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| Left to right: Danielle Brooks, Adrienne C. Moore, and Uzo Aduba |
Welcome to the new recap series on the second season of the Jenji Kohan Netflix hit Orange is the New Black. Over the next few Saturdays, we will be looking through the episodes and highlighting the events that make this comedy/drama a stand-out in general TV. Does the series have what it takes to make another phenomenal season of TV, and can the tales of Piper Chapman and her inmates satisfy expansion? Stay tuned and make sure to follow along at your own pace.
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| Left to right: Natasha Lyonne and Lea DeLaria |
Red (Kate Mulgrew) is trying to get a new operation started with the help of some elder inmates. Meanwhile, the cafeteria's bathroom begins to have plumbing issues and causes the staff to revolt. This gets the blacks mad at the Latinos and a war starts. Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling) gets news that her grandmother is dying and wants to go visit her, even though Sam Healy (Michael Harney) will not let her. Sam goes to a show that evening that features Joe Caputo (Nick Sandow), which features him on bass. The two begin bonding. As Piper tries to contact Larry (Jason Biggs) to get a furlough, she realizes that she still has emotions for her. In the prison, a sex contest is raised that gets Big Boo (Lea DeLaria) and Nicky Nichols (Natasha Lyonne) getting competitive and Nicky going after Susan Fischer (Lauren Lapkus). Vee Parker (Lorraine Toussaint) and Gloria (Selenis Leyva) to finally resolve their issues over the bathroom, even though Red tries to persuade them that they are being tricked.
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| Kate Mulgrew |
MVP:
Galina "Red" Reznikov
In an episode that doesn't exactly have a standout performance, Red steals the show if for no other reason than that she is going to be causing some damage this season. After a stretch of episodes of being kicked down, she is starting to rise. She has an operation that is getting started with hopes of overthrowing the cafeteria workers. Her stern personality plays well against any and all competitors and while she may seem bitter, there's plenty in the performance to love about her. She is on the way to making a comeback, and this episode shows her slyly working int he background to make her plan work.
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| Selenis Leyva |
Flashback
Gloria has a flashback to when she worked in a convenience story with her family. Upon falling in love with a man with psychopathic tendencies, things begin to go south. After initially appearing to be a nice man, he begins to get hostile with customers and even begins to steal stuff. When they have children, Gloria becomes paranoid to have her kids around him. When everything else fails, the man tries to rob the store in the dead of night, but ends up knocking over a lit candle that burns the place down with him locked inside.
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| Taylor Schilling |
Overall Thoughts
After a pretty strong start to the season, I feel like the past few episodes have been in a comfortable lull. That isn't to say that they are bad, but I don't feel as much immediacy to these episodes simply because the moments don't come satisfyingly. Sure, we get some time with Sam away from work, but with exception to Red getting her plan worked out, I don't feel like the whole bathroom issue was resolved in an exciting way. Yes, there's plenty of funny and poignant moments, but with the series already building its own acclaim off of the performances, it is hard to look at things like the flashback and find something great to take away. Where the earlier ones tied into the episode, Gloria's doesn't feel all that interesting. However, this episode does raise an interesting idea on if Piper and Larry will be getting back together, or if it is just a ruse for Piper to experience some freedom. This is yet another transition episode that has plenty of funny moments, but feels like its goals are too simple to be a particularly great one.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
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