Photo Source: Movie Pilot
Episode Synopsis:
Taystee wants negotiations to stay on track; Angie tries to fix Leanne’s finger; information from Piscatella’s past is revealed.
Linda
Linda had a very small storyline in this episode, but I felt like it was definitely a turning point for her character. She thought she was really fitting in with the inmates, but slowly, more and more inmates aren’t buying her criminal past. I liked that within all the chaos happening in the prison, we had some nice moments between Linda and Penns, until Penns realized who she was talking to. It was actually pretty satisfying to see Linda get punched in the face.
Bunker inmates
Frieda and the other bunker inmates played a very significant role in this episode and it made me really proud of them. Of course in the beginning, they wanted to stay out of the whole riot, but once they heard screaming nearby, they decided to take action. It was a little terrifying to see Piscatella walk down into the bunker, since there’s no places to hide and limited ways to get out; but once Frieda tranqued him, I knew they had dominance over him. Never underestimate Frieda because she is badass! It was also good that they distracted him from what he was doing to Red and the other inmates.
Captured inmates
Well, this whole storyline was so disturbing and uncomfortable to watch. A man thinking that it’s ok to abuse women. Absolutely terrible! I just couldn’t believe how resilient the inmates were. They took the beatings, but they stayed strong. And it all started with Piscatella grabbing Red by her hair. I thought it was interesting that he thought the best way to shame her, was to cut off all her hair, but in the end, it did really make Red look vulnerable. And I loved that during the whole shaming, the other girls were really trying their best to find a way out. Alex was the only one to prevail and tried to attack Piscatella, but he ended up breaking her arm, which was another horrible scene to watch. I really tried to brainstorm, why Piscatella would have this menacing attitude toward women, but I’m guessing it might have had to do with his mom. I’m guessing she wasn’t excepting of his sexuality and after being shamed by her and then shamed by the male inmates at the other prison, he had had enough. He takes things to the extreme and for some reason, thinks they’re logical solutions to his problems.
Piscatella
We finally got to see some flashbacks of Piscatella, back when he worked at a men’s prison, and it looked like his attitude toward life changed dramatically. We saw that he met one of the inmates, Wes, and they quickly fell in love. They tried very hard to hide their relationship, but one day, when they were in the kitchen, one of the other inmates, caught the two cuddling. Also, prior to that moment, Wes had said that one of the inmates had stolen his radio, and instead of coming up with an acceptable response to solve the problem, Piscatella went straight to wanting to kill them. That scene already showed that he would do drastic things to protect the one he loved. Later, we saw that indeed, Wes got beaten up for being gay, and as a result, Piscatella made sure to make the life of that one particular inmate, a living hell. And we all know that in the end, the inmate actually ended up dying. I still wonder how Piscatella managed to walk away without getting in trouble for killing an inmate. I guess you can do no wrong, if you’re a guard.
Angie & Leanne
Like a broken record, Angie and Leanne had a pointless storyline pertaining to Leanne’s dismembered finger, and it really wasn’t needed. I think we’ve gotten the point by now that Leanne is pissed and wants her finger back. Weirdly enough, she thought it would be a good idea to get a finger tip donor.
Negotiations cont.
Negotiations were still going on and even though it wasn’t super interesting, there were some good scenes. I thought it was a good point that Figueroa made, when after Caputo complained about all the bad things that have been going on in the prison, that he was also partially responsible for that stuff happening. He’s not totally off the hook, because he lost all authority of the prison, once Piscatella got hired. He’s the warden, so he’s technically responsible for everything that goes on in the prison. Also, the heated fights between Caputo and Figueroa were pretty funny. It brought me back to past seasons, when they used to fight, but ended up hooking up anyway. They just have a really weird relationship.
Suzanne
Suzanne’s storyline was also a little pointless to me because nothing really got accomplished. She found Maureen again (who looked worse than ever), and realized that Humps was indeed dead. She’s just still in a constant battle with herself and it’s just getting worse, since Lorna told her to stay off her medications.
Gloria
I was really rooting for Gloria in this episode. She finally made some strides in getting the new Latina girls to take a nap, while she watched over the guards, and she was so close to getting the guards out of the bubble, but she got caught at the last minute. Better luck next time.
