Orange Is the New Black: Ching Chong Chang
June 17, 2015 7:24 AM - Season 3, Episode 6 - Subscribe

Regime change isn't going over well with the staff, but Red makes it work for her. Lorna finds a way to meet men. Chang shows her private side.
posted by schnee (14 comments total)
 
I found it interesting to get some insight into Chang, although her backstory felt a little stereotypical to me. Still, interesting to see into one of the most private lives in Litchfield. She's just built her own little corner of things, and no one knows. (How does she keep that phone charged?)
posted by nubs at 10:20 AM on June 17, 2015 [2 favorites]


Yeah I didn't buy that no one else goes into that shed.

Wonder if the writers already know why each of these characters is in prison or if they decide when they write the episode.

Were those guys using martial arts during that fight scene?
posted by chaiminda at 12:16 PM on June 17, 2015 [1 favorite]


It was unclear to me whether the final scene in Chang's series of flashbacks is her reason for being in Litchfield or not.

My brother posited to me that older inmates fall into two categories at Litchfield: 1) convicted of a non-violent crime later in life (e.g., Red), or 2) convicted of a more violent crime earlier in life with a sentence to a maximum security facility, and moved to a minimum security facility add a reward for good behavior (or maybe overcrowding at max; e.g., Miss Claudette). I'm not sure what kind of sentence this would have netted Chang, especially given that we don't know how she would have been caught and what deals she and her co-conspirators would have struck in exchange for testifying against each other.
posted by joan cusack the second at 12:39 PM on June 17, 2015 [1 favorite]


I also wondered how she kept her phone charged!

I enjoyed Chang's backstory, but I still feel like I don't know as much about her or that I can connect with her as well as with the other woman in the show. I'd be interested in seeing more of her.
posted by lucy.jakobs at 12:42 PM on June 17, 2015 [1 favorite]


It was unclear to me whether the final scene in Chang's series of flashbacks is her reason for being in Litchfield or not

It might be, it might not be the precise reason. I think that the flashbacks are sometimes better if they just show how someone got into/was living a life involving crime and assume that the viewer is smart enough to figure out that this eventually lead to their arrest. That series of events in her flashback is really what landed her in prison, whether or not it is the specific crime she was convicted of.
posted by nubs at 2:20 PM on June 17, 2015 [2 favorites]


I love how O'Niell just shits all over red velvet for absolutely no reason other than that THEY SUCK. THANK YOU. Red velvet in its current incarnation is a goddamned travesty of cakes and yes, it is total bullshit, and people are bad and wrong for liking it and perpetuating red velvet as a thing.
posted by phunniemee at 2:27 PM on June 17, 2015 [15 favorites]


Yes thank you phunniemee, I had the same reaction (having recently learned the Depression-era origins of Red Velvet cake, which also explains why some of my buttermilk-hating friends can't stomach the stuff).

That said, her little pea patties looked tasty as hell and reminded me of the vending machine cooking challenge on Top Chef. I can't help but wonder if Chang's overall secrecy is the main reason why she's not being put to work in the kitchen, because she clearly knows how to stretch her commissary and daily food trays better than most of the other Litchfield inmates do.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 2:43 PM on June 17, 2015 [2 favorites]


My fav: her brother is like "Oh, you're a marketing wizard." Suggesting that they go into a more profitable business, yes that's just crazy talk. Typical older brother bs.
posted by bleep at 10:18 AM on June 18, 2015


The red velvet scene is the best social commentary in the whole three seasons. I felt so validated. I have watched that scene several times now.
posted by robcorr at 7:45 PM on June 18, 2015


I get that all the episode titles are pullquotes from the episode, but it would be chill if the three words they chose to name this episode after didn't happen to be a racial slur, you know?

This is the only title with anything racist in it.* The closest we get is an episode about Red being called "Moscow Mule," which I think we can all agree is worlds away from an episode about Chang being called "Ching Chong Chang."

At the same time, I appreciate them showing Asian-Americans as victims of racism (moreso Soso than Chang); it's something that happens but isn't often acknowledged.

*(Looking up episode titles to verify this, it looks like the actress who plays Soso really is of mixed white and Japanese heritage. As a mixed-race person (not the same mix) it's pretty cool to see a mixed-raced actress play a mixed-race character).
posted by Juliet Banana at 8:20 AM on June 20, 2015 [7 favorites]




If you take off the twitter referral you can read the link without signing in or up.

Looks about right from what I saw and know of cooking; might be good for some crazy ass hurricane "cooking", putting them to bake on the grill or in the solar oven.
posted by tilde at 12:55 PM on July 15, 2015 [1 favorite]


I also wondered how she kept her phone charged!

I was bugged a bit by the same issue re Flores' phone in S1.
posted by aught at 5:39 AM on July 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


Flores's phone was smaller and indoors - maybe some nights she smuggled it out. Plus it was a feature phone with limited use, so longer battery life. Plus buying a smuggled phone in (through Red) might include charging service.

Chang's phone is a pretty recent damn full phone, and even watching only an hour a day would wear down the battery. Maybe she stuck a solar charger out the roof.

The implication with the oranges out there is that someone is out there regularly smuggling her in all kinds of shit. Though how they do that without leaving a trail in the brush is kind of a mystery. Unless it all comes through commissary orders. that would explain the phone and the contraband after Red's dismissal and as the pipeline through the greenhouse dies off (at least I don't recall it being used much this season).
posted by tilde at 7:50 AM on July 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


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