Orange is the New Black season 5 episode 5 review: Taystee’s moment, Judy King freed
Outside of the prison they higher ups have been trying to keep the riot as quiet as possible on Orange is the New Black season 5, but after the perfectly timed video of what looks like Judy King being crucified on the prison roof by two Muslim women (which are actually Sankey and Helen) we are expecting this thing to blow up in a big bad way. The women wanted press, but we feel that this isn’t what they were hoping for.
As expected this Judy King video is on every news station across the country and reporters are calling it a possible “terrorist” attack on King and her Christian faith. It was an interesting look at the media in general and how many of these reporters immediately called out for ‘terrorism’ when they saw two women wearing a hijab. Very relevant to what’s going on across America right now with the quick jump to call a Muslim a terrorist, but Orange is the New Black has never shied away from hot topics, which is one of the many reasons why we enjoy this show as much as we do. Like we said, this was spun into the worst PR nightmare possible for the prison, leading to the higher ups to send in a team to access the situation and figure out how to diffuse it quickly.
On the inside Taystee’s group is trying to borrow King to take a proper photo of her to show the media that she’s not being crucified – clearly Taystee is the only one with some sense right now since she knows that if they don’t have King, they don’t have any power to make changes or get their message out there about Poussey. Sankey and her crew are willing to sell King to Taystee for territory in the prison again touching on a another sensitive racial issue – selling people as slaves. When Taystee says no, Sankey puts King on the market for the highest bidder and is eventually sold to Cindy for a calendar of cute chubby babies and unicorn stickers. Originally they wanted Judy to make a statement to the media, because they thought with it coming from her it would be taken seriously, but after some pressure from Janae, Taystee realizes that having King speak for them is part of what is wrong with the system. Taystee’s speech to the media was powerful, relevant and focuses on a lot of what is wrong with society and not just inside the prison system (it may also get Danielle Brooks some awards buzz – she is so good!). She encourages the press to get a hold of their demands and learn about what’s really going on at the prison, after she releases King to go free.
Let’s talk about Gloria for a moment. She has been the voice of reason throughout a lot of this and it’s mostly to protect Daya from what she has done. Originally she was trying to get a hold of Aleida to tell her about what’s happened with Daya, but when she finally does speak with her Gloria decides it’s best not to worry her with what Daya did. Unfortunately she finds out about the riot anyways since it’s on every news station across the country.
Red’s storyline this season has been a very slow build, but we finally had some action as she confronted Caputo about Piscatella. She scolds him for hiring him at the prison knowing that he’s killed an inmate, but Caputo claims that he’s been trying to get rid of him as well. Unfortunately, with no charges pressed against him and it ended up being Piscatella’s word against a dead inmate, so there was no way to keep him from taking this job. Red on the other hand is going to find a way to make Piscatella pay for what he’s done and admit to killing that inmate.
We know that Doggett forgave Coates for assaulting her, but we did not expect to see her making out with him in this episode (or in any episode to be honest) and we felt Boo’s concern when she caught them. No matter how much she tries to explain the pull she feels towards him, Boo isn’t having it. Doggett hides Coates in the laundry room, but when Angie and Leanne go there to start looking for the super secret place where they stashed the gun (in other words, they lost it), they find Coates. They want to bring him to where all the other hostages are being held, but instead Doggett steals the gun (which was in the back of Angie’s pants the whole time). She throws it to Coates, telling him how to best escape the prison, but he doesn’t catch it right and it shoots Leanne in the hand. Eventually he does escape, leaving the inmates without Judy King as a bargaining chip and without a gun to keep the hostages in line.
The one thing we have been desperately wanting more of this season is Alex and Piper – after all they are the main bones of this show. With Alex telling other inmates about the person she killed it has brought some of them together as they look up to her in feelings of solidarity. We are seeing Piper start to take her relationship with Alex seriously for the first time and it’s refreshing to see Piper grow past her ‘me, me, me’ mantra. We suspect that Alex’s followers are going to grow into tension between her and Piper, but we ultimately just want to see them happy. Episode grade: B+
What did you think of this episode of Orange is the New Black and how amazing was Taystee’s speech? Leave us a comment in the box below.