Season 6
Episodes 1 - 4
Per the usual, the beginning of these new seasons, the writers set up more questions than answers from the cliffhanger ending of Season 5. Where do all the girls end up? Well, they're all over the place, but thankfully the focus is on the ones that were in the pool area first.
All Piper cares about is Alex, where's Alex, where's Alex, and she's already annoying by the fourth episode and no longer needed as part of this story. Alex was sent to the hospital as her arm was broken last season and they're reunited. (I hope this gets less attention than the other stories.)
The real focus is on who is getting blamed for the death of Piscatella as the guards that accidentally shot him set up the pool area to make it look like he was killed by the inmates, so they're all in Max awaiting questioning by the district attorney. They want to squash this in a week to prevent other prisons from rioting.
Suzanne and Cindy witness this happening as they weren't captured until later, but Cindy keeps her mouth shut and Suzanne is off her meds. The best part is getting to see what Suzanne sees when she's off her meds. It's a little frustrating because as the audience we want answers, but it was entertaining none the less.
Diaz is getting the brunt of the punishment as she shot the one guard at the beginning of Season 5 and I think he ended up dying, but it wasn't her fault if I remember correctly as the meth heads killed him. They have not been featured as of yet so we don't know where they are.
Red and Nicky's storylines are a bit intertwined once again as Red clearly wanted Piscatella dead for torturing her and the other girls so a lot of blame is put on her as well as Taystee for organizing the riots. It's implied that Red takes the brunt of the blame to help Nicky not get 70 more years for dealing drugs during the riot.
It's interesting to see which girls turn on each other to save their own skins. We get more background on Cindy before prison and that she actually has a son. We see a young Frieda make a deal and ending up burning some bridges in the process. She's safe, for the time being, in cell block B affectionately called Florida as that's where all the old inmates end up.
We also see Lorna, Flaca, Blanca, and Ruiz. Eventually all the girls in the pool area that were in Max are released to Gen Pop save for Red and Taystee. They're probably screwed. The DA has a white board and I think they may be getting LIFE in prison, while 4-5 other girls are getting 10 years added on to their sentence. Big Boo is seen for a hot minute as one of the blocks is suffering from a lice outbreak. Zirconia as well.
Meanwhile, in the outside world we have Pennsatucky hanging out with the one guard who is her love interest and another random heavy guard who was supposed to be dropped off at his sister's but they all end up hanging out at Hershey Park.
Aledia Diaz appears to be getting into the supplement business.
Caputo is on paid leave, but wants back in.
Figueroa is currently interim warden.
Some of the other guards like Luschek are back by the 4th episode, and they will be playing a Fantasy Football esque game with the new group of guards, but with the inmates lives instead. They get points on things like inmate fights, relapses, deaths, etc.
Haven't seen Norma, Gina, Yoga Jones, Sophia, Brook, Ramos. Don't know if they'll get a mention or be shown later this season. This show is probably worse than GOT with all the characters and which ones get the focus, which ones get the backstory that pertains to what is happening. It's very confusing and I'm a little lost, but just going on the ride one episode at a time.
Episodes 5 & 6
Mischief Mischief & State of the Uterus
Sophia finally makes an appearance and is given a few lines. The best new character is the Jamaican lady. The writers are giving her a lot of funny quips to enhance a scene.
Caputo is stuck taking a job in Missouri, but with the way things are going for Linda Ferguson (Beth Dover) and Figueroa not giving a shit, she may change her mind on shipping him away and giving him his shit show back, but just a guess/speculation on my part.
Pennsatucky turns herself in after they finally found out that Caputo had the count wrong which is good because she needs to get away from that guard who is quick to anger. I wonder if this is the last we'll see of her or if she'll get grouped with the rest of the girls and added back into the story.
Unfortunately, we get more Piper whining and Alex telling her to shut up and care less, yet again, just like last season.
We learn more about the "Daddy" character, but unfortunately it feels like we're getting only some of her story in the flash backs, and they never flesh out the whole story. The writers show what her life was like before being incarcerated, but we never see the "event" and I remember that being an issue with past seasons. The writers give you a little taste, but then don't complete the arc. I guess you just have to assume what happens next and fill in the blanks.
Red takes the plea and adds 10 years to her time while Taystee is fighting against the murder charge. To her surprise, and mine, the Black Lives matter and ACLU group have her support and plan on putting a legal team together for her. She's released into Gen Pop and things are looking up for now before we head into the back half of the season.
Episodes 7 & 8
Changing Winds & Gordons
While Changing Winds focus was on Badison, an annoying new character that thinks very highly of herself, Gordons puts the focus on Taystee and I like that they introduced a guard character this season that was friends with a person in the real world before she became an inmate. The end of the episode as they walk their separate ways after working 3rd shift at a fast food restaurant was a small reminder of the different paths we take in life and where they can lead.
Pennsatucky aka Doggett, who I thought we wouldn't see for a while after she turned herself in, popped up right away and got herself out of Ad Seg and into Florida pulling the right strings with Linda Ferguson.
Caputo and Figueroa go on a real final date, but a connection actually sparks and Figueroa becomes sad that he's leaving. I really like her line that Bruce Springsteen may be the boss, but he's not the boss of me.
Red spots Frieda in Cell Block B aka Florida and this drives her crazy. It ultimately brings her on Carol's radar - the lady who runs D Block and was betrayed by Frieda 30 years ago. They appear to form an alliance. By the way, Carol's sister Barbara runs C Block and I think has only had one scene so far. Badison works for Carol while Daddy works for Barb where Daddy is getting most of the screen time. A war is starting to brew and we got a hint of it during a kickball game flashback earlier in the season. Piper finds old kickball photos and wants Luschek to organize a game.
Speaking of Luschek, he's bringing in cell phones for Badison and is trying to rope Alex in as well. The character is fighting because she doesn't want to be involved. Not sure why Badison wants Alex so badly, as she's not easily manipulated, which is more reason while Alex and Piper should be written off, but I highly doubt they will be.
Speaking of being written off, it's time to end the Diaz storylines. Dayanara continues to create more problems like a child, and Aledia continues to push her vitamin product out in the real world and is now getting involved with one of the guards. I just don't care. Give me a more interesting storyline.
Episodes 9-13
Things get a little more interesting with the drug trafficking in the prison as Aledia uses her boyfriend and main guard Hopper as a drug mule to sneak the drugs into the prison creating a secret compartment under her giant tubs of vitamin product that he was using. Hopper eventually figures it out, confronts Aledia and they have a huge fight which results in their breakup. Surprisingly, he amends things with her and voluntarily continues to bring in the drugs. Aledia later realizes that Daya is using instead of just distributing. In a rare moment of seeing Aledia show some humanity, it's clear that she has a dilemma. How is she supposed to make money and get her kids out of foster care while her other daughter continues to use said drugs that are supposed to be helping her not hurting those she cares about? Aledia can stop bringing in drugs right then and there as she has Hopper's support to do so, but she makes the decision to not stop as it's worth the cost of one daughter to save her other kids. Really powerful stuff and even though the storyline was convoluted and a little annoying how it got to that point, the pay off was excellent.
Speaking of powerful payoff, the culmination of the entire season was the kickball game - C Block verses D Block - Carol verses Barb. Tensions were high throughout the entire season - filled with retaliation, shifting alliances, information exchanges or lack there of and it was finally time for the big game. Everyone was armed with a shank of some sort. But then the big reveal - Carol and Barb weren't even going to participate. They devised a plan when put in the Ad Seg together as the one guard was trying to get fantasy inmate points. The plan - during the chaos of the game as guards escorted inmates back to their cells, the ladies, in their pink uniforms would waltz right into Florida and dispatch of Frieda. As shit was about to hit the fan during the kickball game, and they were given the signal to attack, the attack never came. They got wrapped up in the game and started having fun. Before the game began, Ruiz had asked the one female guard who was suffering from the PTSD from the riot last season, to mix up the Blocks. She reluctantly did and it helped prevent a situation. Unfortunately for Carol and Barb, who were off hiding, realized something wasn't right, they ran out of patience and killed each other, Carol getting shanked in the back and Barb having her neck slit. (The guard who put them together in the first place ended up wining fantasy inmate for earning double points due to the double murder.)
Speaking of fantasy inmate, Mendoza found Luschek's paperwork concerning the game and tried to out him and the other guards on the radio show with Flaca as Cindy was having guilt pains with the whole Taystee situation. Mendoza didn't get a chance to out him and was put in the SHU. Red was also put in the SHU when she got a chance to attack Frieda as Red was on the way to visitation to see her grandchildren for the first time and Frieda was on her way back from the courthouse. Red never got to see her grandchildren as she put her hatred for Frieda above everything else. Very powerful scene.
Speaking of court, Taystee was ultimately found guilty for the 2nd degree murder of Piscatella. It was very well done as the jury chairperson was about to read the verdict, the audio went silent and we just saw reactions, first of Taystee just loosing it emotionally and her being cuffed and taken away. I thought she was dreaming at first because I was surprised there wasn't a sentencing hearing, but I guess that'll happen at another date. The crowd freaks out which Taystee's one childhood friend/guard in attendance as well as Caputo. Caputa gets drunk and shows up at an MCC event where Figueroa takes care of him.
Lastly, in a surprising turn of events, 25 inmates were getting an early release. The new character Badison was trying to get Chapman more time by planting drugs on her. Chapman turns the drugs over to Hopper and promises to keep an eye out for any illegal activity. Unbeknownst to her, Hopper is running that activity, and he manipulates a new inmate rating system to put her on top of the list. Surprisingly she actually gets out. Her and Alex have there prison wedding and they get their happy ending for now even though the tension of the kickball game loomed. Sophia Burset also gets out, but earlier in the season when Caputo came to her to ask for her help to sue MCC for her wrongful treatment, she takes a payout so I believe her story is done.
The third person to get released is Blanca. She gets her period that day so her attempt to get pregnant didn't work, but she's able to contact Diablo and tell him the news that they get to try for real. In probably the sadest twist of the season, as she's processed and released, she's taken into custody by ICE. She begins to cry and the audience is shown Diablo at the main entrance with a boquet of flowers, looking for Blanca as everyone else is being released. I didn't care about Piper and her brother's reunion or Sophia and her wife's reunion at all. It was overshadowed by what happened to Blanca. I did like Piper's brother's line of "Let's get out of here before they chance their mind." Before going to the car, Piper was able to look at the kickball game through the fence and saw them all having fun before the episode ended.
Honorable mention: Sophia had a moment with Frieda when quoting a famous author about being free and seeing the sky. Frieda made a point that she can't see the sky because they're not free. Frieda when gets a chance to go outside during the kickball game to actually see the sky, but because of the attempt on her life earlier in the season by one of Carol's people, she chose to stay inside, unbeknownst to her that she could actually go outside as no harm would come to her. So in the end, Sophia was right that freedom is a state of mind as in Frieda's own mind she could not go outside because the threat of death due to the sins of her past. I appreciated the message that the show was attempting to get across in this instance.
***
This season feels on par with the others. It's not super clear where things are going at first, but eventually everything comes to light. Sometimes that journey is hard and annoying; sometimes that journey is easy, fun, and engaging. You care about certain people along the way and not so much about others. The writers don't disappoint in surprises and twists. I know the show has been officially renewed for at least one more season and I will definitely be tuning in to see where the writers and actors take us.
