LOS ANGELES – SPOILER ALERT: If you have yet to watch “Orange is the New Black” Season 2, proceed at your own risk. A major plotline is discussed in some detail.
Now then. The Morello storyline. What a storyline. Not only did these episodes feature some superb writing, Yael Stone's performance was flawless and deeply affecting. By the end of it all I found myself feeling protective of Lorna, even as her dangerously obsessive behavior was laid mercilessly bare.
“I guess that means my job has been done,” said Stone when I caught up with her at the Emmys on Sunday. Indeed, Morello's Season 2 arc connected so strongly with some viewers that the actress said she's heard several of them voice their anger at Christopher (a.k.a. NOT Lorna's fiancee) for being “mean” to her in that unsettling visitation room scene. Stone found this rather perplexing.
“The reaction is completely bizarre,” she said. “Because people hate Christopher, when really the guy is innocent!”
Then again, the fact that viewers would feel sympathetic towards Lorna is a testament to the show's success at making audiences feel compassion for characters they ordinarily wouldn't have.
“I think that what you're talking about is probably empathy,” said Stone. “And I guess that's what we do when we tell stories. We try and get inside something that's impossible to understand and understand it. So how do we have sympathy and understand a woman who's kind of gone off the deep end and as is engaging in a sort of violent obsession?”
To hear more from Stone and her “OITNB” co-stars Madeline Brewer (who I barely recognized as cornrowed inmate Tricia Miller) and Michelle Hurst (a.k.a. Miss Claudette), click on the video above for the full interview.