NOTE: This article contains spoilers from seasons 1-4 of Orange is the New Black, but no significant plot details about the forthcoming season 5.

The last season of Orange is the New Black was tough to watch, for a number of reasons. It saw Litchfield Prison come under the control of a group of poorly-trained and tyrannical guards appointed by a neglectful, profit-hungry private prison management company, MCC.

The inmates suffered horrifically over the course of their season, leading up to the unexpected death of Poussey Washington. Poussey’s death shocked viewers and led to significant debate over how stories related to black deaths and police brutality are told on TV.

No matter where you stand on that debate, watching characters you know and love treated with extraordinary inhumanity and subjected to great injustice is often awful.

There’s something that’s then triumphant and redemptive about the fifth season of the show, which premieres on Netflix on June 9.

“[Poussey] is never forgotten in this season, no matter how the prison ecosystem evolves and shapes around her absence.”

The inmates of Litchfield — who are our beloved protagonists, despite the crimes they have committed — claim back power and some limited agency (they’re still prisoners, after all) in this season.

The first episode kicks off right where season four left off — with a large group of inmates circling guards Humphrey and McCullogh hunched on the ground and Dayanara Diaz holding a gun to Humphrey’s head.

I’m going to try to avoid significant spoilers in this review, so I won’t go into the details of what happens immediately after that moment, but it’s sufficient to say that those events escalate and complicate an already combustible situation.

What results is an all-out prison riot, which is the focus of the entire season. Every inmate has a grievance to air with an institution that’s failing them horribly with its consistent negligence and drastic cost-cutting.

But in addition to those problems, the inmates who were close friends with Poussey are seeking justice for their fallen friend. She is never forgotten in this season, no matter how the prison ecosystem evolves and shapes around her absence.

“There are acts of extraordinary heroism in the new season and acts of extreme cowardice and violence.”

The morality and ethics of the situations presented in Orange is the New Black have always been murky. The vast majority of characters are prisoners who are, at various times, deplorable, pitiable, heroic, sympathetic, scheming, and full of integrity.

But this new season goes even further in that exploration of these personal grey areas as the positions of power between guards and prisoners are flipped. There are acts of extraordinary heroism in the new season and acts of extreme cowardice and violence. But the perpetrators of these acts are never defined by the acts alone and are given the dignity of their full, human complexities.

This is true of the terrifying and gruesome guard Piscatella, who’s probably the greatest villain the series has ever seen. He remains as such throughout this season, but we do come to a greater understanding as to what’s motivated his ruthlessness and hatred.

Angie and Leanne — the prison’s two clueless, dangerous, but strangely loveable crystal meth addicts — find themselves in several unexpected positions of power of the course of the season, and they use this power for their own personal gain. At one point, they ask themselves a question these two prisoners have never pondered before — are they actually the bad guys?

It’s not really a question for them to answer as they have to move forward, but it casts all of these characters in a murky light, even for audiences who know these characters relatively well.

“Even if it’s not the most sophisticated season of Orange is the New Black, its certainly the most binge-able.”

Beyond that exploration, this mightn’t be the most insightful season of the show, but it’s certainly its most gripping. As per usual, the diversity of the large ensemble cast allows for an extraordinary number of narrative threads, perspectives and conflicts, but the tension of the riot situation — which hangs over the entire season — allows for an even greater sense of narrative propulsion.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a season of any show of TV that compels a viewer to move from episode to episode with such urgency. Almost every episode ends with some kind of cliffhanger — or simply the opening up of a new plot point — that makes it impossible to wait too long to dive into the next episode.

The plotting might be getting less and less plausible, but the characters retain their integrity and sense of internal logic. That’s all that really matters in this kind of heightened drama.

This is the type of TV Netflix’s release strategy — every episode at once — was designed for, and even if it’s not the most sophisticated season of Orange is the New Black so far, its certainly the most binge-able.