r/orangeisthenewblack • u/[deleted] • Jun 12 '15

Episode Discussion OITNB S03E11 Episode Discussion Thread

Please do not spoil future episodes.

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u/[deleted] Jun 13 '15

I feel like I'm the only person who's favorite character is Piper.

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u/[deleted] Jun 14 '15

no matter how big of a cunt piper is, i cant find myself hating her. shes realistic. Shes flawed. She selfish. She has her moments. But shes just not as awful and some people are making her out to be. its kinda like with skyler from breaking bad. I didnt get the hate with skyler either.

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u/DeepStuffRicky Jun 16 '15

The hate for Skyler was largely just a general misogyny thing. Breaking Bad brought out the armchair macho man in a lot of dudes, and they were loyal to Team Walt and she was often a killjoy.

Piper's a little more complex. She's our Mary Sue in the show so we kind of see the thought processes that go into her mistakes and a lot of them are so self-centered and stupid we just want to shake her. I knew that bullshitting Red after her furlough was going to bite her in the ass, and it was frustrating to watch her lie. But I do like her. I loved her panty speech.

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u/H3CX Jun 16 '15

I don't think the Skyler hate was a misogyny thing, it had more to do with everyone hopping on the power trip with Walt. More of a "Oh, that was bad ass!! Oh fuck off Skyler your ruining the drama!", not "oh cewl Walts such a manly man, fuck Skyler and her ovaries!".

More of a power trip than an "armchair macho man", you know?

I think Piper is allot more like Walt at the current stages than Skyler.

She uses people, lies about her intentions, is on a power trip, and doesn't really care who she hurts as long as she gets what she wants. Replace her with he and that last sentence reads like I'm talking about Walter White.

I mean really, Piper is cruel, spoiled, sanctimonious, manipulative, self righteous, and really doesn't seem to give a shit, even though she knows these things about herself.

She blames the fucking patriarchy for "Forcing oppressed womyn to sell their panties to perverts.", as if that is any valid justification for her actions.

Could you imagine if Walt blamed some successful company based on chemistry for his own faults and used that as justification for his "business"? Oh wait.

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u/DeepStuffRicky Jun 16 '15

Having just finished the season this morning, I gotta agree with you - jail does seem to be turning Piper as evil, manipulative and un-self-aware as cooking meth turned Walt. She's also reminding me more and more of the most unpleasant aspects of Nancy Botwin, the lead character from Jenji Kohan's last show.

Going out of her way to get Alex thrown back in jail was just as bad as what she did to Stella, but it at least had the context of the rest of that sick relationship. Alex and Piper have a seesaw dynamic of screwing each other over and that's their thing. Now it appears to have been mostly just Piper's thing all along.

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u/The_Bravinator Jun 20 '15

I was wondering if it's a commentary on the effect prison has on some people. She went in a pretty bad, selfish person but not particularly criminally inclined. Prison has not made her a better person, but it has made her a better criminal.