Orange is the New Black Review: Don’t Look Away (Season 5 Episodes 10 and 11)

In my review of Orange is the New Black Season 5 Episodes 7-9, I drew joy from the notion that Piscatella was only trying to do his job. Sure, he had always been a bit… spirited, but ultimately, he was there simply to collect a paycheck and do the “right” thing.

Man, how wrong I was.

However, my assertion on the breather episode status of Orange is the New Black Season 5 Episode 9 proved to be devastatingly correct. So there’s some silver lining, I guess?

On Orange is the New Black Season 5 Episode 10, “The Reverse Midas Touch,” directed by Laura Prepon, we see that the results of Piscatella’s hunt for Red’s girls is less Netflix dark comedy and more Showtime drama.

As Piscatella tied Red to the chair, I had wondered if perhaps this sadism had come from left field; we’ve seen very little indication that Piscatella is an unbalanced man—passionate about decoupage, yes, but otherwise relatively normal for a prison guard. Even in Red discovering that an inmate died on his watch seemed more akin to bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo for “the inmates did it and he wasn’t paying attention.”

Even exploring his backstory during this episode, there is that sense that Piscatella is just wildly misunderstood, having been treated unfairly for his inappropriate love for inmate Wes Collins. “Oh, Wes was the inmate that died on his watch,” you think initially. “The other inmates must’ve killed him out of retribution.” Nope. Nopety nope nope.

Hiding just beneath the surface of Piscatella’s seemingly loving demeanor is a prideful man who will absolutely not stand to be embarrassed. He’d make a great mob boss.

It’s an understandable sentiment, to a degree. Growing up gay in a paternalistic, hyper-masculine society leaves one constantly on edge about being being perceived as weak or “feminine.”

You either surround yourself with loving, supportive allies or you learn to become your own bodyguard. Dear Pisky took this to the extreme.

My guess is that perhaps some event during his formative years to make him pledge to never be seen as weak again. It’s a safe assumption that this is not the first incidence in which he’s had to “prove himself,” that he’s done something similarly awful before, and an outright murder of the inmate that tried to embarrass him is carrying years of brutality to its logical extension.

I’m reading too much into this maybe. But that’s what I’m here for.

I will say this: one of the underlying notions in Piscatella’s torturing Red and his beliefs on the extreme differences of men vs. women (i.e. men understand pain, but women need to be broken) aligns very neatly with the concept of gay misogyny, the idea that gay men couldn’t possibly be labeled misogynist, sexist, racist, etc. because they also face oppression; they carry the same dislike and prejudices against women that straight men do but are not as bad because straight men don’t like them very much, either. Simple!

Given my theory on his childhood, it’s safe to say that Piscatella’s home environment wasn’t exactly feminist.

Elsewhere in the building, Suzanne is starting to suffer from being off her medication, the result of Lorna’s own psychological break. While Suzanne’s deterioration is heartbreakingly lamentable, it also gives us this beautiful bit:

Your skin is beautiful. Like walnut wood and soil. And western coneflowers and old metal. And dark maple syrup in brown jars.

When I say I cried…

In literature, there’s often passages written about the beauty of fair skin and green/blue/violet/golden eyes while dark skin and brown eyes are usually labeled undesirable. Even in modern media, we’re taught to appreciate tan skin but not dark skin.

So, to hear these words from Uzo Aduba, who once stated in an interview that she struggled with her Nigerian name, is just.. unspeakably poignant and something we of darker complexion don’t hear often enough.

Using a photo from episode 8 because apparently the white inmates were the only ones in episode 10???

On Orange is the New Black Season 5 Episode 11, “Breaking the Fiberboard Ceiling,” Suzanne is still in the throes of her schizophrenia and Taystee does not have time to deal with it.

Welcome to the downside of ambition, dear Taystee. Loneliness and fatigue are part and parcel of trying to change the world, which is exactly what she’s trying to do. These negotiations will serve to benefit not just her, but the entirety of the Litchfield community. And her scope doesn’t stop there. She’s stumbled upon the very possible idea that the conversation had here can benefit everyone on a nationwide scale.

So while she may have sounded a bit heartless in dismissing a dead guard and Black Cindy’s concerns about Suzanne, consider: 1) she’s running on very little sleep and 2) she’s right. She trusted Black Cindy to handle this one situation so that she could focus on helping all of them.

This cycles back around to the deontological dilemma that Piper presented a few episodes ago, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

That seems to be the theme of this season, in fact, especially given Gloria’s predicament where her personal desire to see her son jeopardizes the negotiations. She and Taystee are sort of foils in that regard. Two very passionate women trying—and very nearly succeeding— to accomplish a goal by any means necessary. But where Gloria is serving her own agenda, Taystee is looking out for the needs of… well, every inmate in the United States.

And so, we’ve reached the ticking time bomb climax before the actual climax of Season 5: Taystee’s leverage is gone unbeknownst to her, Piscatella is going to wake up soon, Lorna is actually pregnant, and Boo has found out her lover isn’t who she claims.

Attica lasted, what, 4 days? We’re in the middle of Day 3. Stay tied to your seats.

You’re doing great, ladies.

We’ll say 4.5 stars. The tone shift from 10 to 11 re: Piscatella is a little jarring and, as fun as the bunker cross-argument is, seems manufactured.

The Reverse Midas Touch (Character of Focus: Piscatella) – 5 stars

• Laura Prepon has a very dark mind. The entire episode is traumatic.
• Piscatella is the most awkward flirt. Let him try to walk up to any of my friends at a bar. 
• Uzo Aduba deserves a third Emmy for this episode alone.
• “Did that coffee shop even happen? Seemed like forever ago.” (The writers hanging more lampshades.)
• The Meth Girls kidnapping the doctor made me hate them more, if that’s possible.
• Janae: “Man, I keep telling you, T, white people ruin everything.” B. Cindy: “Twerking, cornrows, Africa… The White House.”
• Taystee went full Black Mama®️ on Fig and Caputo.
• Can you imagine showing up to set at 6 in the morning and sitting through 2 hours of makeup and countless reshoots just to play a dead body in a wheelchair?
• Pennsatucky perfectly and masterfully describes what depression feels like.

Breaking the Fiberboard Ceiling – 4 stars

• So we went through this whole ordeal for everyone but Red to back out? Nah, fam. You tie my friend up, scalp her, and break my other friend’s arm, we fightin’.
• I’m going to refrain from commenting on Gloria’s son until I’ve researched his age.
• Lorna, please go sit down.
• Maria: “Beyoncé ain’t coming to Litchfield.” Inmate: “How dare you doubt her?!”
• How many porta potties are there…?
• Oh, okay. Gloria doubled up. I was beginning to wonder.
• That was a cute montage. I had to watch it again.
• I need Black Cindy to calmly pick Lorna up and place her neatly out of the way.
• Oh, snap. She’s really pregnant. Ohhhhh boy.
• As awful as Black Cindy is shown for not caring which meds she gives Suzanne, both Janae and Alison share some culpability for standing there like slack-jawed log bumps. Both are [presumably] college educated women who could have gone to the infirmary and found records with Suzanne’s correct medication. This is on you, too, ladies.

What did you think of these episodes of Orange is the New Black? Anyone else wonder if Lorna might have hallucinated that second line? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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Orange is the New Black is currently streaming on Netflix.

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