Orange is the new black season 1 episode 9

Sometimes, itвЂ™s easy to forget that Red is a prisoner just like the rest, given the considerable amount of freedom sheвЂ™s often given. Overall, thereвЂ™s a strong connection between these flashbacks and RedвЂ™s arc across the whole series. But when her friends start disappearing and her supposedly revolutionary boyfriend immediately fell in line, she realized that fighting the system means more than jeans and music and parties. As a young person in Russia, she naГЇvely believed she could fight the system by wearing LeviвЂ™s and selling Western music on the black market. As we learn in flashbacks, RedвЂ™s determination to push back against oppressive systems has been brewing since her youth.

The irony of all this is that RedвЂ™s story really doesnвЂ™t add up: Yes, sheвЂ™s correct about Piscatella infiltrating the prison and disappearing inmates, but it makes zero sense.ДЄt least RedвЂ™s obsession with bringing down Piscatella checks out more than his vendetta against her. Piper and Alex struggle to believe Red, too, at first giving her the benefit of the doubt, but then admitting that her story doesnвЂ™t quite add up. Nicky doesnвЂ™t take her seriously when she says Piscatella could be in the prison, thinking itвЂ™s just another side effect of the drugs. The episode ascribes plot significance to RedвЂ™s descent into prescription drugs by making her a newly unreliable witness. There isnвЂ™t clear motivation, and thereвЂ™s no clear point. PiscatellaвЂ™s villainy functions as a completely separate force from the rest of the seasonвЂ™s conflict. What Piscatella is doing is horrifically violent and sadistic, and to tell that story by playing around with genre seems disingenuous at best. The music cues and direction all borrow from the horror genre and itвЂ™s sufficiently creepy, but also вЂ¦ weirdly played for laughs? A horror-movie parody is completely out of place on OITNB, especially in the context of this current season. Flaca and Maritza become creepy singing twins, Piper and AlexвЂ™s sinfully sexy times in the shower take a dark turn, PiscatellaвЂ™s large frame hovers in corners and breezes past doorways. I love horror movies, and I love horror-movie parodies. OITNB seizes the opportunity to dabble in horror-movie tropes, and normally this is something I would enjoy a lot. In вЂњThe Tightening,вЂќ he tries to get back at Red for no discernible reason by rounding up all of her friends in horror-movie fashion. Piscatella has never really worked as a character: HeвЂ™s too one-dimensional of a villain and too undefined in his motivations. The fifth season of Orange Is the New Black is filled with confounding choices, but the decision to set Piscatella on a one-man rogue revenge plot in вЂњThe TighteningвЂќ takes the cake for most poorly executed story line. Kate Mulgrew as Red, Laura Prepon as Alex, Taylor Schilling as Piper.

Orange is the new black season 1 episode 9