Orange Is the New Black 1.13

Can't Fix Crazy

There are no flashback spotlights. Everything takes place in the present.

Plans are being made for Christmas. Several of the white inmates draw secret santa names and get presents for one another. A Christmas show is being planned by Cox, Sister Jane, and the chaplain. They audition lots of inmates in the process of casting the show. There is a wide range of things that the inmates do to audition, most of them fall into the categories of amusing or pathetic.

Red gets kicked out of the Kitchen and Mendoza takes over. She brings in Latina inmates (including Dayanara) to help her run the place. She only keeps Murphy and the silent one from Red's crew. Red wants them to sabotage the kitchen so that she can return to work. When she isn't getting the results she wants Red sneaks in at night and sabotages the oven. Murphy ends up getting burned. Red feels awful and the other inmates suspect it was her doing.

Figueroa talks Bennett out of filing a report about the drugs he found. She convinces him that it will look like he is the one that brought the drugs into the prison. Caputo later finds out what happened and pushes Bennett to write the report and give it to him. Mendez is still convinced that Dayanara is hot for him and can't stop talking to Bennett about it every chance he gets.

Larry's parents think he is crazy when he tells them that he and Piper are going to get married before she gets out of prison. He pays a visit to the prison to see Vause. Larry tells Vause to stay away from Piper. She is more than happy to do so and tells him how her relationship with Piper was rekindled in prison and how it was Piper who restarted it all. Piper tries talking to Alex about how she can't be with her anymore. It probably seemed like the logical thing to do in Piper's mind but it only makes Alex angry. She cuts Piper off from all contact.

Chapman goes to Figueroa with help on getting permission to get married. She tells Figueroa that Healey called Larry. She agrees to help Figueroa with the prison's public relations problems by getting speaking points to Larry in case he has another appearance on NPR.

Pensatuckey does her best to make good on her promise to kill Chapman. She confronts her in the shower but is unable to get the job done when a correctional officer walks into the bathroom. Chapman gets back the screwdriver she lost (see 1.04) from Boo, who has had it all this time. She carries it around until Pensatuckey confronts her outside while the pageant is still going on. Healey witnesses the beginning of the fight but walks away and doesn't get involved. Chapman uses the screwdriver to try and defend herself. The tool doesn't do her much good but once she gets the upper hand in the fight she loses it and bets the hell out of Doggett, possibly killing her, with her fists.

What an ending, what a season. I want to see more but I'm ready for a break, There are other shows that I want to get back to before I watch season 2. This show lived up to the hype. It may not be everyone's cup of tea but I loved it. It isn't perfect but the way the stories were layered together and drawn out worked for me in a big way.

Obviously, Chapman, whether she killed Doggett or not is going to be sent to SHU and will probably get her prison sentence extended. I'm curious to see how that changes her character and the tone of the show.

Orange Is the New Black 1.12

Fool Me Once

Chapman runs into Crazy Eyes while doing janitorial work on the graveyard shift. She tries to explain about what Larry said on the radio. Suzanne keeps her distance.

Chapman has it out with Vause on a couple occasions about what is going on with Larry and the fact that Alex is the one that gave her name to the police. Vause lays it out on the line and tells Piper what she thinks of her. For the most part I think she is right, that Chapman fears being alone more than anything else in the world.

Chapman tries to reconcile with Doggett who insists that they they pray together. Chapman plays along with Pennsatuckey and prays for forgiveness for what she did to her. Things seems better but Doggett isn't satisfied. She wants to baptize Chapman. At first Chapman agrees to it but then changes her mind and explains to Pennsatuckey, in front of her followers, why she doesn't believe. Chapman walks off leaving Doggett feeling betrayed.

Doggett gets the backstory spotlight. She was a heroin junkie. She shot and killed a nurse at the clinic where she had her 5th abortion. She killed the nurse because she insulted her. A lawyer from a pro-life organization offers her a deal. They agree to defend her pro bono if she will agree to say she did killed the nurse because she was taking a stand against clinics that offer abortions. At first she says no but when she walks into the court room and sees all the people rallying to her support she changes her mind.

Miss Claudette's appeal gets denied. She attacks a correctional officer who is giving her a hard time and gets sent to maximum security. The presumption is that she will never return.

Red organizes some of the other inmates to help Dayanara. They talk Caputo into going into the closet where Mendez and Dayanara are having sex. Mendez doesn't get fired but he is suspended without pay. He is convinced that Dayanara is in love with him. He tries to get Bennett to pass her a note. He also tells Bennett about the drugs that are getting smuggled into the prison in the grocery delivery vehicle. He says that Red is the one dealing the drugs.

Bennett is emotionally hurt by what Dayanara did. He isn't satisfied with her explanation that this gets him off the hook. He throws away the note Mendez gives him but finds the drugs and turns them into Caputo.

Yoga Jones and Watson share a couple moments together. Jones tells her about her crime. Watson's guess a few episodes back was correct, she did kill a child, but it was an accident.

Taystee returns to prison. Poussey is angry at her for not making it on the outside. Taystee has to explain to her friend how hard it was to make it on the outside. Poussey forgives her once she hears her story.

Larry comes for a visit. He suggests that He and Piper get married ASAP, before she gets out of prison, or that they break up. Piper is stunned by his idea. Before she can respond the scene shifts to Doggett who is steaming over Chapman refusing to get baptized and swears she is going to kill her.

So much going on in this episode. All very well layered together. Chapman continues to think she can fix anything. She didn't see that praying with Doggett, somewhat insincerely, wouldn't be enough or that it opened a whole new can of worms. I am all primed for the season finale. I'm pretty sure there will be a cliffhanger ending but I'm ready for that.

Orange Is the New Black 1.11

Tall Men with Feelings

Piper does it again. Her big mouth and greater than thou sense of entitlement causes trouble for her.

Dayanara and Bennett try to figure out how to deal with the fact that he got her pregnant. His idea doesn't pan out so she goes with a plan suggested by Red. Dayanara gets Mendez to have sex with her. The plan is that afterwards she will scream rape and he will get arrested. The plan doesn't work out because Mendez insists on using a condom, so there isn't any physical evidence. Red tells Dayanara she will have to do it again and make sure to get evidence next time. Dayanara wasn't too keen on Red's plan originally and if anything she feels worse about continuing to pursue this approach. Presumably if she does Bennett will find out about it and there will be fireworks.

Doggett is sent to psych. It wasn't easy to watch those scenes. It was disturbing. She's kind of nutty. She doesn't say anything to make me like her but it still was chilling stuff to watch. In the end she gets out because Chapman goes to Caputo and tells him that it's her fault and that Doggett isn't crazy. Chapman gets some extra duty and Doggett is released. Who knows what the fallout from that will be.

I thought Chapman was nuts for going to Caputo like that. She still thinks that she is better than everyone else or at the very least sees things differently than her fellow inmates. I wonder if that changes over the course of the next few seasons. The show has run for four seasons so far and has been renewed for a few more after that. Her original sentence was for 15 months. I'm thinking that Chapman is going to do something that will get her prison sentence lengthened.

There is a small informal memorial service for Miller. Chapman tried to organize one but no one showed up to help her. Instead a bunch of the other inmates organized their own.

The episode ends with Larry appearing on NPR. He talks about his relationship with Piper but mostly he tells stories that she told him. Everyone in the prison is listening. They all learn what she thinks of them or at least what she told Larry about them. The last scene is of her on the phone with Larry. She admits to what she did, cheating on him with Alex. He tells her that he lied to her before and that Alex is the one who betrayed her. I didn't side with or feel empathy toward either Piper or Larry. They've both done reprehensible things.

This sets things up nicely for the last two episodes of the season. At one point in this episode it seemed like Chapman was finally starting to fit in and accept her place but now things are looking more down than up.

This one really kept my attention. The focus bounced around from thread to thread but my interest never waned.

Orange Is the New Black 1.10

Bora Bora Bora

What an intense episode. Things are starting to come to a head.

Vause enlists the aid of a few other inmates to pull a long con on Pensatucky. They convince her that her so-called faith healing abilities are real. By the end of the episode she believes so strongly in her gift that she tries to make a wheelchair-bound visitor to the prison walk. She doesn't get thanked but she does get pepper-sprayed for assaulting the visitor. I had hard time figuring out how this was going to play out in the end. I was pleasantly surprised with the direction it took.

Chapman talks to her brother about Larry who hasn't called or visited since Thanksgiving when she was locked up in SHU. There is a brief backstory spotlight on Larry and Piper that shows how they met. Everyone seems to know that Chapman and Vause are an item now. She tries to deny it but she likes it. In a way her story kind of takes a back seat to or at least shares the spotlight with some of the other stories running through this episode.

Bennett gets a visit at home from Cesar who tells him that Dayanara is pregnant. It was tense for a moment there where it looked like Cesar was there to do more than talk and that Bennett was about to reach for a gun. Bennett confronts Dayanara about being pregnant. Aleida joins the conversation. The big upshot of this conversation is that Bennett didn't lose his leg in combat but after he got out of the military. Dayanara still plans to keep the baby even though Bennett could go to prison if it is discovered that he's the father.

The other backstory spotlight is on Miller. In the present she's back from detox. In the past she is shown living on the streets, doing what she has to do to get by, stealing from a store and getting caught red handed doing so. She didn't have it easy then and she doesn't now. In the present, Mendez tries to get her start using again. She refuses and he insists that she distribute drugs for him. She starts to and then has a moment of clarity and does something drastic. Before she does it she says something about setting the record straight or words to that effect. When I head her say that I had a bad feeling about how this episode would end.

Miss Claudette gets a visit from her old friend who was last seen in flashback in 1.04 and she hasn't seen in over 10 years.

Some teenagers in the Scared Straight program are brought to the prison for a visit. A group of prisoners do their best to mess with the girls. One of the teens, who is in a wheelchair, seems tougher than the rest. Poussey tries to scare her but she is a little too respectful of the wheelchair. Chapman has a little more success with scaring the girl in the wheelchair.

In the aftermath of Miller's actions, Nichols goes to Red and tells her that she was the one who told Mendez about Neptune. That's where the episode ends, with Red vowing that they will get back at Mendez for what he did to Miller.

Intense, beyond belief. This is an excellent episode which set things up nicely and has me hungry for more. I really want to see what's going to happen with Red and Nichols and Mendez.

Orange Is the New Black 1.09

Fucksgiving

It is Thanksgiving.

Taystee gets out but before that happens her fellow inmates throw a party for her. Vause and Chapman get caught dancing together, by Pensatucky who tells Healy about it, shows it to him. He has Chapman locked up in SHU, solitary, for lewd dancing. That's where she spends most of the episode. She goes a bit around the bend. She goes off on Healy when he comes to visit her. In the end she gets out because Larry raises a stink and starts calling all sorts of people.

Vause tries to get back at Pensatucky but that backfires. Vause gets the backstory spotlight. Her father was in a rock band. Her mother was a single mom because dad didn't stick around. She didn't have it easy growing up. She didn't meet her Dad until she was in her late teens or early twenties. That is also where and when she was introduced to the world of drug smuggling.

Dayanara tries homemade remedies to get rid of the that which is growing inside of her. It is probably a little too early to call it a baby. She gets hoodwinked and the potion she takes just makes her feel a little sick. In the end she decides she wants to carry on with the pregnancy. Her mother is very happy with her decision.

Crystal, Burset's wife, wants her blessing to pursue a relationship with a man, a pastor. She balks and at first refuses to give it. Burset talks to Ingalls, the nun, about it. Ultimately she gives her blessing.

Red finds a bag of pills in the grocery delivery. She flushes them down the toilet. They were for Mendez. She still doesn't know that Nichols is the one who told Mendez how she was getting stuff smuggled into Litchfield. Mendez returns the favor by pissing in the big pot of gravy.

The episode ends with two crucial moments. Healy calls Larry and presumably tells him about Piper's lesbian leanings. The scene ends mid conversation so it isn't clear exactly what he tells Larry but the implication is clear. Once Chapman gets out of SHU, after about 2 days, she find Vause, pulls her into the chapel. The two start making out and tearing off their clothes.

There was at least two moments that got me choked up. One of them, Taystee waving good-bye to Poussey, was understandale. The other moment was much more subtle. It was when then showed the spread at the Thanksgiving meal that Larry hosts. I don't recall what immediately preceeded it but it was definitely a scene from Litchfield.

This was a crazy good episode. There's just 4 episodes left in season one and I'm eager to see how and in which direction the various plotlines develop from here.

Orange Is the New Black 1.08

Moscow Mule

Larry's piece about Piper gets published. Healy isn't happy about it. Chapman is definitely on his shit list now. She isn't happy about the article although it takes a while before she comes out and says that. She isn't happy about Larry celebrating the publication of his article.

There's a bug going around the prison. Everyone is sick or trying to avoid getting sick. Tasytee finds out she is will be getting out before the end of her full sentence. Outside of prison, Polly gives birth.

Dayanara is pregnant. I'm not sure what this will mean for her boyfriend, Bennett. He isn't in this episode. Maybe he isn't the father. Maybe she got pregnant just before she went to prison.

Red is pressured, again, by Mendez to help him smuggle drugs into the prison. She says no. Miller is experiencing withdrawal symptoms because she isn't getting the drugs she is used to having. After having a chat with Red, Nichols talks Miller into turning herself in. Nichols hates herself for doing it and when Mendez comes around asking questions she tells him how Red smuggles contraband into the Litchfield.

Chapman and Vause grow closer after Piper is sent to the laundry to fix a broken dryer. They both get in trouble after Alex gets locked in the broken dryer by Pensatucky. They have a moment together at the end of the episode. They are definitely heading for something more than just a friendly reconciliation.

Red gets the backstory spotlight for the second time. This time it is all about how she and her husband got in deeper with the Russian mob before she went to prison.

Overall a decent episode. Not the most groundbreaking but it is setting somethings up nicely.

Orange Is the New Black 1.07

Blood Donut

The WAC meet with Healy for the first time. They get donuts, they make suggestions, but nothing changes. There's no money to implement the changes that they want.

Watson gets out of shoe, solitary. She figures out that it was Chapman who was responsible for the missing screwdriver but she doesn't tell on her. Watson also gets the backstory spotlight. She was a track star in high school but she wanted more. She wanted to be accepted. One thug tried to talk her out of hanging out with the wrong element but the next one she met wasn't as noble-hearted. She ended up taking the fall for a robbery.

Healey makes a deal with Chapman that if she can find the camera he will re open the running field. She leaps at the chance and turns in the cell phone she found. Healey doesn't deliver, instead he insists she tell him who had the camera. She refuses to tell him. What I want to know is how the camera had any juice if it was being kept in a hole in the wall.

Piper tries to be nice to Alex. Alex gives her the cold should but later on she stands up for Piper when Pensatucky keeps badmouthing her behind her back. On the outside Larry acts pathetic and flirts with a bartender. Things are definitely headed down that road.

Fischer, the new CO, knows Chapman from somewhere. Turns out Chapman used to buy groceries at the store where Fischer worked when she was a teen. Chapman bonds with Fischer somehow that connection leads to the field getting reopened. It is unclear exactly what transpired between Chapman and Fischer and Fischer and Caputo but there's a trail of bread crumbs that points to it. All that Healey knows is that Caputo uses the same reasoning for reopening the field that Chapman tried using on him. I think this spells trouble for Chapman. I think she's on Healey's shit list now.

Other stuff happens. Yoga Jones confronts Watson over her outbursts and ends up slapping her when Watson says something that is probably a little too close to the truth for Jones. Mendez finds out that Bennett has gotten laid but Bennett doesn't tell him the whole story. Red gets a visit from Mendez who wants her people to smuggle in some stuff for him. I really like the way these story threads get layered in together. It is hard to believe that I am halfway through the season.

Orange Is the New Black 1.06

WAC Pack

The warden decides to reinstate the Women's Administrative Council (WAC). Council elections are held. The prison population is divided into 4 or 5 groups, each of which has elects its own representative. The groups are the White, Black, Hispanic, Seniors, and Others. Healy wants Chapman to be the representative for the White prisoners but she has no interest in doing so. She just wants to maintain a low profile.

Despite her mother's interference, Dayanara continues her romance with CO Bennett. She knows her mother did something. Bennett claims he did not have sex with her mother. It is revealed that he is missing part of his leg, which he presumably lost when he was serving in the army.

Larry visits Piper. He tells her about his article on edging and how his boss wants him to write an article about what her being in prison has done to their relationship. Piper isn't too keen on that idea.

Chapman is still feeling guilty about how she treated Alex. She tries talking to her but can't work up the nerve to apologize.

Nichols kind of gets the backstory spotlight but there isn't a lot to it. She had a mother who was distant. Red is a surrogate mother to her.

Chapman finds a cell phone hidden behind a loose tile in the bathroom. She's pretty sure she know who it belongs to and that it is the device that was used to take pictures of some prisoner's crotch. She tells Larry about it when he is visiting. I've got a bad feeling he is going to use that information in the article he is going to write.

The episode ends with the election results being announced over the PA system. Chapman is announced as one of the winners, even though she didn't run. I've got a feeling that is going to make things very awkward for her going forward.

A decent episode. Not my favorite but it does a nice job of pushing the story forward and expanding picture it is painting of life in Litchfield Penitentiary.

Orange Is the New Black 1.05

The Chickening

Chapman sees a chicken in the yard. Word spreads about the chicken. Everyone is trying to catch it. They think there is something valuable about the chicken but there are a number of different stories about what makes it valuable.

Sophia tries cozying up to Sister Jane, the nun. She wants her estrogen. She doesn't get what she wants but Sister Jane doesn't hold a grudge against her.

The chapel to the ceiling collapses after a prisoner tries hanging a large cross from a pipe running along the ceiling.

The prisoner-guard romance that has been building since the first episode finally starts to pay dividends. It ends on a bit of a cliffhanger (in this episode) as Aleida, Dayanara's mother, who is also a prisoner, interferes by seducing Officer Bennet. It's pretty clear what happens but they have yet to show the fallout from Aleida's actions.

The backstory spotlight in this episode is on Aleida and Dayanara. They show both of them before either of them wind up in prison and also after Aleida gets locked up and Dayanara is still on the outside. The mother went to prison on drug charges. It seems likely based on what was shown that the same is true for the Dayanara.

Larry finds out that Alex is in prison with Piper. Piper lets it slip out when she is asking if he found out whether Alex is the one who gave her name to the police. He isn't happy but he asks his father, who is a lawyer, about it. His father is able to confirm that it was Alex who gave Piper's name to the police but warns him that it won't help Piper to know that. Later in the episode when he is talking to her on the phone he lies when she asks what he has found out. He says it wasn't Alex. Now Piper thinks she didn't treat Alex fairly.

More and more I think that Piper will cheat on Larry with Alex before the end of the season. It might only happen once. She might think it was a big mistake afterward but I think it is going to happen. I also think that Larry is going to cheat on Piper.

The scene with Larry and his parents was by far the funniest of the episode. He tries to tell them he was writing a magazine article about edging. Their reaction was priceless.

Not a perfect episode. I thought the chicken bits were a bit overdone but still a very enjoyable one.

Orange Is the New Black 1.04

Imaginary Enemies

Chapman accidentally takes a screwdriver out of the electrical shop. Things go a little crazy in the prison as the guards search everywhere for the missing screwdriver. Chapman tries to return the missing tool but before she can someone takes it. For a moment it looks like that someone is going to use it to kill another prisoner but in the end she is shown using as part of a homemade sex toy.

Miss Claudette, Chapman's roommate, helps her hide the screwdriver temporarily but flips out after she learns that she didn't return it but instead lost it. Chapman grows a little closer to Miss Claudette but the closeness doesn't come easy. Chapman worries that she is going to kill her but in the end it seems like Miss Claudette is impressed with the way Chapman stands up to her, even if she doesn't let the younger woman know how impressed she is.

There is a little bit of drama surrounding a prisoner who is about to be released. She or her lover, most likely her lover, are the ones who I was concerned might be murdered by the inmate who took the screwdriver from Chapman's hiding place.

There is a little more of the budding prisoner guard/prisoner romance. I assume that eventually this will be a major plot point in an episode.

Miss Claudette gets the backstory spotlight in this episode. She came to the USA from a francophone country which I don't believe was identified. She started as a cleaning girl working for a service and worked her way up to the point where she was running the business. The employees were poor young girls, presumably from the same country as she. My first thought was Haiti but there are other countries it could have been. Her crime was killing a man who viciously beat one of the girls.

Nichols has a heart to heart with Alex. She can't get anything out of her about how she knows Chapman but she does manage to fool Chapman into revealing that she slept with Alex.

Larry was not in this episode. Unlike the previous three, with the exception of the flashbacks, this one took place entirely in the prison. There were no flashbacks to Chapman's past.

Overall a solid episode. I want to keep watching.

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.

Orange Is the New Black 1.02

Tit Punch

Chapman continues to get punished by Red (who runs the chow hall) for insulting the prison's food. Her punishment comes in the form of being denied food. Using her skills from the outside world Chapman makes it up to Red by scrounging some supplies and making her some lotion for her back. The peppers that go into the lotion come from Crazy Eyes, another inmate, who asks for nothing in return. The episode ends with Crazy Eyes doing her another kindness, but how altruistic is she? When is she going to come to collect?

Alex is in this episode briefly in a few scenes. She passes Chapman a piece of cornbread. Chapman tosses the food without eating it. Others are watching and news of what Alex did gets back to Red. Just as Chapman is given her first plateful of food, Alex is being cut off.

There are two series of flashbacks in this episode. One series is about Piper and Larry. She remembers them doing a cleanse together. I guess this helps her to cope with the lack of food. She also remembers the origins of the soap business she had before she got locked up.

The other series of flashbacks focus on Red (Kate Mulgrew) and her life before she got locked up. She ran a Russian deli with her husband. She pissed off the local Russian mobsters when she punched one of the mobsters wife in the chest and popped the implant in one of her breasts. This story is left hanging, is not told in full so hopefully they will return to it soon. I did not recognize Kate Mulgrew in the first episode. It wasn't until I saw her name in the credits that I was able to see that it was her. She looks and sounds very different than other things I have seen her in.

Chapman gets a visit from Larry in the middle of the episode. She's freaking out because she is so hungry. She makes him promise not to watch Mad Men without her. He does but towards the end of the episode they show him at home watching Mad Men. He's starting to slide down a slippery slope. Where will it end? Is this the beginning of the end for Piper and Larry?

Awesome. Two for two. There's no doubt in my mind that I want to continue watching this show. It isn't clear exactly where things are going at this point but I'm okay with that.

Orange Is the New Black 1.01

I Wasn't Ready

Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling) reports to prison for a 15-month stint. This episode is split between (on the one hand) the first 24 hours of her prison stay and (on the other) flashbacks that help to fill in how she wound up in prison. The short version of her backstory is that she was in love with Alex (Laura Prepon), a woman who was a drug dealer. Piper helped her erstwhile lover to transport money from the United States to Belgium. She was later named as an accomplice. Rather than fight the charge she plea-bargained and that's how she wound up in prison. She has a fiance, Larry (Jason Biggs), who is very supportive. Her family, parents, grandparents, brother, seemed considerably less supportive.

In the present Chapman is doing her best to hold it together. She doesn't take to prison like a fish does to water but she is managing. Not everything goes her way. There are a couple interesting twists right near the end of the episode.

Took me a while to give this show a try. Must say I'm very impressed with the first episode. I like the characters and the pacing so far. The story is slowly evolving and I like what I see. Maybe that shouldn't surprise me since I was a big fan of the first couple seasons of Weeds. After that it kind of lost me. Weeds was also created by this show's runner, Jenji Kohan.