S04.E06: Piece of Shit

[Cranberry]

TBA

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Piper's plan to edge out the competition could backfire badly. Cindy finds a way to make Taystee's job pay off. Luschek gets some interesting mail.

[Lady Calypso]

Honestly, the first thought I had about Luschek's 'fan' mail was that Healy sent it. He did seem to get jealous about him and Judy two episodes ago, but then I realized that didn't seem like Healy's style, so knowing it was Nicky made me proud. I do think he needed to be knocked down a peg. And Judy actually telling him: "You're a straight white man. You don't get to be the victim, sweetie" made me smile a bit. Until she encouraged him to not turn himself in because of her own selfish purposes.

Man, it's good to see Nicky again. And hey, Stella! Somehow, she's more likeable this time around. I guess not being around Piper helps, and they gave her purpose. But Nicky's coming back? Luschek's not going to have an easy time with her. 

I was very happy to see Alex tell Piper off. And then Boo told her off and I reflected on how Boo became one of my favourites. And now Maria's after her for getting her sentence lengthened. I mean, Maria was still selling panties herself (or trying to) but Piper framing her just to keep herself out of trouble might make her land in more trouble when Maria tries (and possibly succeeds) to plant drugs on Piper. 

I change my stance on Healy. I still love to hate him, but I see now that his relationship with Lolly is him trying to recapture that mother figure he lost. Since Lolly reminds him of his mother, he's trying to make right with her again and find answers for himself. 

I like Alison a lot more than I like Black Cindy. Sadly, since it's now been four seasons of Cindy and my opinion hasn't changed much of her, I don't know if it ever will. But it was kind of funny that one book brought the two together.

Wait, is Sophia actually dead? I need answers on this, like, now.

[Cherpumple]

I really liked this episode. So much happened and so many relationships were fleshed out.

- Loved Healy and Lolly talking. Overall, I think he's a pathetic guy, but I give him proper credit for his compassion and patience with Lolly.

- I can't believe I was feeling sympathy for Coates' during his conversation with Luschek after Gina cut her hand. Damn you, show! Don't make me feel things like that about him!

- I like the development of the Poussey/Soso relationship, but I really really miss the Poussey/Taystee friendship. They had some of the best chemistry and funniest conversations in the whole show and I don't think we've seen them speak two words together during the whole first half of this season. It's sad.

- I loved seeing Nicky again, even though I was yelling at my screen during that last scene with her and the security guard. Don't through away those last three years, girl! I didn't care about seeing Stella, but it made me hopeful for a cameo for Miss Claudette, especially after we caught a glimpse of Grandma Shower-shank.

- So far I'm disappointed with the addition of Judy King. Her interactions with Healy and Luschek are funny, but she barely seems to be in the same show, let alone the same prison as everyone else. I really wanted to see her interact with the gen pop, and I'm disappointed that her story arc so far is mainly about her getting special treatment and private accommodation.

- Piper's storyline is starting to get interesting, almost in spite of Piper herself. I want to see her taken down a few pegs, but not beaten to a pulp. I'm bracing myself. And I'm glad that Maria is getting a juicy story. She's always been pretty firmly in the background, and I'm thrilled that we're learning more about her instead of the continuing boring melodrama that was Daya, her baby, and her awful mother.

[AmandaPanda]

Nicky's relapse absolutely broke my heart. I wanted to punch Luschek for his "apology." 

I'm fully shipping Poussey/Soso. I never thought I would like Soso, but now she's becoming one of my favorites. They've toned her down a lot.

[EvilApplesauce]

Please, show, tell me Sophia's still alive!

So Judy's going to make Luschek have sex with her, huh? I wonder if Coates is feeling remorseful about what he did to Pennsatucky. I want to like Piscatella, but he does seems to go "tough-guy-lite" on the white inmates.

[Ceindreadh]

I'm finding it hard to feel much sympathy for Maria. Although how is it fair that she gets more time added without any sort of trial or due process?

Piper may have planted evidence but Maria was still committing the crime so it's not like she was some innocent thrown to the wolves. 

[ivgotspirit02]

6 hours ago, Ceindreadh said:

I'm finding it hard to feel much sympathy for Maria. Although how is it fair that she gets more time added without any sort of trial or due process?

I think Piscatella said he would recommend to the judge that she get 3-5 years on her sentence so I assume he can't just tack it on himself. 

[Lillith]

I felt sorry for Maria, she was doing the same thing as Piper.  And Piper ratted her out just to save her own business instead of competing fair (as fair as one can be in prison) and square. 

[Cranberry]

I understand why Piper did what she did, though. If any of Maria's girls had been caught in the fancy underwear (which they would soon be with all the stop and frisks going on), they would have pinned it all on Piper. She couldn't just stop stealing and selling underwear herself; she had to end both her business and Maria's.

[Maysie]

Okay, I'm getting confused about the timeline. Nicky got a three year chip, but hasn't she used while she's in prison? Did I misunderstand that? Or is it a bit of a lie? I don't think she's been in max that long . . . I know we're in our fourth season of the show, but I don't believe the show has been progressing in real time - otherwise, Piper should be gone (which, please, she can leave any time now).

Piper's presence at the "carers" meeting tells me she's just fine with the white lives matter stuff that happened at the end of the last episode. In fact, I feel like she may have decided she'll use it to her advantage. She's lost control over the panty business because 1) she's not real adept at running her business and 2) someone else could do it better. I think she understands that people need something to latch on to, some sort of cause or purpose (which explains the cult of Norma last season) and if white empowerment keeps her business safe, she'll use it. The other "carers" weren't interested in the safety of the prison, nor did they care about Piper's business; they do care about establishing/maintaining their own superiority because they're threatened by being a minority now and I think Piper's exploiting that. I hope it backfires on her. For sure, Maria's as guilty as Piper is, but the fact is, Piper's stolen more goods and profited longer than Maria and her crew has. Maria has all of one delivery under her belt. And I don't believe for a minute that Piper was "protecting her people." Her move was entirely self-serving.

On one hand Cindy and Alison's disagreement was a bit heavy on the metaphors (the whole arguing over territory) but I did laugh when it turned out their mutual bemusement over Scientology brought them together. Maybe that's the key for middle east peace.

Caputo is delusional. Lushek's an asshole. And the guards make me cringe. Nicky and Sophia were heartbreaking. Healy and Lolly were nice together, as were Poussy and Soso. And finally, Red got some sleep.

[megsara]

19 minutes ago, Maysie said:

Nicky got a three year chip, but hasn't she used while she's in prison?

She hasn't as far as I remember.  She was just selling and not using Vee's stash.  

[questionfear]

30 minutes ago, megsara said:

She hasn't as far as I remember.  She was just selling and not using Vee's stash.  

Thats what I think too. We were watching last night and debating this, but I think she was tempted but never actually took it. 

[Maysie]

I know she was doing some prison dealing but somehow I thought in the first season Nicky relapsed or something. I can't remember, but I thought she used again in the first or second season and Red helped her clean up. I may be confusing that with someone/something else, or some sort of flashback, however.

[Helena Dax]

I still don't understand Piper at all. She's lost sight of her life out of prison or she wouldn't be doing the things she's doing. I read it: she was sentenced to 15 months. 15 months! Which means she'll be free in five months. She should be counting the days, not trying to become a prison top dog. I can't see any explanation for her behaviour.

Poor Sophia, poor Nicky!

Soso and Poussey are the cutest thing ever. And Taystee is brilliant. I love all her scenes. 

[knaankos]

1 hour ago, Helena Dax said:

I still don't understand Piper at all. She's lost sight of her life out of prison or she wouldn't be doing the things she's doing. I read it: she was sentenced to 15 months. 15 months! Which means she'll be free in five months. She should be counting the days, not trying to become a prison top dog. I can't see any explanation for her behaviour.

Poor Sophia, poor Nicky!

Soso and Poussey are the cutest thing ever. And Taystee is brilliant. I love all her scenes. 

Yeah they seem have completely axed Piper's out of prison storylines. I know she no longer has the best relationships with those people but that still doesn't mean she would want to risk putting more years on her sentence with nonsense. 

[questionfear]

21 hours ago, Maysie said:

I know she was doing some prison dealing but somehow I thought in the first season Nicky relapsed or something. I can't remember, but I thought she used again in the first or second season and Red helped her clean up. I may be confusing that with someone/something else, or some sort of flashback, however.

I think they said Nicky came in struggling with withdrawal symptoms and Red helped her. So it could be that she's been in prison for 3+ years, so she has her 3 year chip, but since she came in still addicted Red had to help her withdraw. 

[Primetimer]

What's better than being famous? Lots of things, if you ask Suzanne.

View the full article

[HaymakerHattie]

The show was kind of unclear on this (probably so they could keep Taylor Schilling -- or not -- as needed), but I sort of thought that Piper had some time added onto her sentence during the Chicago trial when Alex screwed her over. So I'm not sure the 15 months is completely a given. 

[Maysie]

2 hours ago, questionfear said:

I think they said Nicky came in struggling with withdrawal symptoms and Red helped her. So it could be that she's been in prison for 3+ years, so she has her 3 year chip, but since she came in still addicted Red had to help her withdraw. 

Thank you. That makes some sense to me. I haven't watched the earlier seasons since they originally aired but it seemed like I had seen prison Nicky (meaning pre-Litchfield Nicky didn't count) using or under the influence at some point during the series. It may have been a flashback of her withdrawing while she was in prison.

[AlliMo]

I don't care how guilty Maria is. Piscatella is still the King Piece of Shit here. I hate his fucking face, the racist power tripping sack of garbage.

Edited June 22, 2016 by AlliMo

[knaankos]

12 minutes ago, AlliMo said:

I don't care how guilty Maria is. Piscatella is still the King Piece of Shit here. I hate his fucking face, the racist power tripping sack of garbage.

I hate how they made it a race thing. Why does every white character have to be racist? Even worse with these stupid Nazis in Piper's meetings now 

[Maysie]

58 minutes ago, knaankos said:

I hate how they made it a race thing. Why does every white character have to be racist? Even worse with these stupid Nazis in Piper's meetings now 

I do understand the racial aspect of the different groups in prison and the rivalries/conflict that arise from them. Based on what little I know, that seems to be somewhat realistic - people tend to gravitate to what they're familiar with and race is the most obvious trait (it's usually not so easy to pick friends based on things such as religion, education, political affiliation, etc. until after you get to know them). And I can buy that the skinheads gravitated to Piper and her group because it presented the opportunity to act out against another group, particularly the one that is now the majority. However, I agree that Piscatella being racially motivated in all of it is a been there, done that deal. I guess it was easy for the writers.

In thinking about it, there's very little mixing among the different races this season. I can't remember if it was quite this obvious in previous seasons. That's not to say racial lines are never crossed (Morello and Suzanne seem to do their jobs just fine together, for example), but they even bunk according to race, it seems. I don't know if that's realistic or a plot device or lazy writing or what. My issue with the race thing is that I feel like we've already done that with Vee. I guess we have to go through it again because it's Piper this time, but it's really front and center and I don't feel like it needs to be.

Edited June 22, 2016 by Maysie

[AlliMo]

It may be an easy get, sure. It's also pretty realistic that someone who seeks that kind of work because they get off on the power trip would have those kinds of prejudices. I find Piscatella especially awful because he's not just an asshole because he gets off on it; he actually believes the dehumanizing crap he spews.

TBH, I'm sure my viewpoint is colored by my experience working with these kinds of people for so long. There are plenty of good ones, but it's a profession that really does attract a certain type and you just hope that they're quickly weeded out.

[Princess Sparkle]

On June 20, 2016 at 3:06 PM, questionfear said:

Thats what I think too. We were watching last night and debating this, but I think she was tempted but never actually took it. 

Yeah, in her last episode, I was left with the impression that she was tempted by it, but never used it. However, while the entire order of events is a little fuzzy in my head, I also remember thinking she would've used some of it had she not gotten busted; I thought they were trying to lead us to think that. 

Her last scene in this episode broke my heart and I actually yelled "Nooooo!!!" audibly.  I'm also not sure I'm completely solid on what the symbolism means, but I did think it was interesting we got three scenes where oral sex was used as "payment" - once with Nicky for the heroin, once with Luscheck and Judy King, and once with Soso trying to repay the favor with Poussey (although, Soso misread the situation). Again, I'm not entirely positive what it was trying to represent, but it stuck out to me enough that I know it means something. 

[admiralrodcocker]

On 6/19/2016 at 5:02 AM, Ceindreadh said:

I'm finding it hard to feel much sympathy for Maria. Although how is it fair that she gets more time added without any sort of trial or due process?

Piper may have planted evidence but Maria was still committing the crime so it's not like she was some innocent thrown to the wolves. 

True she was comitting a crime, but the point was, that Piper was doing the exact same thing but given the benefit of the doubt because she's a white woman, and Maria is brown, so she must be guilty without a doubt. That IS the way it works in the real world. Also, Maria is constantly accused of starting a gang when more than two Latina women are conversing together, and yet Piper, again a WHITE woman, is seen with groups of other white women, and her group is called a "task force" and can only be doing good things, right? As a person of color, this stuff is very real and hits very close to home.

Edited June 23, 2016 by admiralrodcocker

[Madding crowd]

I'm wondering how Piscatella would be sending recommendations to a judge. Wouldn't that have to go thru the warden's office? I know they don't have an actual warden now but I think the captain of the guards would have no say on prisoner recommendations. 

I continue to dislike Chapman and think it was a mistake to turn her into such an asshole. The scene with the blood in Sophia's cell broke my heart and I hope she is not dead. 

[Maysie]

1 hour ago, Madding crowd said:

I'm wondering how Piscatella would be sending recommendations to a judge. Wouldn't that have to go thru the warden's office? I know they don't have an actual warden now but I think the captain of the guards would have no say on prisoner recommendations. 

Yeah, it would be nice if there was some kind of throwaway line or something about how that actually works. Right now it seems like the guards have an awful lot of power over the inmates.

[AlliMo]

There's a MotherJones investigative series about private prisons that just came out today. Fiction doesn't apparently stray very far from fact.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/cca-private-prisons-corrections-corporation-inmates-investigation-bauer

[Kel Varnsen]

10 hours ago, admiralrodcocker said:

True she was comitting a crime, but the point was, that Piper was doing the exact same thing but given the benefit of the doubt because she's a white woman, and Maria is brown, so she must be guilty without a doubt. That IS the way it works in the real world.

Not really the benefit of the doubt, more that they have no evidence linking Piper to the crime.

[ladle]

On 6/20/2016 at 4:24 PM, Maysie said:

I know she was doing some prison dealing but somehow I thought in the first season Nicky relapsed or something. I can't remember, but I thought she used again in the first or second season and Red helped her clean up. I may be confusing that with someone/something else, or some sort of flashback, however.

That was the way I had remembered it, too.  And then that other inmate ODed and Red blamed Nicky for it? 

[admiralrodcocker]

22 minutes ago, Kel Varnsen said:

Not really the benefit of the doubt, more that they have no evidence linking Piper to the crime.

You're right. Not benefit of the doubt for the panties, but benefit of the doubt that white people congregating is ever bad, but when black and brown people do it, they must be up to something.

Edited June 24, 2016 by admiralrodcocker

[Abbagirl]

Here's a question, why are they making a thing out of Soso not going down on Poussey as if she's never done it before?

I totally remember a scene with Soso and Nichols in the chapel where Nichols shoves her head down but it's mainly to stop Soso talking. Am I misremembering? Was that a different character?

Also I hope Sofia isn't dead and I was so sad for Nichols and her relapse. 

I hope Red is ok too! What did the dead guard's keys get her access to anyway?

Edited June 28, 2016 by Abbagirl

[chitowngirl]

The tools in the tool shed.

[Princess Sparkle]

18 hours ago, Abbagirl said:

Here's a question, why are they making a thing out of Soso not going down on Poussey as if she's never done it before?

I totally remember a scene with Soso and Nichols in the chapel where Nichols shoves her head down but it's mainly to stop Soso talking. Am I misremembering? Was that a different character?

 

I think it was less about Soso never having done it before, and  more about Poussey trying to tell her that she shouldn't go down on Poussey because she felt like she had to (since Poussey went down on her), but because she wanted to.  

Edited June 28, 2016 by Princess Sparkle

[Iseut]

Yeah, and I assumed that she realized that it means something with Poussey, which changes things. They're in a loving relationship that could extend beyond their prison time. When she was with Nicky, she was still new and was thinking of prison as more of a self-righteous sociological experiment, so she was probably experimenting and not worried that she would ever see Nicky in "real" life.

[eurekagirl mOo]

On 6/23/2016 at 9:01 PM, AlliMo said:

There's a MotherJones investigative series about private prisons that just came out today. Fiction doesn't apparently stray very far from fact.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/cca-private-prisons-corrections-corporation-inmates-investigation-bauer

This is fascinating. I encourage you all to read this.....thanks for the link.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 6/23/2016 at 6:01 PM, AlliMo said:

There's a MotherJones investigative series about private prisons that just came out today. Fiction doesn't apparently stray very far from fact.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/cca-private-prisons-corrections-corporation-inmates-investigation-bauer

Wow, I just read the whole article. Really thorough and detailed about so many of the things that are wrong with the way private prisons are run.

[nodorothyparker]

Welcome back, Natasha Lyonne.  Nicky sucked all the air out of the scene with Luschek and his shitty apology.

I'm going to have to fanwank a bit on Piscatella being able to recommend an extra 3 to 5 for Maria.  As guard captain, he doesn't make that call but he does have a fair amount of discretion about what goes in the incident report and how they choose to characterize it.  He probably does know that significant contraband with intent to distribute charges do carry that typical sentence and that he can write it up in a way more likely to make it stick with the people who do make the decision.  With the evidence of the panty bag, anything he writes is likely to be believed.

Edited July 5, 2016 by nodorothyparker

[canter]

On June 23, 2016 at 6:01 PM, AlliMo said:

There's a MotherJones investigative series about private prisons that just came out today. Fiction doesn't apparently stray very far from fact.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/cca-private-prisons-corrections-corporation-inmates-investigation-bauer

Wow, excellent article. The writers of OITNB really did their homework -- there are so many parallels since Litchfield became a private prison. 

[islandgal140]

Butterscotch.

This show has completely changed my relationship to this word. Thing is I don't know if it is for the better or worst, but damn did I cackle when Judy said she was gonna call Luschek that. Serves him right!

I am really trying to pace myself and savor this season and not binge watch.  Dying to know if the corporate woman screws over Caputo and sells his idea as her own. 

Yes, Luschek is a complete POS. Hell, I'd wager every organization has at least one like him. Just getting by to get over, but as far as Litchfield personnel goes he and that simple young one are the least objectionable.

So far the only surprising thing about Piscatella is that he is gay but even that feels a bit tripe and hackneyed. Otherwise, seems like one dimensional asshole, power tripping building of a man who couldn't cut it anywhere else like the armed forces or police force.

Unpopular opinion: Not a fan a Nicky, didn't miss her and something about Natasha Lyonne's just irks me. There I said it!

The scariest thing about this season to me is the prison industrial complex. It scares me to death!

Just when I think I can't dislike Piper less.. Ugh!  What is surprising is that may hate for her ex has dissipated now that she is away from her and hanging with Lolly. 

On 6/21/2016 at 10:02 PM, Maysie said:

In thinking about it, there's very little mixing among the different races this season. I can't remember if it was quite this obvious in previous seasons. That's not to say racial lines are never crossed (Morello and Suzanne seem to do their jobs just fine together, for example), but they even bunk according to race, it seems. I don't know if that's realistic or a plot device or lazy writing or what. My issue with the race thing is that I feel like we've already done that with Vee. I guess we have to go through it again because it's Piper this time, but it's really front and center and I don't feel like it needs to be.

Bunking according to race has always been so and was pretty apparent season 1. The inmates are assigned beds/wings according to race and even the bathrooms have racial designations. I remember comments from seasons past about the 'black bathrooms' being more clean because Suzanne did such a thorough job and scenes were I believe Sophia had to go to the 'Hispanic' bathroom because there was a problem with the 'Black bathroom' last season which kicked off a lot of the issues we see with her this season. Piper got assigned to the 'black wing' and had the Haitian woman as a roommate I believe only because of a space issue. It has been a running thing but I think with the introduction of inmates who are actual white supremacists in conjunction with white guards validating that BS and making the minorities 2nd class citizen (only non-whites get stopped and searched and are more readily suspected of doing wrong) that it has just become that much more apparent. 

Edited July 8, 2016 by islandgal140

[Clanstarling]

17 minutes ago, islandgal140 said:

Unpopular opinion: Not a fan a Nicky, didn't miss her and something about Natasha Lyonne's just irks me. There I said it!

I don't dislike Natasha (or Nicky), though I can see where she'd be irksome. I recently saw her on the Colbert show, and was kind of amazed at how much she seemed like Nicky IRL.

[abc123]

On ‎7‎/‎8‎/‎2016 at 1:29 PM, Clanstarling said:

On ‎7‎/‎8‎/‎2016 at 1:08 PM, islandgal140 said:

Unpopular opinion: Not a fan a Nicky, didn't miss her and something about Natasha Lyonne's just irks me. There I said it!

I don't dislike Natasha (or Nicky), though I can see where she'd be irksome. I recently saw her on the Colbert show, and was kind of amazed at how much she seemed like Nicky IRL.

Completely agree!  Her accent sounds like a badly forced NY accent...yet I noticed on Colbert that she sounds the same way.  Something about her just bugs.

re: Soso...they did make it seem like she had never done it before so it's confusing if she had done it to Nicky.

Linda is so totally going to screw over Caputo...

[HunterHunted]

On 7/3/2016 at 6:10 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Wow, I just read the whole article. Really thorough and detailed about so many of the things that are wrong with the way private prisons are run.

If you think that's bad, you should read the Department of Justice reports for the prisons/detention facilities that are so bad that the DoJ has to step in. Those places are horror shows.

70% of Texas prisons have no air conditioning. Temps on the units can get over 100. The water is contaminated with hazardous levels of arsenic.  Most jobs that prisoners can work in Texas prisons don't pay anything, let alone $0.10 an hour that the ladies are getting paid in Litchfield. And prisoners have to pay $100 copay for medical care.

[jsm1125]

On 6/23/2016 at 9:29 PM, ladle said:

That was the way I had remembered it, too.  And then that other inmate ODed and Red blamed Nicky for it? 

I thought that events transpired as follows: Pornstache was trying to figure out how Red was smuggling in contraband. Morello wouldn't spill, but Nicky, who was pissed at Red for choosing Morello over her for the White WAC representative, voluntarily told him. When Tricia died, I think Red blamed her (and not Nicky) for blabbing her contraband secret, and it wasn't until Nicky told Red that she was actually the one who told Pornstanche that she softened on Tricia.

Is that correct?

[Kalliste]

On 7/16/2016 at 0:11 AM, abc123 said:

Completely agree!  Her accent sounds like a badly forced NY accent...yet I noticed on Colbert that she sounds the same way.  Something about her just bugs.

re: Soso...they did make it seem like she had never done it before so it's confusing if she had done it to Nicky.

Linda is so totally going to screw over Caputo...

Bit late to the show but my understanding of the conversation with Soso and Pousey is that Soso had never gone down on Pousey not necessarily that she hadn't done it before.. She mentioned how it was all one sided and she felt bad about it.