Source: OITNB // Netflix
Episode Synopsis:
Piper’s plan to edge out the competition could backfire badly. Cindy finds a way to make Taystee’s job pay off. Luschek gets some interesting mail.
The Inmates:
Luschek is a piece of shit
We get a little bit more sense about who Luschek is as a person, and yes, he’s a piece of shit. He’s sitting in his friend’s car, pouring alcohol into his travel mug and eating a chocolate bar encased with drugs, so there’s that. When he finally walks inside Litchfield, Baxter Bayley comes over to tell him that he should probably check his mail. Funnily enough, Luschek has been getting hate mail from an inmate. To further worsen his day, while he and Coates are playing video games at Coates house, Gina barges in with a bloody hand and asks to go to medical. Of course being the person that Luschek is, he asks that she wait till he finishes his video game, but thankfully Coates stands up for Gina and kicks Luschek out of his house so that he can get Gina to medical. I was actually really taken aback by Coates in this scene, because all we know him as is this creep who raped Pennsatucky, but I was happy to see that he actually wants to treat the inmates with respect, so kudos to him. Later on, he visits Judy King at her cooking class, and they talk about Nicky. He tells her that he actually feels guilty about getting Nicky sent to max prison, and he wants to make it right. So he goes and visits Nicky and things do not end well. Even though Luschek tried to apologize, Nicky was not having it. He pretty much made her life worse, but I do think that the one thing that saved her was getting sober. Back with Judy, Luschek says that he should go to Caputo and tell him the truth, but Judy thinks that’s not a good idea. We find out towards the end of the episode that Judy actually managed to get Nicky out of max prison, so that’s a plus. But the bad part is that now Luschek has to repay her, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be fun.
Max Prison
We find that Nicky has been going to AA meetings and getting sober, so that’s an instant plus. She also has the job cleaning areas around the prison, so when she’s cleaning the floor at SHU one day, she comes in contact with Sophia. Poor Sophia is looking like shit herself and asks Nicky if she could grab her a blanket. Nicky says she wouldn’t be able to, but gives Sophia a magazine instead to keep her occupied. Later that day, Nicky is sitting alone, and Stella comes over and sits next to her. I was actually really surprised that Ruby Rose made an appearance. I didn’t see that coming. It was interesting to see that Nicky and her had been interacting in max, but while they were sitting, a guard hands over some drugs to Stella, which instantly turns Nicky off. The next day, back at SHU, Nicky is told to clean up one of the cells. Surprise, surprise, it’s Sophia’s cell, but when Nicky walks into her cell to clean it up, she finds that there is blood on the floor and the wall. It looked as if Sophia used the magazine as a way to slit her wrists. I’m guessing that Sophia is ok, fingers crossed, but I’m guessing that if Nicky had given Sophia the blanket instead, she probably would have hanged herself. At the end of the episode, we learn about Nicky returning to Litchfield, but sadly, the confines of max prison got the best of her, and she returned to doing drugs. This made me so mad because she was doing so well.
Piper vs the world
At this point, Piper is digging herself a pretty big grave, so I don’t know if I have sympathy for her anymore or just plain hatred. We find that Piper still wants to keep in contact with Alex, but Alex is keeping her boundaries because of what happened with the guard. Continuing with the task force, Leanne, Angie, and one of the other girls get into Maria’s business, by telling her and her girls that there can’t be groups of 4 or more people huddling around. They get a guard to come over and give the girl shots for gathering. At the task force meeting, some of the girls state that they’ve heard about a panty business, and of course that makes Piper nervous. Later, while walking down one of the halls, Piper, Boo and her bunkmate, have to get in a line for a mandatory frisk. This was an aw shit moment because Boo was wearing the panties. Thankfully, Boo didn’t get chosen to drop her pants, so the panty business lived another day. To add a few more feet to Piper’s grave, she decided that the best next step was to frame Maria. She took her panties and snuck them under Maria’s bed so that the guards could find them. While Maria is in the kitchen, several guards come in and handcuff her and take her to see Piscatella. All hell breaks loose when Maria finds out that Piper is part of the task force, and that Piscatella doesn’t believe that Piper would start a panty business. Also, to top it off, Piscatella tells Maria that since she stole prison property, she could get 3-5 more years added to her sentence. Things have just gotten real. This pretty much sets Maria off, and when she returns to her girls, she tells them that they’re gonna start selling drugs instead, to make more money.
Educational classes
While in bed with Linda, Caputo has a brilliant idea that Litchfield should start having classes for the inmates, so that they can start learning in prison and have a purpose for waking up every day. The guards could be the ones to teach the classes so that they don’t have to hire anyone else to come into the prison. When Caputo said this, I instantly cringed because the guards aren’t exactly the best people to have teaching classes because they’re downright horrible. I wouldn’t leave them alone with the inmates at all. Later that day, when Piscatella is breaking up a slumber party going on in one of the lounge areas, Caputo comes in and announces the new educational program. The inmates cheer with excitement, so hopefully, the classes work out.
Paparazzi
Taystee tells the girls about what she found out about selling celebrity pictures, and that they could make a lot of money if they took some pictures of Judy. While they are talking, Alison overhears them and smiles to herself because we all know that she’s hiding a cell phone in her hijab. Later, Alison shows Cindy that she has a phone, but Cindy instantly gets defensive and they just start fighting again. Taystee tries to settle things between them, but weirdly enough, Cindy and Alison start becoming friends when they start talking about Scientology and forget all about the phone.
Other
Other storylines going on in the episode were…
- Lolly and Healy having a chat about Lolly’s condition and how similar it is to Healey’s mom’s. I liked their little heart to heart.
- We had a continuation of Red trying to get a good night’s sleep. She asked Freida for the dead guard’s keys, and she ends up getting a hold of some pills. She takes them at night and passes out for way too long.
- Soso and Poussey are still adorable as ever, but Soso is scared about her relationship with Poussey. She doesn’t know what’s going to happen to them when they get out of prison, and if she will ever be enough for Poussey. Also, there was a very sweet moment between them when they confessed their love for each other. I really like that out of all this madness going on in Litchfield, Soso and Poussey are the breath of fresh air.
