This episode has a lot of… poop. The racial divide that already exists in Litchfield is amplified– particularly between the Latinos and blacks, and we get a glimpse into Mendoza’s past and what landed her in prison. Piper’s brother and mom also join her for a visit, forcing her to confront Healy and ask him about the night that landed Piper in the SHU last season.
Read on for spoilers.
1. There’s a Bang-Off
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Frankly, I’m surprised this didn’t happen sooner. There’s a contest to see who has the most sex, and different girls are worth different points. And yes, everyone, there is a score sheet that Chang holds on to. The whole ordeal leads to a complicated yet hilarious conversation between Piper and all her white friends, during which Boo says she’d “love to get her dick in Vause’s mouth”. It’s hard to keep up with the scores, though, seeing as everything Boo says throws you into a fit of laughs. Nicky probably has the best line of the episode here, though, “I’m a sexual Steve Jobs.” The whole competition really ends up being between Boo and Nicky, and the latter decides to go for someone who she thinks will rack her up more points– the female guard, Fischer. Fischer isn’t into it.
2. Gloria’s Lover Was Burned to Death
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The Latinos had a sewage issue and they want to use the B dorm bathroom. Through this little fiasco, we get a glimpse into Mendoza’s background and what landed her in Litch. She worked for a convenience store, and her boyfriend suffered a crazy temper that got her a black eye every now and then. But, unfortunately, she kept running back to him every time he apologized.
She thinks she has to skip town to keep herself from being attacked, or even killed, by her boyfriend, but before she can, Mendoza is arrested for fraud.
In the end of the episode, Mendoza’s lover breaks into her store and steals the money Gloria pulled together while working. In a dramatic turn of events, he then accidentally lights the place on fire by knocking over a candle. When he frantically tries to escape, he can’t– the doors are locked from the inside. He is stuck in a burning room with no way out when the episode closes.
3. Piper’s Dad Won’t Visit Her in Prison Because Her Grandma Is Dying
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Piper has to play a game of charades with Cal to figure out why her dad doesn’t join her brother and mother during visitation time. Though the scene is hysterical, it’s kind of depressing.
A scrape on her foot landed her grandmother in the hospital, where she found out her kidneys were infected. Piper tries to suffer quietly over the whole thing, but takes the news pretty hard. She visits Healy to ask to be granted furlough, which he obviously declines immediately. While in the room with Healy, Piper confronts him about her major fight with Pennsatucky last season, and his complete negligence in the whole act. He evades the conversation entirely.
A few scenes later, Healy agrees to grant Piper furlough– probably out of guilt.
4. Latino vs. Black
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Tensions between the blacks and Latinos soar. The show seems to use the confrontations over a septic tank issue to probe racism within the criminal justice system. “We go to prison for 20% longer than any of the other people. Bitch fucks with our food, and I’m the one that gets thrown on the ground?”
Mendoza ‘chats’ with Vee about the situation by throwing her against a wall and threatening to hurt the black inmates. Vee takes this moment to breakdown in sobs. “I’m trying to work with you and all you’re trying to do is run over me.”
It’s made pretty clear, soon enough, that the entire sob scene was an act. Vee is a good actor, it seems– both on and off screen. She fakes the tears to get what she and her girls want.
5. Piper Misses Larry and Tells Him
(Snapshot/Netflix)
Piper cries during a phone call with Larry, and after joking around for a bit, he tells her he misses her. She says the same back. Are they going to get back together? It seems like it’s not out of the realm of possibility.