Even the best of intentions can go awry so here I am with four more episodes to go of Orange is the New Black Season 4. In terms of binge-viewing that’s a bronze at best, Netflix dropped the current season three days ago on June 17. Here are some stream-of-consciousness ramblings as I binge. Let’s go!

1.  Oh, I see how it is. Piper, who was literally branded a Nazi, has repented and moved on to giggling about how much she misses Shake Shack burgers.
2. The Latina girls, however, miss not getting subjected to stop and frisks. Piper was the mastermind of a scheme to send used undies to pervs but the Latinas started a rival business. Piper’s plans to eliminate the competition was to tell Corrections Officer Piscatella that she felt “unsafe” which is a blatant dog whistle so the Latinas were subject to scrutiny. The plan backfired and the ladies’ panties have been exposed.
3. Oh, looky here, the aggressive new COs are still keeping their eyes and hands on the Latinas and detain them for walking while Hispanic.
4. But Piper wants a burger, ya’ll.
5. This season is the darkest one since Vee turned the black girls into an army for her own selfish reasons. Unlike Piper, Vee did not end up with a burger. So thank God, we’ve got an amusing storyline: the staged photo of celebrity chef Judy King kissing Black Cindy. The utterly useless semi-warden Caputo is pissed off because blah, blah, something, cell phones on campus, blah. To keep Caputo off their backs, they are pretending to be a real couple and it delivers some classic OITNB exploits.
   

   Blanca is untouchable on OITNB

6. Crime detectives are familiar with a culprit known as the “bushy-haired stranger.” It refers to the vague description of an imaginary assailant. In any case, Blanca Flores is the show’s bushy-haired strange inmate. The only thing we know about her is that Blanca is a clever girl. In the first season, she spent her time holed up in a stall, ranting about the devil or as he’s referred to in Spanish: Diablo. It turned out that the crazy act was a way for Bianca to talk to her boyfriend on a contraband phone she’d hidden in the bathroom wall. His name is–drumroll–Diablo. That Blanca is crazy like a fox. Her talent comes in handy now. The officers stopping and frisking are less inclined to get close to Blanca who has been throwing them off the scent, so to speak, by dabbing on sardine oil and the like. The maneuver catches on and the Dominicans use the ploy. When one of the COs senses something fishy is going on, he punishes her by making Blanca stand on a table until she is compliant.
7. Bianca does not get a burger. She does, however, get an award for badass because she stays on that table and just stares him down.
8. Uh-oh, Sister Ingalls is acting crazy. Is her mind going? This is sad.
9. Ahhh, the ex-nun is acting up so she can get to SHU to find Sophia. The transgender lady was sent there for “protection” and all we know is that her empty cell was covered in blood. Sister Ingalls’ plan works, she gets escorted to SHU. Sister Ingalls is a badass.

This season is particularly dark. The inmates have always had tribes: the black girls, the Latinas, the white girls–who didn’t have anything to do with the white meth addicts–and the “others” the senior citizens nobody pays attention and Chang. There have been skirmishes and battles, but the prison staff didn’t add to the tensions. Now they are actively singling out groups to torment. The COs are bullying and sadistic. Caputo, who was always marginally competent, isn’t doing anything to rein them in. Creepy, abusive Pornstache who indirectly caused an inmate to overdose and staged the scene as a suicide would probably find this appalling. Maybe. This isn’t going to end well.

We welcome witty and astute comments, they don’t appear right away but we promise to get to them after we get rid of this sardine smell.

Elaine G. Flores, Chief Editor

Elaine is the chief editor of TV Recappers' Delight. She's an experienced entertainment reporter, reviewer, editor, blogger, columnist and Bon Vivant.