Overall this season had some big hit, but also some misses for me. Spoilers ahead!!
The good:
Carol and Barb were by far the vest villains of the show since Vee. Definitely the highlight of the season.
The blue vs khakis was a fun dynamic with a good build up and an interesting ending.
The change to max and getting rid of quite a few characters allowed for new interactions! Some of the new pairs were really fun to watch (Cindy and Flaca, Frieda, Tucky and Suzanne, etc).
Daddy *heart eyes*
Taystee, by far the best performance of the season. And a very heartbreaking ending. That scene packed a punch.
Maria coming in second for best performance. Great development on her part.
Glad they addressed the current political climate of the States. Again, very heartbreaking ending for Blanca.
I never liked Daya much but the actress did a great job this season and it was nice to finally see some character development (even if it was negative). I love that OITNB has a way of making you care for characters like that after 6 seasons.
Same as above, I never liked Cindy, I actually disliked her quite strongly, but this season really made me care for her character.
Glad they addressed that Donut still had issues and glad Tucky left him. I still wish it was addressed better and sooner, but at the very least she came to the realization that she was better off leaving.
The bad:
Too much time spent on the guards (McCollough's story was actually really interesting, but I think in the end was not explored enough).
Too many characters lost their character development in favour of being comic reliefs (especially Morello).
"Badison" was horrible and should have never been a character. Way too much of a focus was put on her. I haven't disliked a character like that in a while, I don't even like to dislike her.
I miss the old formula of having a character back story every, or almost every episode. I'm one of the few that really likes those.
Piper was still unlikable, but slightly better than some of the previous seasons. The Piper/Alex wedding was cute.
Some of the characters were obviously missed, but I think having a smaller cast was a good thing. The problem is that although focusing on fewer characters, the story wasn't as focused as I would have liked to see. The most interesting stuff was by far the C block/D block feud and the Carol/Barb/Frieda triangle, and Taystee's trial, yet we'd go whole episode with little to no development or build up. A lot of the smaller new characters introduced also lacked personality (the exception being Morello's new bunky, she was awesome!!).
Overall I'd rate this season probably in the lower end compared to other seasons (although I really need to see it a second time to really judge it). I thought it was weaker than season 5 at first glance.
