Orange Is the New Black 6.09

Break the String

Chapman gets permission from Carol to ask around and sign inmates up for kickball. It doesn't go well at first. No one is interested.

Daddy gives Barbara some bad drugs and she start hallucinating. She has to be put in medical in order to keep her from hurting herself or anyone else. Flores gets ejected from medical so that there is a bed for Barbara. Nichols helps Barbara get through the trip.

Caputo tries to help Taystee. He testifies on her behalf while getting ready to move to Nebraska. Everything goes well at the deposition until the prosecution's attorney starts asking questions and points out how bad it was for Caputo during the riot.

Cindy starts to experience back pain. She comes to the realization, with some help from Flaca, that she needs to come clean with Taystee. She tries to but the only thing she confesses to is that she has a daughter. She doesn't tell Taytee about how she and Suzanne overheard the correctional officers plotting to pin Piscatella's death on the inmates.

Mendoza tries demonstrating dance moves to the group by dancing with Luschek. It gets awkward when he gets a boner. She tries to use that later on to try to talk him into doing something about all the intra-block violence. Baddison finds out about what Mendoza is up to, from Zirconia, and warns Mendoza about what the consequences might be if she continues to try and sweet-talk Luschek.

Red gets a visit from one of her sons and finds out that her husband has been cheating on her. Red continues to hang out with Carol. She is now part of Carol's inner circle.

Aleida visits Dayanara. Daya tries to talk her mother into smuggling in drugs for her. Daya wants to do it to help Daddy. Aleida needs the money. She just got kicked out of her apartment and things aren't looking up in her budding relationship with Hopper.

Linda visits Joe. She gives him a hard time for being a witness for the defense in Taystee's trial. Joe gets angry and quits.

Chapman crosses paths with Ruiz, while she is in chapel trying to get signatures for her kickball signup sheet. Chapman gets the signatures she needs but then Carol steps in and decides that she also wants to field a team.

The episode ends with Aleida visiting Daya once again. She has decided to help her smuggle drugs into Litchfield.

Thoughts

Doggett, Coates, Dixon, Suzanne, Berlin, Morello are not in this episode. There is a brief mention of the betting pool in one scene. There is no backstory spotlight in this episode.

Kickball is not going to go as Chapman hopes it will. There will be violence. I don't know it but you can bet on it.

Aleida and Daya's plan to smuggle drugs in might work in the short run but I think they will get caught and Aleida will wind up back in Litchfield. 

This is a decent episode but it lacks focus. It feels a bit like it is setting the table for the last few episodes in the season.