Last night’s episode, “Out of Control,” sees Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling) struggle with the coming of age that life brings. Her growing pains are more significant than those of the other characters because she now not only has to deal with prison life, but she has to deal with having a baby in prison.
After self-detoxing, Piper will feel like a grown-up for the first time when her baby girl, Honey Boo Boo (Allegra Acosta), is due in no time. Her release from the facility is confirmed by Poussey (Samira Wiley) when she takes her out for her first shopping trip in two weeks. The catch is that Piper will be spending nine months in prison (a year and a half on probation) after she messes up on the witness stand and tells the jury (including Alex’s father), how “monster-dope” she is. Piper had said to Alex that she would never trust someone like him, but when Alex’s father came up and said, “I told you everything,” and then Piper had finally been released from the facility (after nearly two years), and she had no idea Alex was behind bars. Unfazed, Piper asked Alex to divorce him and get a divorce and get remarried, and it was a decision that shocked Alex’s dad, who watched as his daughter and his former partner got together.
The episode did nothing for where we are in Season 5, and really didn’t say much, other than Piper is making progress. She continues to make smart decisions with what she knows about how to get out of a jam. She did what someone her age would do and went get clean, even though she wanted to drink in the first place. She once again proved to her former partner that when she’s afraid, she’s the strongest woman in the room. A side effect of the show is that it is consistently hard to read Piper because she appears so likable that it’s difficult to keep up with the events she’s going through.
Overall, this episode did very little to indicate where the series was going next. It certainly did nothing to ease my fears that we’ll lose fans. Poussey and Alex have been through some emotionally difficult, and physically treacherous, times, and it’s difficult to imagine that they won’t be able to deal with another one.
While this final episode felt more like a therapy session, it was not successful in delving into the plot that ties the show together. So this will likely be the last season of “Orange Is the New Black.”