Episode 4 (A Whole Other Hole): I had heard a lot of buzz about this episode before watching it because many reviews I read before the season debuted said that Morello's backstory was shocking. Well, the episode did not disappoint in that department. To begin, in the present day, Morello drives Rosa to her chemotherapy and, while left unattended for a few hours in the parking garage, she decides to drive off and visit the house of "fiancee" Christopher. In the previous episode, we'd learned via phone call that Christopher was now engaged to someone else. In flashbacks, we see Morello and Christopher meet, then we see Morello gushing over her boyfriend, but the shocking twist in the episode comes toward the end of the episode when we see Morello in court and Christopher testifying that she stalked him, threatened the lives of him and his girlfriend, and that she even planted a bomb under Christopher's girlfriend's car. WOW. I totally was not expecting that twist since Morello is the kindest inmate of them all, but it adds so much depth to her character and makes you reevaluate all the times she talked about her and Christopher's wedding, knowing now that they were not only never engaged, but they were never even romantically involved. To make matters even worse, in the present day, Morello breaks into Christopher's house, steals a wedding invitation, puts on his fiancee's veil and takes a bath in said veil, escaping just before being caught by Christopher. This episode definitely makes you think twice about Morello. Luckily, the rest of the episode shares a bit of a lighter note as Boo and Nicky partake in a competition to see who can sleep with more inmates, Red gets back into the contraband business thanks to a new greenhouse project she and the older inmates begin working on, and Burset gives a sex ed lesson after the inmates begin to learn more about their, umm, private areas. Overall, a great episode that delicately balances the funny antics we've come to love, while shocking viewers with new revelations and pulse pounding action.
Episode 5 (Low Self Esteem City): Even before she took over the kitchen, everyone knew not to mess with Gloria, but this episode really drives that point home. Yet, that wasn't the kind of person Gloria used to be, as we learn via flashbacks that she was abused by her hubby and was arrested because she was committing fraud by collecting food stamps to help run her convenience store, where her friend, a guru of some sorts, operated in the back room, surrounded by candles. By the end of the episode, however, Gloria is arrested and when her abuser comes back to the story to rob her, he ends up locking himself in the back room and sets himself on fire. A nice little kick of karma for Gloria, who is now stronger in prison, and after the Latinas' bathroom is overrun by a plumbing problem, she goes head to head with the blacks and their newfound leader, Vee, who is quickly working her way up the ladder. While in flashbacks, Gloria is submissive to the man who claims he loves her, then hits her, she's not putting up with the BS anymore and lets Vee know who is the boss, which is a great moment to see because Vee simply can't come in and suddenly be top dog. As Piper might say, "Bitches gots to learn." This episode also begins an important storyline with Piper's dying grandmother and her quest for furlough, which expands over the next few episodes.
Episode 6 (You Also Have a Pizza): After last season's Thanksgiving episode and Christmas paegant, this season we are treated to a Valentine's Day themed celebration. The prison is buzzing with excitement for the V Day party. This episode focuses heavily on Poussey, who isn't really in a loving mood after Taystee denies Poussey's advances. In flashbacks, we learn that Poussey's dad was in the army and Poussey fell in love with the daughter of a German officer. However, said German officer catches Poussey and his daughter together in bed, and soon, Poussey's dad is being discharged back to the United States. We see Poussey about to confront her lover's dad with a gun, but she is caught by her father and he dissuades her from continuing with the violent act. We don't know why she went to jail (but her willingness to shoot gives a good indication), but that's not what this flashback is supposed to teach. Poussey is a victim of unrequited love and that parallels in the real world as Taystee falls further into Vee's trap, beginning the tearing apart of Taystee and Poussey's friendship, which definitely made me hurt. Those two are the ideal best friends, right?! We get some cute scenes with Daya and Bennett pretending to be a real world couple, until Daya gets angry for basically no reason. Classic Daya. Suzanne and Morello share a really great scene, and for two characters that have never directly interacted before, I loved seeing these two together. It showed that while Suzanne is a heightened personality, she's still human.
The Morello episode was definitely the most shocking episode of the season as it made me reevaluate the character and further showed the power of these flashbacks to see what has changed about these ladies after entering prison. In comparison to seeing Piper grow from the very first episode to the bad-ass she is now, we're seeing a lot of evolution per character in just one episode. More reviews to come...
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