Competition forces Daya to find a new mule. Piper decides to come out as a felon. Karla asks to leave for a custody hearing. Shani confides in Nicky.
In 2018, there were 495 scripted shows airing amongst the linear channels and streaming services. The way people are consuming content now is so different than it used to be. It happens according to one's own schedule. As such, there is less necessity to provide ample coverage of each specific episode in any given season from a show. Moreover, it is simply impossible to watch everything. As such, this site is making the move to shorter episodic reviews in order to cover as many shows as possible. With all of that being said, here are my thoughts on the next episode of Netflix's Orange Is the New Black.
"The Hidey Hole" was written by Hilary Weisman Graham and directed by Natasha Lyonne
So many people are incapable of looking beyond their own selfish interests. It's sickening that those people are most typically in positions of power. Because of the authority they have over someone else, they really have no desire to reflect and determine whether or not they are acting in an appropriate way. The corporate leaders of PolyCon just care about their profit margins. They don't really care about the inmates and what is happening within their prisons. Ward is allowed to do whatever she wants within reason. It means the programs she installs have to be led by volunteers. And yet, that has been a selfless act this season that has provided significant hope to many characters. Sure, there are plenty others who remain in despair. The ICE detention center is right around the corner. Those agents don't believe that the detainees are entitled to any rights granted by this country simply because they have been condemned as having broken the law even though a judge hasn't determined that yet. Karla is fighting to be at her children's custody case. But it's impossible for her to get there because the ICE agents don't have any compassion for her situation. It's a dire world full of uncertainty. Gloria presents as a lifeline who can smuggle in information about what has happened to various loved ones. But even that is overwhelming. Meanwhile, Nicky just aspires to be understanding of the insecurities her new girlfriend, Shani, has. She comes from a completely different cultural experience. One where the leaders believe in female genital mutilation. It's absolutely brutal and terrifying. It leaves Shani feeling as if she can never be intimate in that way with anyone she is interested in. Instead, she constantly has to be the aggressive and dominate one. Nicky fulfills that role as well. And yet, she is more than willing to offer compassion. She does so because she cares. Of course, she cares about Lorna as well. Lorna just doesn't feel like she is receiving that from her best friend. She is in crisis at the moment. She has long coped with her life by telling fantasies about what her life could actually be. In prison, it has been comforting because she could fool herself into believing something that was far from the truth. All of this extends from an accident that she caused that ultimately killed two people. That's absolutely horrifying. It shows how Lorna's mind has long been broken. She has always needed proper health treatment. And yet, she has failed to receive it because people don't see much of a problem with her. That's bound to change with her prison break at the conclusion of this hour. That leads to a lockdown that will bring even more suspicion onto the prison. That may disrupt all of the hard work that Ward has been trying to achieve. Lorna is just trying to salvage the one outside connection she still has left. She doesn't want to accept that Stirling has died. She refuses to mourn. But that is causing Vinnie a ton of pain. Their marriage can no longer be real if she refuses to accept this. She wants to burst out and fix everything. She just may be unable to do that. In doing so, she may even create more consequences for herself and her fellow inmates. Daya does the exact same thing simply because she wants a competing drug business to disrupt Aleida's. She believes the GED instructor is the best way to get drugs into max. But he instead resigns from his position. He refuses to be bullied and threatened by her. He does so to protect his family. But that also means the entire GED program is now in limbo. Taystee fought for that for so long. Pennsatucky finally had hope in her life. And now, all of that hard work could disappear instantly. Daya doesn't care about any of that. But it also takes more than caring in order to truly do better in life. Piper has a breakthrough with her father simply by being honest about the burden she has carried keeping his secrets and her identity as a felon. Meanwhile, Cindy's family is broken apart simply because they don't know how to respond to the truth coming out. Cindy and her mother had to know this was inevitable. And yet, Cindy's first reaction is to run away. She has made so much progress. She faces responsibility for her past actions but it's hard to live in that world even when things could be more brutal once she walks out that door for good.
