Orange Is The New Black, S4 - Episode 3: '(Don't) Say Anything'

This was a pretty cool episode, with a lot of neat strands to unravel. I'll go through my favourite parts in bullet points and then talk about the main story in the flashback section:

• While we only get a few snippets, Taystee and Caputo's new work relationship is intriguing. His growing bond with the other corporate, Linda (Beth Dover) is starting to come into focus. She's basically enabling his turn into a selfish asshole -- the scene where he stares down his old CO is really sad. Caputo is the one character who balances likability and ass-holery in almost equal measure. 

• Morello's marriage is a glorious train wreck. The telephone conversation is great. It's the moment where Morello and the audience really get a sense of what she has signed up for. The fact that Vince still lives at home makes so much sense. 

• And while that scene is good, Morello and hubby's later make-up in the visitation room is better (and depraved). I don't know what to call it -- aural porn? -- but it's a pretty selfless gesture from Vince to engage in loud phone sex while dozens of people look on. In any other circumstance, it would be insane, but with Morello it feels right. It's sweet that she's finally found someone who is willing to indulge in her fantasies... We'll see how that goes, down the track.

•  Soso's well-meaning but completely wrong-headed attempts to introduce Poussey to her idol Judy King go the way you'd expect -- down, and in flames.

• I want to make this point now just incase something happens down the road. I find Blair Brown's Judy King very unsettling. She's always smiling, but never with her eyes. Something is going on. 

Best one-liner: 'I'm talking about crotches in front of 50 other women but for you it's awkward?' --Morello.

Flashback: Brook Soso. When Soso first turned up, I really wanted to shove a pencil through my brain. But then, like Tiffany/Pennsatucky, she grew on me.

That was until we got to this nugget from her backstory: To slight her ex-boyfriend (and get a date with someone else), Brooke agrees to a bet wherein she will go to a convicted sex offender's house to get him to sign a petition for a new park.


As it turns out, the man is completely harmless -- he was convicted for having sex on a beach with his girlfriend (which was recorded by another party). Not so heinous. 

But when Brook shows her boyfriend the man's signature, he basically guesses what we have just learned. And so Brook makes up a story that the man was a child molester who tried to attack her. Lovely.

The flashback basically reaffirms the underlying theme of the show. Even a good person will do things which are ostensibly selfless for selfish reasons.

In the present, Brook tries to do something nice for her new friend by getting her to meet Judy King.  However, in telling Judy about Poussey, Brook makes a bunch of assumptions about her background that basically set her up to look like a total dingbat.

Whereas in the past, she got what she wanted, in the present, her story-telling got her in trouble. And so it makes it more rewarding when Brook owns up to her MO. 

Finally, Soso is starting to get some more character development -- and the fact that she finally recognises her own faults and patch up her only relationship is very cool.  

....

Until she screws it up again.

Final thoughts: A good episode with some great scenes. The flashbacks were terrifically dark, and add a nice level of shade to Soso. 

For previous episodes

Episode 1 

Episode 2