‘Orange Is The New Black’ season 3, episode 13 review: The Litchfield ladies taste freedom
We can’t believe we are already at the end of “Orange Is The New Black” season 3 and while parts of this season have been a lot of fun, we were disappointed with Piper’s story. There was always something a little unlikable about her, but we still wanted to root for her. This season we really couldn’t care what happens to her and found ourselves way more invested in the supporting characters and the staff at Litchfield.
When Flaca goes to Piper and asks to be brought back into the underwear business, Piper shows her mercy, but Alex tells Piper that it’s making her look weak. When all of Piper’s money gets transferred she thinks it’s Flaca, but after confronting her she finds out it’s actually Stella since she is getting out and needs cash. After letting Flaca back into the underwear game and letting Stella steal from her without consequence, the rest of the women realize that Piper can’t control things are are making a move to overthrow her. Piper surprises everyone, when she frames Stella with contraband as payback for stealing from her and ends up with Stella being sent to max security instead of getting her freedom.
Vince comes to the prison to break up with Lorna, thinking that it would be better to end it since they can’t be together for many years to come, but when she gets down on one knee and proposes to him he can’t say no. They get married in the prison with some of the other staff and inmates and we couldn’t be more thrilled to see Lorna have a win.
Now that Boo and Doggett decided not to go through with their plan against Coates, they don’t know what to do to keep Doggett safe since she still has van duty with him. After faking a seizure and crashing the van, Doggett was removed from van duty and is safe from Coates, but when they see that Maritza is now on van duty they realize the problem isn’t over.
Healy’s marriage is pretty much over now as hes told his wife that she should move into her own apartment and that he will help pay for it. Although it seems that his wife is finally getting what she wants, she ends up leaving dinner for him at his office – the first sign of her putting in some effort.
Caputo and Danny want to make things right for Sophia so they go to see Danny’s dad to plead their case that victims shouldn’t get punished. The meeting goes badly as Danny loses his cool and quits. Natalie advises Caputo to take Danny’s quitting as an opportunity to move into his job, but he would have to leave Sophia in the Shu. So what did Captuo do? He took the job and his staff walked out on him.
We saw Cindy pretend to be Jewish this season to get the kosher meals, but after that was taken from her she decided to convert to ensure her meal plan continued. Today we saw her at the end of her journey and it seems that things have changed for her and that this is something she really identifies with and is no longer about tasty meals.
Speaking of things that are tasty…. with Taystee in the “mom” role, Poussey gets her to come and help with Soso in the library. When they see that she’s not dead, they decide to help her so she won’t end up in psych. Is there anyone else out there hoping for a Soso/Poussey romance next season?
Seeing the small flashbacks of each character giving us that tiny glimpse into their childhood is part of what made this finale great. It gave a moment for each of our favorite characters to shine, including some that don’t always get that chance like Cindy or Soso. We also loved watching all of the inmates have their moments by the lake and experience a tiny bit of freedom – even if it was only temporary (we are still worried that Alex might be dead now that her ex-boss has found a way to get to her). We wished they had left the scene at the lake as the final scene for the season since it left us all with some hope for these ladies, but we saw a crop of new ladies coming into the prison and they are definitely going to shake things up next season. Episode grade: B+
What did you think of this episode of “Orange Is The New Black” and how do you think it’s all going to end? There’s only one episode left until the season 3 finale – what do you think is going to happen? Leave us a comment below and give us your opinion. If you want more news on the show then head on over to the link here and we will hook you up. Also, if you want more great TV scoop sent your way then be sure to sign up for our weekly CarterMatt newsletter. (Photo: Netflix)