Season four of "Orange is the New Black" is by far the best season yet. It is also the most important season yet, bringing attention to many things that happen in real life. It brings attention to the topics of transphobia, addiction, unethical prison guards and racism. If you haven’t watched season four yet, then this is your first and final spoiler alert!
1. Sophia Burset is brought back from the SHU.
During season three, Sophia is sent to the SHU “for her own protection,” after transphobic rumors are spread about her. Once in the SHU, she is treated as though she is being punished, despite the fact that she is in there for “safety.” In season four, Nicky is asked to clean the room Sophia has been in, only to find blood splattered everywhere with no explanation. It is only when Sister Ingalls purposely has herself sent to the SHU (with a picture phone hidden in a very uncomfortable place) that it is revealed that Sophia is still alive. Sister Ingalls gets caught with her camera. Caputo takes a picture of Sophia and delivers the phone to a source that will help get the picture out. Sophia is eventually taken out of the Shu. Sophia Burset may be a fictional character, but what happened to her is all too real. Many transgender prisoners have been segregated for “protective” reasons, yet abused. This is wrong because they are innocent. There was also a similar real life situation happened in Maryland last September.
2. Nicky Nichols pushes through her addiction
At the beginning of season four, it is clear that Nicky has become sober, but viewers learn very soon that she finds a drug source and gets back on drugs. The source in max security is (surprise, surprise) a guard. Just another faulty prison guard in America, giving drugs for sex. The sad thing is, this happens in real life as well. A female Rikers Island guard was busted for giving drugs to an inmate in exchange for sex last February.
More on why this is important: After disappointing the ones she loves, countless times, Nicky decides to finally sober up for real this time. Viewers see her and Doggett bonding while Doggett helps her get through withdrawals. This is important, not because it has anything to do with how faulty the prison system is, but because it shows how important it is to be there for people when they are trying to get through the difficult things in life. I think part of the reason why Nicky has failed at sobering up so many times, is because everyone is always so hard on her. Since she and Doggett have never been friends before, Doggett doesn’t have any bitter feelings about Nicky’s addiction so she doesn’t have any doubts in Nicky and only worries about encouraging her and helping her.
3. Suzanne Warren is forced to fight another woman
This was one of the hardest things for me to watch this season because Suzanne has the mind of a child and she is purely innocent in everything she does, and the only time she really does something wrong is when she is instigated. After the psychotic CO, known as “Humps”, convinces Kukudio to beat Suzanne up, Suzanne gets really pissed off with Kukudio in her face and she beats the living hell out of Kukudio. Although Kukudio lives through it, Suzanne of course feels very guilty. The reason why this is important is because we have another situation on our hands that is real. In San Francisco, guards organized "gladiator-style" matches between inmates.
4. Maritza Ramos is attacked by a guard.
This was another part of season four that was incredibly difficult for me to watch, and what do you know CO “Humps” is once again involved. One day at lunch while playing a “would you rather” type of game, only with a “gun to your head,” Maritza tells Flaca she would rather eat a baby mouse than 19 dead flies. So one day, when Maritza drives all the guards to the houses Humps tells Maritza he has a surprise for her. The surprise? Nineteen dead flies and a baby mouse. Next thing you know, Humps has a gun to Maritza’s head. Seems like prison guards need to have background checks and mental evaluations, if you ask me. In January, three ex-prison guards were charged with starting a fight club environment, just another real-life example from the show.
5. Poussey Washington is murdered.
This was definitely the most difficult, devastating thing that happened in season four, in my opinion. Right when I thought everything was going to get better, the girls are all united, literally standing up for themselves, all the guards come in and suddenly Poussey ends up on the ground lying helpless under Bayley, and she loses her life.
I commented on a Facebook post, “I think the reason why they chose Bayley to be the one who killed her was because it needed to be a touchy thing. …he obviously didn't intend on hurting her, no matter how many times you rewatch the scene you can tell that if Suzanne wouldn't have been jumping around, Bayley most likely would have picked Poussey off the ground and taken her wherever, but he was distracted. The reason why this is touchy is because even though it was an accident, he should still be punished in some way. Poussey was not going to do anything to him, so he had no reason to even jump on her in the first place... If a bad guard would have done it, it wouldn't have been such a touchy subject because no one's feelings would have been touched because it would have not been an accident…” It was more debatable because it was an accident, but someone still died. That’s just what I believe on why it was written the way it was.
This situation is important in relation to real life because, as I found in an article, it is very similar to the deaths of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, and Sandra Bland.
“Poussey is restrained and suffocated, like Eric Garner in New York City.”
Her body is left lying on the floor for a very significant amount of time, just like Michael Brown in Ferguson.
“…when the prison’s statement to the press on Poussey’s death chooses to focus on Bayley’s innocence, rather than what he did, all the women in the prison storm out of their dorms in outrage, with Poussey’s best friend, Taystee… screaming in anguish that they didn’t even "say her name" — the same rallying cry that emerged after Sandra Bland died while in Texas police custody.”
"Orange is the New Black" has always touched on very necessary topics, but this season was the one that did the best. Although I loved Poussey, the writers could not have done a better job at bringing awareness to such an important topic.
If you’re disappointed in the fact that the list of things from this fictional TV show are a reality to some, you can get involved in making a change.
“[Love.] It's just chillin,’ you know? Kickin’ it with somebody, talking, making mad stupid jokes. And, like, not even wanting to go to sleep, 'cause then you might be without 'em for a minute. And you don't want that." –Poussey Washington (R.I.P.)
