Orange is the New Black: 1x06 WAC Pack.
Following the discovery of pornographic pictures being sent from the prison to the outer world, Healy decides to reinstate the WAC (Women’s Advisory Council), mostly to distract the inmates from their daily lives. The whole procedure doesn’t render many meaningful moments, except perhaps that they, not unlike real elections, turn out to be more about the spectacle, populist and unreasonable policies rather than meaningful programmes, and that the end-result is seriously fixed by Healy (who allows Piper to win, who neither had any desire to or did actually run). It works to further divide the different groups in prison (because “you can only vote within your racial group”, as Nicky explains), and doesn’t come with any actual power, just the illusion of having a choice (as Healy explains).
In the background of the various campaigns, Piper is dealing with the revelation that Alex wasn’t the one who ratted her out to the Feds, and in the process, gets increasingly alienated from both her family and Larry – who happens to tell her that he is intending to write about “their” prison experience, since nobody wants to buy his edging story, just around the time when she is starting to rediscover her feelings for Alex. Nicky, on the other hand, catches on that Piper isn’t too happy about the way her mother is dealing with her being in prison (“Is that how you wear your hair these days?”), and calls her out on being ungrateful since at least someone is visiting her, while Nicky’s mum, as we see in a flashback, has never been supportive of her daughter in any way. It’s also the first confirmation that Nicky is likely from an even WASPier background than Piper, and is actually missing having a mother – which is why she is so close to Red, who helped her through her withdrawal period when she first came to prison.
Mothers are maybe a common theme in this episode. Daya continues to find more warmth and closeness with Bennett than she has ever gotten from her mother, Nicky and Red both confirm that this is how they feel about each other, Piper is going through the first stages of finding it completely impossible to communicate her experience of being in prison to anyone, including her mother. The latter thing is important because it clashes completely with Larry’s framing of the situation – that Piper being in prison is their shared experience, while Piper is decidedly the one struggling, and coming to terms with the fact that she isn’t better than anyone else in here (even if her attempts to blend in are manipulated by Healy, who once again puts her in the spotlight by rigging the election).
And then there’s Alex, purposefully trying to avoid Piper just the moment where Piper actually wants her to be around her, to the extent that she falls into nostalgic memories (important memories, since they show the moment everything falls apart, Alex starting to be put in a position where her business went out of control) and literally falls into Alex’ pillow when she gets the chance.
Random notes:
Sorry, I’m a bit out of practice so this is a short one. Also the episode was entertaining, but didn’t necessary offer a lot of things to write about. Rap-battles? Dance-offs?
Nicky and Alex continue to bond over being the two sides of the same coin (“supply and demand, motherfucker”).
“I always miss you until you’re here” is one of the saddest lines in the episode. Nicky is one of my favourite characters on the show and Natasha Lyonne is so brilliant in the role.
Sophia runs on a healthcare platform and of course stands no chance against chicken, or pizza, or no policies at all, or Jesus.
“My name is Poussey, accent à droite, BITCH.”
Lots of racial stereotyping being played for laughs, but nothing beats this:
Taystee: Let's talk about health care, Mackenzie.
Poussey: Oh, Amanda, I'd rather not. It's not polite!
Taystee: Well, did you see that wonderful new documentary about the best sushi in the world? Of course, now that I'm vegan, I didn't enjoy it as much as I might have before.
Poussey: You know, I just don't have the time. Chad and I have our yoga workshop, then wine-tasting class, and then we have to have really quiet sex every night at 9.
Taystee: Did you hear that new piece on NPR about hedge funds?
Poussey: Amanda, let me ask you - do you like my bangs these days? I mean, do you like them straight down, or should I be doing a sweep to the side?
Taystee: Sweep to the side, oh my god!
The flashback also shows Holly (“it’s Polly, actually”) meeting Alex, and Molly didn’t really like Alex. It’s an interesting parallel to how Piper’s two worlds now (the before and the right now) don’t really match, and how they also didn’t when she was still seeing Alex. And Alex reveals in a conversation with Nicky that she doesn’t miss doing drugs, but she misses the business – “the adrenaline, the power” (which maybe tells you more about Alex as a person than anything we’ve seen on the show before).
Piper: I came seven times last night.
Polly: Well, that’s just excessive.
Hm.
The scene where Larry, without even considering the option that it might be inappropriate, tells Piper that he was asked to write about her being in prison, is even more affecting if you consider how invasive prison life is in terms of privacy – there’s just one toilet that has a door, and it’s a privilege to be able to use it, etc. – so it’s even more of a violation that Larry is even considering this, apart from the fact that it doesn’t occur to him that Piper’s end of the deal is much, much harder than his. This is where it starts.
No comments:
Post a Comment