Orange is the New Black Review: Bunny, Skull, Bunny Skull (Season 4 Episode 10)

Orange is the New Black takes another of many dark turns. While not as tumultuous as other episodes, “Bunny, Skull, Bunny, Skull” has us questioning allegiances and hoping for the best.

Let’s start with a bit of happy news.

Aleida is being released and seeing her outside of prison is a really interesting change.

The last time that we saw a prisoner released, it was Taystee in Season 1. While she danced to the van we never got to see her experience beyond a couple of scenes and then suddenly she was back in prison.

Aleida, in prison, is a tough chick who has people and friends. Outside she’s no one.

However, Aleida has maintained her armor. She was always tough in prison, but outside she’s even more defensive.

Her remarks are biting and full of venom, but she wants to make this work. She wants to get the kids back.

Aleida makes a point to mention that she took the fall for Cesar.

We don’t know the details of exactly what transpired, but the fact that Aleida isn’t a dangerous criminal but still has this stigma is telling.

We really hope that the writers don’t abandon Aleida on the outside. While the series is about the inmates of Litchfield, there is room to focus a little bit on what happens when they get out too.

Plus, the look on her face when she picks up Cesar’s baby is heartbreaking. She looks forlorn with the baby on her lap and an illustration of Daya in her hands.

Meanwhile, back in Litchfield, we see Piper try to make her mistake of setting up the task force right.

The after effects of Piper’s branding have sobered her. She’s no longer drunk on the thug life and she feels guilty for the oppression that the Dominicans are facing due to her.

Of course, this leads to Piscatella telling her to shove her moral outrage up her butt.

I never thought I would say this, but I’m really starting to miss Pornstache. Sure, he was a slimy guy, but at least he never crosses the lines these new guards are crossing.

In the end, when Piper breaks the embargo on giving food to Flores and has to stand on the cafeteria table with her there’s an odd sense of solidarity, if only for a brief moment.

Meanwhile, Sister Ingalls’ plan to get into the SHU has gone up in smoke with a single sneeze.

The only thing about the plan being exposed is that it got Caputo involved by picking up the phone and taking a photo of Sophia.

The plan is almost so simple that I can’t believe he hadn’t thought of it before. Sure, he didn’t want to lose his job with MCC, but considering inmates were able to get photos out and all the illegal cell phones that were in the prison, you’d think he could have used one of them!

This gave him the perfect opportunity to fly under the radar. We don’t doubt there will be questions from MCC about where the photo came from, and he will probably blame Sister Ingalls to save himself.

Then the big moment. Piscatella orders the garden and greenhouse be demolished for the construction of the new dorms. With it, comes the discovery of the body from the first episode.

Frieda is right; this isn’t going to be good.

Stray Thoughts:

• Nicky! You should know that lying to Red never leads to anything good. You should be happy that your prison family cares about you enough to blackball you. They don’t want to see you going away to a prison cemetery.
• Maritza’s disgust over the game that Humphrey made her play was sickening. Someone needs to do something about these guards. It would be one thing if the prisoners were violent, but these women aren’t.
• Lolly and Suzanne’s discussion over the use of tin foil vs. wax paper in the time machine is really adorable.
• Kukudio has a grudge! We didn’t see that coming, but perhaps we should have expected it.

What did you think of this episode of Orange is the New Black? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Orange is the New Black is now available for streaming on Netflix.

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