Orange Is the New Black 5.06

Flaming Hot Cheetos, Literally

Doggett is put on trial for helping Coates escape from Litchfield. Boo is her defense lawyer. She starts the defense of her friend by trying to make Angie look like a liar. That only gets her so far.

The governor sends Nita, one of his staff, with boxes and boxes full of Takis, Flamin' Hot Cheetos, and tampons. The prisoners live it up for a few hours until they learn that the governor wants something in exchange. He wants the hostages to be released. 

Watson makes peace with Soso. They talk about Poussey. Watson tries to help Soso get over her grief by encouraging to run laps around the yard with her.

Aleida gets to be on TV. She gets all dressed up. They send a car for her. It goes well until she starts cursing on the air.

Taystee gets the backstory spotlight. It revolves around two things. She has just turned 18 and needs to get ready to leave the foster home where she is staying. She meets her mother who wants to re-establish a relationship with Taystee but it isn't as simple as all that. Her mother was 15 when she was pregnant with Taystee. She has a husband and a young daughter now. She can't bring herself to tell them about Taystee. When they meet Taystee her mother says she is the daughter of a friend. 

Morello comes on to Nichols. They have some fun together but then Morello has second thoughts. She thinks she is pregnant and that it was just her hormones. Nichols doesn't take the news very well.

Bayley wakes up in jail. He wants to stay but they kick him out. There are no charges against him. He goes to see O'Neil and Bell, two of his former coworkers. They try to reassure him but it doesn't help. He goes home and tries to commit suicide but the dye he eats is non-toxic. 

Berlin decides that she's had enough of the solo act and invites some of the others (Yoga Jones, DeMarco, Romano, Murphy, Medoza) down into her bunker. They aren't very impressed at first until she shows them how big it actually is.

Doggett admits that she helped Coates escape. The jury deliberates. They find her guilty and sentence her to community service.

Taystee refuses to give in to the governor's demands. She and her friends (plus Chapman) collect up all the Flamin' Hot Cheetos and other goodies delivered to Litchfield earlier in the episode. They take them outside the prison and in front of the media they light them on fire.

Thoughts

Coates, Ramos, Gonzales, Ruiz, Dayanara, Red, Flores are in the episode but only briefly. I didn't spot Linda, Suzanne, and Kukudio in this episode. 

Poussey makes a brief appearance in the final scene from the backstory spotlight. It depicts the first time that Taystee met Poussey.

I think the only reason Chapman was helping Taystee and her friends collect up the snacks was to give her a reason to play a bigger part in this episode. She really hasn't done much of anything this season, so far.

This is an okay episode. It feels as though the season is in a bit of a lull at this point. I hope that the tension picks up in the next episode. I'm starting to get a little bored. The best part of this episode by far was the backstory flashback. There's nothing wrong with that being the best part but it would have been nice if something else about this episode felt anywhere near as interesting as that part.