NetflixOrange Is the New Black season four was dark, funny, darkly funny and heartbreaking all at the same time. There were threesomes on Molly, death, swastikas, returns, departures and crack. Basically no shortage of gasp-inducing moments in one of the show's most engrossing seasons yet.
Ready to talk about it? We already broke down Suzanne's (Uzo Aduba) crime, which broke hearts all over the world into a million pieces, and the big inmate death, but these are the other biggest OMG moments of Orange Is the New Black season four. Spoilers ahoy.
Sophia's story
Sophia (Laverne Cox) was sent packing to the SHU for her own protection last season after a feud with Gloria (Selenis Leyva). Her fate was left up in the air for a few episodes before we got a glimpse of her and boy, SHU got to her. After rebelling with fire and water to get Caputo's (Nick Sandow) attention (while her wife did the same thing with calls and visits), she got a magazine from Nicky (Natasha Lyonne) and tried to kill herself. Once again, her fate was left vague until Sister Ingalls (Beth Fowler) got herself thrown into SHU (with the help of Gloria) in an attempt to discover Sophia's fate and found Sophia was indeed still alive. Her plan was to snap a picture of Sophia to prove she was being kept in SHU and help her wife get her out…but she was caught with the phone and kept in SHU. A guilt-ridden Caputo snapped the picture and got her back to general population. There she reconnected with Gloria who helped her get her wig back. Yes a wig fitting can bring tears.
The threesome
Judy King (Blair Brown) took Litchfield by storm with her perks and power. She was given a separate room with Yoga Jones (Constance Shulman) and just about everything she wanted, including a seltzer maker, getting Nicky out of maximum security and Luschek (Matt Peters). Yeah, she made Luschek have sex with her. And then the Molly happened. Yoga, Judy and Luschek did Molly and had sex with each other. Orange Is the New Black's most shocking threesome?
The return of Nicky
Did anybody expect Orange Is the New Black to continue without Natasha Lyonne? She was gone for most of season three and made her triumphant return thanks to Luschek's guilt and Judy King's money…but she returned back on drugs.
Lolly, Lolly, Lolly
Lori Petty is coming for you, Emmys. Viewers learned Lolly's backstory: a former journalist who lost everyone, had no where to go and succumbed to the voices in her head. Her delusions reminded Healy (Michael Harney) about his mother and he tried to save her as best he could, so when she confessed about murdering the guard (she attacked him in defense of Laura Prepon's Alex, but Alex ended up being the one to suffocate him when it turns out the beating didn't kill him) he convinced her it didn't happen. But it did and the truth eventually came out. Yet she didn't understand. When she was being dragged to psych after the body was discovered during construction, she asked Healy if they went back in time in the machine she made out of cardboard and aluminum foil. He said no. "That's OK," she said. "We just keep trying." And after she went away, Healy checked himself into a psychiatric hospital. Heartbreaking.
Piper's rise and fall
Taylor Schilling's character brought viewers into the prison, but quickly served her purpose. In the third season she began her illegal panty ring and got Stella (Ruby Rose) sent to maximum for crossing her. She acted big and tough through the first half of the season until she crossed the Latina girls and basically started a white supremacist group. The girls got revenge and burned a swastika into her arm. She reached rock bottom (she did crack with Nicky and Alex) and finally realized what she had done. This was the first time in about two seasons when Piper was actually tolerable. With the help of Red, they made the swastika into a window and the Piper viewers came to know was back.
The cliffhanger
While everybody was still reeling from the death of Poussey (Samira Wiley), tensions were running high. Caputo struggled with MCC's orders (on that subject, MCC sure does suck), and ended up covering for the guard while not slandering Poussey. This set Taystee (Danielle Brooks) off (she hid to hear the press conference) and she rallied her friends. The white women Piper once sort of led were already preparing to take on other women, which the Latinas were warned about, and all factions met in the hallway just as two officers were getting Judy King out of there. MCC was going to fudge papers so Judy was never there for Poussey's death, which didn't sit well with Yoga Jones. She thought Judy could do something with her clout.
As everybody met in the middle, a guard pulled the gun he smuggled in, but was knocked down and Daya (Dascha Polanco) picked it up and ordered the officers to the ground. What happens now? Will she use it? These are the questions.
What other moments surprised you? Tell us in the comments.
Orange Is the New Black has already been renewed for three more seasons.