Why in the world would Fig talk about the injured guard as a negotiating tactic? They really would have breached once they knew a CO had been shot?

Why is Caputo negotiating on behalf of the prisoners when he is working against the interests of his CO’s and his career?

4. Classic Rom-Com

Speaking of Caputo, Mei Chang says the above to Linda and that Caputo is with the Giraffe Lady (Fig) and that people think they hate each other but also bone.

How would Chiang know Caputo and Fig “bone” (that started to happen after Fig left the prison)?

Anyway, Caputo sure doesn’t make his feelings about Fig opaque. From the minute he walks into the negotiation, he is full-on flirting with Fig.

And why did Caputo totally abandon Linda to the mob? He knows Linda is not a prisoner and she came to him begging him for protection (which he could have given because it would have happened in front of Figueroa during the negotiations) so why would he suggest that she was a psych transfer? Even if he were mad at Linda and found himself madly in love with Fig, it seems highly unlikely he would leave Linda at risk just to get some kind of revenge (for which she could most certainly charge him with later).

Anyway, Zirconia figures out that “Von Barlow” is a civilian and not a prisoner so Linda runs.

3. “Once You Go Clarence?”

Yes, I get that in order to question racism, you often have to deploy it. But the frequent casual deployment of racism seems to have gotten way out of hand this season.

Did it serve a major plot purpose to have the meth-heads casually make jokes about racialized bodies? Did it serve a major plot purpose for the meth-heads to force Suzanne into whiteface because “Life is going to be so much easier for you now?”

I guess what I am suggesting is that racism seems to be deployed often during Season 5 more for the entertainment of the audience than for adding depth to the plot or to characters on the show.

If you have cheated ahead, and I have (by the time I get to writing it is usually after seeing each episode at least three times), you know that there was no significant purpose served by brutalizing Suzanne (and by extension all other people of color) in this manner.

In episode 8, Taystee talks about loving Spike Lee’s movies (“Crooklyn always makes me cry”) but perhaps the writers should have watched the Spike Lee movie “Bamboozled,” especially when the “actors” are forced to “blacken up” for the cameras.

If you can watch that scene without crying, you are a tougher person than me.

I guess I am saying that sometimes, being cool insiders, lauded for having a really diverse cast, can sometimes result in you playing fast and loose with imagery and words that have real effects on real people. Even seeing someone in white or black face leaves a mark on everyone who watches, so you better have a damn good reason to do it.

I love the show, I love the cast, I love the writers, but this shit is unacceptable. It does real violence and makes Suzanne (one of the most courageous characters in the history of television) into an object and not a subject and for what?

And what the hell is up with the meth-heads, why are they terrorizing Doggett, aligning with Nazis, and brutalizing Suzanne? When was this ever in their character prior to the riot? Ignorant cruelty, sure I see that as a possibility (even a probability) for Leanne and Angie but ongoing calculated and intentional evil?

Sorry for the rant, but I just find these plotlines deeply troubling.

2. Horror Movies

This was kind of an odd episode for another reason, they kind of did a tribute to horror movies. In particular to Scream, Friday the 13th, The Shining, and Psycho.

Again, in many cases, this is an example of using the bodies of the inmates as objects of violence and not for a particularly strong plot purpose. And, in a sense, that is kind of what many horror movies are about (giving us license to enjoy violence as a catharsis for our own darkest fears).

One of my prime reasons for choosing Orange Is the New Black was because it never treated the characters with disrespect or as being unworthy of agency. Seeing Piper and Alex, for instance, dragged into a room wrapped in shower curtains seems more than a bit exploitative. If the characters are depicted as mature adults who choose to engage in consensual sex in a shower is one thing but having them staged and displayed helplessly on the floor in this manner is a huge departure and gives me real pause.

This show, to this point, has been a deconstruction of Luschek’s “women in prison” movie fantasies but this episode institutes, as Piper would put it, “the male gaze” (which doesn’t actually have to only be used by men).

And it doesn't just happen on television shows, check out this response by my legendary brother in Michigan incarceration Shaka Senghor (we were actually released the same month - he has done a bit better than me to date) said about Gucci's new "criminal" fashion campaign (which they had the audacity to call "Criminal Couture" as if they have any right to that body space - which is hard earned).

Our bodies are not yours to use without our consent, period.

1. Red’s Rebellion

I thought some of the Red Russia was interesting, in particular, what Red said to her boyfriend immediately before they broke up:

“You’re the rebel they can tolerate”

“You get to sit here and play your music and feel like a punk”

“But if you’re threatened, you step right in line”