Saturday, January 19, 2019

Orange Is the New Black 2.02

Looks Blue, Tastes Red

No Piper. No Alex.

Tasty gets the flashback spotlight. The episode opens with the first of several scenes in the flashback spotlight. Tasha (Tasty) is a young girl. She lives in a foster home but she's at an event in a park, trying to impress prosepctive adoptive parents. It is there that she meets Vee, the woman who becomes her adoptive mother.

Vee runs a ring of drug dealers. She's the one who gives Tasha the nickname of Tasty. Tasty tries working a straight job, at a fast food joint. Eventually she shows some aptitude and starts working for Vee. The flashbacks are mixed in with a job fair competition at Litchfield. Several of the inmates are picked to participate. Tasty makes it to the final round which includes an interview with a representative from Philip Morris, the cigarette manufacturer.

Red discovers that her bank account is empty. She can no longer stay away from the mess hall. She grudgingly returns to eating there. She tries to avoid others but a group of older women pull her into their little group. I don't recall seeing any of these women in the first season.

Larry talks to his father and then goes to visit Polly, Piper's friend and former business partner. Polly is desperate for help. Her husband is out of town and she's having a struggle to take care of her baby. It looks like something is going to happen between Larry and Polly, or at the very least Larry is going to try. I wouldn't be surprised if something does happen.

Dayanara can't poop. She turns to Mendoza for help, instead of her mother. Aleida gets pissed. She steals yogurt from the mess hall to help her daughter. In in the end it works but Mendoza wants to know where she got the yogurt.

Doggett returns from SHU. Healy is concerned that she will say something about his role in the beatdown she got. He saw the whole thing and walked away and didn't raise the alarm or call for help. He asks her what it will take to keep her quiet. Towards the end of the episode she is escorted off site to visit an oral surgeon.

Red gets a visit from Vasily, her son. He explains to her that business is not good. That's why her account is empty. He promises to put more money in her account.

Tasty wins the competition. She think that means she will get a job. She asks Figueroa who quickly disabuses her of that idea. She gets $10 added to her account but that's it. The episode ends with Figueroa walking off and Tasty spotting Vee, her adoptive mother. In the moment, I wondered if she was hallucinating but as I think about it more I don't think that she was.

I guess this episode is sort of the complement to the last one. Piper is mentioned but not seen. Presumably she is still in Chicago. As with the last episode it was a little disorienting at first because I wasn't sure what the thrust or focus of the episode was but it didn't take too long for it to become clear that that Tasty's flashbacks and the job fair were it. I enjoyed it. I'm still on board and ready for more.

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