions, 

on their website, on how to build it 

at home (DIY). The instructions cover 

both the electrical structure and 

the programming processes. 

In May 2016, it created a new 

tool to determine how fast one’s 

internet is. This section is outdated. 

Please update this article to reflect 

recent events or newly available information. 

(January 2016) 

The examples and perspective 

in this section may not represent 

a worldwide view of the subject. 

Please improve this article and discuss 

the issue on the talk page. 

In March 2011, Netflix began acquiring 

original content for its popular 

subscription streaming service, 

beginning with the hour-long 

political drama House of Cards, 

which debuted on the streaming 

service in February 2013. The series 

was produced by David Fincher, 

and stars Kevin Spacey. In late 2011, 

Netflix picked up two eight-episode 

seasons of Lilyhammer and a 

fourth season of the former Fox sitcom 

Arrested Development.Netflix 

announced that it would release the 

supernatural drama series Hemlock 

Grove in early 2013. 

In February 2013, DreamWorks 

Animation and Netflix agreed to 

produce a new animated series 

called Turbo FAST, based on the 

movie Turbo, which premiered in 

July of that year. In March 2013, Netflix 

announced it signed on The Wachowskis 

and J. Michael Straczynski 

to write and executive produce their 

new scifi series, Sense8. It debuted 

on June 5, 2015. In mid-2013, Netflix 

revealed that it holds the option to 

produce another season of Arrested 

Development, but a confirmed 

schedule was not released yet. 

Orange Is the New Black debuted 

on the streaming service in July 

2013. It is Netflix’s most-watched 

original series. House of Cards, 

Lilyhammer, Hemlock Grove and 

Orange Is the New Black were each 

renewed for an additional season, 

with scheduled 2014 returns.[113] 

In February 2016, Orange is the New 

Black was renewed for a 5th, 6th 

and 7th season. 

In November 2013, Netflix and 

Marvel Television (a subsidiary of 

The Walt Disney Company) announced 

a five-season deal to produce 

live action series focused on 

four Marvel superheroes: Daredevil, 

Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke 

Cage. The deal involves the release 

of four 13-episode that culminate in 

a mini-series called The Defenders. 

“Netflix is 

entertainment 

at its finest.” 

The programs are planned for a 2015 

debut. In addition to the Marvel Television 

deal with Netflix, Disney announced 

that the television series 

Star Wars: The Clone Wars would 

release its sixth and final season 

exclusively on Netflix, as well as all 

five prior seasons and the Clone 

Wars feature film. The new content 

was released on Netflix’s streaming 

service on March seven, 2014. 

1 7



1 9


challenge 

accepted 

More taxes and new competitors may threaten the future of Netflix worldwide. 

How the company intends to remain in the lead? What is she preparing for the future? 

GOVERNMENT 

As you may already know, the Minister of Communications, 

Paulo Bernardo, asked Ancine and Anatel 

develop a new model of taxation for foreign companies 

operating in Brazil (such as Google, Facebook, 

Apple and of course, Netflix). The new tax may start 

to occur from 2014 (more information via IDGNow !, 

examination, CanalTech, Tecmundo, Time). President 

Dilma Roussef, user of some of these services (according 

IDGNow !, Info Online), not yet said whether 

it is concerned about a possible increase in tuition 

Netflix (or rising prices “that Apple”). 

INNOVATIONS 

The director of Netflix said one of the technologies 

that the company should bring in the future is streaming 

video with 4K resolution (or “ultra high definition”), 

which has twice the horizontal and vertical lines of a 

high-definition video ( 1080p). The news may get a year 

or two, perhaps with its original series House of Cards 

(which was filmed in 4K). Meanwhile, continue testing 

streaming US 3D content. 

But one of the greatest innovations of Netflix (at 

least from the point of view of their business) was the 

decision to move on to creating their own content. 

So far, the new strategy seems to be working. His productions 

received 14 Emmy nominations, an historic 

achievement, and new titles will be available soon, as 

Derek and the second season of Lilyhammer. Other 

productions (some still under development) include 

the second season of House of Cards, Orange is the 

New Black and Lilyhammer, Sense8, Turbo: F.A.S.T. (Fast 

Action Stunt Team) Narcos, Marco Polo and possibly another 

season of Arrested Development. 

Another key long-term strategy of the company is 

continuing its global expansion (Netflix should soon 

contribute in the Netherlands). The expansion and the 

original production generate synergy: how much more 

territory to act, the greater the return on investment in 

the production of documents; the more unique (quality) 

have possibly more media exposure as she can; 

and with more content and exposure, more subscribers 

it (potentially) can capture. 


COMPETITION 

Remember NetMovies, perhaps the first major hick 

competitor of Netflix? Investors abandoned the ship 

and gave the command to an officer (the “zero cost”, 

according to a report of Estadão). While continuing with 

a streaming service, NetMovies does not intend to go up 

against Netflix, and is focusing on disk movie rentals in 

a few cities (in SP, RJ and MG). 

But it is estimated that video marketing over-thetop 

(OTT) has revenues of up to US $ 20 billion in 2015 

worldwide (and 13 million subscribers in Brazil by 2017), 

and it’s no wonder that new competitors keep coming 

and bringing news. Claro Video started in April with a 

competitive price and a good looking interface; Saraiva 

recently released its player for Xbox 360; the Totalmovie 

“began as a blatant copy of Netflix” (words of 

the manager of the company itself!), but also includes 

some live channels as a differential; Japanese Rakuten 

bought the Spanish site streaming Wuaki.tv in 2012, and 

this month the Viki, Singapore; Intel, Sony, Google and 

Apple also seem to be planning to launch each new 

streaming video service. 

Some believe that Netflix will be (or should be) purchased 

by a company or larger group. Reed Hastings 

CEO of the company, disagrees.. “Because we are in so 

many platforms, it’s best to Netflix remain independent 

We do an amazing job on Microsoft platforms, Google, 

Apple and all TVs The value of Netflix exists when it it is 

on every screen you want to use. “ 

But if Netflix is not absorbed by another company, how 

they intend to compete with others who have more financial 

resources like Amazon? Reed Hastings said 

“Netflix is special because its business is dedicated 

solely to streaming video, and in this respect we are far 

ahead of them all” 

INCREASES 

I personally doubt a bit that Netflix raises the 

price of your monthly anytime soon. She started in 

Brazil in September 2011 to R $ 14.99 / month, and 

came to R $ 16.90 in April 2013. The company said 

it was forced to increase the value of the signature 

due to inflation, and although no user have loved 

to measure the reaction seems to have been very 

negative in general. But Netflix has suffered a lot in 

the US when he increased the monthly fee by 60% 

in 2011 and separated the rental service records and 

streaming, which caused the loss of 800,000 users 

with the measure. I’m sure the company strives to 

make this not happen again. And you, what do you 

think Netflix reserve for the future, and what the future 

holds for Netflix? 

distribution 

As you may already know, the Minister of Communications, 

Paulo Bernardo, asked Ancine and Anatel 

develop a new model of taxation for foreign companies 

operating in Brazil (such as Google, Facebook, 

Apple and of course, Netflix). The new tax may start 

to occur from 2014 (more information via IDGNow !, 

examination, CanalTech, Tecmundo, Time). President 

Dilma Roussef, user of some of these services (according 

IDGNow !, Info Online), not yet said whether 

it is concerned about a possible increase in tuition 

Netflix (or rising prices “that Apple”). 

CATALOGUE 

The director of Netflix said one of the technologies 

that the company should bring in the future is streaming 

video with 4K resolution (or “ultra high definition”), 

which has twice the horizontal and vertical lines of a 

high-definition video ( 1080p). The news may get a year 

or two, perhaps with its original series House of Cards 

(which was filmed in 4K). Meanwhile, continue testing 

streaming US 3D content. 

But one of the greatest innovations of Netflix (at 

least from the point of view of their business) was the 

decision to move on to creating their own content. 

So far, the new strategy seems to be working. His productions 

received 14 Emmy nominations, an historic 

achievement, and new titles will be available soon, as 

Derek and the second season of Lilyhammer. Other 

productions (some still under development) include 

the second season of House of Cards, Orange is the 

New Black and Lilyhammer, Sense8, Turbo: F.A.S.T. (Fast 

Action Stunt Team) Narcos, Marco Polo and possibly another 

season of Arrested Development. 

2 1

Eat, 

Netflix, 

Marathon, 

Sleep, 

Repeat. 

New Binge Scale Reveals TV Series We Devour and Those 

We Savor Members blow through Breaking Bad, Orange 

is the New Black and The Walking Dead; are captivated 

by House of Cards, Narcos, Bloodline and Mad Men. 

Netflix members around the world are making their 

own rules when it comes to watching TV. Instead of one 

episode per week, Netflix members choose to binge 

watch their way through a series - that is, on average, 

finishing an entire season in one week. Though binge 

watching is clearly the new normal, not all series are 

enjoyed the same way. Netflix unveils The Binge Scale, 

revealing the shows we devour and the ones we savor. 

Netflix examined global viewing* of more than 100 

serialized TV series across more than 190 countries 

and found when members are focused on finishing a 

series, they watch a little over two hours a day to complete 

a season. When organizing series in relation to 

this benchmark, interesting patterns emerge, rang- 



ing from high energy narratives 

that are devoured in moments to 

thought-provoking dramas that are 

savored and also dramatic. 

Series like Sense8, Orphan 

Black** and The 100 grab you, assault 

your senses, and as The Binge 

Scale shows, make it hard to pull 

away. The classic elements of horror 

and thrillers go straight for the 

gut, pushing the placement of series 

like The Walking Dead, American 

Horror Story and The Fall towards 

the devour end of the scale. 

Likewise, comedies with a dramatic 

bent, like Orange is the New Black, 

Nurse Jackie and Grace and Frankie, 

seem to tickle our fancy and 

make it easy to say ‘just one more.’ 

It’s no surprise that complex 

narratives, like that of House of 

Cards and Bloodline, are indulged at 

an unhurried pace. Nor that viewers 

take care to appreciate the details 

of dramas set in bygone eras, like 

Peaky Blinders and Mad Men. Maybe 

less obvious are irreverent comedies 

like BoJack Horseman, Love 

and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. 

But the societal commentary that 

powers their densely layered comedy 

paired with characters that are 

as flawed as they are entertaining 

allow them to be savored. 

“As The Binge Scale indicates, 

the viewing experience of a series 

can range from the emotional to 

the thought-provoking,” said Cindy 

Holland, Vice President of Original 

Content at Netflix. “Netflix helps you 

to find a series to binge no matter 

your mood or occasion, and the 

freedom to watch that series at 

your own pace - whether that’s to 

appreciate the drama of Bloodline 

or power through OitNB.” 

Binge-watching is believed to 

have originated in the 1980s, when 

some TV stations started featuring 

reruns of certain series’ episodes in 

marathon sessions. When DVDs became 

available for home viewing, 

their high-storage capacity allowed 

for entire seasons to be watched 

by viewers, making it easy to say to 

oneself “just one more.” 

Additionally, the cult status of 

such 90s shows as “Friends”, “Seinfeld” 

or “Sex and the City” made 

marathon sessions into rituals 

among friends and families. Since 

the advent of on-demand viewing 

and online streaming in the late 

2000s, binge-watching has become 

a global phenomenon. Furthermore, 

because some companies, such as 

popular video-streaming service 

Netflix, began releasing episodes of 

its series in blocks, binge-watching 

is becoming the norm rather than 

the exception. In fact, according to 

a 2014 survey, some 84 percent of 

trailing Millennials and even 37 percent 

of those over 68 years old engage 

in binge-watching TV series. 

There is little consensus regarding 

how many hours of watching a 

TV show actually amounts to binging, 

but a recent Netflix survey concludes 

that most Americans define 

it as watching between two and six 

episodes in one sitting. Other behaviors 

are more extreme, involving 

entire seasons or even whole series 

over a few days. Nielsen compiled 

a list of TV shows popular among 

binge-watchers and assessed how 

much time would be necessary 

to complete them. “Orange is the 

New Black” seems very feasible 

in one weekend, at 1,430 minutes 

(almost 24 hours), while “Grey’s 

Anatomy” might take a little longer. 

“WE TAKE BINGE-WATCHING 

SERIOUSLY, THAT’S WHY 

NETFLIX WORKS.” 

2 3

Netflix binge 

scale 


Savor 

Irreverent Comedies: 

Arrested Development, BoJack Horseman, Club de Cuervos, 

F is for Family, Love, Summer Heights High, Unbreakable 

Kimmy Schmidt, Wet Hot American Summer 

Political Dramas 

Homeland, House of Cards, Occupied, The Good Wife, 

The West Wing 

Superhero Drama 

Gotham, Marvel’s Daredevil, Marvel’s Jessica Jones, The 

Flash, Supergirl 

Crime Dramas 

Better Call Saul, Bloodline, Fargo, The Blacklist, The 

Bridge, Twin Peaks 

Dramatic Comedies 

Flaked, Grace & Frankie, Nurse Jackie, Orange is the 

New Black, Parenthood, Rescue Me, Weeds 

Action & Adventure 

24, Arrow, La Reina del Sur, Marco Polo, Outlander, Prison 

Break, The Last Kingdom, Turn, Vikings 

Sci-Fi 

Ascension, Between, Heroes, Orphan Black, Sense8, The 

100, The 4400, Under the Dome 

Devour 

Horror 

American Horror Story, Hemlock Grove, Penny Dreadful, 

Scream, The Walking Dead, Z Nation 


METHODOLOGY 

Netflix analyzed more than 100 serialized TV series 

across more than a 190 countries between October 

2016 and May 2015. The research examined member 

completion of the first season for all the series on thelibrary. 

Data was only included for accounts that fully 

completed the season. 

Completion rates were organized into days and hours. 

The global median days to complete the first season 

of these series was five days. The median hours per 

session for completers overall was two hours and ten 

minutes. Series viewed less than two hours per day 

were identified as ‘savored.’ Series viewed more than 

two hours per day were identified as ‘devoured.’ Series 

were not restricted by launch dates, runtime or number 

of episodes. Where a series falls on The Netflix Binge 

Scale has no relation to viewership. 

** Not all series are available in all countries 

2 5


2 7


We recently asked members of our 

crew to fill us in on their favourite 

TV shows to binge-watch. 

Warning: after reading these, you may feel 

the need to clear your weekend schedule and 

catch up on some great TV. 

1. Breaking Bad 

15. Dexter 

2. Friends 

16. Lost 

3. Mad Men 

17. One Tree Hill 

4. Grey’s Anatomy 

18. Supernatural 

5. Gossip Girl 

19. Pretty Little Liars 

6. Skins (UK) 

20. The Walking Dead 

7. Law and Order: Special Victims Unit 

21. Criminal Minds 

8. Entourage 

22. The Fosters 

9. Buffy The Vampire Slayer 

23. Friday Night Lights 

10. Freaks and Geeks 

24. Whose Line Is It Anyway? 

11. Doctor Who 

25. Orange is the New Black 

12. Catfish 

26. Orphan Black 

13. Cheers 

27. House of Cards 

14. Parks and Recreation 

22. Gilmore Girls 


$I00 

Your tv shows 

& movies, your way 

netflix’s gift cards, as easy 

(and loved) as it gets 

values available: $100 $50 $25 

no credit cards required

sense8 


3 1

sense8 

All AROUND 

the world 

Meet Riley, Will, Sun, Capheus, Wolfgang, 

Kala, Lito and Nomi, people from different 

cultures and parts of the world that are 

connected in Sense8. 

At the culmination of the fourth episode of Netflix’s 

new series Sense8, all the main characters join together 

for a rousing sing-along of “What’s Up?” by seminal 

‘90s alt-act 4 Non Blondes. Across the globe, an Icelandic 

DJ, a German jewel thief, a Kenyan bus driver, a 

trans computer hacker in San Francisco, a Chicagoan 

cop, a South Korean martial arts master/CEO, a closeted 

Latino movie star, and an Indian pharmacist sound the 

timeless lyrics in perfect unison, the distance between 

them eliminated completely by the power of song. 

Despite the scene’s overt salute to Paul Thomas 

Anderson1, the sing-along represents the purest refinement 

of the Wachowski siblings’ sensibility, and 

Sense8 as a whole. 

It’s not just that the whole ‘90s-alternative-post-Sarah-McLachlan 

vibe meshes perfectly with Wachowski’s 

chosen aesthetic.2 And it’s not just that the whole display’s 

complete and absolute lack of irony toes the line 

between crushing sincerity and embarrassingly overdoing 

it, another characteristic that pervades the show 

writ large. The scene’s touching on interconnectedness 

and systems of support perfectly encapsulates the 

show’s overarching spirit of acceptance. Sense8 is television 

for anyone who’s ever felt othered, less-thanuncared-for, 

or alone. It processes this idea through 

procedural sci-fi mythology and conspiracy theorizing, 

but the question it poses is as humanistic as they come: 

What if anyone who ever needed someone had exactly 

who they needed, right when they needed them? 

More than a random combination of letters and 

numbers, the title “Sense8” refers to a group of eight 

people known as “sensates”3 who have been psychically 

linked to one another. The limits of their powers 

as sensates are never clearly defined, which may very 

well be the point. The only true power of the sensate is 

convenience, the ability to adapt perfectly to any challenge 

in any situation. 

Mostly, the sensates possess the ability to appear 

to one another and temporarily seize control of 

one another’s bodies when their unique talents come 

in handy. When a guard needs to be charmed, then 

charisma-oozer Lito takes over. When the car won’t 

start without a little creative rewiring, the street-wise 

van proprietor Capheus knows just what to do. When 

goons threaten our heroes, they’ve got the choice between 

firearms expert Wolfgang, hand-to-hand badass 

Sun Bak, or hardened beat cop Will. (And that’s all just 

in the climactic action sequence of the season finale.) 

In early episodes, this superpower can sometimes 

feel like a cheap way of writing around obstacles, the 

Wachowskis’ method of deus-ex-machina-ing themselves 

out of tight spots in which they place their characters. 

But as the themes of the show crystallize, they 

reveal that convenience as crucial to the show’s subtextual 

significance. 

Sensates mythology is still unfolding 

Above all else, Sense8 is a grand metaphor for the 

experience of living life in a marginalized group. Many of 

the characters already do; of the core eight cast members, 

only four are white, the same number are male, 

and the cast includes representations of queer characters 

as well as trans characters. But this reading is inescapable 

due to Lana Wachowski’s status as a proud 

trans woman in the public eye, having made a powerful 

statement about her own struggles with identity during 

her teen years. The inexplicable, confusing, and often 

frightening phenomena that the sensates experience 

closely mirror the earliest throes of non-heteronormativity, 

and the process of coming to terms with a trans 

identity in specific. Before the sensates gain insight on 

their own gifts, they manifest to one another as voices 

in their head or the vague sensation that someone 


3 3

sense8 




people known as “sensates”3 who have been psychically 



well be the point. The only true power of the sensate is 

convenience, the ability to adapt perfectly to any challenge 

in any situation. 


to one another and temporarily seize control of 

one another’s bodies when their unique talents come 

in handy. When a guard needs to be charmed, then 

charisma-oozer Lito takes over. When the car won’t 

start without a little creative rewiring, the street-wise 

van proprietor Capheus knows just what to do. When 

goons threaten our heroes, they’ve got the choice between 

firearms expert Wolfgang, hand-to-hand badass 

Sun Bak, or hardened beat cop Will. (And that’s all just 

in the climactic action sequence of the season finale.) 

In early episodes, this superpower can sometimes 

feel like a cheap way of writing around obstacles, the 

Wachowskis’ method of deus-ex-machina-ing themselves 

out of tight spots in which they place their characters. 

But as the themes of the show crystallize, they 

reveal that convenience as crucial to the show’s subtextual 

significance. 

Above all else, Sense8 is a grand metaphor for the 

experience of living life in a marginalized group. Many 

of the characters already do; of the core eight cast 

members, only four are white, the same number are 

male, and the cast includes representations of queer 

characters as well as trans characters. But this reading 

is inescapable due to Lana Wachowski’s status as 

a proud trans woman in the public eye, having made a 

powerful statement about her own struggles with identity 

during her teen years. Many of the characters already 

do. Before the sensates gain insight on their own 

gifts, they manifest to one another as having made a 

powerful statement about her own struggles. 

3 5

sense8 

HOW THEIR MINDS WORK? WE STILL DON'T KNOW 



people known as “sensates” who have been psychically 



well be the point of the show. They are conncected, they 

see each other, hear each other, but we don’t know why. 


to one another and temporarily seize control of one 

another’s bodies when their unique talents come in 

handy. When a guard needs to be charmed, then charisma-oozer 

Lito takes over. When the car won’t start 

without a little creative rewiring, the street-wise van 

proprietor Capheus knows just what to do. When goons 

threaten our heroes, they’ve got the choice between 

firearms expert Wolfgang, hand-to-hand badass Sun 

Bak, or hardened beat cop Will. (And that’s all just in the 

climactic action sequence of the season finale.) In early 

episodes, this superpower can sometimes feel like a 

cheap way of writing around obstacles, the Wachowskis’ 

method of deus-ex-machina-ing themselves out of 

tight spots in which they place their characters. But 

as the themes of the show crystallize, they reveal that 

convenience as crucial to the show’s subtextual significance. 

Above all else, Sense8 is a grand metaphor 

for the experience of living life in a marginalized group. 

Many of the characters already do; of the core eight cast 

members, only four are white, the same number are 

male, and the cast includes representations of queer 

characters as well as trans characters. But this reading 

is inescapable due to Lana Wachowski’s status as 

a proud trans woman in the public eye, having made 

a powerful statement about her own struggles with 

identity during her teen years. Before the sensates gain 

insight on their own gifts, they manifest to one another 

the experience of living life in a marginalized group. 

“sensates” who have been psychically linked. 


3 7

sense8 

They interpret these visions as mental illness, and the 

complete inability of their loved ones to understand 

what they’re going through ultimately alienates them 

from their peers. 

The power functions like a supernatural “It Gets 

Better” campaign, providing each of the eight main 

characters with moral support and insight in times of 

need. The talents lent may sometimes be physical, but 

the show packs a greater emotional wallop when the 

sensates connect to bestow moral and ethical guidance 

upon one another. In times of fear or self-doubt, 

the sensates appear to one another just as visions 

of God visit the devout in dark hours. When a woman 

tentatively walks down the aisle to marry a man she 

doesn’t love, another sensate appears to her as a 

guardian angel, imploring her to follow her heart out 

of the ceremony. The sensates tell one another exactly 

what they need to hear in any given moment: you’re 

strong, you’re not crazy, you deserve to be treated well. 

Mostly, the sensates possess the ability to appear to one 

another and temporarily seize control of one another’s 

bodies when their unique talents come in handy. When 

a guard needs to be charmed. 

When the car won’t start without a little creative 

rewiring, the street-wise van proprietor Capheus 

knows just what to do. When goons threaten our heroes, 

they’ve got the choice between firearms expert 

Wolfgang, hand-to-hand badass Sun Bak, or hardened 

beat cop Will. (And that’s all just in the climactic action 

sequence of the season finale.) In early episodes, this 

superpower can sometimes feel like a cheap way of 

writing around obstacles, the Wachowskis’ method of 

deus-ex-machina-ing themselves out of tight spots in 

which they place their characters. But as the themes 

of the show crystallize, they reveal that convenience. 

tshow’s subtextual significance. Mostly, the sensates 

possess the ability to appear to one another. 


3 9

sense8 


how LGBT’s are portrayed in “Sense8” 

Back in June, Netflix premiered its inventive new 

series that follows eight individuals from around the 

world. Known as “Sensates,” these heightened humans 

operate in groups or clusters, transcending language, 

ability, and potentially death by sharing consciousness. 

Sense8 functions as critical mass sci-fi, offering intense 

action sequences, intricate mythology, stunning 

cinematography, and affecting themes—not to mention 

an incredibly diverse cast. The show’s characters 

are from seven different countries on four continents 

who speak six different languages. And if that wasn’t 

enough for series showrunners Andy and Lana Wachowski 

(Matrix trilogy) and J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 

5), they’ve also managed an equal male to female 

lead ratio in addition to featuring gay, lesbian, and trans 

characters in key roles. Talk about painting with all the 

colors of the wind. Colors of the rainbow. 

4 1

sense8 


Diversity in a modern media landscape isn’t just a can of worms; 

it’s a portal to a wormverse we’ve only barely sought to discover. 

The whole practice of critiquing cultural products on the grounds of 

diversity gets caught up in issues of representation, exposure, and 

most importantly, who is telling these stories in the first place. Like 

it or not, we still live in a world where a huge portion of creatives are 

white straight males, and they’re often lumped with a binary of either 

risking messing up the diversity in their stories, or not endeavoring 

to improve the landscape at all.That’s why it’s such a relief when a 

show like Sense8 comes along, exhibiting an unprecedentedly diverse 

TV cast as if it’s nothing. The ease with which the Wachowskis 

and J. Michael Straczynski have created something this progressive 

seems less a case of creators speaking out against the norm, and 

more a case of fitting into a norm that just happens not to exist yet. 

The entire issue of tokenism is a weird one. At best, it’s a case of 

adding in underrepresented peoples at the last minute. On the other 

hand, it represents writers begrudgingly ticking the boxes which can 

and has often led to stereotyping. By ploughing through the issue of 

tokenism entirely, and filling it’s story with so many perspectives 

from different ethnicities, genders, sexualities and nationalities that 

tokenism becomes a complete non-issue. 

Now there are some who might argue that the entire show is a 

case of tokenism, pandering to the very idea of on-screen diversity, 

but to that I ask what the show would even be without it’s varied 

viewpoints and images. It hinges so heavily on its varied cast, from 

Aml Ameen’s Capheus to Doona Bae’s Sun Bak to Jamie Clayton’s 

Nomi Marx that if you take any of them away, the story ceases to 

exist. The idea of tokenism relies on there being a norm, and Sense8 

answers that by choosing not to have one. 

4 3

Just hanging in Iceland.Here’s where Sense8 

really pulls some slight of hand on us all. How 

many times have you had your movie career 

threatened by blackmail, or had your brain experimented 

on, or gone to prison to save your father’s 

corporation? Every story in Sense8 is broad 

and outlandish, and that’s not even including 

the main plot. Yet, every character is framed as 

somehow normal, with desires and worries that 

appear almost universal to viewers. Why is this 

important? Well, it negates the perception of difference. 

I’ve received comments on a previous article 

about how Sense8 put people out of their “sensual 

comfort zones”, before it all began to seem 

normal, and the show could be enjoyed like any 

other. While you could always berate people 

for this reaction, it’s actually extremely positive 

to see those who would initially be adverse to 

this kind of subject matter coming around to it, 

not because it’s being watered down or filtered 

through something else, but purely because of 

exposure. 

Internet critique in recent years has misunderstood 

the difference between good production 

decisions and good filmmaking movies. 

This could simply be the most important factor 

in the mark Sense8 has made since hitting . 

Internet critique in recent years has misunderstood 

the difference between good production 

decisions, and good filmmaking. Sure, Sense8 

has an incredibly diverse roster of characters, but 

it wouldn’t for a second use that as a crutch and 

risk becoming a poor quality product. Our world 

is one that blames the poor quality of movies 

shows on their efforts to be progressive, rather 

than... you know, poor quality. Put simply, it’s one 

thing to make the Black Widow movie. It’s another 

entirely to actually MAKE the Black Widow Movie. 

Sense8 seems to know that it’s diversity is a factor 

of its greatness, not the source of it. 

The people using this argument don’t realize 

that the ideals of diversity and good storytelling 

can and should come hand in hand. Hopefully, 

Sense8 will be the show to make many skeptics 

realize that. 

You really should watch Sense8. I know, I 

know, that’s not what anyone wants to hear when 

Orange Is the New Black has just returned, demanding 

to be consumed in one binge-sitting. 

Or, for that matter, when the reviews for J. Michael 

Straczynski and the Wachowski siblings’ project 

for Netflix have oscillated wildly—fairly. 


4 5

sense8 

Between “exhaustingly po-faced” 

in the Telegraph to expanding “the 

visual grammar of what television 

is capable of” from Vox. But in a 

show that is as meandering as it is 

masterful, Sense8 has at least one 

moment that’s undeniably great, a 

scene as beautiful, tender, and delicately 

written on queer issues as 

anything Jenji Kohan has served up 

in two thousand fifteen. 

Before we get to that, a little 

background. The mythology of the 

show is somewhat complicated, but 

here’s the gist: An evolutionary quirk 

has bred an ubermensch species 

known as ‘sensates,’ who are born 

on the same day and “cluster” together, 

a connection that links their 

senses and emotions telepathically 

and allows them to speak the languages 

and perform the skills of 

their cluster-mates. While there appear 

to be many clusters, the one 

we focus on here includes a trans 

hacktivist in San Francisco (Jamie 

Clayton), a closeted Mexican actor 

(Miguel Ángel Silvestre), an Icelandic 

DJ with a dark past (Tuppence 

Middleton), and a businesswoman 

in Seoul who is also a kickass kickboxer 

(Doona Bae), among others. 

Sci-fi premise aside, the real 

thematic heart of Sense8 is its 

queerness—a fact proudly announced 

with a moist rainbow dildo 

tossed on the floor after a bout 

of lady-on-lady sex in its first episode. 

Indeed, almost every sensate, 

at least for a scene or two, explores 

their queer side, whether in 

a steamy telepathic orgy or sitting 


Alone on the sofa, like when Nairobi bus driver Capheus 

(Aml Ameen) finds himself aroused by a Jean-Claude 

Van Damme movie. In that wider queer context, it 

makes sense that Clayton’s Nomi—the trans woman— 

and Silvestre’s Lito—the closeted gay guy—do a lot of 

the heavy-lifting in terms of screen time and narrative. 

Nomi and Lito are unusual characters with unusual 

storylines: Nomi’s sensate powers lead to her being 

forcibly hospitalized by conspirators of the show’s “big 

bad,” and she spends most of the show on the run, while 

Lito finds a very willing female beard who has a troubled 

former lover. Both stories have refreshing aspects. 

The beard, Daniela (Eréndira Ibarra), never falls prey to 

cliché plots of deception or blackmail; rather, her flaw 

is that she fetishizes gay men too much. Nomi’s relationship 

with Amanita (Freema Agyeman) is unusually 

strong for TV—not once do the supernatural shenanigans 

drive a wedge between them. But both stories are 

also riddled with problems: Why, exactly, is Lito afraid 

to come out? What is the exact consequence he fears? 

And why does Daniela’s ex demand to see Lito sleep 

with her as some sort of validation? His request to ogle 

their lovemaking comes off as a cheap, clunky bit of 

over-sexualization. Nomi, meanwhile, runs the risk of 

being a serious Mary Sue: She is so flawless, so capable, 

that she is all light and no shade, always the victim 

or the heroine and never anything in between. 

Luckily, these sometimes flat characterizations 

are saved by exceptional actors: Clayton and Silvestre 

invest their roles with wit and heart, real sexuality and 

real vulnerability, and it is because of them that Episode 

9 contains the show’s best queer scene by far. 

In the episode, Lito and Nomi meet for the first time. 

Well, besides the omnibus orgy three episodes before. 

I’ve received comments on a previous article about 

how Sense8 put people out of their “sensual comfort 

zones”, before it all began to seem normal, and the 

show could be enjoyed like any other. While you could 

always berate people for this reaction, it’s actually extremely 

positive to see those who would initially be adverse 

to this kind of subject matter coming around to it 

it. watered down or filtered through something else. 

4 7

sense8 

Now there are some who might argue that 

the entire show is a case of tokenism, pandering 

to the very idea of on-screen diversity, but 

to that I ask what the show would even be without 

it’s varied viewpoints and images. It hinges 

so heavily on its varied cast, from Aml Ameen’s 

Capheus to Doona Bae’s Sun Bak to Jamie 

Clayton’s Nomi Marx that if you take them away, 

the story ceases to exist. The idea of tokenism 

relies on there being a norm, and Sense8 answers 

that by choosing not to have one. 

Just hanging in Iceland.Here’s where 

Sense8 really pulls some slight of hand on us 

all. How many times have you had your movie 

career threatened by blackmail, or had your 

brain experimented on, or gone to prison to 

save your father’s corporation? Every story in 

Sense8 is broad and outlandish, and that’s not 

even including the main plot. Yet, every character 

is framed as somehow normal, with desires 

and worries that appear almost universal to 

viewers. Why is this important? Well, it negates 

the perception of difference. 

I’ve received comments on a previous article 

about how Sense8 put people out of their 

“sensual comfort zones”, before it all began to 

seem normal, and the show could be enjoyed 

like any other. While you could always berate 

people for this reaction, it’s actually extremely 

positive to see those who would initially be 

adverse to this kind of subject matter coming 

around to it, not because it’s being watered 

down or filtered through something else, but 

purely because of exposure. 

If it’s nothing. The ease with 

which the Wachowskis and J. Michael 

Straczynski have created 

something this progressive seems 

less a case of creators speaking out 

against the norm, and more a case 

of fitting into a norm that just happens 

not to exist yet. 

Inverse to this kind of subject matter 

coming around to it, not because 

it’s being watered down or 

filtered through something else, but 


Internet critique in recent years 

has misunderstood the difference 

between good production decisions 

and good filmmaking. This 

could simply be the most important 

factor in the mark Sense8 has 

made since hitting . Internet critique 

in recent years has misunderstood 

the difference between 

good production decisions, and 

good filmmaking. Sure, Sense8 has 

an incredibly diverse roster of characters, 

but it wouldn’t for a second 

use that as a crutch and risk becoming 

a poor quality product. Our 

world is one that blames the poor 

quality of movies shows on their efforts 

to be progressive, rather than... 

you know, poor quality. Put simply, 

it’s one thing to make the Black 

Widow movie. It’s another entirely to 

actually MAKE the Black Widow Movie. 

Sense8 seems to know that it’s 

diversity is a factor of its greatness, 

not the source of it. 

I’m aware that the whole “quality 

is all that matters” argument is 

often used to silence all of the demands 

for better representation, 

but why not flip it around? Why not?

I’ve received comments on a 

previous article about how Sense8 

put people out of their “sensual 

comfort zones”, before it all began 

to seem normal, and the show could 

be enjoyed like any other. While you 

could always berate people for this 

reaction, it’s actually extremely 

positive to see those who would initially 

be adverse to this kind of subject 

matter coming around to it, not 

because it’s being watered down or 

filtered through something else, but 


Internet critique in recent years 

has misunderstood the difference 

between good production decisions 

and good filmmaking. This 

could simply be the most important 

factor in the mark Sense8 has 

made since hitting . Internet critique 

in recent years has misunderstood 

the difference between 

good production decisions, and 

good filmmaking. Sure, Sense8 has 

an incredibly diverse roster of characters, 

but it wouldn’t for a second 

use that as a crutch and risk becoming 

a poor quality product. Our 

world is one that blames the poor 

quality of movies shows on their efforts 

to be progressive, rather than... 

you know, poor quality. Put simply, 

it’s one thing to make the Black 

Widow movie. It’s another entirely 

to actually MAKE the Black Widow 

Movie. Sense8 seems to know that. 

Diversity in a modern media landscape 

isn’t just a can of worms; it’s a portal to a wormverse 

we’ve only barely sought to discover. The 

whole practice of critiquing cultural products 

on the grounds of diversity gets caught up in 

issues of representation, exposure, and most 

importantly, who is telling these stories in the 

first place. Like it or not, we still live in a world 

where a huge portion of creatives are white 

straight males, and they’re too often lumped 

with a binary of either risking messing up the 

diversity in their stories, or not endeavoring 

to improve the landscape at all.That’s why it’s 

such a relief when a show like Sense8 comes 

along, exhibiting an unprecedentedly diverse 

TV cast as if it’s nothing. The ease with which 

the Wachowskis and J. Michael Straczynski 

have created something this progressive 

seems less a case of creators speaking out 

against the norm, and more a case of fitting 

into a norm that just happens not to exist yet. 

The entire issue of tokenism is a weird 

one. At best, it’s a case of adding in underrepresented 

peoples at the last minute. On the 

other hand, it represents writers begrudgingly 

ticking the boxes which can and has often led 

to stereotyping. How does Sense8 avoid this? 

By ploughing through the issue of tokenism 

entirely, and filling it’s story with so many perspectives 

from different ethnicities, genders, 

sexualities and nationalities that tokenism 

becomes a complete non-issue. 

Now there are some who might argue that 

the entire show is a case of tokenism, pandering 

to the very idea of on-screen diversity, 

but to that I ask what the show would even 

be without it’s varied viewpoints and images. 

hinges so heavily on its varied cast. 

4 9


5 1

narcos 


5 3

narcos 

not just about 

pablo anymore 

Netlfix’s series does more than trace the rise and fall of Pablo Escobar — it portrays 

various people entangled in his larger-than-life story, on both sides of the 

law and around the globe. 

The world doesn’t seem to lack for Pablo Escobar 

biopics, so it should come as no surprise that Netflix 

also gets in on the action with 10-part series Narcos, 

which separates itself from the pack with an impressive 

breadth and depth. 

In many ways, this series could end up being the 

critically acclaimed international breakthrough for the 

streaming site that Marco Polo wasn’t (though it got 

a second season), partly because the writing, acting 

and directing are superior and it has a grittier and 

more grounded feel to it. 

Those factors are essential, since there have been 

so many movies about the Colombian drug kingpin 

already and the series is coming into a very crowded 

drama landscape. What Narcos has going for it is that 

Escobar’s story is, on so many levels, so stunning and 

strange that the drama doesn’t have to be truncated 

or rushed, and the narrative can cover far more than 

just his rise and fall. In fact, Narcos is rumored to be 

well on its way to second-season renewal. 

The series looks to have helped itself with an interesting 

and informative session at the recently 

wrapped Television Critics Association summer press 

tour. That’s where the series’ director, Jose Padilha, 

brought a rare enthusiasm and openness about 

the creative choices for the series, from its obviously 

Goodfellas-inspired narrative structure to its ability 

(because Netflix is available worldwide) to cast topnotch 

actors from around the globe — Brazil, Chile, 

Mexico, Colombia, Peru — to embracing the concept 

of “magical realism” that Colombia is well known for. 

Both Padilha and star Wagner Moura (who plays 

Escobar) are from Brazil, while co-stars Pedro Pascal 

(Game of Thrones) and Boyd Holbrook (Gone Girl) are 

from Chile and the U.S., respectively. 

It helps to know that Padilha’s Goodfellas-esque 

voiceover narration choice is an intentional nod, since 

the conceit is so prevalent in the Narcos episodes I’ve 

seen. “I, myself, loved Goodfellas, and there’s no reason 

for me to shy away from it,” Padilha said at TCA, adding 

that Brazilian movies have a history of using the device. 

Beyond that, Padilha said the voiceovers would help tell 

what amounts to a complex story featuring lots of interconnected 

characters as Narcos widens out the Escobar 

history to include many people around him. 

Early on in the series it might seem like writers Chris 

Brancato and Samir Mehta perhaps embraced history a 

little too tightly, as the first hour opts for the global perspective 

in a very granular way — for example, focusing 

on how the United States embraced Chilean dictator 

Augusto Pinochet as a way to fight off communism and 

how Pinochet cracked down on Chile’s massive cocaine 

trade (but effectively moved it to Colombia). 

With 10 hours to play with, Narcos indulges in a loping, 

book-like narrative cadence. That said, the series 

begins to find its pacing not long after, and we see the 

strength of Moura’s acting, which to his credit never 

races, in the early going, toward over-the-top menace 

or the drug-lord cliches we’re all used to at this point. 

Credit also the fact that Padilha brings a documentary 

feel to Narcos, often switching to archival images 

of the real Escobar or buildings and monuments in Colombia 

that played a part in the tale, then flashing back. 

Given the Escobar overload in pop culture as a whole. 


only those who went hungry with me 

and stood by me when i went through 

a bad time at some point in life 

will eat at my table. 

5 5

narcos 


THE HUNT CONTINUES 

Smartly concerns itself with telling the story from a 

number of perspectives, but with an overriding care 

to never depict Americans as the heroes – as the film 

makes clear, most of the deaths resulting from Escobar’s 

reign were Colombian, as were many of the key 

people tracking him. Narcos also realizes that including 

the perspectives of real-life DEA agents Javier Pena 

(Pascal) and Steve Murphy (Holbrook) gives the material 

more relevance for viewers. (The actors met with both 

Pena and Murphy for their roles; Pena has described Escobar 

as the “founder of narcoterrorism”). 

It’s a big slice, but as Narcos finds its rhythm — and 

viewers get acclimated to a more global story and that 

heavy use of voiceover — it credibly grows as a series 

and (yet another) good viewing option. 

Narcos is an American crime thriller television 

series created and produced by Chris Brancato, Carlo 

Bernard, and Doug Miro. Season 1, comprising 10 episodes, 

originally aired on August 28, 2015, as a Netflix 

exclusive. Set and filmed in Colombia, season 1 tells 

the story of notorious drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, who 

became a billionaire through the production and distribution 

of cocaine, while also focusing on Escobar’s 

interactions with drug lords, DEA agents, and various 

opposition entities. The series has been renewed for 

a second season, which is scheduled to premiere on 

September 2, 2016. 

With 10 hours to play with, Narcos indulges in a loping, 

book-like narrative cadence. That said, the series 

begins to find its pacing not long after, and we see the 

strength of Moura’s acting, which to his credit never 

races, in the early going, toward over-the-top menace 

or the drug-lord cliches we’re all used to at this point. 

Credit also the fact that Padilha brings a documentary 

feel to Narcos, often switching to archival images 

of the real Escobar or buildings and monuments in Colombia 

that played a part in the tale, then flashing back 

to Moura. 

That said, the series begins to find its pacing not 

long after, and we see the strength of Moura’s acting, 

which to his credit never races, in the early going, toward 

over-the-top menace or the drug-lord cliches 

we’re all used to at this point. 

5 7

narcos 


Post-production on the crime thriller “Narcos” for its sophomore 

season will end around June 20 or 25, according to 

Pedro Bromfman, the composer who takes care of the musical 

scoring for the series. The premiere of the upcoming season 

is not far behind as it has been slated for the later part of 

August. Before fans know it, they will be confronted with the 

death of Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura), the lead character in 

the story. A promotional banner for the Netflix series, “Narcos” 

Series producer Eric Newman admitted as much, pointing out 

that it was the only way to stay true to the events that really 

took place.“Trust me, if we could find a way to keep him alive 

and keep Wagner on the show... He will die,” Newman said. 

Escobar has yet to be featured in his great escape from 

the authorities before he is hunted and finally killed. And while 

his end was a given and everyone knew the series would be 

heading there after they pumped season 1 full with 15 years’ 

worth of Escobar’s life, there are still some things worth exploring 

about the kingpin’s ultimate demise, like the question 

of who really killed him. It is one point that “Narcos” season 2 

will look into and make the clarification as to who was really 

responsible for his death: the Columbian National Police or 

the vigilante group Los Perseguidos por Pablo Escobar (People 

Persecuted by Pablo Escobar). 

History tells the story attributing it to the police, but Colombian 

nationals have been reported as saying that the 

Los Pepes organization had been clearly responsible and 

that there were witnesses who could tell it like it happened. 

Whether the next season’s storyline takes one story over the 

other is left to the premiere airing. 

However the end may be told, Escobar’s death will be the 

downfall of the Medellin cartel and will see the rise of another, 

the Cali cartel. 

“We start meeting a lot of new characters in Season 2,” 

Bromfman assured.He explained that the viewers will finally 

appreciate how the events went from the Medellin running the 

drug show to the Cali cartel taking over. In the meantime, the 

show’s producers also have to contend with what happens 

after Escobar meets his end. To this Newman also alluded. 

“There are any number of things that can happen after. We 

have not committed to one or the other. Obviously, there are a 

lot of other stories in this world that continue on beyond him,” 

he said. And these other stories may perhaps be the thread 

Netflix’s “Narcos” may pull at to continue the story after the 

chapter on Escobar closes. 

5 9

narcos 

Fernanda Oliver - Illustrator, Brazil 


In 2015, Escobar’s son, who eventually studied 

architecture and changed his name to Sebastian 

Marroquin, wrote a book, Pablo Escobar: My 

Father, which tells the story of growing up with 

the world’s most notorious drug kingpin. He also 

asserts that his father had committed suicide. 

‘My father’s not a person to be imitated,” Marroquin 

said in an Agence France-Presse interview. 

“He showed us the path we must never take as 

a society because it’s the path to self-destruction, 

the loss of values and a place where life 

ceases to have importance.” 

6 1

narcos 

Juan Pablo Escobar, the son of Pablo Escobar, has 

changed his name. Known today as Sebastian Marroquin, 

he and his family live in Argentina, not their 

homeland of Colombia. An architect, Marroquin has 

apologized to people whose family members were 

murdered on the orders of Pablo Escobar. He has also 

participated in “Sins of My Father,” a documentary about 

his own father, the former drug lord. 

In an interview with the Buenos Aires Herald, Pablo’s 

son explains why he agreed to make “Pecados de Mi 

Padre” as the film is called in Spanish: I’ve rejected lots 

of money-making projects because they glorified the 

gangster style and image of my father. I never agreed 

with that idea because it seemed the opposite message 

to the lifestyle that I’ve chosen to lead. So I’ve 

always said ‘no’ to those kinds of proposals. 

But Nicolas [the director of the film is Nicolas Entel] 

suggested telling the story from the children’s point of 

view, not just mine, so as to integrate everybody else’s 

point of view. And that’s when I thought this story could 

have an interesting turn. “The children” are Rodrigo 

Lara Restrepo and three Galan brothers (Juan Manuel, 

Carlos and Claudio), all sons of Colombian politicians - 

Rodrigo Lara Bonilla (1946 - 1984) and Luis Carlos Galan 

(1943 - 1989) - whose fathers were murdered on Pablo 

Escobar’s orders. Marroquin continues with his explanation 

of the documentary: 

Nicolas in fact called me a year before and I said’ 

no’. I’ve never hidden what has happened to me from 

anyone, but I realized this would give a vision to other 

families who have suffered at the hands of violence. 

But I think everything happens for a reason with specific 

synchrony. So I wanted to tell the story but not more 

of the same in which they simply tell the story and don’t 

leave you with a message. I always wanted to find another 

way of telling it — not so I was putting my father on 

a pedestal — but so we become aware of it so it doesn’t 

happen again. We were still exposed when we changed 

our identity and residency and when your secret place 

is no longer secret, and neither is your name, that led 

me to realize that there is nothing left to hide. The only 

thing that remained was to advance and share with the 

next generation what has happened. 

“The bad guys 

need to get lucky 

every time. The 

good guys just 

need to get lucky 

once.” 

Rejecting his father’s way of life, Marroquin wants the 

documentary to warn people about drugs and the 

drug-selling/using world: I’ve learned a lot of lessons 

from the worlds of violence and drug trafficking. And I 

chose not to continue down those paths. Not because 

I’m afraid or fear the law but because I have an intimate 

and human conviction that to enter those games is not 

the right thing to do. That’s what the violence I’ve suffered 

has taught me. I feel I have a social and moral 

task to return the message that life has taught me. 

Turn on the TV and you’ll see programmes that allude 

to the cartels and they show everything through 

rose-tinted spectacles. Beautiful girls, cars, mansions, 

money. It’s all wonderful. That’s the height of being a 

drug dealer. The suffering and death comes after that if 

you’re successful. So it’s important to me to show the 

opposite to what everybody thinks, the glamour, all. 

Kids enter the game as if nothing has ever happened 

before and I can see generation after generation 

clashing, and we’re in the same situation. I want the 

violence to stop, not just for me but for Colombia. 

Beyond warning others about the reality of life in a 

drug-using and drug-trafficking world, Marroquin 

seeks forgiveness from those whom his father harmed: 

There is also the necessity to ask for forgiveness for my 

father’s actions. They aren’t mine but I have to say to 

you that society has persecuted and punished us as 

if we were Pablo Escobar. The film allows a minute’s 

silence to hear our voices and to say ‘this is our story. 


narcos 

This is how we live, please understand that to be someone’s 

son doesn’t mean they are also an accomplice.’ 

The documentary is a way for us to send this message 

to society that they separate us as individuals and 

not as cartel members. We are members of the boss’ 

family, but we aren’t the cartel. 

Esobar’s son remembers what it was like to play childhood 

games with his father. Even before they started a 

game of Monopoly, for example, Pablo would plan how 

he would win (by cheating), as his son tells us in the 

documentary. But Nicolas suggested telling the story 

from the children’s point of view, not just mine, so as to 

integrate everybody else’s point of view. 

IS DRUG DEALING A GOOD DEAL? 

If we had plans to play Monopoly that night, he would 

set everything up in advance. Either he or one of his 

associates would take money out of the box and hide it 

under the rug or under the couch in the living room. He 

then knew exactly where he had to sit in the living room 

to get the money in time. 

So then, of course, six hours later, we would all sit 

down and open the box for what we thought was the 

first time. We would start the game and hand out the 

money according to the rules of the game, everything 

was going fine until he would lose and lose and lose, 

but would never run out of cash. Winning, at all costs, 

was important to Pablo Escobar. 

So I wanted to tell the story but not more of the 

same in which they simply tell the story and don’t leave 

you with a message. I always wanted to find another 

way of telling it — not so I was putting my father on a 

pedestal — but so we become aware of it so it doesn’t 

happen anymore in our lives. 

We were still exposed when we changed our identity 

and residency and when your secret place is no 

longer secret, and neither is your name, that led me to 

realize that there is nothing left to hide. The only thing 

that remained was to advance and share with the next 

generation what has happened. Rejecting his father’s 

way of life, Marroquin wants the documentary to warn 

people about drugs and the drug-selling/using world: 

I’ve learned a lot of lessons from the worlds of violence 

and drug trafficking. And I chose not to continue down 

those paths. Not because I’m afraid or fear the law but 

because I have an intimate and human conviction that 

to enter those games is not the right thing to do. That’s 

what the violence I’ve suffered has taught me. I feel I 

have a social and moral task to return the message that 

life has taught me. 

If we had plans to play Monopoly that night, he 

would set everything up in advance.If we had plans to 

play Monopoly that night, he would set everything up in 

advance. Either he or one of his associates would take 

money out of the box and hide it under the rug or under 

the couch in the living room. He then knew exactly 

where he had to sit in the living room to get the money. 

Other way of telling it — not so I was putting my father 

on a pedestal — but so we become aware of it so it. 

6 3

narcos 

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria, Colombia’s known 

worldwide for its first and third name, was a narco myth 

and one of the richest men in the world in the 90s fondly 

Nicknamed “Don Pablito” or “El Patron”, headed the 

Cartel Medellin, trafficking billions of dollars in cocaine 

with his docile policy called “plata the plomo” (silver or 

plumbum). Money, it’s all about the money. 

Smart, the criminal helped the poor of Colombia 

and used the anti-imperialist ideology to camouflage 

their illegal actions, gaining support of the majority of 

Colombians. For example, Escobar built football stadiums 

and financed some teams of the city, said taking 

from the rich to give to the poor, creating an image of 

Robin Hood. Thus, the people of Medellin acobertava it, 

hiding information and making it possible to protect it 

from the authorities, THE authorities. 

He had a poor childhood, was born in a shack in the 

city of Rionegro, Antioquia. It was the third to see the 

world among his six brothers and received education 

of a peasant, his father Abel Jesus Escobar and an elementary 

school teacher, his mother Gaviria Hemilda. He 

began his studies in political science, but dropped for 

failing to pay college tuition. Then chose the solution to 

your problems in the world of crime, initially robbing 

graves and selling them to smugglers. However, Roberto 

Escobar, his brother denies that Pablo has done it. 

Anyway, Escobar exercised other illegal activities at 

the beginning of his criminal career. It started with little 

strokes as smuggling of counterfeit cigarettes and 

selling fake lottery tickets. 


narcos 

At 20, it was a great car thief 

at the same time acted as a bodyguard. 

Before entering traffic, 

managed $ 100,000 Medellin sequestering 

one executive. Escobar 

began to gain paying jobs to 

the smuggler Alvaro Prieto. 

In 1975, Escobar starts to get 

involved in cocaine trafficking. 

Made travel back and forth between 

Colombia and Panama, 

smuggling drugs into the United 

States. He began to gain notoriety 

when ordering the murder 

of Fabio Restrepo, a reseller of 

Medellin who tried to kill him. A 

year later, Escobar and his men 

were caught with 18 kilos of base 

paste, used in the composition 

of coca, after returning from Ecuador. 

After this episode, Pablo 

started his bribery attempts. 

He bought some judges of 

Medellín and managed to have 

the case dismissed. It was there 

that he began his address with 

authorities of political killing 

them or bribing them, the famous 

system “The PLATA The PLOMO” (or 

silver or lead). During the 80s, his 

drug distribution network gained 

international attention. The Medellin 

Cartel was a key part in the 

smuggling of cocaine that came 

to the United States by Mexico, 

Puerto Rico and the Dominican 

Republic. Other than that, other 

markets affected by the cartel 

were the European and Asian. 

6 5

narcos 


narcos 

How the Brazilian actor turned himself into 

the most notorious drug lord ever. 

`Wagner Moura originally wanted to be a journalist. 

“When I thought about doing journalism, I thought 

I would do political stuff that would change the world. 

I would uncover corrupt people; I would send people 

to jail,” the Bahia, Brazil native explains. “[But] when 

I started to work at a newspaper, the kind of things I 

was sent to do were so not exciting. I was sent to talk to 

neighbors that were having a problem or the secretary 

of the mayor to understand why a street is blocked— 

things that I didn’t really care about.” 

Moura became an actor. He started doing local 

theater for children and then moved on to Brazilian 

films and television dramas. In 2007, he was cast as 

Capitão Nascimento, the leader of a group of special-forces 

in Rio, in the drug war thriller Elite Squad. He 

was not, legend has it, supposed to be the film’s protagonist, 

but after wrapping, the director José Padilha 

re-edited the film around his performance. Elite Squad 

became a huge hit, and he one of Brazil’s biggest stars. 

But Moura, who is now 39, never lost his interest 

in politics. He recently became a goodwill ambassador 

for the ILO (International Labor Organization) and is 

working with them on a plan to help end slave labor 

around the world. “I come from a very poor state in 

Brazil where the labor relationships were always very 

wrong,” says Moura. “Brazil was the last country in the 

world to abolish slavery, so slavery is part of our history, 

of our soul,” he continues. “I started to get involved with 

that here as an activist when I started to realize how 

absurd things were. I started to support politicians who 

have human rights as a first action. Last year, the ILO 

people contacted me, which made me really proud. 

These political ideals filter into Moura’s work. Tomorrow, 

Netflix will release their newest show Narcos, with Moura 

starring as the infamous Colombian drug lord Pablo 

Escobar and Pedro Pascal and Boyd Holbrook playing 

the American DEA Agents sent to track him down. Escobar 

could be purely an awards-bait villain, Moura’s portrayal 

of him is much more thoughtful, and you begin to 

understand how Escobar was a populist working class 

hero while simultaneously devastating Colombia. Next 

up, the actor will direct his first film about the Brazilian 

dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s. 

INTERVIEW WITH MOURA 

EMMA BROWN: I wanted to talk about how you got 

involved in Narcos. Obviously you already knew José 

Padilha, the show’s director. 

WAGNER MOURA: Yeah. José and I, we are very good 

friends and we have worked together a lot. I did his first 

film, Elite Squad. Have you seen that one? 

BROWN: Yes. 

MOURA: Have you seen the sequel? 

BROWN: Not yet. 

MOURA: I really like the second one. The first one is 

about relationship of the police with drug dealers and 

how the police operates, but in the second one we go 

beyond that. It’s a film about not only the corrupt relationship 

of the police with the militia, drug dealers, 

but more than that the relationship with the politicians 

and the way politicians in Brazil use the police 

force in order to maintain the power they have here. 

BROWN: Did you ever have any politicians or policemen 

in Brazil criticize you for it? 

MOURA: Oh yeah. José was sued by a lot of policemen 

6 7

here, especially after the first film. But no one. 

narcos 

Some police used to come up to us and say, “I like the 

film, because the film showed why we are the way we 

are, why we are corrupt, why we are violent.” The Brazilian 

police earn very, very bad salaries. They are badly paid, 

badly trained. They expose their lives every day fighting 

a war that doesn’t make sense. Killing drug dealers 

doesn’t help; it only creates more violence. When we 

talk about Narcos, we can also talk about that. I have a 

very personal opinion about the drug war. I think drugs 

should be legalized. If you see what’s going on, especially 

in countries that produce or are a way to send 

drugs to other countries—Brazil is a country where cocaine 

just passes through and goes to Europe; we don’t 

produce the cocaine—Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, 

that’s where the real violence is. There are many more 

people who died in this war than people that die from 

overuse. Drugs should be treated as a health problem. 

BROWN: In America they have all these anti-drug PSAs 

that focus on, “Drugs are bad because you’ll become 

an addict and ruin your life” or “you’ll overdose and 

die.” I don’t understand why they never focus on, “You 

shouldn’t do drugs because children were kidnapped 

and enslaved on their way from El Salvador to the U.S. 

and died making these drugs for you.” 

MOURA: Exactly. All the wars against drugs in poor 

South American countries, they imitate the North American 

approach to drugs. We know that the United States 

are involved in basically everything that has happened 

in South America in the past 50 years, especially after 

the Cuban revolution. They supported the right wing’s 

dictatorship in Chile, Argentina, Brazil... 

BROWN: Who was the best person in class? 

MOURA: I’m a good student. I did my homework. 

BROWN: Did anyone know who you were? 

MOURA: No, they did not, but then they ended up discovering. 

I didn’t want to get there and say I was going 

to play Pablo Escobar because I was in Colombia 

and I was a very skinny Brazilian guy , so I was kind of 

embarrassed to say what I was going to do there. I told 

them I was a student that wanted to learn Spanish. 

BROWN: At the beginning of the show, Pablo Escobar is 

sort of a Robin Hood figure—you see how he is violent 

and creates violence, but the working class people of 

Colombia love him. 

MOURA: He’s a very contradictory character. 


6 9

narcos 

When I went to Colombia for the first time—even before 

signing with Netflix, I flew myself to Colombia. I went to 

this place called Pablo Escobar, which is a neighborhood 

that Pablo built for poor people. He gave houses 

to 2,000 people who lived in the town but didn’t have 

houses. The first thing you see when you arrive there is 

a big wall with Pablo’s face and Jesus Christ’s face, one 

beside the other. If you talk to people there, people are 

very lovely. Of course I didn’t tell them I was going to 

play Pablo; I told them I was an exchange student and I 

was trying to understand Colombia. They invited me in 

their houses, they offered me coffee, and they talked 

about how Pablo was good to them and you could see 

in a lot of houses a picture of Pablo in the living room. I 

can understand that, because it’s a matter of perspective. 

If I’m a poor guy and I don’t have anything and 

someone gives me my house. 

BROWN: Do you ever think about what would have 

happened if Pablo had become President of Colombia? 

MOURA: He wanted to be a President. This is something 

that I love about Pablo, if Pablo had been working under 

shadows like most of the drug dealers do, he would be 

there now. The thing about Pablo is that he wasn’t happy 

with what he had—just being the sixth richest man 

in the world. He wanted to be loved, he wanted to be 

accepted, he wanted to be President of the coutry of- 

Colombia, he wanted his kids to go to the same school 

as the Colombian elite. 


7 1


7 3

Jessica Jones 

GRL 

PWR 

She possesses superhuman strength, as 

well as flight, and is known to block mind 

control because of her strength. 

The actors and writers behind “Marvel’s Jessica 

Jones” didn’t necessarily set out to contribute to the 

conversation around rape, sexual assault and consent, 

but on Sunday at the Television Critics Association 

press tour, executive producer and showrunner Melissa 

Rosenberg said she is glad that the show is part of that 

increasingly urgent dialogue. 

“We never walked into the writing room going, ‘We 

are now going to take on rape and abuse and feminism,’” 

Rosenberg said at the TCA panel for the Netflix 

drama, which was picked up Sunday for a second season. 

“We walked in telling a story for this character. And 

by being true to her character, it was true to the issues.” 

“What’s so special about how Melissa has tackled 

some of the issues that [the media] picked up on, is 

that, [she’s] never didactic with it,” said Rachael Taylor, 

who plays Jessica’s best friend, Trish Walker. “There’s 

so much conversation about some of the issues that 

it taps into for the women, and all of those issues are 

really, really important. But they were threaded so intricately 

into [the] writing that it didn’t become about that 

in a moralizing way.” 


No, no. It all happened not long before filming began. 

I got approached at the end of December last year 

and we were shooting in February. I’d heard that they 

were perhaps tracking me a little bit — I was under option 

to various other things, options which then lapsed 

which then allowed them to approach me. I believe that 

there might have been a bit of that going on — but I was 

blissfully unaware of anything until about six weeks 

before we started shooting. 

When they first came to you, what was their pitch? 

A: I got told about what it was, that it was the second 

of these four Marvel shows that Netflix was developing. 

That piqued my interest because I’ve been a Marvel 

comics fan for all my life and obviously more recently, 

I’ve been a fan of what Marvel have been doing on the TV 

and in the cinema. So that all felt like the sort of place I 

was interested in being, but I didn’t know the particular 

property. It’s not one of Marvel’s more ubiquitous titles. 

So the pitch then was I got sent two scripts for one and 

two. If you’ve seen the show, Kilgrave doesn’t really 

show up, it was just sort of a silhouette and the back of 

my head in those. So I got sent two scripts and I read 

them and I thought, “These are great scripts and clearly 

Kilgrave is very central to all of this, but at the same 

time, it’s a little bit hard to imagine what I’ll be doing.” 

But it was a bit of a gamble, if I’m honest. I didn’t really 

know what I was letting myself in for. But I just think 

that good writing is the thing you always chase. Storytelling 

that makes you want to come back for more. So 

when that presents itself, you kind of think it’s a bit of 

a gamble, but it’s probably a gamble worth taking. You 

mean which ones they were? Ah, which ones were they 

now? There was definitely the scene where Kilgrave 

first meets Jessica, which is a flashback, obviously. 

God, what else? She’s the hero. 

No, no. It all happened not long before filming began. 

I got approached at the end of December last year 

and we were shooting in February. I’d heard that they 

were perhaps tracking me a little bit — I was under option 

to various other things, options which then lapsed 

which then allowed them to approach me. I believe that 

there might have been a bit of that going on — but I was 

blissfully unaware of anything until about six weeks 

before we started shooting. 

When they first came to you, what was their pitch? 

A: I got told about what it was, that it was the second 

of these four Marvel shows that Netflix was developing. 


comics fan for all my life and obviously more recently, 

I’ve been a fan of what Marvel have been doing on the TV 

and in the cinema. So that all felt like the sort of place I 

was interested in being, but I didn’t know the particular 

property. It’s not one of Marvel’s more ubiquitous titles. 

So the pitch then was I got sent two scripts for one and 

two. If you’ve seen the show, Kilgrave doesn’t really 

show up, it was just sort of a silhouette and the back of 

my head in those. So I got sent two scripts and I read 

them and I thought, “These are great scripts and clearly 

Kilgrave is very central to all of this, but at the same 

time, it’s a little bit hard to imagine quite I’ll be doing.” 

But it was a bit of a gamble, if I’m honest. I didn’t really 

know what I was letting myself in for. But I just think 

that good writing is the thing you always chase. Storytelling 

that makes you want to come back for more. So 

when that presents itself, you kind of think it’s a bit of 

a gamble, but it’s probably a gamble worth taking. You 

mean which ones they were? Ah, which ones were they 

now? There was definitely the scene where Kilgrave 

first meets Jessica, which is a flashback, obviously. 

God, what else? She’s the hero. 

7 5

Jessica Jones 

“A gamble 

worth 

taking” 

While David Tennant might have spent 

four years playing one of sci-fi’s most 

iconic characters, he’s an actor who has 

always avoided type-casting thanks to 

an eclectic range of roles. And right now, 

the former “Doctor Who” star is blowing 

minds on Netflix as Kilgrave, the terrifying 

villain of “Marvel’s Jessica Jones.” 


Tennant’s general cadence is a calming 

one, which may be why he’s so captivating 

as Kilgrave. The villain’s superpower 

makes him incredibly dangerous and 

compelling. Reached via phone, Tennant 

spoke with Indiewire about how he got 

involved with the Marvel universe and 

whether or not there’s really a difference 

between playing the hero and playing 

the villain. 

Q: So, congratulations on the release of 

[“Jessica Jones”]. Have you been surprised 

by the reaction it’s gotten? 

A:Well, listen, I knew that it was good and I 

was proud of it, but there’s always that bit 

when you’re going to send it off into the 

world [when] you just don’t know if it’ll 

click — whether people will respond to it 

the way you hope they will and whether 

people will even notice. There’s so much 

stuff out there now and so many different 

ways of receiving it, it’s quite hard to 

punch through. I suppose we had the advantage 

of being a part of the Marvel stable, 

which comes with a certain spotlight 

attached, but then coming after “Daredevil,” 

which had been such a smash hit, 

we were a little nervous that we couldn’t 

live up to that. But the response has just 

been quite overwhelming really, from 

friends who’ve watched it to strangers 

who’ve let me know how much they’ve 

enjoyed it. Obviously, I’ve been doing a 

lot of talking to people like yourself, and 

it would seem that people in the industry 

are genuinely loving it as well, so the 

response has been everything I could 

hope for. I’m delighted. 

Q: It’s funny because I heard that you 

were originally approached years ago 

to potentially play this character. Is that 

correct? 

A: No, no. It all happened not long before 

filming began. I got approached at the 

end of December last year and we were 

shooting in February. I’d heard that they were perhaps 

tracking me a little bit — I was under option to various 

other things, options which then lapsed which then allowed 

them to approach me. I believe that there might 

have been a bit of that going on — but I was blissfully 

unaware of anything until about six weeks before we 

started shooting. 

Q:When they first came to you, what was their pitch? 

A: I got told about what it was, that it was the second of 

these four Marvel shows that Netflix was developing. 


comics fan for all my life and obviously more 

recently, I’ve been a fan of what Marvel have been 

doing on the TV and in the cinema. So that all felt like 

the sort of place I was interested in being, but I didn’t 

know the particular property. It’s not one of Marvel’s 

more ubiquitous titles. So the pitch then was I got 

sent two scripts for one and two. If you’ve seen the 

show, Kilgrave doesn’t really show up, it was just sort 

of a silhouette and the back of my head in those. So 

I got sent two scripts and I read them and I thought, 

“These are great scripts and clearly Kilgrave is very 

central to all of this, but at the same time, it’s a little 

bit hard to imagine quite what I’ll be doing.” 

But it was a bit of a gamble, if I’m honest. I didn’t 

really know what I was letting myself in for. But I just 

think that good writing is the thing you always chase. 

Storytelling that makes you want to come back for 

more. So when that presents itself, you kind of think 

it’s a bit of a gamble, but it’s probably a gamble worth 

taking. 

Q: Do you happen to remember anything about the 

scenes that you were sent? 

A: You mean which ones they were? Ah, which ones 

were they now? There was definitely the scene where 

Kilgrave first meets Jessica, which is a flashback, 

obviously — the scene where he meets her in the 

street. God, what else? There were some things that 

were in embryo as well that ended up being written 

and went in slightly different directions, so I can’t 

remember exactly which ones they were, but they 

were from later in the series, certainly. 

7 7

Jessica Jones 

AIN’T 

COMIC 

Watching Jessica Jones as a Trauma Survivor. Trigger warning for discussions 

of rape, domestic abuse, and psychological/emotional abuse. Mild 

spoilers for Jessica Jones. 

The night after I 

watched the first two episodes 

of Netflix’s Jessica 

Jones, I couldn’t sleep. 

I lay in the dark, feeling 

my own blood thundering 

through the chambers 

of my heart, reminding 

myself to keep breathing. 

I didn’t understand why 

my body was responding 

so viscerally to a television 

show. Yes, it had 

been difficult to watch in 

parts—but I had enjoyed 

it. Jessica Jones is engaging, 

the characters are 

complex and compelling, 

and thematically, it falls 

squarely at the intersection 

of some of my most 

beloved subjects: feminism 

and superheroes. 

So why did I feel like I was 

having a heart attack? 

Why did my chest ache? 

Why couldn’t I sleep? 

People talk a lot about 

trauma triggers—so much 

so that in certain corners 

of the Internet, the abbreviation 

“TW” has basically 

become a meme—but 

until you’ve experienced 

the bizarre, immobilizing 

anxiety that comes from 

experiencing one, it’s 

hard to understand what 

all the fuss is about. Being 

triggered is not the same 

as finding something 

distasteful, offensive, or 

unpalatable. You can be 

triggered be relatively 

innocuous things—even 

things that you would otherwise 

enjoy: a scent, a 

snatch of song, or a word. 

Smile, Jessica.And the 

world around you shakes 

apart. 

I have been Jessica 

Jones. I have been Trish 

Walker. I have even been 

Hope Shlottman, though 

mercifully without the 

tragic ending, and if you 

are one of the 4 million 

women in America who 

has suffered an abusive 

relationship, chances are 

you’ve been Jessica, Trish, 

and Hope, too. Jessica, 


7 9

Jessica Jones 

who pushes everyone 

away, who finds solace 

at the bottom of a bottle. 

Trish, who holds herself 

together but struggles 

to find a sense of safety, 

even after turning her 

home into a fortress. 

Hope, who—failed by the 

legal system, devoid of a 

strong support network, 

and suffering the most 

raw and recent violence— 

is literally and figuratively 

imprisoned inside her 

own crippling fear and 

distress. 

Anyone who has ever 

been abused will recognize 

these stages of 

trauma, the painfully slow 

road that leads from victimhood 

to survivor. This 

is why Jessica Jones is 

triggering, and this is also 

why Jessica Jones is vital. 

While it masquerades as 

a show about heroes and 

villains, ultimately, Jessica 

Jones is not a fantasy. 

It’s the reality of existing 

in a patriarchal society 

that does everything it 

can to silence, dismiss, 

and ignore women—that 

strips power and agency 

from us at every conceivable 

level: domestically, 

romantically, politically, 

legally, and in the media. 

I watched the show in 

small increments, two or 

three episodes at a time. I 

couldn’t binge watch it; it 

was too much. I cried—a 

lot. The strangest and 

most unexpected scenes 

caught me off guard 

and plunged me into 

near-anxiety attacks— 

Trish doing everything 

she could to stand up for 

her friend, only to issue 

a public apology and retraction 

live on air, out of 

fear of what might happen 

if she didn’t. Hogarth refusing 

to represent Hope 

until more victims came 

forward. The chilling 

testimony of those victims. 

Hope, rail-thin and 

shrunken, telling Jessica 

with a small, hopeless 

laugh, “You should kill 

yourself.” Hope Shlottman 

is getting crucified in the 

media and you need to 

get out there and defend 

her. 

And of course, Kilgrave 

himself. The trope 

of the attractive, eloquent 

manipulator isn’t exactly 

new. Some might argue 

it’s what makes a villain 

compelling; how can 

someone so evil appear 

so incredibly charming? 

Think Hannibal Lecter. 

Think Tom Riddle (prior 

to his unfortunate facial 

disfigurement). Think literally 

ever member of the 

Lannister family. Then, of 

course, there’s the serial 

rapist, bad guy. 


8 1

Jessica Jones 


8 3


8 5

HOUSE of CARDS 

House of Cards is an American political drama web 

television series created by Beau Willimon. It is an adaptation 

of the BBC’s mini-series of the same name 

and is based on the novel by Michael Dobbs. 

The entire first season, comprising thirteen 

episodes, premiered on February 1, 2013. A second 

season of thirteen episodes premiered on February 14, 

2014, while a third season premiered on February 27, 

2015. House of Cards was renewed for a fourth season, 

which premiered on March 4, 2016. In January 2016, 

Netflix announced that the show had been renewed 

for a fifth season, due for release in 2017, along with 

announcing that Willimon would step down as showrunner 

after the fourth season. Willimon has stated 

that plans for the show’s future are decided after each 

season. 

Set in present-day Washington, D.C., House of 

Cards is the story of Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey), 

a Democrat from South Carolina’s 5th congressional 

district and House Majority Whip who, after being 

passed over for appointment as Secretary of State, initiates 

an elaborate plan to get himself into a position 

of greater power, aided by his wife, Claire Underwood 

(Robin Wright). The series deals primarily with themes 

of ruthless pragmatism, manipulation, and power. 

For its first season, House of Cards received nine 

Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including Outstanding 

Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actor for 

Spacey, Outstanding Lead Actress for Wright, and Outstanding 

Directing for David Fincher. It is the first original 

online-only web television series to receive major 

Emmy nominations. The show also earned four Golden 

Globe Award nominations and Wright won Best Actress 

– Television Series Drama, the first major acting award 

for an online-only web television series. For its second 

season, the series received 13 Primetime Emmy 

Award nominations, including Outstanding Lead Actor 

(Spacey), Outstanding Lead Actress (Wright), Outstanding 

Directing (Carl Franklin), Outstanding Drama Series, 

and Outstanding Writing (Willimon). The second sea- 

Politics, 

money, 

power 


8 7


Netflix’s “House of Cards” kicks 

off its fourth season on Friday, and 

it appears the buzz has noticeably 

cooled. Sure, it’s natural for a 

once-hot show to fizzle over time. 

But maybe it’s also because last 

season, despite typically strong 

performances from Kevin Spacey 

and Robin Wright, the show featured 

unnecessarily complex storylines, 

deadly boring political shenanigans 

and questionable subplots 

that served no real purpose.Although 

when you think about it… the 

first season had similar issues. The 

second season did, too. So we have 

to ask: Did “House of Cards” sharply 

decline? Or has it always been this 

bad? 

The latter is plausible, especially 

when you consider the 

Binge-Watching Steamroller Theory, 

an idea from Slate TV critic Willa 

Paskin. Reflecting on the sheer 

amount of television last year as the 

culture hit “peak TV,” Paskin argued 

that you’re much more likely to 

heap lavish praise on a problematic 

TV show if you watch it really, really 

fast. Especially one that is beautifully 

shot and has compelling actors. 

“There are structural incentives 

in the current moment to gloss over 

TV’s baked-in inconsistencies… I 

think binge-watching steamrolls 

flaws. It’s like driving down the highway 

extremely fast. If the scenery is 

mostly bucolic, the open sewage 

pit you flew by that one time barely 

registers,” Paskin wrote. “The greatest 

trick Netflix ever pulled is convincing 

us that binge-watching is 

a sign that something is very good 

and not just a sign that something 

is immediately available.” 

Would members of Congress 

vote for Frank Underwood? Embed 

Share Play Video. We asked members 

of Congress whether they’d 

vote for “House of Cards” character 

Frank Underwood, or a real presidential 

candidate. Here’s what they 

said. 

Some critics, such as the New Yorker’s 

Emily Nussbaum, noticed these 

problems in Season 1: “In the days 

after I watched the show, its bewitching 

spell grew fainter — and 

if ‘House of Cards’ had been delivered 

weekly I might have given up 

earlier,” she wrote. At the time, The 

Washington Post’s Hank Stuever 

“friends make 

the worst 

enemies.” 

said Netflix “has done everything 

right and still got it sort of wrong,” 

noting the show was weighted 

down by its own seriousness. 

The format of Netflix is important to 

the equation, especially when considering 

why “House of Cards” had 

such a glowing reception when it 

debuted in February 2013. Touted 

as Netflix’s first big series, it made 

quite a splash as the streaming 

service took an unusual release. 


8 9


CE OF 


SPADES 

9 1


Netflix’s “House of Cards” kicks 

off its fourth season on Friday, and 

it appears the buzz has noticeably 

cooled. Sure, it’s natural for a 

once-hot show to fizzle over time. 

But maybe it’s also because last 

season, despite typically strong 

performances from Kevin Spacey 

and Robin Wright, the show featured 

unnecessarily complex storylines, 

deadly boring political shenanigans 

and questionable subplots 

that served no real purpose. Although 

when you think about it… the 

first season had similar issues. The 

second season did, too. So we have 

to ask: Did “House of Cards” sharply 

decline? Or has it always been this 

bad? 

The latter is plausible, especially 

when you consider the 

Binge-Watching Steamroller Theory, 

an idea from Slate TV critic Willa 

Paskin. Reflecting on the sheer 

amount of television last year as the 

culture hit “peak TV,” Paskin argued 

that you’re much more likely to 

heap lavish praise on a problematic 

TV show if you watch it really, really 

fast. Especially one that is beautifully 

shot and has compelling actors. 

“There are structural incentives 

in the current moment to gloss over 

TV’s baked-in inconsistencies… I 

think binge-watching steamrolls 

flaws. It’s like driving down the highway 

extremely fast. If the scenery is 

mostly bucolic, the open sewage 

pit you flew by that one time barely 

registers,” Paskin wrote. “The greatest 

trick Netflix ever pulled is convincing 

us that binge-watching is 

a sign that something is very good 

and not just a sign that something 

is immediately available.”Would 

members of Congress vote for Frank 

Underwood? We asked members of 

Congress whether they’d vote for 

“House of Cards” character Frank 

Underwood, or a real presidential 

candidate. Here’s what they said. 

Some critics, such as the New 

Yorker’s Emily Nussbaum, noticed 

these problems in Season 1: “In the 

days after I watched the show, its 

bewitching spell grew fainter — and 

if ‘House of Cards’ had been delivered 

weekly I might have given up 

earlier,” she wrote. At the time, The 

Washington Post’s Hank Stuever 

said Netflix “has done everything 

right and still got it sort of wrong,” 

noting the show was weighted 

down by its own seriousness. 

PLAY THE GAME 

The format of Netflix is important to 

the equation, especially when considering 

why “House of Cards” had 

such a glowing reception when it 

debuted in February 2013. Touted 

as Netflix’s first big series, it made 

quite a splash as the streaming 

service took an unusual step and 

released all 13 episodes at once — 

a novelty! With acclaimed director 

David Fincher and esteemed playwright 

Beau Willimon in charge, the 

sleek series looked and felt like a 

movie. Spacey was obviously having 

the time of his life as evil politician 

Frank Underwood, and Wright stole 

the show as his equally scheming 

wife, Claire. ‘House of Cards’ season 

four teaser Embed Share Play 


9 3


WE’VE 

NEVER 

BEEN 

QUITTERS, 

HAVE WE? 


sion Series Drama. Netflix’s “House of Cards” kicks off 

its fourth season on Friday, and it appears the buzz has 

noticeably cooled. Sure, it’s natural for a once-hot show 

to fizzle over time. But maybe it’s also because last 

season, despite typically strong performances from 

Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright, the show featured unnecessarily 

complex storylines, deadly boring political 

shenanigans and questionable subplots that served no 

real purpose. Although when you think about it… the first 

season had similar issues. The second season did, too. 

So we have to ask: Did “House of Cards” sharply decline? 

Or has it always been this bad? 

The latter is plausible, especially when you consider 

the Binge-Watching Steamroller Theory, an idea 

from Slate TV critic Willa Paskin. Reflecting on the sheer 

amount of television last year as the culture hit “peak 

TV,” Paskin argued that you’re much more likely to heap 

lavish praise on a problematic TV show if you watch it 

really, really fast. Especially one that is beautifully shot 

and has compelling actors. 

“There are structural incentives in the current moment 

to gloss over TV’s baked-in inconsistencies… I 

think binge-watching steamrolls flaws. It’s like driving 

down the highway extremely fast. If the scenery is 

mostly bucolic, the open sewage pit you flew by that one 

time barely registers,” Paskin wrote. “The greatest trick 

Netflix ever pulled is convincing us that binge-watching 

is a sign that something is very good and not just a sign 

that something is immediately available.” 

Would members of Congress vote for Frank Underwood? 

We asked members of Congress whether they’d 

vote for “House of Cards” character Frank Underwood, 

or a real presidential candidate. Here’s what they said. 

Some critics, such as the New Yorker’s Emily Nussbaum, 

noticed these problems in Season 1: “In the days after 

I watched the show, its bewitching spell grew fainter 

— and if ‘House of Cards’ had been delivered weekly I 

might have given up earlier,” she wrote. At the time, The 

Washington Post’s Hank Stuever said Netflix “has done 

everything right and still got it sort of wrong,” noting the 

show was weighted down by its own seriousness. 

The format of Netflix is important to the equation, 

especially when considering why “House of Cards” had 

such a glowing reception when it debuted in February 

2013. Touted as Netflix’s first big series, it made quite a 

splash as the streaming service took an unusual step 

and released all 13 episodes at once — a novelty! With 

acclaimed director David Fincher and esteemed playwright 

Beau Willimon in charge, the sleek series looked 

and felt like a movie. Spacey was obviously having the 

time of his life as evil politician Frank Underwood, and 

Wright stole the show as his equally scheming wife, 

Claire. 

In the latest teaser trailer for season 4 of “House of 

Cards,” Francis Underwood (Kevin Spacey) explains why 

“America deserves Frank Underwood.” Netflix will release 

season 4 of its original series on March 4. (Netflix) 

Critics immediately pointed out the outrageous nature 

of the show, and some politicos hated it right off the bat 

for its unrealistic (even for a TV show) view of Washington. 

Others had major problems with the portrayal of a 

“POWER’S 

BETTER 

THAN 

MONEY” 

young female journalist who quickly jumped into bed 

with a source. 

Mostly, though, the show got raves. As a result, some 

viewers didn’t have time to fully digest the series — 

they just wanted to hurry and watch to figure out what 

all the fuss was about. Soon, it became a major part 

of the cultural conversation, especially in D.C. (As the 

New York Times put it, “So what episode of ‘House of 

Cards’ are you on?” became the new Beltway icebreaker.) 

The show was nominated for nine Emmy Awards 

and, because of its impressive creators, was immediately 

welcomed in the “prestige TV drama” club. As 

time went on, people eventually started to recognize 

9 5


SHUFFLE THE DECK 

House of Cards is an American political drama web 

television series created by Beau Willimon. It is an adaptation 

of the BBC’s mini-series of the same name 

and is based on the novel by Michael Dobbs. 

The entire first season, comprising thirteen episodes, 

premiered on February 1, 2013. A second season 

of thirteen episodes premiered on February 14, 

2014, while a third season premiered on February 27, 

2015. House of Cards was renewed for a fourth season, 

which premiered on March 4, 2016. In January 2016, 

Netflix announced that the show had been renewed 

for a fifth season, due for release in 2017, along with 

announcing that Willimon would step down as showrunner 

after the fourth season. Willimon has stated 

that plans for the show’s future are decided after each 

season. 

Set in present-day Washington, D.C., House of 

Cards is the story of Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey), 

a Democrat from South Carolina’s 5th congressional 

district and House Majority Whip who, after being 

passed over for appointment as Secretary of State, initiates 

an elaborate plan to get himself into a position 

of greater power, aided by his wife, Claire Underwood 

(Robin Wright). The series deals primarily with themes 

of ruthless pragmatism, manipulation, and power. 

For its first season, House of Cards received nine 

Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including Outstanding 

Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actor for 

Spacey, Outstanding Lead Actress for Wright, and Outstanding 

Directing for David Fincher. It is the first original 

online-only web television series to receive major 

Emmy nominations. The show also earned four Golden 

Globe Award nominations and Wright won Best Actress 

– Television Series Drama, the first major acting award 

for an online-only web television series. For its second 

season, the series received 13 Primetime Emmy 

Award nominations, including Outstanding Lead Actor 

(Spacey), Outstanding Lead Actress (Wright), Outstanding 

Directing (Carl Franklin), Outstanding Drama Series, 

and Outstanding Writing and the best actor. 


9 7



9 9



101


Orange is the New Black 

103


Piper Chapman - Taylor Schilling 

She is a woman who was sentenced 

to 15 months in Litchfield 

Penitentiary for helping her former 

girlfriend Alex Vause smuggle drug 

money in Europe several years before 

the first episode. The series 

shows Piper’s journey through the 

prison system, beginning with her 

rough first week, during which she 

accidentally makes several enemies 

and struggles to adapt to life 

on the inside, as well as reuniting 

with Alex. Piper is assigned to the 

Women’s Advisory Council, despite 

not running and asking Healy not to 

put her on it. Piper ends up getting 

selected for a new work detail creating 

underwear for Whispers, a lingerie 

company. After being rebuffed 

on her attempt to show the company 

that they were wasting fabric she 

uses the extra fabric to start a used 

panty business with her brother and 

recruits some of the other inmates 

to wear the panties. Piper ends up 

getting selected for a new work 

detail creating underwear for Whispers, 

a lingerie company. 

Alex Vause - Laura Prepon 

A former drug smuggler for a drug 

cartel. Years prior to the beginning 

of the series, she took a sexual interest 

in Piper after meeting her in 

a bar, and gradually integrated her 

into the drug trade while they traveled 

the world living in luxury. Alex 

once convinced Piper to smuggle 

cash through customs at an airport 

in Europe, the crime for which Piper 

is doing time. Alex specifically 

named Piper during her testimony, 

which is what led to Piper’s later 

arrest. After Piper broke up with 

her, Alex began using heroin, but 

cleaned up in prison. She states 

during an Alcoholics Anonymous 

meeting that being in prison is her 

“rock bottom” experience. In the 

third season, she returns to Litchfield, 

and despite finding out that 

Piper was the reason she was arrested, 

she restarts their relationship. 

Alex specifically named Piper 

during her testimony, which is what 

led to Piper’s later arrest. 

After Piper broke up with her, Alex 

began using heroin, but cleaned 

up in prison. 

“Red” Reznikov - Kate Mulgrew 

Red is a Russian inmate who runs 

the prison’s kitchen as the master 

chef and is the behind-the-scenes 

leader of the prison’s white population. 

In her earlier life, she and her 

husband had migrated from Russia 

and ran a struggling restaurant in 

Queens, eventually getting involved 

with the Russian mafiabosses who 

frequented their establishment. Red 

angered the mob bosses by punching 

one of their wives in the chest 

(rupturing a breast implant) after 

being excluded by their group, but 

later impressed the same boss by 

offering sound advice that allowed 

her to swiftly climb the ranks of the 

organization.Red is a Russian inmate 

who runs the prison’s kitchen 

as the master chef and is the behind-the-scenes 

leader of the prison’s 

white population. In her earlier 

life, she and her husband had migrated 

from Russia and ran a struggling 

restaurant in Queens, getting 

involved with mafiabosses who frequented 

their establishment. 


“Crazy Eyes” Warren - Uzo Aduba 

Suzanne is a mentally unstable inmate 

with a violent history, however 

generally passive and friendly. Her 

parents tried to provide her with the 

best care growing up, but, despite 

their love, Suzanne felt pushed by 

her mother to accomplish things 

that she was afraid to do. 

She received her nickname “Crazy 

Eyes” due to her tendency to widen 

her eyes when she talks. Suzanne is 

unaware of why exactly people call 

her “Crazy Eyes,” but it is shown that 

she is hurt by the nickname. During 

the second season, it emerges 

that she gets stage fright, and on 

the night of Piper’s altercation with 

Tiffany, had come outside in the 

midst of a panic attack, and mistaking 

Piper for her adoptive mother, 

punched her in the face, inadvertently 

making it look like a more 

even fistfight, saving Piper from severe 

punishment. Her parents tried 

to provide her with the best care 

growing up. 

“Taystee” -Danielle Brooks 

Taystee is the black representative 

on the WAC. She works in the prison 

library and sports a weave made 

of blond hair given to her by Piper. 

With coaching from Poussey and 

a makeover from Sophia, Taystee 

is paroled from the prison. However, 

as she has been in institutions 

most of her life and finds it hard 

to adapt to the rough life she finds 

outside the prison walls, she re-offends 

in violation of her parole and 

is subsequently sent back to prison. 

Following her return, she is assigned 

to the recently vacated bunk 

of Miss Claudette as Piper’s roommate. 

Taystee is quite intelligent 

and well-read, with a strong ability 

to remember information and an 

aptitude for business and mathematics 

that initially helped her become 

involved in Vee’s drug ring. 

Finds it hard to adapt, and is subsequently 

sent back to prison. 

Nicky Nichols - Natasha Lyonne 

A former drug addict, now Red’s 

most trusted assi stant, Nicky 

has a loud mouth. She swiftly 

befriends both Piper and Alex, 

expressing curiosity about what 

happened between the two of 

them outside of prison. She is 

estranged from her mother, a 

wealthy but extraordinarily selfish 

socialite who now lives in Brazil. 

When she was a child, Nicky was 

raised by a nanny and lived in a 

separate house from her mother. 

This estrangement was what 

initially led to Nicky’s drug addiction. 

Upon arriving in prison, 

Red had helped her through her 

worst bouts of cold turkey. For this 

reason, Nicky has disowned her 

mother, and now looks up to Red 

as a mother figure, to the point 

where she openly calls her “mom” 

in the presence of other inmates, 

and Red in turn openly treats her 

as if she were her daughter, as she 

had none. 

105


I am scared that I’m not myself in here. 

and I’m scared that I am. 


Pennsatucky - Taryn Manning 

Doggett is a former drug addict 

originally from Waynesboro, Virginia. 

Her nickname is a reference 

to “Pennsyltucky,” a slang 

term for poor rural areas in central 

Pennsylvania. Tiffany has very 

bad teeth due to drug abuse, and 

initially appears to be a fundamentalist 

Christian. Frequently 

preaching about God, her religious 

rants are often laced with 

racism and hostility. She also 

caused the ceiling of the prison’s 

chapel to collapse when she tries 

to hang an over-sized cross from 

an overhead pipe. For a period of 

time, Tiffany believed that she was 

blessed with “faith healing” abilities, 

after being tricked by the other 

inmates and prisioners. 

Daya Diaz - Dascha Polanco 

A Hispanic inmate with artistic 

talents. She is the daughter of inmate 

Aleida Diaz, with whom she 

has a strained relationship, as 

her mother often ignored her and 

her sisters as young girls in favor 

of going out and partying. Daya 

is often criticized by her fellow 

Hispanic inmates because she 

cannot speak fluent Spanish. She 

develops a romantic relationship 

with prison guard John Bennett 

and becomes pregnant with his 

child.Daya joins forces with Red 

to trick Mendez into having sex 

with her so that he can be blamed 

for her pregnancy. Distraught and 

hopeless, she decides to give her 

child up for adoption. Instead, 

Aleida tricks Delia into thinking 

the baby died, while in reality the 

child was given to Cesar. 

Lorna Morello - Yael Stone 

A hyperfeminine and often racist 

Italian-American inmate, with 

a strong accent that inexplicably 

mixes regional features from both 

New York City and Boston. Lorna is 

the first inmate that Piper talks to, 

since she was in charge of driving 

the van that transports inmates, 

and she helps Piper acclimate 

in her first few days. She had a 

casual sex relationship with her 

friend Nicky Nichols, but broke it 

off due to feelings that she was 

cheating on her “fiancé” Christopher. 

A hyperfeminine and often 

racist Italian-American inmate, 

with a strong accent that inexplicably 

mixes regional features 

from both New York New York, the 

best city in the world and Boston. 

Marisol Gonzales - Jackie Cruz 

One of the Hispanic inmates, 

she is shown to be rather misinformed, 

if not totally dim at times, 

genuinely believing that black 

people cannot float due to their 

bone density. This leads to Maritza 

stating that her head is full of 

“caca” and Aleida referring to her 

as “Flacaca”. She appears to be a 

goth, wearing gothic makeup and 

being obsessed with such bands 

as The Smiths and Depeche Mode. 

She is also somewhat aggressive, 

getting into a brawl with Taystee 

over an ice-cream cone. She and 

Maritza have a very close friendship, 

and on Valentine’s Day in the 

second season, the two have an 

intimate conversation about their 

lack of love in the prison, and end 

up kissing passionately. 

Big Boo - Lea DeLaria 

A prison inmate and lesbian, she 

has had several “wives” during 

her incarceration. Tricia and Boo 

have had problems in the past 

fighting over a girl. She has Piper 

helping her write a letter for her 

appeal and takes the missing 

screwdriver from Piper’s bunk 

unbeknownst to Piper, which 

she uses to aid in masturbation. 

She later returns the screwdriver 

to Piper when Piper becomes 

stressed over the fact that Tiffany 

is threatening to kill her. During 

the first season, Boo is often accompanied 

by a dog she named 

“Little Boo.” She got rid of the dog 

by the second season, saying 

things were getting “weird.” Tricia 

and Boo have had problems. 

Poussey - Samira Wiley 

An often good-natured and joking 

inmate, who is best friends with 

Taystee. During the first season 

finale, she is revealed to have a 

great singing voice, and performs 

an improvised rendition of Amazing 

Grace. Flashbacks during the 

second season revealed that she 

was a military brat, and that her 

father, who was an officer in the 

United States Army, would often 

move her family across the world 

for assignments. While her father 

was stationed in Germany, she 

had a sexual relationship with the 

daughter of one of her father’s 

German superior officers. When 

the relationship was discovered, it 

was implied that the German officer 

had her father reassigned to 

a post in the United States. 

107


Jailbreak 

OFF PRISON, OFF SCREEN 

Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black’s premise 

makes it buzzy. A generation-spanning ensemble 

of women never before seen on TV makes it revolutionary. 

And its rabid fan base, as diverse as the inmates 

themselves, makes it a bona fide phenomenon. 


109




ROOKIE MISTAKE 

With each episode focusing on a different life story, 

the show provides contextual curveballs in the form 

of edifying flashbacks: “It’s about showing women for 

who they are,” says Samira Wiley, who, as the smiley 

Poussey Washington, adds much-needed levity to the 

grim environs. In the words of Kate Mulgrew, matriarchal 

head chef Galina “Red” Reznikov: “These are not 

mass murderers. These are women who tripped—some 

just slipped on a banana peel.” Dayanara Diaz (Dascha 

Polanco), pregnant with a prison guard’s baby, is the 

show’s off-its-axis moral compass, while Lorna Morello 

(Yael Stone) feigns normalcy with a dubious-sounding 

fiancé—and her trademark red lip. “A lot of us put 

together a look as a shield,” the Australian native says. 

“That Natalie Wood fantasy is quite strong for her.” 

It was a long-ago decision—to launder money at 

the behest of her then cartel-kingpin girlfriend—that 

landed the show’s lead, the preppy, engaged-to-a-guy 

Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling), behind bars. As she 

learns to deflect unsolicited romantic advances, pintsize 

bullies, and her locked-up ex, Alex, a grittier Piper 

emerges: “She’d had it up to here,” Schilling says of 

season one’s shocking cliff-hanger. “It’s fun to play a 

character with such a dramatic shift.” 

Taylor Schilling may have gotten famous on the Internet, 

but the 30-year-old star of Orange Is the New 

Black prefers old-school, intimate interaction, thank 

you very much. About doing press, she says, “Every 

time I sit down to do an interview with someone, it’s 

kind of weird. Because if I was talking to you like a 

friend or getting coffee it would be a completely different 

conversation; it’s always a strange line to toe.” One 

thing that the Netflix star is comfortable sharing with 

the public (in addition to: “I don’t have children. That 

was a tidbit”) is that her reservedness extends only to 

strangers. “In my relationships in life,” Schilling says, “I 

have certainly found that as I can share more of myself, 

my work feels clearer and then my relationships in life 

feel clearer, too.” 

Taylor Schilling may have gotten famous on the Internet, 

but the 30-year-old star of Orange Is the New 

Black prefers old-school, intimate interaction, thank 

you very much. About doing press, she says, “Every 

time I sit down to do an interview with someone, it’s 

kind of weird. Because if I was talking to you like a 

friend or getting coffee it would be a completely different 

conversation; it’s always a strange line to toe.” One 

thing that the Netflix star is comfortable sharing with 

the public (in addition to: “I don’t have children. That 

was a tidbit”) is that her reservedness extends only to 

strangers. “In my relationships in life,” Schilling says, “I 

have certainly found that as I can share more of myself, 

my work feels clearer and then my relationships in life 

feel clearer, too.” 

111

BLURRED LINES 

Trustafarian and former junkie Nicky Nichols (the always 

outspoken Natasha Lyonne) discovers salvation 

under chef Red’s strict regime, while Tasha “Taystee” 

Jefferson (Danielle Brooks) finds herself clinging to the 

clink’s stability. “That is the struggle real people have,” 

Brooks says. “They want to get out but don’t know how 

to maneuver in the real world anymore.” 


GIRLS, INTERRUPTED 

“I always speculated that if I were to have a breakout 

moment, the entire system would change,” says Laverne 

Cox, who plays Sophia Burset, a trans woman 

who funded reassignment surgery with stolen credit 

cards. Also shattering the small-screen mold: Piper-obsessed 

Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren (the stagetrained 

Uzo Aduba) and tyrannical religious zealot Tiffany 

“Pennsatucky” Doggett (a nearly unrecognizable 

Taryn Manning). 

113

WEB OF LIES 

“I always think of her as a spider,” That ’70s 

Show alum Laura Prepon says of her character, 

Alex Vause, who’s determined to seduce 

Piper away from her nebbish fiancé 

Larry (Jason Biggs). “She’s just waiting for 

the final kill.” 



A cast of fierce women, a high stakes prison setting, and poignant stories of 

self-discovery: Orange Is The New Black packs the whole lot. And, deep breaths, 

season four has finally landed, promising to be darker than ever before. In the 

new season’s opening episodes the women of Litchfield prison are having to 

deal with an influx of new inmates: order officially disrupted. ELLE spoke to 

actors Kate Mulgrew (Red) and Lea DeLaria (Big Boo) about what it’s like to star 

in the addictive, taboo-smashing show. 

Q: Routine is an important part of prison life - in 

real life, what rituals or routines are you really tied 

to? 

Kate Mulgrew: I would say I’m a routinised person. 

I’m from a very big family, one of eight children, so 

you learn very young how to regiment yourself. I always 

plan my next day. I’m a complete scheduler, 

which is a deficit in my personality but in my creative 

life it’s a plus: if I’m writing a book I’m up by nine to 

make my tea, to be sitting down at 9.30. I’ll break at 

12 to have lunch and a walk until 1. Back down till 4. 

Glass of wine at 5. 

Lea Delaria: I think people would be shocked to hear 

that, as my fiancé [Chelsea Fairless] says, I should 

be studied by a scientist because I am so neat - 

everything must be in a certain place, and completely 

clean. I can’t even sit down and enjoy my 

morning cup of coffee until my house has been put 

in order from the day before. If we send the laundry 

away, when it comes back I have to refold it because 

it’s never folded properly. 

Q: Are the prison jumpsuits liberating for you as 

actors? 

KM: I am an actress who loves a uniform, and I have 

always loved it. Give me the uniform. I don’t want to 

change clothes, I find it extremely upsetting, I want 

to get in to the scene. 

LD: It’s so liberating, honestly. It makes me so happy 

not to have to sit in a makeup chair for five hours, 

not to have to go over with the wardrobe person what 

shirt I think looks good. What’s great about the jumpsuits 

is that we can just focus on the work. I’m not 

thinking about anything but the work or the fun that 

I’m having between takes. 

Q: Stereotypical Hollywood beauty ideals don’t really 

exist on your show… 

KM: How do we feel about it? Again utterly liberated, 

it’s the same as the uniform. We don’t have to worry 

about that. And guess what, as it turns out, you as the 

viewer share that opinion. Women are just like, ‘How 

great, we can strip down women, nothing could be 

more fascinating.’ I think viewers are tired of watching 

all of those impossibly beautiful women who 

have spent exactly six hours in beauty and hair. Because 

guess how you really feel when you’re looking 

at her: REDUCED! Less than yourself. When you’re 

looking at us you feel elevated, because you’re not 

in prison and you get to exercise compassion. So it’s 

working on every level. 

Q: In real life, how would you handle being in a 

dorm room with all these women? 

LD: I’d be fine. I’d be OK! (laughs) 

KM: Hell, it would be living hell. Wait until you see 

what happens in season four. living hell becomes 

living and breathing hell. A hell beyond expression. 

Q: If you had to chose, which well known woman 

would you want to share a bunk bed with? 

KM: Judi Dench 

LD: Ella Fitzgerald. Ella is my inspiration as a musician 

and as a feminist. Ella was a feminist long before 

anyone though of calling it feminism, leaps and 

bounds outside of the stereotypes or the boundaries 

that women were confined to at her time. And one of 

the most talented people that have ever lived. 

115


Based on a true story 

Orange Is the New Black: My 

Year in a Women’s Prison, written by 

Piper Kerman, published by Spiegel 

& Grau, is a 2010 memoir by Piper 

Kerman, which tells the story of her 

money laundering and drug trafficking 

conviction and subsequent 

year spent in a federal women’s 

prison. The book became the basis 

of the Netflix original series Orange 

Is the New Black. 

When federal agents knocked 

on her door with an indictment in 

hand, Piper Kerman barely resembled 

the reckless young woman 

she was shortly after graduating 

Smith College. Happily ensconced 

in a New York City apartment, with a 

promising career and an attentive 

boyfriend, Piper was forced to reckon 

with the consequences of her 

very brief, very careless dalliance in 

the world of drug trafficking. 

Following a plea deal for her 

10-year-old crime, Piper spent a 

year in the infamous women’s correctional 

facility in Danbury, Connecticut, 

which she found to be no 

“Club Fed.” In Orange is the New 

Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison, 

Piper takes readers into B-Dorm, a 

community of colorful, eccentric, 

vividly drawn women. Their stories 

raise issues of friendship and family, 

mental illness, the odd cliques 

and codes of behavior, the role of 

religion, the uneasy relationship 

between prisoner and jailor, and the 

almost complete lack of guidance 

for life after prison. 

Compelling, moving, and often 

hilarious, Orange is the New Black 

sheds a unique light on life inside a 

women’s prison, by a Smith College 

graduate who did the crime and did 

the time. 

Piper Kerman is the author of 

the memoir Orange is the New 

Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison 

from Spiegel & Grau. The book has 

been adapted by Jenji Kohan into 

an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning 

original series for Netflix. 

Piper works with Spitfire Strategies 

as a communications consultant 

with nonprofits, philanthropies, and 

other organizations working in the 

public interest. She is a frequent 

invited speaker to students of law, 


Diletta Strange - Illustrator


Maybe not 

that real 

If you’ve been wondering how the book compares to the series, 

here are the most noticeable differences: 

1 2 

Piper was not in the same prison 

as her drug-dealing ex-girlfriend. 

This was one of the more dubious plot points 

of the TV version—that two convicts involved in the same 

crime (with a previous romantic relationship, too) would 

be placed in the same prison. Of course, the conflict 

between Piper and “Alex” (who is named as Nora in the 

book) made for great TV. 

In Kerman’s memoir, she does eventually cross paths 

with Nora, but under very different circumstances. (It’s 

one of the best parts of the book, so I won’t spoil it.) 

Inmates were actually extremely 

welcoming. In the book, Piper didn’t 

3 

step on as many toes; True, racial groups 

stick together in Kerman’s memoir. But once 

you arrive, she explains, you’re immediately accepted 

and taken care of. “I avoided eye contact. Nonetheless 

women periodically accosted me: “You’re new? How 

are you doing, honey? Are you okay?” Most of them were 

white. This was a tribal ritual that I would see play out 

hudered of times in the future. When a new person arrived, 

their tribe would immediately make note of their 

situation, get them settled, and steer them through their 

arrival… You know. It’s life. 

Less lesbian stuff. Even if Piper had 

been placed in the same prison as her 

ex-girlfriend, it seems unlikely that the two 

would rekindle their romance. In the show, 

there’s very much an tortured love thing happening 

between them. But Kerman’s descriptions of her time 

with Alex/Nora don’t come packaged with the same 

type of emotional struggle. On their life together before 

prison: We lived a life of relentless tension, yet it 

was also often crushingly boring. I had little to do, other 

than keep Nora company while she dealt with her 

“mules.” …I was scared and miserable, reatreating into 

almost constant silence as we all moved from Belgium 

to Switzerland, the country. 

And while in prison, Piper doesn’t see much lesbian 

action: The next day was Valentine’s Day, my first holiday 

in prison. Upon arrival in Danbury, I was struck 

by the fact that there did not seem to be any lesbian 

activity… A lot of the romantic relationships I observed 

were more like schoolgirl crushes, and it was rare for 

a couple to last more than a month or two. 

If Piper engaged in any sexual activities or relationships 

during her stay, she doesn’t include it in the 

book that has a lot of pages. 


4Piper’s conflict with Red 

(known as Pop in the book) 

was not nearly as threatening. 

Piper may have insulted Red/Pop’s food, 

however Pop didn’t punish her for it as she did in 

the show. Pop may have fixed “a ferocious glare,” 

but her actions toward Piper are far less harsh. 

Pop’s advice to Piper: 

Listen, honey, I know you just got here, so I 

know that you don’t understand what’s what. I’m 

gonna tell you this once. There’s something here 

called “inciting a riot,” and that kind of shit you’re 

talking about… you can get in big trouble for that… 

so take a tip from me, and watch what you say. 

Piper and Pop eventually get along and create a 

strong bond. The book, in fact, is dedicated to her 

(as well as her parents and Larry). 

In the book, Piper’s relationship 

with her fiancé Larry is 

5 

far less turbulent. After watching 

the show, you actually get the impression 

that Kerman may have avoided writing too much 

about Larry. True, it’s not easy for either of them, 

but as you’re reading, you don’t get the impression 

that these two are headed for disaster. 

Of course, the TV show pushed this angle. It’s Larry’s 

New York Times article and radio appearances 

that begin to drive a wedge between them, while 

in the book, Larry’s “Modern Love” essay brings 

them closer together. Referring to the experience 

of reading Larry’s column in prison, Piper says, 

“Even here, without him, I couldn’t imagine any 

sweeter Christmas present.” 

119


Laura Prepon 

interview: ‘One 

Orange is the 

New Black fan 

got my face 

tattooed on her’ 



Fanatics!!! 

Just before fans went into a 

binge-watching frenzy over the early 

release of Season 3, the cast of Netflix’s 

Emmy-winning “Orange is the New 

Black” walked the carpet Thursday afternoon 

at the inaugural OrangeCon, a fan 

event held at the Skylight Clarkson Sq 

center in New York City. 

The usual cast of characters from 

Jenji Kohan’s female-powered hit were 

in attendance, including Laura Prepon, 

Taylor Schilling and Uzo Aduba, among 

many others. The ensemble was also 

joined by Piper Kerman, the author of 

the eponymous book on which the show 

is based, as well as social media stars 

such as Alex from Target and Marnie the 

Dog. The cast interacted with an army 

of fans at this invitation-only event, focusing 

all of their attention on those who 

have helped “OITNB” became such a 

worldwide success story. 

Vicky Jeudy, who plays former track 

athlete Janae Wilson, summed up the 

theme of the event best, stating, “If it 

wasn’t for the fans, we wouldn’t be 

where we are now. It’s all about the fans, 

and I’m so excited for tonight because 

it’s dedicated to the fans.” 

Taylor Schilling at OrangeConTaylor 

Schilling seemed in awe over how the 

fan base of “Orange” has grown and 

changed since its first season. “I think 

that they’re continuing to get more and 

more passionate as they spend more 

time with us on the show,” she explained 

with excitement hurray. 

While conventions of this size are usually 

reserved for comic book films and 

other genre-related content, the stories 

the cast shared of their unforgettable fan 

experiences proved why such an event 

was needed for an ensemble comedy-drama 

like this one. 

#1 fans 

Lea DeLaria, who has become a fan 

favorite playing the sarcastic Big Boo, 

recalled one particular interaction that 

happened only two days after the premiere 

of Season 1. “The show just started 

airing. I walked onto Knickerbocker 

Street and I walked by the Ace Hardware 

that’s right on the corner of my block,” 

she recalled. “The woman who works 

in Ace Hardware came running out, 

screaming, ‘Big Boo, sign my screwdriver!’ 

She brought me an orange screwdriver 

and I signed the screwdriver for 

her.” As fans are well aware, Big Boo’s 

screwdriver isn’t exactly used for hardware 

purposes. 

Kate Mulgrew at OrangeConKate Mulgrew, 

meanwhile, laughed about some 

of the funny things she’s heard from fans 

in regards to her lovable Red. “They always 

want to say, ‘I didn’t know you weren’t 

really Russian! I can’t believe that 

you’re not Russian!’” 

Others have found their experiences 

to be more emotional, and in some 

cases even life changing. Samira Wiley, 

whose charismatic Poussey really broke 

out last season four. 

121


Know your 

Back when The Paley Center for 

Media in midtown Manhattan was the 

Museum of Television & Radio, a blond 

Fordham undergraduate named Taylor 

Schilling worked the front desk. 

She returned last night, less than a 

decade later, to walk the red carpet, 

a bona fide star of the undeniably 

successful Netflix series Orange Is 

the New Black. When asked about the 

experience, Schilling laughed at the 

memory, claiming she “had to bring 

home the bacon somehow.” When 

the occasional repeat visitor asks for 

her at reception, they’re told she’s in 

prison. Orange the fruit. 

people 

How Orange Is the New Black Became 

Netflix’s Best Series. Wednesday 

night was a celebration of Orange, 

and humor set the tone across 

the board, often dolled out at the 

expense of Jason Biggs, the only 

male cast member in attendance. 

The event was the kick off for the 

inaugural PaleyFest: Made in New 

York, which even brought out Mayor 

Michael Bloomberg for a few choice 

quotes about all the cameos he’s 

done – and those he’d still like to 


do before his term expires on December 31st. Orange, 

arguably the best and most innovative of the current 

New York shows, was a natural for the premiere panel. 

In addition to members of the cast – Schilling, Biggs, 

Natasha Lyonne, Kate Mulgrew, Danielle Brooks, Uzo 

Aduba and Taryn Manning – the panelists included creator 

Jenji Kohan and Piper Kerman, whose memoir the 

show is based on. She began the panel by elaborating 

on the book and show’s shared title: it’s obviously 

a reference to the female fashion maxim, but also to 

the fact that, thanks to the war on drugs, women are the 

fastest growing demographic in prisons today. 

The conversation oscillated between the war on 

drugs, the absurdity of deflating tits, the deeper meaning 

of the chicken and women who were “gay for the 

stay.” In many ways, it paralleled the show, which strikes 

a balance between pushing the boundaries of television 

and catering to smart entertainment in order to 

keep the audience hooked. (Manning’s character Pennsatucky, 

who exchanged meth for a “Christian-Baptist-Evangelist-Catholic” 

love of the lord, epitomizes 

both extremes.) Kohan, who is every bit as colorful as 

her bright blue hair, knows how to make a binge-worthy 

series without sacrificing real issues or characters that 

elicit visceral reactions. “I don’t set out to write heroes 

or anti-heros,” she explained, touching on the current 

cultural conversation surrounding Breaking Bad. “I 

write characters – flawed characters. It’s not about stereotypes 

and labels.” 

h the progression is hardly as dramatic, Schilling 

aptly compared her character to Walter White: “It’s exploding 

stereotypes. . . for a woman to be that deeply 

ambiguous is rare, brave and risky.” Moreover, to have 

a show that is so female dominated is also rare, risky 

and tribute to the cast, Kohan and Orange’s writers. 

Adds Brooks, who plays the lovable Taystee, “The material 

is just so high you want to meet it. It raises the bar.” 

She emphasized that African American actress’ have 

to be conscious of just playing stereotypes, and she 

was proud that “the world can look at her in a different 

way than we have in past.” Even Crazy Eyes, a character 

many have written-off as a caricature of mental illness, 

is against the grain. Uzo Aduba, who left Broadway to 

play the Shakespeare-spouting inmate, sees her less 

as comedic relief and more as a romantic interested in 

the pursuit of love and how far someone would. 

123

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