No, Netflix isn’t going to suspend your account for watchingOrange Is the New BlackSeason 5 early. Nor are they going to jack up their subscription rate, which they recently did anyway. The rub is, only the first ten episodes of the season were released. Which leaves the last three episodes unseen. Which is a good thing for Netflix, because as this particular season is set to play out, these final three hours will be extremely crucial for fans.
What we’ve heard is a rumor. Let’s say we heard it from a friend of a friend, who’s sister used to write for the now canceled series Galavant, who has an older uncle working in a Los Angeles dub house. While this is unsubstantiated, from what we understand, Netflix may be considering a lock on episodes 11-13. Like a video game, Netflix viewers will have to watch Episodes 1-10 to unlock the final three episodes. We’re not sure of the logistics, but we’ve been assured that this would be very easy to implement.
Perhaps you’re thinking to yourself, ‘How would Netflix even know if I illegally downloaded Orange is the New Black in the first place?’ Well, unless they are listening to you hoot and holler over the first ten episodes of this new season courtesy of the microphone embedded in your Samsung smart TV, they won’t. But they’ll have a pretty good idea that you’ve already binged through the first half of the season when you leap in at Midnight on the June 9 launch date and go directly for episode 11. It’s no secret thatNetflixkeeps pretty close tabs on everything you’re streaming from their server. And they will definitely know who did and didn’t already watch the first ten new episodes by the mass exodus to watch episode 11 first.
And trust us, from what we’ve hear, you’re going to want to jump right into episode 11 if you’veillegally downloadedand watched the show up to this moment. None of our staff has seen the episodes yet, but let’s just say we have a pretty greasy friend who hasn’t been able to shut up about these latest episodes after having watched them all in one night.
And from what we can gather, Netflix’s supposed punishment might not be too hard to suffer. As our ‘friend’ has praised the first new episode of Season 5 as the most ‘gratifying episode of TV released in the last ten years’. Though they haven’t seen how this season plays out, with episode 10 ending on its own cliffhanger, it’s clear that these new episodes are some of the best ever produced for the series, and it definitely won’t be hard to sit through them all over again on premiere night. Even though that anticipation will itch at the back of the brain like ‘ants crawling on honey’. Apparently these new episodes all take place over the course of a three day time period, and play like a grand 13 hour finale for Season 4. ‘Every ten minutes you are involuntarily cheering the TV with your fist in the air!’ Is what our greasy friend says about watching all of the new episodes. So while it may be bothersome, if Netflix actually goes through with locking the final 3 episodes until you’ve watched the entire season, it probably won’t kill anyone to watch these first ten episodes all over again.
Again, this is all hypothetical at the moment. And we might not even find out if Netflix is really doing this until June 9. At this time, the streaming service has not announced that they are bumping up the premiere date. And why should they? The wait for the final three episodes may be more excruciating then finding out how Dayanara Diaz uses that gun against the sadistic CO Thomas Humphrey.
AsRT.comreports it, this past Friday, Hacking groupThe Dark Overlordthreatened to release Orange is the New Black Season 5, demanding ransom from Netflix. When Netflix didn’t pay, the hackers (or hacker, that parts unclear at the moment) made the first ten new episodes available on illegal file sharing sites. The rub is, Netflix was never going to pay the ransom. They couldn’t have if they wanted to. As it would have set a precedent for future hackers wanting ransom. In Hollywood it’s sometimes easy to get hands on unreleased material. Can you imagine what would happen if Netflix paid one hacker’s ransom? A lot of criminals would come crawling out of the woodwork wanting their cut. Even though the Dark Overlord claimed to have 37 other shows it would release if ransom demands weren’t met, the list that surfaced featured TV shows like Sunny in Philadelphia, that had already completed their runs, or shows that no one has heard about or cares about enough to seek out on an illegal downloading site.
