Orange Is the New Black: A Whole Other Hole
June 9, 2014 8:18 AM - Season 2, Episode 4 - Subscribe

Morello goes on a fieldtrip, the ladies get some sex ed, Red starts a new program, Piper makes a deal, and Taystee struggles with divided loyalties.
posted by likeatoaster (46 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I've only seen the first 5 episodes so far, but I think this one is my favorite as-of-yet. The unveil of Morello's backstory really surprised me, in a good way. Also I love love Sophia giving everyone the run-down on female anatomy.
posted by likeatoaster at 8:22 AM on June 9, 2014 [5 favorites]


Yeah, the misdirection with the credit card fraud was fantastic. I liked that we got a little bit of Rosa's story as well.

I thought this episode was called "A Whole Other Hole"?
posted by troika at 8:49 AM on June 9, 2014


I kept wondering how Morello talked and dressed like a character from a 50s Musical but now it makes so much perfect sense.
posted by The Whelk at 9:03 AM on June 9, 2014 [3 favorites]


Man, I did NOT expect Morelli's backstory, but in retrospect her whole story suddenly makes a lot more sense.

Even knowing all that, the scene where she's wearing the veil in the bathtub just makes my heart ache. Yes, she's suffering some serious delusions, but the hurt she feels is completely real.
posted by chatongriffes at 9:18 AM on June 9, 2014 [4 favorites]


I hated that they made Morello actually mentally-ill delusional, not just prison-coping-mechanism delusional. I think the latter is far more interesting than the former. Other than her fixation on Christopher, I don't think it fits her character at all. I'd believe that Crazy Eyes is actually delusional, but not Morello.

I'm also pretty sure it's a ret-con. Wasn't it stated in the first season that Christopher visited Morello when she first arrived at Litchfield, but had stopped visiting?

Yeah, the misdirection with the credit card fraud was fantastic.

I'm still assuming that she's in federal prison for mail fraud. I'm pretty sure that stalking isn't a federal offense.
posted by donajo at 9:22 AM on June 9, 2014 [4 favorites]


As always, anything involving Sophia is strongly likely to be wonderful.

My partner, who used to work in a medical facility that had regular visits from prisoners, got a bit worked up about the way they portrayed the "guarding a prisoner who is getting medical care" thing being completely unrealistic. I was willing to roll with it for the sake of Morello backstory, though, even though a lot of that backstory was hard to pay attention to while I was sympathy-cringing so hard.
posted by Stacey at 9:30 AM on June 9, 2014


I'm pretty sure that stalking isn't a federal offense.

She tried to blow up his fiancee's car, though.
posted by troika at 9:34 AM on June 9, 2014 [3 favorites]


Oh, right. That might be federal.
posted by donajo at 9:50 AM on June 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


Morello reminds my husband of Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors and when he heard I'd never seen it, we had to stop our OItNB marathon and watch a musical. Maybe this comment belongs in the musical thread.
posted by danabanana at 9:51 AM on June 9, 2014 [2 favorites]


We think she will be caught, right? Because of the bathrobe, at least? (And possibly charged with escape?)

Also, poussey! So sad.
posted by likeatoaster at 10:34 AM on June 9, 2014


At first, I was just like, how can Morello be in love with a dude who has such cheesy home decor, or at least is willing to live with such cheesy home decor? And then when the whole story was revealed . . . wow. I was not expecting that at all.
posted by leesh at 10:57 AM on June 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


We think she will be caught, right? Because of the bathrobe, at least? (And possibly charged with escape?)

Didn't she throw the bathrobe out the driver's window when she picked up Rosa and the guard? She didn't toss the bear, though.
posted by schnee at 11:25 AM on June 9, 2014


the whole time morello was at christopha's house i was like GET OUT, GIRL, GET OUT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING. it was almost as a bad as a horror movie.
posted by kerning at 11:51 AM on June 9, 2014 [24 favorites]


I'm back to thinking that Morello is in for mail fraud. I don't think an attempted murderess would be in minimum security prison. Although, Pennsatucky is in there, so who knows?
posted by donajo at 2:09 PM on June 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


I just loved the detail about Morello's hair. And how different she looked outside of prison, while still in the same vein.

And those expensive-yet-cheap-looking clothes for the man who did not care... This poor kid.


In other news, Vee is awesome and awful and awe-inspiring.
posted by RainyJay at 3:08 PM on June 9, 2014


Poussey is also a good friend. She really cares about Taystee - it's not just that she is interested in her romantically, she just genuinely wants the best for Taystee. It's obvious. That's love - wanting the best for someone else even if it's not what's best for you.
posted by sockermom at 4:06 PM on June 9, 2014 [13 favorites]




Morello and Poussey both broke my heart this episode.

Is it a picture of Christopher on her bedroom board? So the meet up at the post office was a result of her stalking him?
posted by Julnyes at 7:24 AM on June 10, 2014


Sidebar on Morello: When she was having her breakdown in jail, her eyes got so red I thought she had literally burst a blood vessel. But when she was doing her sad crying in veil they seemed fine -- couldn't tell if that was an acting choice, or maybe her eyes were irritated by that fake tear stuff actors use sometimes, but it certainly creeped my shit out.
posted by Diablevert at 9:12 AM on June 10, 2014


No I think the guy on her board was some actor she was crushing on and Christopher looks like him...hence her thinking their love story was MEANT TO BE.

yeah, one of the things that made her go "oh my gahd forever meant ta be" was that christopha was wearing the same heavy sweater cardigan as the dream man on her vision board or whatever that mess was. it's fate, you see.
posted by kerning at 10:30 AM on June 10, 2014 [3 favorites]


That was my initial thought, but board guy seemed so nondescript I thought it might be the same actor (admittedly I didn't go back and look at him for comparison)
posted by Julnyes at 11:09 AM on June 10, 2014


The scene with Piper trying to pimp Soso out to Boo for a blanket, culminating in the line: "You really are a horrible person."

And then, the scene between Soso and Nicky was kinda hilarious. Nicky rolling her eyes at Soso's chatter, which was in itself pretty surreal. "I had sex at Bonnaroo with a girl who peed on my breasts. We were wearing headdresses and the String Cheese Incident was playing."
posted by zarq at 11:55 AM on June 10, 2014 [1 favorite]


I'm assuming that, in season 1, Morello's story was just going to be that her boyfriend essentially dumped her while she was in prison, end of story, but then decided that she's an interesting and likable enough character that they wanted to give her a bigger storyline, thus the absent boyfriend turns into a virtual stranger who she's been stalking. Because yeah, in season 1, Nichols is teasing her about the whole wedding-planning thing, and says that Christopher hasn't been to see her since three weeks after she got to prison, which really doesn't make sense.
posted by sarcasticah at 12:11 PM on June 10, 2014


in season 1, Nichols is teasing her about the whole wedding-planning thing, and says that Christopher hasn't been to see her since three weeks after she got to prison, which really doesn't make sense

Given what we know about Morello, at this point, I think it's totally feasible that she's lying about having a visitor at all, or had a visit from her brother and told the others that he was Christopher, OR heard she had a visitor, went "OOOHhh it must be my Christopher" and didn't correct people when she got back from visitation or really any number of things.
posted by terilou at 12:31 PM on June 10, 2014 [8 favorites]


You saw in the flashback of her trial that Morello is *truly* in denial. Even as Christopher is denouncing her and listing her nutso actions, she's still beaming and wiggling in her seat, completely ignoring the litany of offenses. She's delusional and it appears to completely fit her behavior from the last season and change.

I like Morello, but she's cuckoo.
posted by grubi at 1:13 PM on June 10, 2014 [2 favorites]


The scene with Piper trying to pimp Soso out to Boo for a blanket, culminating in the line: "You really are a horrible person."
The New York magazine's Vulture recap had a good line about that:
"Big Boo laughing at Piper while saying 'You really are a horrible person' is pretty much the thesis for this show, right?"
I concur. Also, the clearly telegraphed Larry cheating will put them back on level ground, morally. Although frankly I'd be annoyed at this point if they actually got back together.
posted by Diablevert at 1:17 PM on June 10, 2014 [5 favorites]


Oh, God, I hope we're done with Larry and Polly now. If Piper is self-absorbed, those two are a massive black hole of self-absorption.
posted by sarcasticah at 2:56 PM on June 10, 2014 [7 favorites]


likeatoaster: "We think she will be caught, right? Because of the bathrobe, at least? (And possibly charged with escape?)"

schnee: " Didn't she throw the bathrobe out the driver's window when she picked up Rosa and the guard? She didn't toss the bear, though."

Fingerprints.

She's in prison. Her prints are on record. She touched a lot of things in that house, and since she broke in, no doubt Christopher will call the police to investigate.
posted by zarq at 3:08 PM on June 10, 2014 [1 favorite]


Also, and I'm saying this now because I'm about to head home and watch a bunch more episodes, but long term, the show seems to be playing with fire a bit --- there are hints of two potential big arcs on the show, racial conflict being incited as V conspires to take power (potential riot, maybe) and piper becoming a mole in the reporter's investigation of corruption in the jail. Either seems like something that could put characters in real danger, and its hard to imagine how some of the great pleasures of the show, the mellow hangout scenes that often show the inmates at their most surprising and charming, could survive the former. If that's the direction they go it will be interesting to see how far they take it, and how the show survives.
posted by Diablevert at 3:29 PM on June 10, 2014 [3 favorites]


I agree on the playing with fire thing, Diablevert. But I think you left a big one out. Speaking of which...

I can't believe no one is talking about how Red clearly seems to be thinking of an escape attempt.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:19 PM on June 10, 2014 [2 favorites]


I assumed it was just smuggling but .....ooooo
posted by The Whelk at 4:57 PM on June 10, 2014


I was thinking Red was planning some epic smuggling too. Possibly even smuggling people out for a few hours, but pretending that they're hard at work gardening in the greenhouse all day? For some reason I just can't quite picture Red climbing down that jefferies tube sewer hole herself.
posted by Secretariat at 4:06 PM on June 11, 2014 [2 favorites]


Even if it is intended for smuggling, that thing is basically Chekhov's sewer. Someone will try and escape.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:10 AM on June 12, 2014 [4 favorites]


I liked the character of Vee a lot at first, but I'm already finding her irritating, I feel like she's getting an outsize portion of time in every episode, and that it's been a little too easy for her to sustain all this manipulative stuff. I'm hoping that Tastee's eyeroll at her is the beginning of more eyerolling.
posted by desuetude at 4:36 PM on June 12, 2014


I laughed out loud twice at totally non-verbal jokes during this episode- when Morello goes over to the stone bunny as if to look underneath it for a key and then immediately smashes a window with it, and when the male guard was listening in on Sophia's vagina lecture.
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:15 PM on June 12, 2014 [5 favorites]


Also, Morello's characterization went from clueless but charming to deeply fucking disturbed in the span of two minutes, and it was amazing. A BOMB!
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:17 PM on June 12, 2014 [9 favorites]


Also also, POUSSEY NO! TASTEE DON'T FALL FOR YOUR FAKE MOM'S EVIL WAYS
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:19 PM on June 12, 2014 [2 favorites]


This episode was pretty delightful all-around. Taystee and Poussey, so sweet then so heartbreaking; the anatomy subplot; getting to see some personality from chemo lady; Morello's story... Even Soso took a moment away from being obnoxious to call out how ridiculous Piper and Boo were being.
posted by Gordafarin at 3:12 AM on June 13, 2014 [1 favorite]


Why, why, why are they torturing us with Soso. Why. I'm finding her role so annoying. I mean, annoying in a narrative sense.

Presumably we're going to get backstory that better explains what exactly the hell she's doing in prison, but right now she feels like a prop getting floated around, a caricature of newbie-Piper deployed to Make a Comparison.
posted by desuetude at 9:22 AM on June 13, 2014 [4 favorites]


Did anyone else notice the wheelchair kind of folded up like it's owner is sitting in the audience on of the benches? I'm wondering if Morello somehow injured Christopher's new girlfriend so badly she was using it. Or maybe it's Morello's mom's? It seems like she was dealing with some health issues.
posted by itsamermaid at 4:32 PM on June 13, 2014




"and when the male guard was listening in on Sophia's vagina lecture"

I thought - and correct me if I'm wrong here - that Officer O'Neill (the guard in question) and Officer Bell had a thing going. In S01 there's a bit of conversation where Alex says she's doing Officer Bell's personal laundry and she found men's underwear with the name O'Neill written on them.

aaaaaaanyway earlier in this episode O'Neill passes Bell in the hallway and she makes a little curt face at him and he looks distressed, and then there's this scene of dawning realization for him during Sophia's anatomy class.

All I'm saying is that I expect to see a happier Officer Bell in the next episode or two.
posted by komara at 9:26 PM on June 16, 2014 [3 favorites]


I hated that they made Morello actually mentally-ill delusional, not just prison-coping-mechanism delusional. I think the latter is far more interesting than the former. Other than her fixation on Christopher, I don't think it fits her character at all.

I was also disapointed by this plot development. I did like getting a picture of her home life - it felt very real - but I thought this plot was so dramatic and less believable. Most women are in prison for pretty mundain reasons I think - selling some drugs, aiding someone else who is selling drugs, petty crime, and sure, violence too, but most of the time that would be a more run-of-the-mill scenario.

It also had an anti-feminist flavor that surprised me. There are some women stalkers, but there are so many more men stalkers, and based on the numbers, they are as a rule much more dangerous. This had a Fatal Attraction feel that was annoying to me given how much more frequently men stalk and abuse women than vise versa.

Finally, although she's clearly always been delusional, her behavior in prison does not have the same level of delusion that this scenario shows. It felt inconsistant with what has been established about her so far.
posted by latkes at 7:56 AM on June 17, 2014


I'm curious what they're going to do with Piper now. She's clearly been broken by the system, participating in petty back-biting and looking out for her immediate personal gain at the cost of the people around her, like everyone around her. She's depressed, flat affect, and cold. I wonder where she can go from here and still have engaging plot lines and character development.
posted by latkes at 7:59 AM on June 17, 2014


I think this is my least favorite episode. I think the actress who plays Morello overacts too much, and I couldn't believe how much the anatomy lesson was shoved into our faces.
posted by Catblack at 5:42 PM on June 17, 2014


Morello's fashion choices were so cringeworthy. Honey, if you're going to steal clothes and shoes, you could at least steal something worthwhile. They reminded me of Dolly Parton's line, "It costs a lot of money to look this cheap!" It made me laugh that Christopher's actual girlfriend also likes tacky, cheesy stuff. That boy is a Jersey girl magnet. Hopefully Angela can at least pronounce his name right.
posted by orange swan at 7:54 AM on February 2, 2015


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