Netflix Catch-Up: Orange is the New Black

Orange is the New Black: Season 7, Episode 3 “And Brown is the New Orange” (B+)

I understand all the jokes about her being an ICE queen, but Fig doesn’t seem like the best fit to manage Litchfield’s new facility – Linda would probably be a better choice. Ever since Blanca got transferred there instead of being released at the end of last season as she expected, any plotlines related to ICE have been extremely disturbing in a way that much of this show’s content hasn’t been in the past, especially since it mirrors much of what’s going on in real life (see Netflix’s Australian limited series “Stateless” for another strong depiction of an immigration detention center). Maritza seemed particularly clueless, and her freaking out over not being able to buy a stamp for the letter she was sending because she couldn’t afford another phone call was a breaking point that allowed Blanca to step in and be there as a friend for her. Flashing back to Blanca celebrating her green card was affecting, and it was horrifying to see Diablo detained and gaslighted for getting nervous after his own immigration status was questioned when he came to visit her. Red and her crew being brought in to cook for the ICE detainees is an interesting development, and maybe they’ll be able to communicate somehow and help their friends to contact those on the outside. Tamika got a lot of flack from Hopper and the other guards for not having a perfect plan in place and even took a blow to her head, but listening to Fig’s advice to do whatever she wanted no matter how she got the gig was a smart decision. Following Alex’s stunt with the ill-prepared McCullough, Hellman nearly got Alex banished to another state for crossing him, and I couldn’t be happier that Tamika was onto him and had Badison sent to Missouri instead (she’s such a terrible character). She also took the brunt of Taystee’s anger when Suzanne and Pennsatucky’s efforts to get her to reconcile with an apologetic Cindy didn’t go well at all. While Piper’s situation out of prison can’t compare to anything that’s happening on the inside, she did experience a major setback when her parole officer broke up her mommy party, but maybe she’ll have just the right attitude to help her dad with a project he needed to do at some pint anyway.