It’s hard to define ‘love’, as the inmates attempt to do, but one thing’s for certain: on Valentine’s Day, everyone is searching for that elusive feeling, trying to find some form of connection; it doesn’t always end well, though, and what we oftentimes get is heartbreak and disappointment.

Daya and Bennett, for example, attempt to imagine what their relationship would be like if they were a couple living in the outside world, but the problem is that they aren’t a couple living in the outside world; Daya becomes fed up with acting normal, and Bennett gets pulled into a sticky blackmail situation. Pornstache is also hanging around in the form of a letter to Daya, and it’s a reminder of something that is very much not love, not a meaningful and genuine connection.

Piper, at one point, thought she had a meaningful and genuine connection with Larry, but in reality, he’s a moon reflecting her light; he makes a move on Polly, but it’s at exactly the wrong time, and it reeks of nothing more than a desperation move to remove that label. Red’s also making moves in the prison, giving out gifts obtained from her sons through a grate in the floorboards. It’s a perfect encapsulation of her situation: here’s a form of escape, but prison’s become her life, and being on top in prison is more important, more real, than leaving. And it’s not very easy to make your way back to the top, either, as Red finds out when several of her gifts are refused.

Who’s at the top now? Well, it’s Vee, and she’s continuing to drive a wedge between Poussey and Taystee. We find out through flashbacks that Poussey’s very volatile, someone who would nearly pull a gun on her girlfriend’s father after he threatens to send her family back to the U.S. This situation arises from a relationship Poussey has with the father’s daughter, Franziska, and just like she stands up to the father there, she attempts to stand up to Vee in the present day. However, you can tell she’s uncomfortable doing so, and out of her frustration and disappointment arises the scene in which she pushes Taystee away at the party.

Of course, even amidst all that heartbreak and disappointment, the party also contains a few moments of genuine connection. Flaca and Maritza kiss and laugh, Healy and Pennsa share a cookie, and Boo and Nicky end the Bang Off. Even though we all go down roads of shared disappointment to get to those moments, at least there’s something there. It might not be a light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s a lamp in the middle, flickering on and off as we live on.

GRADE: B+

OTHER THOUGHTS:

-Oh, Caputo. Fischer doesn’t want you. Speaking of, Fischer stuffing that dick cookie in her mouth is hilarious.

-Uh oh. What’s to become of Suzanne and Morello, especially after Suzanne sniffs Morello’s hair? Aside from that, though, it’s a very sweet scene.

-Piper uses the newsletter excuse to dig up some more stuff on the prison.

-Nicky would go home to Fiona Apple in the “Criminal” video, and I don’t blame her.

Some Blue is the Warmest Colour stuff up in here. However, “scissoring isn’t a thing!”

Photo credit: Netflix, Orange Is the New Black