What I’m Watching: Orange is the New Black

Orange is the New Black: Season 6, Episode 12 “Double Trouble” (B+)

We’re gearing up now for a super-sized finale, one that will hopefully send this show in a productive direction for its final season. Some of the new storylines and characters introduced this season haven’t been great, but I do feel at this point like it’s finally all building to something. Carol and Barb being put together in the same cell was just Ginger’s way of trying to get herself a few extra points, but now a full-on war is coming, and Carol is already arming her people with weapons for the kickball game. What’s most compelling is the way that the guards are being portrayed as all of this affects them and they are forced to choose a moral side. The fact that Gloria could go to Luschek because she found him to be the most reasonable says something, and Alvarez reacted swiftly to quash her being able to expose the fantasy inmate game, which could be the true undoing of the new PolyCon Corrections brand that Linda is working so hard to create. The video filming was a bit much since you’d think that Crazy Eyes could have been replaced early on when she refused to stop doing Shonda Rhimes monologues instead of saying her lines. McCullough is indeed having trouble doing her job as her PTSD takes over, while Tamika is realizing that she needs to stay true to the friend who never gave up on her and might actually be onto something about how most guards view the inmates. Along with Caputo giving Taystee a much-needed pep talk, Hopper’s reformation as a character is the most satisfying, since he made a clear decision not to be influenced by what others were trying to get done and stamp Piper for early release, something that she’ll be very happy to find out about considering how much Badison was trying to add time to her sentence. Alex may be looking at an increase in her sentence given her recent association with Carol right at the worst possible time. Red losing out on the opportunity to meet her grandchildren because she saw Frieda in line was sad, and the finale is certainly going to include just as many devastating events as it is celebratory ones.