Orange Is the New Black season 7, episode 2 recap: Just Desserts

Did anyone else forget Maritza had been released on Orange Is the New Black?

Orange Is the New Black dives into some other characters in the second episode of the final season, and I must admit, it’s emotionally jarring. First things first, I have no idea why I either didn’t remember Maritza was going to be released, or if it was something that just happened. Either way, it took me a little bit to realize that Maritza’s scenes weren’t flashbacks, but rather present day.

As we saw with Piper in the season 7 premiere, there are a lot of rules that have to be followed once you are released from prison–a curfew, not leaving the state, etc. But will that stop Maritza from having a good time? Hell no! She is the resident party animal on Orange Is the New Black and there is no way probation or anything of the sort will stop her from enjoying her life now that she is “free”.

Instead of being more wary and careful, Maritza is living her best life which means hooking up with NBA players and planning out-of-state vacations with them. Luckily, she has a friend by her side that serves as her conscience and common sense and stops her from doing any such thing. Unfortunately, when the two of them head back to the club, Maritza ends up getting arrested during an I.C.E. raid because she doesn’t have her ID on her.

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And just like that, Maritza is back at Litchfield amongst the other I.C.E. detainees. It breaks my heart to see the way they are all smushed together in one hall with not much to make them even a little comfortable. Let’s not forget, Blanca is also amongst the women being held in this pen before they go on to trial. It’s all rather crappy and horrible if you’re asking me.

This Orange Is the New Black episode also reveals that Caputo and Fig are back together again, and in fact, are trying to have a kid together–fertility shots and all. It’s nice to see him getting his life together, but it’s also frustrating given the condition of the prison and the fact that not all the inmates necessarily have punishments that fit the crime.

This is something Suzanne has an epiphany about during the episode as she begins to question why she along with many others are even in prison. Are they even deserving of this punishment? Did they actually do something that elicits the severity of their punishment? I’m not sure but I love seeing Suzanne break out of the shell she’s been in for so long, it’s so refreshing!

Meanwhile, Linda is on the hunt for a new head guard with plans to make Hopper the new warden, and give Fig the boot to become the warden of the I.C.E. pen. But we have a plot twist when instead of picking Hopper for warden, Linda ends up going with Tamika (the guard who knew Taystee from childhood). You see, Tamika has a lot of good ideas and she’s been learning a lot about prisons and how they should be running from Caputo (yes, he’s teaching now). And much to everyone’s surprise, she gets the job.

After Daddy’s death, there is a lot of confusion over the drug business in Litchfield, with Daya and Alex at the center of it. While Daya is figuring out her post-Daddy life (and trying to intimidate everyone into following her blindly), Alex finds herself in a less-than-ideal situation. She tries to get rid of the heroin Hellman has been forcing on her but she is caught by McCullough who gives Alex two options–sell for her or deal with the consequences of the incident report she could turn in.

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Poor Alex, she’s having a rather crappy time since Piper left, and it’s not getting easier. But hey, at least she and Piper sort of bonded and got over their awkward bump. Let’s just hope that Alex doesn’t get more time for any reason at all before now and the end of her sentence. But something tells me that will be harder to achieve than we’d imagine.

While this episode was slightly better, I’m still having trouble following the many, many storylines that are going on at once. I feel like in past seasons, they did not have a hard time with this. In fact, we learned about most of the characters’ pasts, and it never felt like it was disconnected from the rest of the episode/show. Something is slightly off this time around, and I’m not sure how I feel about it.

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