Orange Is the New Black, Season 2, Episode 9: “40 OZ of Furlough”
Written by Lauren Morelli
Directed by S.J. Clarkson
Released Friday, June 6 on Netflix Instant
In the very first episode, Yoga Jones gives a piece of advice to Piper that was a major set-up for the series as a whole. She said to treat her time in prison like a mandala—a piece of Hindu art that is temporary—and make an experience that is beautiful and meaningful that she can then pack away. This seemed like sound advice at the time and even like a series motto that would be great to circle back to at the end. However, the more we watch and spend time with these fully-realized characters, the more problematic it becomes. Why would we watch this series if everything is truly only temporary? Where would the stakes be? And on an in-world level, how can Piper go through everything she does and remain unchanged; I mean, wouldn’t that make her kind of awful and uninteresting?
Increasingly, it’s looking like the show is treating Yoga Jones’s words like more of a neat psychological tool for coping rather than a series creed, and that is a good thing that is wonderfully played with in this installment. As we follow Piper’s release on furlough we get that actually this is what’s temporary—the outside world. Prison is her new home and where her life is, as she has now officially lost Larry, lost her grandmother, and is becoming entrenched in the minutiae of Litchfield with its corruption and the newspaper. Like Cal says about the death of Grandma Celeste: she was asleep for a few days, then the sleep just “stopped being temporary.” There could be no more apt description for what may be happening to Piper, not to mention most of the other inmates, as well.
After all, with the reveal that Red’s shop is really closed, what is there for her to come home to? What is there for Taystee, whose mother figure is inside with her, and couldn’t last for two weeks on the outside without her last season? What is there for Poussey, who in turn calls Taystee family and whose mother has died? What about Rosa, who will now, herself, die in prison? Minute by minute, we are being shown a group of people who probably all took Yoga Jones words, or something similar, to heart once, and then had to wake up and realize that this is their lives, happening now. Perhaps, even to their detriment.
Soso is thus a surprisingly exciting character for the show, due to her being of the few that is in the “now,” yet not beat down by it. With her hunger strike, she sees the deplorable conditions of the prison and instead of waiting for them to pass, or work her way around them, she is choosing to do something more direct. Like Rosa says to Vee when offered a literary escape, the thing about escaping reality is that it’s always there waiting for you. Having Soso take a stand, and perhaps get support, throws a more immediate and dynamic faction into the works that have been building, breaking free from the black vs. white contraband rivalry that has been swallowing the season.
And it really has been less than stellar, not helped at all by the Red and Vee flashbacks. Unlike Rosa’s story, which took information like “bank robber” and “man in Canarsie” and made it sing, or Lorna’s story, which completely turned what we thought to be true on its head, Red and Vee’s story is perfunctory, and the weak spot in an otherwise thoughtful episode. Seeing the younger Red from “Tit Punch” again is fun—she’s just so meek and overwhelmed—but there’s nothing inventive in seeing Vee befriend Red and then turn on her, with a gang. I thought they had a more complicated history than that, with their nuanced opening dialogue with each other, and I, honestly, feel more than a little led on. Sure, we were warned (yes, “Hugs Can Be Deceiving”) but why would have Red embraced Vee at all back then, knowing what we know now? Why did they seem to regard each other with respect? Was it simple fear on Red’s part? It doesn’t quite make sense considering some of the other interactions with Vee, even in this episode, where she warns her flat-out not to talk about her family. But it is what it is, and will hopefully be twisted somewhat later, if we learn more about Vee’s past and motivations.
Until then, we can take comfort that each episode is getting better and better overall, and that at the very least, there will be a reckoning. The ending with Bennett saying that Mendez is the father of Daya’s baby feels more like the binge-worthy, climactic series Orange was last year, even if it is continuing a plot from last year to do it. Besides that, the tension between prison life and outside life is one big, strengthening element to look forward to, and when Piper says she’s not anxious to return to her old self, it’s at the very least a new promise from the show. There will be a new, more permanent Piper for us to discover.