Daya goes into labor. Sophia suffers a hate crime. Stella helps Piper with a business snag. Taystee takes on a new role.
For the entire series, the prison system of Orange Is the New Black has been disintegrating. That story beat has been much more on display in the third season because of MCC's horrible management style. But Litchfield had plenty of problems before they became a private facility - as Caputo is reminded of when he believes he spots the fabled chicken and only discovers a new hole in the fence. Horrible things have happened amongst the inmates over the series whether it was from one person stirring up chaos in order to control the outcome or the more personal realizations of what life in prison actually means. All of it is very destructive to the well-being of all of the inmates. Yes, they did all commit crimes and got caught. But there still needs to be balance in the system that allows some sense of reasonable control over the facility.It's been apparent that the tension has been building and building as the various characters handle the new corporate takeover. And now, it has finally brought forth some truly devastating results. Moments that can truly destroy this ecosystem and the people who inhabit it. It all comes back to MCC's big decisions to cut the guards' hours and hire a dozen new ones. That was a cost-cutting decision made by the businessmen at MCC. They can argue that the guards would be less likely to become emotionally exhausted and drained with fewer hours. But at the end of the day, they still took money and benefits away from the people who needed them the most. To fill that void, they brought in new trainees and fully believed they would learn how to do the job while on the job. That one decision altered the balance of this fragile facility. It opened the people up to much more chaos and potential devastation. When that finally does occur, the people in power just want to take out the problem without any actual insight into the root of why it happened in the first place. Pearson can plead with his dad to change the way things are being handled. But it's still just a collection of businessman running things from afar only interested in furthering their own agendas. MCC really doesn't care what happens at Litchfield as long as they are able to produce good numbers for two quarters. They have no idea what kind of emotional turmoil they have unleashed on the facility. They only really care when under the threat of a lawsuit. Even then, they wildly mishandle the situation so that it doesn't come back to hurt them without ever thinking about the humanity of the inmates.
It's horrifying when conflicts within the prison finally bubble over and lead to physical altercations. And yet, that is also a part of the prison atmosphere. Everyone is doing their best to survive and keep some semblance of an identity even in an environment that wants to rip away all individuality. The truly disturbing part of all the chaos and devastation in this hour is how the guards and prison staff handle the abuse of the system. The outcome of each traumatic act deepens entirely on which guard will walk around the corner. Sophia has never had any real conflict with any of the other inmates. Things got personal better her and Gloria and that led to all these transphobic and ignorant people to come out of the woodwork. They don't understand Sophia nor do they want to be all that sensitive to what's going on in her life. They just want to beat her up for gaming the system while not being a real woman. It's such a hard-hitting moment of emotional devastation watching her getting beaten up. It only continues to get worse as one of the new hires goes to get Caputo instead of knowing how to control the situation herself. That allowed for even more damage to be inflicted. Sophia has the moral high ground in saying that it's the system's fault that led to such severity and longevity in the attack. But the system's answer is to remove her from the rest of the general population. MCC wants to throw her into solitary. That's the simple solution to them. It stops the conflict while, more importantly, avoiding a big lawsuit. They never for a moment think about the emotional cost it will have on Sophia. She did nothing wrong. She was the victim of ignorant people and is being punished for it. That will have a profound effect on the rest of this community. Sophia manages to have some class in the horrible handling of her situation. She knows it's not right but doesn't create a scene that forces the guards to have no other choice. She walks down that hallway in silence. As Sister Ingalls points out, that will bring more horror out of the people responsible for creating this conflict in the first place.
But that still doesn't come close to the personal devastation Sophia will endure by herself in isolation. This punishment will inflict emotional wounds onto her that hurt much more than the physical ones. That's the same situation that Pennsatucky finds herself in. Big Boo wants to give her a moment to take out all her frustrations and anger on the man who took advantage of the system and raped her. But again that's retribution that handles the emotional issues in the short term. It would provide her with some resolution. But Pennsatucky isn't anger or mad at Coates. Instead she's sad and depressed. Drugging and sodomizing him with a broom wouldn't be able to fix those problems. It's great that Boo is willing to give that opportunity to her. She took away a chance at finding her own kind of happiness in order to be there for a friend in her time of need. That is the true definition of friendship. But revenge isn't going to be able to heal all of those wounds.
Neither Pennsatucky nor Sophia know how to move forward with their lives after these horrible acts of violence and mistreatment against them. But at least they are still alive. Soso's depression and isolation has been a dark turn for the character this season. It was a strong direction for the show to take her after she was largely just the annoying newbie in season two. But it's one that could truly throw the entire system into chaos. She was depressed and being bullied. The system either didn't care enough to give her meaningful treatment or protect her from getting into a life-or-death situation. Berdie was an effective counselor for Soso and she was forced on leave for actually caring about the inmates. Healy just wants to give Soso drugs and be done with it. The system basically forces Soso to accept that maybe she really does need to be on drugs in order to truly be alive again. But that only creates a situation where she can steal as many pills as she wants because the facility's new doctor is still getting adjusted to his new office. She has been falling down the system all season long. And that may lead to a fatal twist. Poussey finds Soso passed out in the library overdosed on the drugs. That's a devastating twist. Because Poussey was struggling with her own addiction, Soso may be rescued in time. But it's still such a powerful and depressing final note.
The hour also points out the system is capable of working when everything is in balance. When trouble begins with Daya's baby, Maxwell is the guard there willing and capable of dealing with the problem. The system has forced Cindy and the rest of the blacks to be so desperate for actual food that they would actually steal from the garden. Taystee has been able to take on the role of peaceful mediator. She doesn't want to start conflict again like the way Vee handled things or the way things are crumbling elsewhere at the prison. She willingly ate the corn with the rest of her friends. But she is also the one who knows how to fix the situation once Red catches them. It's humorous when everyone points out that she has become the new mother figure of the group. That's not a title that Taystee willingly wants to embrace. But it does go along with the show's overall approach to motherhood and how the prison system changes that very primal identity.
The episode's main focus is on Aleida and how she feels about Daya getting ready to give birth and wanting nothing to do with her. It's a very different story about motherhood. The season has done a good job at showing that things weren't always horrible between the two of them. But both of them being in prison at the same time has forced things to be destroyed almost entirely. Daya learning that Aleida tried to sell her baby to Delia was enough for her to turn against her mother altogether. But whereas Gloria and Sophia are worried that their absence is forcing their children down a dark path, Aleida is struggling with the fact that Daya is perfectly capable of surviving in this world without her. Yes, Daya still landed in jail without Aleida in her life - but that was still because she was in an environment and criminal setup that Aleida created. But Daya has truly thought about what kind of future her child should have. Is that something that she can do while still being in prison? Or is the best thing to give it up for adoption? In the past, Aleida hated that Daya was able to go off to summer camp and have a good time without her and explore her ambitions in life. Once they came home, Aleida was able to manipulate Daya into thinking she didn't have that great of a time after all. She was taking that joyous memory away from her because of her own selfish desires. She is much more genuine in her concern in the present. Her reaching out to Delia to say that Daya's baby was a boy and died during birth came from a place of genuine emotion and humanity. It was completely misplaced as Daya was enjoying the joy of seeing her daughter for the first time. It only sets things up for more devastation in the future. Because it's easy to see the humanity of all the actions it will make things in the finale much more compelling to watch.
Some more thoughts:
- "Don't Make Me Come Back There" was written by Sara Hess and directed by Uta Briesewitz.
- If there's one weak link in the episode's many stories its the continued exploits of Piper and Stella's business. Piper not knowing how to act in the aftermath of her breakup with Alex just doesn't have the emotional weight as the rest of the hour's stories. Also, what is the purpose behind Stella being released on Tuesday?
- It was humorous seeing Cal and his wife on the outside doing their best to make Piper's business a success while trying to get out of his parents' basement. But was it worth it having two whole scenes of them? It was good to see that her business is falling apart on both sides of the operation though.
- It's been two whole episodes since Morello sent her new guy and his friends to beat up Christopher and nothing has seemed to come out of it. That's a consequence of a lot of story needing to be told in each episode.
- Cindy relating the New Testament to fan fiction is a horribly selfish moment but one that should help her in her quest to be accepted as Jewish.
- It's so nice that the show remembered that Sophia and Sister Ingalls had a friendship before Michael started to visit again. That history was well addressed and gave much more weight to the final stare down between Sophia and Gloria.
As noted in previous reviews from this series, every episodic review was written without having seen any succeeding episodes. Similarly, it would be much appreciated if in the comments section, the conversation would only revolve around the show up to this point in its run.
