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| Taylor Schilling |
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: Jason Biggs and Schilling |
Soso (Kimiko Glenn) decides to throw a hunger strike to protest the living conditions. John Bennett (Matt McGorry) begins to crackdown on prison ethics after talking to Pornstache (Pablo Schreiber). Sam Healy (Michael Harney) sympathizes with Pennsatucky (Taryn Manning), who reveals that she has anger problems. Meanwhile, Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling) is out on furlough and visits Larry (Jason Biggs) before attending her grandmother's funeral and brother's (Michael Chernus) wedding. Red (Kate Mulgrew) tries opening up to Vee (Lorraine Toussaint), but is quickly rejected when Vee reveals her plans to take over the drug smuggling ring, eventually leading to a potential murder. Piper grows bored of her free life and breaks the rules by drinking and eating fast food. Bennett gets reprimanded for overstepping his boundaries when he grows suspicious of inmates bringing in goods.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
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| Kate Mulgrew |
MVP:
Galina "Red" Reznikov
After establishing everything in the past few episodes, this is Red's time to shine. We have seen the smuggling operation start to take shape. Now it is in full effect and there's potential for Red to team up with people and make it more efficient. This is her episode to practically reestablish her reputation of running the prison. She is in control and turns in the most memorable scenes of the episode, including a dinner with her fellow inmates. With the cliffhanger that she is potentially killed, it makes the moments extra poignant and makes it quite enticing to just jump forward and see what the next episode is like. If nothing else, this is the most efficient cliffhanger that the series has done.
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| Taryn Manning |
Flashback
None
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| Left to right: Matt McGorry and Pablo Schreiber |
Overall Thoughts
In an impressive turn, I like that the series is finally kicking things up for whatever the last five episodes is going to look like. I am not complaining about the merit of every episode before, but it did feel like it took quite awhile for things to get going. Even if there's a lot of what seems like pointless plots this week, there is a sense that everything is building to a great battle between Red and Vee. Also, it is great to see Piper in the real world after having accumulated to prison life. It is an interesting mixture of toxicity that makes her somewhat unpleasant to people she loved, as if prison was a formative experience for her. Also, Pornstache may have more of a heart than initially believed when he beat up inmates. When he takes on Bennett, there's something more protective and professional about his approach that seems different. This is an episode full of great little moments and a lot of great build-up to whatever will come next. Will Piper even go back to prison, and if so, how will her law breaking style hurt her chances of a normal life? There's so much to ask and I cannot wait to get to the next episode.
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