What I’m Watching: Orange is the New Black

Orange is the New Black: Season 6, Episode 10 “Chocolate Chip Nookie” (B+)

I read an article recently about the best and worst of 2018, noting Badison as the worst new addition to a series. I agree with that since her plotlines are both tiresome and unsettling, and nothing good can come of Piper being democratically elected as the new captain of the kickball team. Piper’s idea has been so horribly corrupted, and things are going to get violent very soon, much more problematic than even the most depraved participants in the fantasy inmate game can likely imagine. Fortunately, Badison isn’t the only new character this season, and while Daddy is decent, I’m far more interested in the two featured in this episode. Recently, we haven’t actually seen the crimes committed by the inmates during their flashbacks, and we didn’t know before this what it was that Barb and Carol had done to get themselves locked up for so many years. Finding out that they’re sisters who coldly pushed their other sister into an icy pond because they were jealous of her makes them infinitely more intriguing – and horrifying – and it was particularly chilling to see Barb feign regret at the last moment before eagerly helping Carol to push the car in. Nicky has done a decent job of tempering Barb’s angry energy, but it seems that the feud lives on so many years later, and Frieda might be safe for the moment with the negative energy concentrated between the two sisters. I liked seeing Dixon and Pennsatucky connect sentimentally in Florida, interacting almost on the same level they did when they were touring theme parks with Donuts. Aleida’s smuggling operation was going so smoothly until Hopper looked at what was going in the trash, and I don’t think he’s going to take out his anger about that betrayal too well. My favorite part of this episode was definitely Fig coaching Caputo on how he could use his position as former warden to his advantage to help Taystee.