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| Annie Golden |
Welcome to the recap series on the third season of the Jenji Kohan Netflix hit Orange is the New Black. Over the next few weekends (Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays) 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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| Adrienne C. Moore |
The inmates at Litchfield start thinking that Norma (Annie Golden) has magical healing powers. Cindy (Adrienne C. Moore) becomes worried that people won't believe that she is Jewish and begins looking for Jewish movies around the building. When Piper (Taylor Schilling) discovers that there's a market for dirty underwear, she starts planning a racket to make money off of it. Joe Caputo (Nick Sandow) trains the new guards, who aren't doing a great job. Sophia (Laverne Cox) is having trouble with her son cursing. After another employee has a panic attack, Red (Kate Mulgrew) gets to take over duty as the cook while also discovering that she is now having to only make pre-made food. Crazy Eyes (Uzo Aduba) writes a screenplay that is highly sexual to the point that nobody wants to be involved with.
Flashback
This week, a young Norma teams up with a meditation guru who helps her find spiritual enlightenment. While it has a cult sensibility, she goes along for the ride, as she believes that the guru is her true savior. She is loyal. She is happy. She does everything that he wants. However, when he begins to get tired of his own charades, he decides to tell her about being a fraud. This results in her not being sure what to do. She ends up being lost in the wilderness, alone, and without any strong sense of self.
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| Nick Sandow |
MVP:
Joe Caputo (Nick Sandow)
I know that it may seem lazy to keep picking Caputo as the best character this season, but he kind of has been consistently impressive. While we have focused on inmates in the past, it feels like this season is focusing on the the establishment as an entity. Caputo is having to make some hard decisions and the new guards are ridiculously unqualified. He has a lot on his plate and who knows what is in store for the future of Litchfield. Either way, he keeps everything in check as everyone else deals with their own minimal problems, which are themselves interesting, but doesn't feel as overall significant as Caputo has been this season.
Overall Thoughts
I don't know if it's just that not much interesting has happened, but this is one of the weaker episodes this season. I don't really care about Piper's new operation. It is rather loathsome and she has increasingly become less essential each season. It also doesn't help that Norma is an okay character, but doesn't get enough to do much that is interesting. A lot of the episode is people dealing with small conflicts that feel inconsequential in the long run. While the Jewish thing has its memorable moments, the rest lacks gravitas. There's way too much that I didn't like to give this episode a good review. However, it's great to see Red back in the kitchen, hopefully set to raise a new form of hell.
Rating: 3 out of 5
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