S02.E04: A Whole Other Hole

[janie jones]

There's no way she won't be found out.  They're surely going to be looking for fingerprints in that house.  It just makes me sad that that sweet guard is going to get in trouble.  Yeah, she should have been watching her, but there should have been two guards, too.

[cotterpin]

I doubt they'll be dusting for prints considering nothing was really stolen, only a window on the door was broken and the bathtub was left full (and that water looked real dirty. Ew.) but I'm sure they'll be able to link it back to Morello, even if just by adding 2+2

 

My heart really broke for Poussey. Vee is already turning out to be a character I love to hate.

Edited June 8, 2014 by cotterpin

[DangerousMinds]

 

Do people really put those cheesy "Always kiss me goodnight" and "Love lives here" pillows on their beds? Yuck.

No one I know! Yuck is right.

[gwlisa]

I doubt they'll be dusting for prints considering nothing was really stolen, only a window on the door was broken and the bathtub was left full (and that water looked real dirty. Ew.) but I'm sure they'll be able to link it back to Morello, even if just by adding 2+2

My heart really broke for Poussey. Vee is already turning out to be a character I love to hate.

I'm sure the police would dust for prints! This was a burglary of a victim who has a known stalker who is dangerous enough to plant a car bomb. The police take prints for much, much lesser crimes. If for no other reason than to show in court to defense attorneys that they did their job and did not skip doing basic procedures.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Based on the fact that people now think you can type any words onto a colorful background or a picture of a sunset and that makes it profound enough to post on Facebook or Pinterest, I'd say yes, there are probably a lot of people with those tacky ass pillows too.

My school district had mandatory sex ed three times (5th grade focused on the puberty changes, 6th grade focused on STDs, 9th grade was more general but still covered the previous stuff) but all included diagrams like the one Sophia drew for the inmates.

It boggles my mind and saddens me when women have no clue about their own bodies. I found all the sex ed in my public school repetitive but apparently the more times you learn this stuff, the more likely it is that some of it will sink in.

Interestingly, my private Catholic school started sex ed even earlier. We had our first class in fourth grade. We not only got diagrams and a 3D model of the uterus but we were also taught that the 23rd chromosome determine if the baby is a boy or a girl.

[DangerousMinds]

Sad to say, the vagina/urethra confusion seemed totally realistic to me. I worked with a 27 year old (supposedly non-virginal) woman with a high school diploma who had no idea there were separate holes. Several coworkers and I tried to describe the layout to her while utterly aghast that she didn't know all of this already. BTW, keep your kids out of the Hall County, Georgia school system...

Right, did the schools just stop teaching this stuff? In the early 80's, my grade school (5th grade) covered the basics about women's bodies and menstruation, etc. The school sent home letters to the parents before the lesson started. I recall a film and some general discussion and then they sent us home with some sample "supplies". It wasn't sex ed (that came later) but just the basics about a woman's body and her period. They emphasized wiping front to back, lol. 

[Pixel]

Seriously?? These women didn't even know what hole their pee comes from?? I find it hard to believe, if not almost impossible. I mean, teens, maybe, but grown women who supposedly even have sex with other women?? So they always had oral sex with their eyes closed? They had never looked at their thing? They had never even seen pee coming out? And it was most of them, not even one, but most of them?

 

As a nurse, I have put many foley catheters in women. The urethral opening is not something easy to see on another woman, and even more difficult to see on yourself with a mirror. I wouldn't expect even a woman who has gone down on multiple women to necessarily have this knowledge - especially if they are from an underprivileged background. You're probably not looking directly into the eye of the storm when you're down there going to town.

 

Hell, the whole Vagina Monologues show came about because the writers realized that women never talked about or looked at their own anatomy! So this wasn't at all outlandish to me.  I was really tickled when Poussey said, "If it's the same hole, how come you can pee when you have a tampon in?", because I was hoping someone would point that out.

 

Everyone's anatomy is a little different, and sometimes finding that opening is a crapshoot even for an experienced nurse who puts in catheters all the time. I can honestly say I've had my hands all up in well over 200 vaginas in my time as a critical care RN.  One time it took me and several other RN's  more than 20 minutes and a very bright flashlight to locate the urethral opening on one woman, and it was located to the left upper wall of the vagina, not directly under the clitoris like Sophia's drawing. 

 

ETA: Sophia's drawing was of course, the normal location. I'm just saying - that opening is quite often not where it's supposed to be.

Edited June 8, 2014 by Pixel

[ElectricBoogaloo]

They emphasized wiping front to back, lol.

Ha, I still remember that a friend of mine once said of a not so bright acquaintance, "She doesn't have the common sense to wipe front to back."

[DangerousMinds]

I wonder how Morello got caught for mail fraud (if indeed that's why she's in prison)? I would assume she was smart enough to order items from different companies. I work in retail over the phone right now and we easily give refunds, there are truly lots of delivery issues. We either send a replacement item or give a refund. We would only notice fraud if the same customer pulled that stunt multiple times.

[Pixel]

We would only notice fraud if the same customer pulled that stunt multiple times.

 

She probably did. She strikes me as one who is just smart enough to game the system, but not smart enough to stay a few steps ahead and not hit the same victim more than once.

 

I seem to have a lot of issues with disappearing Netflix discs. They've never questioned my reports once.  If they did, they'd find they're all true, but still - I'd be suspicious of me if I were them.

Edited June 8, 2014 by Pixel

[MizStaken]

Pixel, OR nurse here and I have lost track of all the foleys I have put in. Only a few I have had a hard time getting in, one esp memorable one was a lady who had been circumcised. But I can't help but wonder if girls today aren't being taught about their bodies. Sad state of affairs but then again, I live in Texas so it's probably likely under Perry law.

[Pixel]

Only a few I have had a hard time getting in, one esp memorable one was a lady who had been circumcised.

 

Yeah, most of them are straightforward and easy. But not all!  Especially when dealing with enormously obese women like we got in ICU.  And I should have clarified - not easy for the average woman to see, unless she's really going spelunking.

Edited June 9, 2014 by Pixel

[lumibutterfly]

I was at a party a couple years ago, where a few of us ended up bringing up diagrams on the computer to explain this to a man in his 20's. We were all really trashed, so I don't know if the lesson stuck. 

[CheekyBrat]

I was also surprised that the ladies in Litchfield didn't know about the urethra being separate from the vagina.  At a certain age, shouldn't you know?  I took sex ed in grade 6 (I think) and then other classes through junior high and high school, back in the 90s, so I was taught.  I am familiar with my own equipment, but I have never actually seen the urethra...  Not sure many can being that it's so small.  Right?

[MMLEsq]

I wonder how Morello got caught for mail fraud (if indeed that's why she's in prison)? I would assume she was smart enough to order items from different companies. I work in retail over the phone right now and we easily give refunds, there are truly lots of delivery issues. We either send a replacement item or give a refund. We would only notice fraud if the same customer pulled that stunt multiple times.

Wouldn't her bank (credit card company) get suspicious that she gets so many charges refunded?

[Skittl1321]

 

I didn't find it romantic at all and didn't see it portrayed as romantic.  I was insane, creepy and disturbing.

 

I agree. I wasn't at all sympathetic to Morello after this episode. I didn't find her to just be 'lovesick'. I found her to be deranged, dangerous and in need of serious help.

 

On a separate note:

When you look at  the back stories of many of the women who were confused about the number of holes- how continuous do you think their schooling really was? Even if the school was teaching it, were they there to learn it?

Edited June 9, 2014 by Skittl1321

[90PercentGravity]

Wouldn't her bank (credit card company) get suspicious that she gets so many charges refunded?

Maybe, but she could also be using pre-paid cards with fake names.

[bluebonnet]

 

 

On a separate note:

When you look at  the back stories of many of the women who were confused about the number of holes- how continuous do you think their schooling really was? Even if the school was teaching it, were they there to learn it?

I think it's a mixed bag.  I can't remember whether or not it was clear if Taystee had gaps in her education.  Either way, the gaps aren't always the reason people are ignorant about sexual anatomy.  I had zero gaps in my education.  Went to public school in small town Texas.  We just didn't have stuff like comprehensive sex education.  The closest I got was a box of kotex and a book shoved at me when I got my first period and the book only talked about how now I would bleed every month and the importance of keeping myself clean and maintaining my virginity.  I was also taught that my vagina was too shameful to even talk about.  Not that someone sat me down and explicitly stated that I should be ashamed of my c***, but that any time it was brought up, the discussion was always shushed and noted that it wasn't something to talk about.  Someone like me wouldn't know to ask questions or even that it was possible to explore a part of the body that seemed so shameful. This was fairly standard where I came from.  

[Helena Dax]

Wow, Morello's backstory left me speechless. I thought she was delusional, a girl who didn't realize her boyfriend didn't want to be with her anymore. But this is worse. She's like psychotic or something. 

 

Everything related to vaginas was hilarious. And it seems there's only one way to shut Soso's mouth XD

 

Okay, that's official, I hate Vee. Poor Poussey. 

 

Shame on you, Piper.

[theredhead77]

I really hope they follow-up on Morello's temporary escape and continued stalking and breaking / entering. I too thought she was going to commit suicide in the veil and tub. I know a few women who have cutsey bears and pillows on their bed. They are all in their early 20s, playing house and so very immature.

[mledawn]

Aw, I only just responsed to the E2 thread how I liked Poussey and Tastee's friendship. I am pissed at the subversive techniques Vee is using.

[piewarmer]

I could watch Suzanne crack everyone up by hollering "THE BUTT!" all day long.

[Magpi]

I've worked in various schools and community settings teaching sexual health and it was extremely realistic to me that so many of these women had no idea about the three holes they have "down there." I've led sexual health discussions with women ages 20-45 who had all had children who didn't know this. The scene with Sophia teaching using the diagram was just fantastic.

I wasn't expecting the stalking part of Morello's story but it totally makes sense in retrospect. And it's very sad. I wonder if she has gotten any kind of help for this while locked up. It seemed like even Nicky wasn't aware of it.

[SeanC]

Holy, Morello's insane.  I'm glad Christufah doesn't have a dog, or else I'd be worried about it getting boiled in a pot.

Edited June 10, 2014 by SeanC

[catalogrrr]

Oh, Morello. Her behaviour seemed completely out of left field but then the pieces started to come together the more I thought about it. I was really convinced that she was going to get caught, though. In the scene when she was back in the van and hastily throwing the (monogrammed!) robe out the window, I noticed she wasn't wearing her jacket or her prison ID. I thought she'd dropped one or both somewhere in her escape from the window.

[Skittl1321]

I also thought the jacket would end up being a plot point in this episode.  But I think she threw it out the window with her boots, so maybe we are to assume it was just thrown into the van, so she had it.

[piewarmer]

I was thinking with all the scented product she put in the bath, the guard was going to take one whiff and go "hmmm, lavender" and bust Morello on grounds of smelling deluxe.

[Misstify]

Is there a thematic connection between the anatomical ignorance and Red's discovery of a drainage hole in the floor?

The prison administration apparently isn't aware that if you slide back the covering, there's a hole there...

[bravelittletoaster]

Well there is now.  lol.

[Iseut]

I think there must be a connection, since the title is "A Whole Other Hole." It works on both levels! Not sure if/how the Morello story fits that title though. The rabbit hole of her delusions? Or something?

 

Wow, she really is a scary stalker. I wonder if she's getting any mental health services at all...my guess is no, and that's so very sad. 

[Lovecat]

I was thinking with all the scented product she put in the bath, the guard was going to take one whiff and go "hmmm, lavender" and bust Morello on grounds of smelling deluxe.

I'm going to have to figure out a way to work "smell(s)(ed)(ing) deluxe" into everyday conversation :)

[joanne3482]

She probably did. She strikes me as one who is just smart enough to game the system, but not smart enough to stay a few steps ahead and not hit the same victim more than once.

 

If the victim is big enough (say Amazon for example) I could see them never noticing or taking years to notice.  And how can they PROVE it is credit card fraud? Someone would have to catch her wearing the item in question. Also, she's defrauding the stores not the credit card company. She wasn't shown calling the CC to have the charge taken off because someone "stole" her card or anything. I actually think she went down for the stalking and this was a failure of Litchfield to not consider that when giving her a trustee job.

 

Next question would be why does Litchfield use her to drive anyway even if they were unaware of her stalking? I can see it within the compound taking prisoners from the front gates into the actual prison, but outside the prison just seems incorrect. If Rosa decided to go crazy and break out or attack the guard, Morello wouldn't be a help to the guard. And since they have this odd reason that she's driving, why isn't she going into the hospital with the guard and Rosa so she can guard them both at the same time? Why is Morello somehow more trustworthy to leave in the car (for 3 hours) but Rosa can't be left in the hospital (where she's figuratively chained to the machine) for 3 hours? It reeks of plot contrivance and I don't like it. 

[Iseut]

I've seen some suggestions above, and I could fanwank-ily agree, that the guard is probably supposed to have a stricter setup in this situation, but has given special privileges to Lorna because she's proven to be so sweet and well-behaved in the past. We also saw the guard sneak Rosa a Pepsi...that was a sign that there are probably several little seemingly innocuous things that the guard lets slip in order to keep the inmates happy and help them feel more human. The guard probably can't even fathom what Lorna's capable of (nor could most of us, before we saw the episode).

[bravelittletoaster]

Next question would be why does Litchfield use her to drive anyway even if they were unaware of her stalking? I can see it within the compound taking prisoners from the front gates into the actual prison, but outside the prison just seems incorrect. If Rosa decided to go crazy and break out or attack the guard, Morello wouldn't be a help to the guard. And since they have this odd reason that she's driving, why isn't she going into the hospital with the guard and Rosa so she can guard them both at the same time? Why is Morello somehow more trustworthy to leave in the car (for 3 hours) but Rosa can't be left in the hospital (where she's figuratively chained to the machine) for 3 hours? It reeks of plot contrivance and I don't like it.

 

In real life Piper had work details off campus a couple of times.  She was tempted to use it as an opportunity to rendezvous with Larry, but she knew it wasn't worth the risk.

 

Morello's probably been a model inmate and is non-violent, and has family ties ergo is a slight flight risks.  But yeah, not plot contrivance because I think they actually got the idea from the book.  As I may have said upthread.  I dunno, I said it somewhere.  I've lost track.  

[Skittl1321]

Is stalking a federal offense? (I actually don't know)  Mail fraud is.

[bravelittletoaster]

No, don't think so.  It's the mail fraud that got her in federal prison.

[90PercentGravity]

All the episodes are running together for me. Was it this episode that mentioned the explosive device? That might land you in federal pen.

Edited June 19, 2014 by Dougal
Not a spoiler, it was this episode. :)

[joanne3482]

I've seen some suggestions above, and I could fanwank-ily agree, that the guard is probably supposed to have a stricter setup in this situation, but has given special privileges to Lorna because she's proven to be so sweet and well-behaved in the past.

 

I don't think this is a spoiler but please let me know if it is,

but there is a later episode she's driving Rosa and there is a different CO with her.  He checks on her every hour. So Fischer is definitely being "nice." But even an hour unsupervised seems excessive to me. 

 

In real life Piper had work details off campus a couple of times.

 

At the transfer station (dump) near where my parents live they use prisoners from the minimum security prison nearby as workers. They wear bright orange jumpsuits. So I can see off campus work detail. I guess I'm just hung up on a work detail that allows a prisoner to sit for one (or more) hours in public completely unsupervised. Do you think every time she and Rosa come back in they have to do the bend over and cough thing? 

Edited June 11, 2014 by Mya Stone
Even though it's minor, it's a spoiler as it was shown in a later episode.

[Happy to be here]

Next question would be why does Litchfield use her to drive anyway even if they were unaware of her stalking? I can see it within the compound taking prisoners from the front gates into the actual prison, but outside the prison just seems incorrect

 

 

All answers lead back to Fig being both cheap and a crook herself.    Plus it is min security and I am guessing most of the inmates are nonviolent offenders so someone who has shown trustworthiness could get a plum assignment like that.  (Although technically there should be two guards or at least have one of them check on her from time to time. but that is more on the guards being lazy or incompantent,)

 

Is stalking a federal offense? (I actually don't know)  Mail fraud is.

 

 

Stalking isn't a federal offense but Christopher's testimony probably convinced the judge/jury whatever not to go easy on her.  Morello is the type to get a slap on the wrist otherwise.  You know shit credit rating,  a hella community service, maybe even some fines but if it wasn't for the stalking she probably wouldn't have gotten actual time for it.  She is a white girl who is nice and charming despite her lack of education.  It is the stalking that got her time (even though the crime she went away for was mail fraud)  and more then a few years.   The episode she told Miss Rosa she had more then 2 years.  

Edited June 10, 2014 by ChaosTheory

[gwlisa]

I have all but given up trying to figure out why the women are in there. Some of the back stories make no sense. Miss Claudette killed the man who beat her cleaning employee. Not a federal crime. Selling pot like a lot of them. Not a federal crime. The track star robbing a store. Not a federal crime. It really takes away from my enjoyment. The writers don't respect the audience's intelligence.

[GinnyMars]

Morello's not "just" a stalker. She has erotomania. That's why even in the courtroom, she keeps acting like Christopher's her fiancé and he's just confused.

 

I first learnt of erotomania with He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not, a French movie in which Audrey Tautou has it. It's a pretty scary disorder...

Edited June 10, 2014 by GinnyMars

[DangerousMinds]

Morello's not "just" a stalker. She had erotomania. That's why even in the courtroom, she keeps acting like Christopher's her fiancé and he's just confused.

 

I first learnt of erotomania with He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not, a French movie in which Audrey Tautou has it. It's a pretty scary disorder...

Jenna Elfman was also in a similar Lifetime-type movie where she suffers from the same.

[Desperately Random]

I have all but given up trying to figure out why the women are in there. Some of the back stories make no sense. Miss Claudette killed the man who beat her cleaning employee. Not a federal crime. Selling pot like a lot of them. Not a federal crime. The track star robbing a store. Not a federal crime. It really takes away from my enjoyment. The writers don't respect the audience's intelligence.

Claudette wasn't in prison for killing that man. The other girls were talking and saying they heard she had done that but that's not what got her in prison. That  cleaning service she ran was smuggling illegals to work there. I can't remember which country the girls came from but it was a french speaking one I think. That is what got her federal time. As for the pot bust, that would be a federal crime if she did it on a military base and having seen her back story that is a real possibility.

As for robbing a store I don't know about that one. The only way I could see it being federal is if it was a bank she robbed and I thought it was liquor store.

[ganesh]

This one threw me good because in the prior flashbacks, the women were shown to be 'dealt a bad hand,' in a way. Morello is just creepy now. I mean, I figured last season that her "wedding" probably wasn't what she was telling us, but I wasn't expecting this. 

 

I actually found the rest of the episode quite entertaining, with Red finding some new purpose. She's too smart to just sit there and veg out like the other old ladies. She needs to do something. And the 'contest' with hooking up with the new girl was pretty funny. 

[Kristen]

There's no way she won't be found out.  They're surely going to be looking for fingerprints in that house.  It just makes me sad that that sweet guard is going to get in trouble.  Yeah, she should have been watching her, but there should have been two guards, too.

 

And you'd think maybe - if they couldn't send two guards - that they'd have Morello come inside the hospital and sit in a nearby waiting room so the one guard could more easily keep an eye on her. I know this is minimum security, and she's probably earned a certain amount of trust, but...

 

I could watch Suzanne crack everyone up by hollering "THE BUTT!" all day long.

 

The more they kept saying the word "hole" the funnier it got and then THE BUTT! So many lulz.

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

Gotta love Piper's epic smackdown of Red: "What are you gonna do? Not feed me?"

[ganesh]

I'm a little over Vee with the "back in my day, we did this and that." Well, you know what? You're a dumb ass criminal that got caught just like everyone else in there. I was glad Taystee called her on it.

[bravelittletoaster]

I have all but given up trying to figure out why the women are in there. Some of the back stories make no sense. Miss Claudette killed the man who beat her cleaning employee. Not a federal crime. Selling pot like a lot of them. Not a federal crime. The track star robbing a store. Not a federal crime. It really takes away from my enjoyment. The writers don't respect the audience's intelligence.

That's....not the point of the backstories?

[Brn2bwild]

I could see how errors in facts could take you out of the story, though, the way 

Alex being able to visit Piper at the prison when in reality, she would have been barred from contact for two years

did for me.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

If the victim is big enough (say Amazon for example) I could see them never noticing or taking years to notice.  And how can they PROVE it is credit card fraud? Someone would have to catch her wearing the item in question. Also, she's defrauding the stores not the credit card company. She wasn't shown calling the CC to have the charge taken off because someone "stole" her card or anything.

ITA - she was shown calling the company she bought the shoes from (not the credit card company). She said they never arrived, which does actually happen all the time in real life. Sometimes there's a glitch in the system and the order doesn't go out. Even if there's a tracking number that says it's been delivered, it could have been delivered to the wrong address (and I can tell you from personal experience that UPS and USPS put little to no effort into actually finding the package - they just say that according to their records it was delivered to this address on this date). Most companies tell their customer service people to try to appease the customers so if they ask for a refund as Morello did, that's what they will do. They aren't going to waste hours trying to figure out what really happened, let alone send someone to follow her around to see if she ever wears the item she says wasn't delivered.

 

My house isn't visible from the street so I've had every delivery service (UPS, DHL, FedEx, and USPS) deliver packages incorrectly to my house multiple times. Once I was even on the phone with the delivery guy telling him exactly what to look for and he STILL couldn't find my front door. I would hate for any companies to think that I'm defrauding them when it's actually the delivery services that are screwing up. I know other people whose packages get stolen from their front doors all the time. It's for reasons like those that a lot of companies will just send a replacement or issue a refund without question.

 

I will be interested to learn what she was actually convicted of. But if I recall correctly, the prison staff aren't allowed to disclose to the other prisoners what any of the prisoners were convicted of so she could say Lorna (or anyone else) could tell the others that she was in there for any crime.