OITNB S4
Oh my actual gosh. I am addicted to Jenji Kohan. She just keeps getting better & better. This season was an emotional roller coaster. Watching it seemed to take forever because all I wanted to do was binge it, but I couldn't because, you know, work. So I could only get through a few episodes a night. Which was like torture at the time, but now I'm sort of glad; I wish I had been wrong, but everything generally gets worse for everyone all season long, which I knew was going to lead to some sort of explosive gut punch of a cliffhanger for the finale. I was right about that, of course. The last few minutes of the season set my hair on fire.
That was no surprise. What I didn't expect was the tragedy that came out of nowhere. I should have, of course. As I said, I am addicted to Jenji Kohan. One thing her shows have in common is that Anyone Can Die.
I, um. I actually can't talk about Poussey right now. My brain is still in shock. That was not how that scene was supposed to go. I feel like I'm going to mourn her as much as I mourn Tara Maclay.
Remember that scene in 4x12 where they're putting aside their differences and talking about how to get Piscatella fired and Red says, "Or we could just kill him"? SHE WAS RIGHT. THEY SHOULD HAVE.
What was the point of showing us that Linda from Purchasing is in the bathroom on her phone during the riot unless something is going to happen to her in the premiere? So, yeah, I look forward to finding out what happens to her. Fingers crossed that she somehow gets locked in the bathroom. And her phone dies.
I've watched the final scene at least half a dozen times now, so I can pretty much give you a run-down of my thoughts:
- Caputo is a slimy worm. He's lucky Taystee didn't throw a chair through his window.
- What she does do is . . . crawl off and start a fucking riot. "Man, they ain't gonna fire him! They lettin' him go free! They callin' him the fuckin' victim! Yo, they lettin' him off! They lettin him off! They didn't even say her name, yo!" And then she does throw a chair. But it's just at the floor, not through a window.
- I love Taystee. Danielle Brooks is a goddess.
- "I use liquid liner." "What's Attica again?" "Oh, maybe it's the dad from that bird book." When you're in the last few minutes of a Jenji Kohan season finale and there are two jokes in rapid succession for no real reason, you know shit's about to go down.
- One of my favorite things about this season is the fact that Piper is not the main character anymore. Case in point, when she & Alex notice that a fucking riot is happening, they hug the wall and walk the other way. They disappear from the finale with a full four minutes to go.
- Piper's last line of the season is, "Yeah."
- The random inmate who runs past and yells, "That's right, burn this motherfucker!" and kicks down their trash can is one of the most hilariously perfect moments in the history of television.
- Considering that we all know she was absolutely planning to walk out and go along with the story about being released the day before Poussey was killed, I am very glad that Judy King gets trapped in the middle of the riot.
- Martiza sees Humps kneel to retrieve his secret gun. She immediately shoves him down and knocks it out of his hand. I LOVE HER SO MUCH FOR THIS.
- Daya picks up the gun because she is closest. I wonder what made the writers choose her. I'm glad they did, because she had a significantly smaller role this season, and is clealry going to be a major player next season, or at least the very beginning of it, which makes me happy because she's been a fave since episode one. But still, I wonder. Any other inmate could have happened to be closest to where that gun landed.
- Anyway, the riot obviously comes to a halt when everyone notices that Daya, one of them, just picked up a fucking gun.
- MARIA: Daya, you sure you know what you're doin'? Maybe you wanna give it to someone else?
- Daya may or may not be sure what she's doin'. She definitely doesn't wanna give the gun to someone else. She points it at Humps (Maria smirks) and says, "Hey, lady CO, get on the floor with your hands behind your head, right now, before I shoot your little friend here in the eyeball." She says this all very quickly and matter-of-factly. She displays zero signs of uncertainty or, you know, nerves. She is the calmest thing that ever calmed.
- BLACK CINDY: Yeah, that's right. Put it right in his fuckin' face.
- MARIA: Je-sus, Diaz.
- DAYA: Fuckin' COs. Y'all are pieces of shit.
- All of the inmates are very enthusiastic about whatever Daya's gonna do. Taystee in particular is cheering her on. And who can blame her, after her best friend was murdered by one CO and another one came to work with a gun?
- RED: Shit. Here it is.
- TAYSTEE: Pop his ass!
- Then the camera focuses on Daya and swirls around her head so fast that everyone else goes blurry, and then everything fades to . . .
- No, wait, the last scene of the season is actually a slow close-up on Poussey, by herself, chuckling and looking right into the camera and smiling. MY HAIR IS ON FIRE AND NOTHING WILL EVER BE OKAY AGAIN.
- The song that ends the season is brilliant, of course.
Also, what about Piscatella?! They were supposed to be getting rid of him. Poussey didn't just die anonymously, she also died in vain. The whole situation gets more and more terrible the longer you think about it.