OITNB: “Who Knows Better Than I” Review

Episode Synopsis:

The COs at Litchfield’s maximum security unit size up the new arrivals. Off her medication, Suzanne hallucinates.

 

Hallucinations:

The first episode of the season certainly started off with a bang. It seemed like a whole new type of show to me and it was all because of Suzanne’s hallucinations throughout the episode. It kind of threw me off guard, because while Suzanne hallucinated watching TV, it was weird seeing the different inmates in an altered reality and in such vivid colors. And to boot, they threw in some cameo appearances, by Alex Trebek and Willie “Casper” Perry Jr., who sings the Cha Cha Slide. It was all pretty bizarre, but as I watched it more and more, I started appreciating these hallucinations because it gave a lightness to the otherwise dark show.

Fact or Fiction:

And to continue with Suzanne’s storyline, she ran into a problem, when she was being interrogated about where she was during the end of the riot. We got some interesting flashbacks to the end of last season, to fill in some holes, and we saw that Piscatella’s body was put in the pool room, with a gun, to make it seem like he got shot by the inmates, and not by his own. That definitely didn’t surprise me, but what did, was that Suzanne and Cindy saw the whole thing happen. And now we’re in this whole will they tell the truth or stick to their own story? Surprisingly, Suzanne stuck to her and Cindy’s story about not knowing anything, but eventually, I think the truth will spill out. I wouldn’t think that Cindy would let MAX believe that inmates killed Piscatella, because it just leads down a road to bad consequences. The inmates would be blamed, and I would think that Cindy would eventually want to take that blame and flip back to the higher ups instead.

The Girls

Frieda:

Frieda really surprised me in this episode. I wouldn’t think she would be the one to try to commit suicide in prison, but I guess she’s full of surprises. She’s always been strong and it seemed out of character to me. And she seemed so nonchalant after the fact. No sense of despair; she seemed like her normal self.

Daya:

Daya’s been through so much and now she seems worse off. She’s constantly getting abused by the guards and when she was taken outside, I noticed that the guard called her a guard killer. I guess Daya is going to have an extremely hard time lasting in MAX, because of what she did to Humphrey’s.

Piper:

Piper’s already getting on my nerves again, and it’s all because she’s wondering where Alex is. I do understand where she’s coming from, but I hope she’s not asking this question in every episode. I am curious about where Alex is though. In a flashback, we saw that she got dragged away after the CERT guards busted through the pool room, and I’m wondering if she’s at another prison or if she got taken away by someone who worked for Kubra, like Aydin did.

Taystee:

Taystee is another inmate who has been beaten by the guards and it seems like at this point, she has given up. She was on top of the world last season, but it’s all been deflated and I guess at this point, she’s feeling defeated. What is intriguing though, is that the guard, Ward, is Taystee’s childhood friend. That came as a shocker. This is going to be interesting to see how their dynamic progresses throughout the season because at this point, it’s tense. Ward is trying to help and motivate Taystee to get through this situation, but it’s definitely hard, when they’re on opposite sides of the law.

Gloria & Maria:

Their relationship at this moment is on thin ice and this storyline was the hardest one to watch. It was comical to see them racing around during their rec time, but once they started fighting, everything went downhill. In horrible guard fashion, I was disgusted to see that two guards would make these two women kiss each other in order for them to make up. It just kills me that people would do that in order to maintain dominance in a prison.

Red & Madison:

This storyline is going to be like a wrestling showdown and I can’t wait to see what happens between them. They’re both super headstrong women and they won’t back down for anything. And it’s cool because their characters are vastly different in a way because there’s the age difference and the fact that Red has been at Litchfield her whole sentence and Madison has been at MAX, which is far worse. In her own way, you could say that Madison is the Red of MAX. For some reason, I have an inkling that these two might become friends by the end of the season, but we’ll have to wait and see.

 

The Guards:

Lastly, we’re getting introduced to a lot of new characters, and most of them include the guards. I already despise them, but Copeland and Alvarez aren’t terrible because they give some comedy to the show. When we saw Copeland taking notes about what the inmates were talking about while on the phone with their loved ones, I’m interested to see what leverage she uses with that information.