Most likely, he is telling himself that he is doing it for the child, but I think the inclusion of the Iraq footage, and especially the footage where he lets another soldier dive on a grenade instead of him means that he is really doing it for himself. When things were consequence free and he could have free sex and dream about being a Dad, he was all in but when push came to shove he was out of there faster than the Roadrunner in Loony Tunes.

Generally, I have stayed entirely away from the Bennett/Daya storyline because I find it totally absurd. But, since this is the end of the Bennett part, I figured that I should probably at least discuss it.

“A Selfish Little Person”

We see two examples of Piper being manipulative in order to make the prison and life respond to her will. First, Red calls her out for lying to her about the store (telling her that it was doing well instead of telling her that when she visited it was closed down).

Red suggests that Piper did not withhold the information to protect Red’s feelings as much as to make her like Piper more (after reading her the riot act as only Red can do).

Alex is having a nervous breakdown while blaming herself for getting thrown back in Litchfield (which honestly makes zero sense, why would Alex beat herself up, she was “screwed” on the outside because of Cubra and now she is relatively safe). The breakdown is getting so bad that

Alex is so distraught that she is talking back to CO’s and risking serious disciplinary action, so Piper discloses that she dropped a dime, having her friends call PO Davy Crockett on Alex’s parole violations in the first place.

For some reason, this results in angry revenge sex between Alex and Piper as, I guess, both of them accept that they love each other despite being often unquestionably manipulative and awful to each other on a regular basis.

So, yes, Piper is very emotionally manipulative, and as she realizes halfway through the episode, she has turned into her mother (maintaining the illusion of having sweet intentions on the outside all while manipulating the world and situations to her liking in reality).

Bed Bugs and Ballyhoo

I never encountered Bed Bugs on the inside, but since my release, I spent several years living in a place that was infested.

Why would I stay in a place with Bed Bugs for a long time (and where I have endured literally thousands of bites)?

It is very hard when you are a formerly incarcerated person to get housing, even harder when you have a sexually related crime (I was caught in an online sting, I said some terrible things but never tried to meet anyone etc.).

My take on post-prison life is pretty simple. Yes, I deserved to be punished for what I did but once I served my sentence, I have paid my debt to society.

We, formerly incarcerated folks might owe our victims an eternal debt, but we don’t owe society anything beyond what we were sentenced to. You can try to debate this, or tell me I am a terrible person, but you are not going to convince me that I owe anyone anything other than being a good person and community member.