Television is necessary regardless of which term it is. Even my DoS recommends it as a break. Michaelmas had me devouring season two of House of Cards and, whilst some turn to chocolate in Lent, (it’s understandable, portfolios aren’t easy) my crutch was The Office (the US version). This term I was at a loss. I was excited having finished season one of Episodes, only to be saddened when I realised that Netflix has no other season (come on Netflix, get them!). Not being one to reject the site’s recommendations I landed on the distinctively unfunny, uninteresting and socially trite Derek. I was happy to finish the series quickly, chocking the whole experience up to a lapse of judgement.

Not being deterred in my quest for entertainment after a day’s revision, I began Orange Is the New Black. I knew the premise, had read the reviews and had been hypnotised by Taylor Schilling’s dazzlingly white and straight teeth enough to try it. It didn’t need to be much better than Derek to impress me, but Orange Is the New Black is arresting. It’s a bad pun, I know, but please don’t judge me. "Put a lot of women", says Kate Mulgrew, "into a [small] space… and shit’s going to happen". Mulgrew, who plays Red on show, isn’t wrong. Shit happens. Good shit, though. The show’s already won several awards, been nominated for four more by Critics’ Choice, including Best Comedy, and it’s easy to see why.

Season one ended not just on one, but several cliffhangers. This is to lead writer Jenji Kohan’s credit. She creates multiple characters with distinct and thoroughly engaging plot lines. Despite this, the low angle shot of Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling) punching religious, meth head nutcase Tiffany ‘Pennsatucky’ Doggett (Taryn Manning)'s face is where season one ends and this, arguably, is the most significant cliffhanger. We’re left with the obvious questions: is Pennsatucky alive, and what will happen to Chapman and her blood-soaked hands?

Frustratingly, our questions are left unanswered for some time. Instead, we’re offered Chapman in a grey cell. There are yellow stains on the wall: she calls them art, the prison guards think she’s crazy. Chapman is then bundled onto a dark bus, shoved on a cramped plane and although she asks plenty of questions along the way, all of them go unanswered. Like Chapman, we’re kept in the dark. We know exactly what she knows and at this stage, that isn’t much. It’s frustrating on one level but necessary on another. Kohan puts us into Chapman’s world. We are not just observers, but become part of the process. Chapman and her ex-girlfriend Alex Vause (Laura Prepon) are in Chicago for the trail of a major drug dealer from their past. Chapman follows Vause’s advice to lie in court. Vause, however, changes her mind. Vause is set free and Chapman is sent back to Litchfield, where she spent season one. Some balance, then, is restored, but I’d be surprised of the intense dynamic between Vause and Chapman ends here.

There is new presence in the show, too. Brook Soso (Kimiko Glenn), for example, is a painfully annoying new inmate and represents, as the other characters highlight, the perfect analogue to Chapman when she first arrived in season one. Vee (Lorraine Toussaint) is a far more significant addition to the show. She represents a mother figure to Taystee (Danielle Brooks), a fact made evident by the flashbacks to Taystee’s childhood. Vee is manipulative and strong, and she quickly amasses a group who follow her lead. Toussaint’s ability to shift between crying and a look of menace deserves praise for its subtlety and it reveals an uncomfortable menace behind the parental disguise she adopts.

Red remains one of my favourite characters, though. At the end of season one, her power status was lost: she had been fired from the kitchen, no longer controlled contraband and her fierce demeanor (aided by that bone-chilling Russian accent) has now been supplanted with vulnerable and timid looks. This doesn’t last long though, and, like Toussaint’s movement between sobriety and intimidation, Mulgrew has this talent also. The kind of dynamic that existed between Vause and Chapman in season one feels like it has been replaced by Vee and Red. Both are two strong and intelligent characters. Vee smuggles in tobacco and Red reintroduces contraband. Both are aware of how it will not, in Red’s own words "end well"; it’s a collision course that’s going to make for great television.

The real brilliance of Orange Is the New Black, though, is its ability to push boundaries, a wholly ironic statement considering the setting. Where else would you find a sensitive yet comedic exploration of the stigmas associated with transgender living as this show does through Sophia (played by transgender actress Laverne Cox)? Where would you see, as Lea Delaria herself notes, a butch lesbian who instead of being portrayed negatively, is portrayed as being incredibly intelligent and witty? My guess is not many places. Orange Is the New Black provides a legitimate platform where Kohan sensitively and comedically considers the stigmas that surround these and other issues, and season two begins strongly considering the excellent writing that filled season one.

Many more questions and plot lines still remain to be developed. Pornstache (Pablo Schreiber)'s faking of Tricia Miller (Madeline Brewer)'s suicide remains unsolved and Daya (Dascha Polanco)'s pregnancy is progressing whilst her relationship with security guard John (Matt McGorry) is becoming noticeably stressed. Piper’s former and incredibly annoying fiancé (Jason Biggs) – perhaps the only weak element in the show – continues to rear his head. He looks to be getting on suspiciously well with his best friend’s wife while Poussey’s unrequited love for Taystee is influencing the friendship group that Vee now controls. Still, I find it impossible not to be intrigued by how Vee and Red will play their hands as they accrue more power. Sister Ingalls (Beth Fowler)'s comment in the trailer that "a storm’s coming" seems wholly accurate given the circumstances. I’m looking forward to watching the storm (or perhaps it’s more appropriate to say storms) develop and, considering that the show’s been renewed for a third season, surveying the fallout.