Orange Is the New Black 1.03

Lesbian Request Denied

Chapman finally gets wise to the fact that Crazy Eyes wants to be more than just friends. I guess it was only hinted at in the last episode but she probably should have known better, should have known that nothing in life is free, especially in prison. Eventually Chapman lets Crazy Eyes know that she can't be her wife. Crazy Eyes seems disappointed but okay with it, but that isn't the end of it.

Chapman has a few more encounters with Alex. One of them occurs in a flashback to when they first met. In another one Crazy Eyes defends her, by throwing food at Alex. Alex insists that it wasn't her who gave her name to the police. There were a number of other people who were caught at the same time. Alex insists that it could have been any one of them. She also lets it drop that Piper broke her heart.

Piper hasn't told Larry yet that Alex is in prison with her. When she talks to him on the phone she asks him to see if he can find out who ratted her out, if it was Alex or someone else. He says he will try. He doesn't visit her this episode. Instead she gets a visit from her mother and her business partner.

The other major story in this episode is the backstory for Burset, one of the other inmates, the hairdresser, who used to be a man. She was married to a woman and had fathered a son. She was a firefighter. Her wife was very understanding about transitioning and even comes to visit her in prison. What she isn't okay with is the crimes that landed Burset in prison, major credit card fraud that she perpetrated to pay for her surgeries.

In the present Burset is facing a crisis when the prison cuts back on her estrogen pills. She is panicked enough that when the warden refuses to let her see a doctor she swallows the head of one of his bobble head toys. This does get her a visit to the doctor but not the right dosage of the pills she needs so badly. One option that presents itself is one of the guards, Pornstache, who offers to help her out if she "helps" him out. So far she isn't interested but based on the looks she gives him maybe that will change in the next episode.

I like how they have weaved in the backstory for characters other than Chapman in this and the previous episode. I expect that they will continue to do so and look forward to see who's next.

There are some other subplots developing, like the guard/prisoner budding romance.

I've got a feeling that things aren't going to last for Piper and Larry, or at the very least that there's some rough waters ahead. I think she is going to cheat on him with Alex, eventually. I wouldn't be surprised if he does the same to her. I'm not sure which will happen first.

This show is still batting 1000. I think it is great. I'm probably won't love every episode this season but the show is off to a tremendous start.