Orange is the New Black, EPISODE 2: “Bed Bugs and Beyond”
“Beg Bugs and Beyond” continues on with the theme of mothers. Towards the beginning of the episode there’s a great scene between Aleida (Elizabeth Rodriguez) and Mendez’s mother (A.K.A. “Lady Pornstache”). She’s trying to convince Alieda that Daya’s baby should live with her because she can actually raise it. This is a logical argument because, after all, it is Pornstache’s baby. Oh wait, it isn’t. But sometimes even we forget that it isn’t. This show treats even its lies with conviction, and we believe it. This will come into play again later.
That scene contains terrific performances, and the rest of the episode does too. Of course, all the performances on this show are terrific, but this installment has better ones then we usually see, the best of the bunch being Laura Prepon as our estranged Alex Vause. Finally seeing Alex back in Litchfield is something fans have been waiting for since last season’s magnum opus “Thirsty Bird”, and a while it’s an immediate delight to see Alex and Piper under the same roof, it’s slowly coming to the forefront why they’re both terrible for each other, and that, logistically, it’s better if they’re apart.
There’s a specific scene between them in this episode that stands out as being among the most exuberant. In their first real intimate conversation, they sit down together at lunch and talk out their feelings. When spawn from this is a sincere, and apology from one side and a slander-filled hate-spew from the other. Despite the opposition between the characters, the on-screen chemistry between Prepon and Schilling remains untouchable. They argue with each other in a way that reminds us of older days, taking us back to season 1 – the cinematography, and the overall framing of the scene only towards this instead of just observing it. Extreme close-ups a closely-framed two-shots put our two characters in a box, with us sitting right around looking through a poked hole. For a few moments, they’re the only characters that matter, and it’s an excellent study. This confrontation takes place, not only surprisingly early in the episode, but also surprisingly early in the season, instilling a feeling of dread, as a well a noose-tight tension that is sure to carry over to the rest of the season.
The events of the end of Season 2 proved to be not so irrelevant after all, as in this episode we learn that, due to Fig’s embezzlement and fraud, Litchfield is being shut down, and soon, a shot in the heart to Caputo (Nick Sandow), whose regime, up until this point, has only gone upward. We can assume that the rest of the season will consist of the days leading up to the shutdown, which is only addressed as “The 30th.”
There’s an interesting juxtaposition that comes from this bad news. After receiving the news of the shutdown, Caputo looks out the window to see O’Neil (Joel Marsh Garland) and other COs burning a large pile of mattresses due to the bedbug infestation. The news of the shutdown cut to the burning of the mattress pile creates an intriguing metaphor, as if implying the impending dismantling of a monument bound to soon to take place.
Speaking of monuments, we must keep in mind this show’s reliance on the domino effect. Everything is linked. This impending shutdown is, in fact, Piper’s fault. Remember last season when she snuck into Fig’s office and stole the files which were then used as evidence? Similar to the conversation between Lady Pornstache and Aleida earlier in the episode, this arch isn’t treated as if it has anything to do with Piper – but it does. Orange Is The New Black has been, for the most part, a show that trusts its audience. It expects us to remember things, and rewards us when we do. You don’t see enough of that on television nowadays.
A moment towards the episode encapsulates the spirit of the show in only a few frames. In learning about Bennett’s (Matt McGorry) past in the military, we’re presented with a scene in which a live grenade gets kicked into his platoon’s tent and one of his fellow soldiers hops on top of it to save everyone else. An intense, brooding scene is immediately cut short by a shot of Healy at his desk watching a YouTube clip of a dog farting, his face blank, yet amused. This extreme display of outright drama and straightforward, simple comedy perfectly represents OITNB to it’s core – a show about many contrasting things, with many different contrasting feelings.
“Bed Bugs and Beyond” ends with two revelations. The first being between Piper and Alex – all it takes is a simple, wordless encounter in a hallway for their senseless, illogical, oddly spite-fueled love and attraction for one another to come back, as they make violent, hateful love to each other in the prison’s now vacant library. The second taking place within Bennet – after he has a more than eventful dinner with Cesar (Berto Colon), Aledia’s baby daddy, he leaves the baby crib Cesar gave him as a gift by the roadside, and, filled with rage, he drives off into the distance, running away from all his problems.
But, we, the audience, we keep coming back.
Overall rating: 9/10
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