Top 10 Orange Is the New Black episodes

Greetings, reader!

I recently finished watching Orange Is the New Black from start to finish - sure, the show ended seven years ago so I missed the mark on tackling it while it's popular, but better late than never. Especially since the themes that the show deals with (the final season in particular) have sadly become more relevant than ever under the Trump regime. Anyways, the series was a great find, reading as an earth-scorching indictment of the U.S. criminal justice system and its treatment of women and minorities. The series accomplished some of the most kick-ass intersectional feminist storytelling ever seen on TV - something that a lot of other shows could and should learn from. These are my favorite episodes from the brilliant seven-season run!

Here are my honorable mentions: Can't Fix Crazy (Season 1 Episode 13), A Whole Other Hole (Season 2 Episode 4), It Was the Change (Season 2 Episode 12), Sing It, White Effie (Season 5 Episode 5), The Big House (Season 7 Episode 12).

10. Hugs Can Be Deceiving (Season 2 Episode 3)

Season 2 was the show's best season, if you ask me, and a lot of this is thanks to Yvonne 'Vee' Parker (Lorraine Toussaint) - one of television's finest villain characters. Vee's villain arch really tied everything in season 2 together, making it feel like a cohesive thematic whole, and it's quite impressive how they managed to build a twist on the "all these criminals are actually pretty humane people who were fucked over by society" premise of the show with this remarkable exception: unlike any of the other inmate characters, Vee was a truly evil person, and this episode is where the viewer really starts to realize it.

The most unforgivable thing that this spine-chilling menace ever did was her treatment of fan favorite character Suzanne 'Crazy Eyes' Warren (Uzo Aduba). It must be hard enough to be a a kind, well-intentioned and mentally ill Black woman who is punished and thrust into a cold and inaccessible prison system instead of getting the help she needs, so the last thing Suzanne needed was a cold-hearted gang leader taking advantage of her loyalty and trust in people, making her a mislead pawn for her power struggles. Vee's manipulation of the show's best character fucks the poor woman up for a long period of time, and hardly anything in this series full of gripping storylines made my blood boil quite as much as this.

Still, one has to admit that it's great storytelling in all its bleakness! The flashbacks, which are a big part of the show's narrative style, are focused on Suzanne in this episode - for the first time in the show. It's very intriguing to learn about her touching and gripping backstory, with the reason for her prison sentence still being left a mystery for a later episode (more on that later). As is typical with the series, the content of the flashbacks builds a reflective contrast to what is happening in the present, and this is especially powerful when a character as complex and well-built as Suzanne is concerned.

9. Turn Table Turn (Season 4 Episode 9)

Okay, season 2 is my favorite season, but season 4 comes incredibly close with these two being a shoulder or two above all the rest. With season 4, it's particularly about the endgame, and that begins with its fifth-last episode in a spine-chilling manner.

Blanca Flores (Laura Gómez) is one of the show's most underrated characters, and among my big favorites in terms of characters I care about. Turn Table Turn was her first flashback episode, and in terms of fleshing a character out, it does wonders. This really underscores the present-day storyline, where she protests the worsening conditions in the prison by applying foul-smelling substances on her body to discourage the guards from racially motivated frisking, and eventually refuses to shower and begins to stand on the cafeteria table, refusing to come down.

There are a select few moments in film and television, where an actor conveys a specific type of locked-in determination, delivering a haunting facial expression that will stay with you forever, as though the drive in their eyes promises that something massive is about to go down - Ethan Hawke in the final scene of Dead Poets Society, Martin Sheen in the final shot of The West Wing's season 2 finale, and just a few others. Standing tall next to these giants is Laura Gómez, in the final scene of this episode - the look on her face as she stands on the table, defying anyone to stop her, is something that words can't quite describe. You just know that unprecedented levels of shit are going to go down in the four following episodes, and this moment begins a chain of events that would lead to the show's best storylines, which seemed almost inevitable even before I knew quite where this would lead.

8. People Persons (Season 4 Episode 11)

Despite being the show's best character, Suzanne only ever got two flashbacks episodes of her own - and to no one's surprise, they both make it into my top ten. The second of these two comes towards the tail end of season 4, as the shit that began to stir in Turn, Table Turn had been upped to eleven and tensions were at a maximum leading up to the final episodes. Here, we finally learn what it was that landed Suzanne in prison - and oh man, what a gut punch. I was prepared for it to be something heartbreaking, but I still wasn't prepared for that.

Her flashback scenes resonate deeply with the present-day storyline, which features some of the most gripping imagery in the entire series - the guard Humps (Michael Torpey) pitting mentally ill inmates Suzanne and Kukudio (Emily Althaus) to fight each other for his entertainment confirms that in a series full of repulsive male antagonists, he takes the cake as the most evil one. A hard episode to watch, but crucial build-up for the season's endgame and a properly grim way of conveying the show's overarching message about the criminal "justice" system.

7. Here's Where We Get Off (Season 7 Episode 13)

The series finale does everything right, and could be even higher on my list if it wasn't for the show's nature being more about the journey than the destination. It was always meant to be a look into a rigged and unjust system, telling stories of real-world problems through fictional characters and helping give a voice to the voiceless, more than being about a cohesive narrative leading up to a particular culmination. That being said, the ending is pretty damn fantastic.

The characters that still remain are written off in various poetic ways - some have sadder endings, as they should, because an overtly happy ending would go against the show's message (there are very few happy endings as long as we keep upholding the current system). However, a select few characters did get grace from the writers, for which I'm so grateful - I cried my eyes out when Blanca was released and got to reunite with the love of her life, while Nicky (Natasha Lyonne) becoming the new 'prison mom' was pure poetry. These select few sheds of hope felt particularly earned due to the episode's bleak starting point: Tiffany 'Pennsatucky' Doggett (Taryn Manning), one of the most tragic characters in television history and one who I had grown to care deeply about, had died just at the end of the penultimate episode, and this creates such a haunting and emotionally resonating backdrop for everything else in the episode.

My favorite element of the series finale has to be the Poussey Washington fund - it's moving enough that the character Taystee (Danielle Brooks) goes from contemplating suicide all the way to using her knowledge and skills to start a fund aiding women affected by the system, not to mention the fund being in the name of her deceased friend who was very much the heart of the series (more on her later). But then, they pull the real heartstring-tugger - the end credits reveal that the Poussey Washington fund is real, as the showrunners used their resources to start such a fund in real life, using the show's platform to help actual women. That has got to be the coolest individual thing that a series finale has ever done.

6. Be Free (Season 6 Episode 13)

My very highest-ranking OINTB episodes do have a clear correlation with the most grim and heartbreaking episodes - and it's not due to my TV taste being particularly edgy in a "it has to be sad and shocking in order to be good" way. It's just that with this particular show, from its setting to its big themes and larger points, the most depressing episodes are often the ones that drive the important political points home in the most powerful fashion. There's nothing like seeing what the prison system is like at its cruelest to open your eyes and make you feel a strong need for systemic change.

And that's why I love episodes like the utterly gut-wrenching season 6 finale.

The big event that the episode is remembered for is Taystee's trial coming to an end - in a well-written, all too realistic-feeling example of the justice system failing the people, she is found guilty of Piscatella's (Brad William Henke) murder despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Because the riot needed a face for people to blame, and a Black woman was all too easy of a target. The culmination of this storyline is devastating, but it doesn't stop there - moments later, the episode delivers one of the show's most abruptly heartbreaking twists.

Near the end of the episode, we keep cutting between Linda (Beth Dover) giving a fancy speech for the prison industrial complex and inmates like Piper (Taylor Schilling) and Blanca gearing up for their early release - and then it hits you. Right as you wonder why Blanca is guided to a different line than the others, we cut to Linda unveiling PolyCon's new venture - ICE detention centers.

The imagery of Blanca's lover Diablo waiting outside the prison, with flowers in his hand, while Blanca is guided to the ICE facility and Linda's happy speech is applauded by an accurate representation of America's biggest monsters, is one of those TV moments that will be forever etched into my mind. Especially since the state's brutal targeting of undocumented immigrants was a relevant topic to tackle already then, and it has only become so much more prominent since - watching this in the time of Trump's second regime makes the series feel prophetic, and fills you with a blistering anger towards everyone who let the current situation happen. I wish people had listened, man.

5. Trust No Bitch (Season 3 Episode 13)

Then for something completely different! Amidst all the gripping and depressing episodes, the series does have its share of heartwarming moments of pure humanity. These make for a powerful yin and yang - the existence of the hopeful and humane moments makes the brutal storylines feel more real and hit all the harder, as you care about the characters so much, while the existence of the show's bleak realities makes the happy moments feel all the more earned and special. And the king of those moments is most definitely in the season 3 finale.

Amidst all of the other, more typical season finale storylines, a construction mishap makes for a momentarily unguarded hole in the fence, as the inmates spot a direct path from the prison yard to the nearby lake. In a scene that channels the iconic rooftop moment from The Shawshank Redemption yet also feels like its own unique thing, a vast majority of the inmates we know and love make a run for it, not even trying to escape for good, but seizing the opportunity to go for a swim on a hot summer day.

The moment is incredibly beautiful - the music, the cinematography and the genuine expressions of pure joy on the actresses' faces...it really takes your breath away. No matter what horrible bullshit those characters had endured and would go on to endure, in that sweet and untouchable moment, they're all free for just a while, and no one can take that away. I really, really grew to care about these characters, and this moment just meant the world for invested viewers like myself.

4. God Bless America (Season 7 Episode 11)

The addition of ICE detention centers into the plot wasn't an individual case specific to the season 6 finale, but rather a setup for the show's final, most damning new storyline in its final season. A big part of why I loved season 7 so much was that it really took the show's message to a whole new level: we had already seen how brutal the "regular" prison system was (air quotes because none of this should be normal) and how it affected women of color and other minorities disproportionately - and season 7 sheds a light on how all this is turned to the maximum when it comes to undocumented immigrants. The evil of the American empire is on full display in a season which, despite its fictional story, definitely did its research on how these detention centers work and feels all too real.

This is especially powerful in the show's third-last episode, God Bless America (the irony of the title would be funny if it wasn't so damn depressing). The flashbacks of the episode are not devoted to one individual character, but to many of the women we met as new characters throughout season 7 in the ICE facility. In an all-too-accurate depiction of what undocumented immigrants really are, we see a mother fighting for a better life for her children, a lesbian from an intolerant family thinking she'll be better off in a country like the U.S., and a woman being sexually assaulted while trying to make her way into the country. And, in the present-day storyline, we see a courtroom where removal proceedings are being held for innocent children who are supposed to speak for themselves as they couldn't get an attorney.

Watching this at a time when racist billionaires have convinced a large portion of Americans that undocumented immigrants are the enemy we need to be fighting, leading to large expansions in ICE raids and state violence towards civilians, should be enough to radicalize anyone with a heart. I cannot express strongly enough how much the current system deserves to be burned to the fucking ground, and shedding light on these issues is a big reason why OINTB is so much more than just a TV show.

3. Toast Can't Never Be Bread Again (Season 4 Episode 13)

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable". That JFK quote has a nice ring to it, and boy does it ring true when watching the final episodes of OINTB season 4, leading up to the infamous 'riot season'. The penultimate episode of the season ended with the show's most infamous moment (more on that later), and while the aftermath doesn't quite reach those levels of unforgettable television, it comes really goddamn close.

The aftermath to Poussey's (Samira Wiley) death is just as heartbreaking as you'd expect, and just as infuriating as well. Tensions are built across the episode, all the while the flashbacks give us deeply emotional closure on the character we knew and loved (that final shot of Poussey smiling - right in the feels). The dynamics in the present-day storyline get more and more heated, and in the very last moments, shit starts to get real. Danielle Brooks' acting performance reaches new levels of gripping, as Taystee hears enough of Caputo's TV speech and marches back to the bunks, tears and blistering fury in her eyes, yelling "THEY DIDN'T EVEN SAY HER NAME! THERE'S NO JUSTICE!" - and then it just sort of happens.

The final minutes of season 4 do a brilliant job depicting the anatomy of a riot. Conditions in Litchfield had been pretty unbearable from the start, and had gotten steadily worse throughout the season, with Poussey's death and MCC's reaction being the final catalyst - so when the inmates start their determined order-defying march, it doesn't seem one bit abrupt or reactive. It feels like the only natural course of events. In that moment, you feel for those women so deeply, and truly realize how one can't expect a group of people to be constantly oppressed and kicked in the face without accepting that such behavior might lead to a day of reckoning. Those final moments caused a surge of mixed feelings - it feels like the prisoners are doing the right thing and it feels like a payoff to see them fighting against the system, but at the same time, you just know that this isn't going to end well. Bittersweet.

2. We Have Manners. We're Polite (Season 2 Episode 13)

Season 2 is my favorite season from the show and I consider Vee to be its best villain - so it makes sense that the culmination of that whole storyline, ending with such a massive payoff, is one of the show's brightest highlights for me.

The season 2 finale begins on a dire note, with acts of violence being investigated as it looks like Vee will get away with everything she did - and even worse, she's framing Suzanne for everything and threatening her underlings into backing her story. For a majority of the episode's runtime, it looks like things are headed for a grim end - Vee even decides to use Red's contraband tunnel to escape the prison when it looks like she might be facing consequences after all.

And then, the most wonderful thing happens.

Miss Rosa Cisneros (Barbara Rosenblat), the elderly inmate suffering from terminal cancer, had gotten a flashback episode earlier in the season, so we knew all about her wild bank-robbing past. In a powerful moment of empathy, Lorna sacrifices her privileges as van driver by purposefully leaving the keys in the van with Rosa, encouraging her to make a run for it and live out her last moments out there and not here in lockdown. Rosa makes a drive for the gates that are about to close, and Sister Jane Ingalls (Beth Fowler), another absolutely fantastic character, has a hand in making sure that she gets the time to drive through before she's stopped.

As Rosa drives out into the wide world, we see her turning into her younger self from the flashbacks, which is such a touching style choice to demonstrate how she gets to be her free self again for a fleeting moment. And then she sees it - Yvonne 'Vee' Parker, crawling out of the other end of the tunnel, making her own escape. The last we ever see of Miss Rosa is the absolute legend swerving to purposefully hit Vee, claiming "always so rude, that one!", making for one of the most satisfying villain deaths in TV history. Absolute cinema.

1. The Animals (Season 4 Episode 12)

I can't possibly find the right words for this larger-than-life viewing experience, but I gotta try, so here goes nothing.

The death of Poussey Washington ranks #1 as the most emotionally devastating TV death of all time, if you ask me. I'm the kind of viewer who gets emotionally invested, so I've cried my eyes out at many a TV death - but no other comes close to this one. I was more or less hyperventilating when the credits began to roll. The reasons for this - the ultimate turning point and most monumentally game-changing moment of the series - being such an unforgettable gut punch are many, and I will try to analyze the chief ones here.

First of all, this one is obvious but still needs to be said - it's not just about the fictional character. The mere death of any fictional character in itself couldn't possibly cause as big of a reaction as this one did, no matter how wrapped up I get in fictional stories. My reaction to Poussey's death was, however, amplified tenfold because of the cold, harsh fact that it did not feel fictional at all. There is so much real-world inspiration that went into the writing of this episode, and anyone who has read history and/or followed the news in the United States will know just how real this all is. The patriarchal society's treatment of women, the criminal justice system's treatment of inmates, and particularly American law enforcement's treatment of people of color, not to mention the people who fall into the intersection of all three, make this moment seem all too possible. Watching the scene is extra difficult because there is such a strong parallel to George Floyd - even though the episode aired years before 2020. For anyone with a heart who lived through that god-awful year, the visual imagery of a law enforcement officer's knee on a Black person's neck will immediately conjure up visceral outrage.

Then there's the situation leading up to the moment. The entire fourth season, but this episode in particular, raises the stakes to astronomical levels, with Piscatella and his guards doing their best impression of the Stanford prison experiment as they treat the inmates worse and worse. The final scene of this episode begins with the inmates staging a peaceful protest - inspired by Blanca taking a stand, they all get up and stand on the cafeteria tables, refusing to come down, declaring that they won't hurt anyone but they will stay there until Piscatella is fired. And then, in an all-too-American fashion, violent force takes over as Piscatella calls their bluff and orders his men to start clearing. This sends Suzanne into an emotional breakdown, as the poor woman blames herself, and instead of helping the mentally ill inmate, the guards respond with violence. Screaming "She don't know what she doing", Poussey tries to help her friend - and is rewarded in the same way that Americans like Renee Good and Alex Pretti were rewarded for trying to help their fellow humans.

Then there's the killer. It was an interesting and even out-of-the-box choice from the writers that it was Baxter Bayley (Alan Aisenberg), the nicest guy from season 4's prison guards, who killed Poussey. Having an established sadist like Humps be the killer would've been a more obvious choice, but the fact that it was Bayley sends an even deeper message. The episode was Bayley's one and only flashback episode, and what we saw of his past didn't seem particularly deep at first, until its relation to the present-day narrative hits you. Baxter wasn't an evil guy, nor was he a hero - he was, first and foremost, untrained and deeply out of his depth. He didn't mean to kill Poussey, but that's the whole point right there: he never should have been in that position in the first place. As we keep seeing with ICE, the U.S. keeps giving weapons, armor and power to people who aren't properly trained, especially in areas like crisis escalation - and then people act shocked when the crises escalate.

Furthermore, an especially powerful parallel from Bayley's backstory was the scene where he's caught with possession of weed, but being a white man from a rich family, he gets off with a warning. Possession of weed was the crime for which Poussey was in prison. They both did the same thing, and society put them in a situation where one ends up killing the other from a position of power. That's pretty goddamn powerful storytelling right there.

And finally - as much as the moment was about a lot more than just the individual character, it also was very much about the character. Obviously, such a death would've been tragic and wrong no matter who it happened to, as no one deserves such a fate - but the writers were clearly going for maximum emotional effect, and for that, they could not have chosen a better character from the show's large ensemble cast. Over the course of four seasons, Poussey Washington had grown into an ultimate comfort character - a true friend and a kind soul, with a heart-melting smile. The very face of "a lot of these people wouldn't be in prison in the first place if someone fixed this deeply broken society". A positive influence on everyone around her. And for trying to help her friend, she was killed. The message of the series was never more clear than in this moment, and its aftermath that would paint the rest of the series: while this exact chain of events may be fictional, very similar things continue to happen all the time, because we've built a society that allows for something like this to happen. And that system needs to be broken the fuck down, so that we can build something better.

Thank you for reading! Tune in next week for my annual Oscar predictions, ahead of the 98th Academy Awards.