Predictions for Orange is the New Black Season Five

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(MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!)

 

Recap of the end of season four:

Season five of “Orange is the New Black” comes to Netflix on June 9, which means my summer binge-watching will start pretty early this year. In my opinion, season four was — so far — the best of the series, with lots of new characters and action scenes. By far the most hectic was the beginning of a prison riot scene started by Tasha “Taystee” Jefferson. The cause for this riot was the fallout of the death of inmate Poussey Washington, who was killed accidentally by rookie corrections officer Baxter “Gerber” Bayley. The brief uprising ended with Dayanara “Daya” Diaz threatening to shoot male corrections officer Thomas Humphrey with a handgun that he had hidden in his sock to protect himself. With inmates of every faction egging her on, Diaz is faced with a difficult decision that could have the harshest consequences we’ve seen in OITNB thus far. The season ends with Diaz holding the pistol, surrounded by her fellow inmates, before a flashback to Washington’s happier times.

 

Five bold predictions for season five:

 

  • The season will be about the consequences of the riot

 

Danielle Brooks (who plays Taystee) recently confirmed that season five will take place in the three days immediately following Diaz’ decision. This means that this season will mostly be dealing with the fallout of Washington’s death and the inmate revolt. We will likely see chaos in the first episode, and then the inmates will get gradually calmer as the season goes on. However, the season will probably start to get more exciting in the final few episodes leading up to the finale (as that has been the pattern the show follows).

  1.    Diaz will not shoot anyone (intentionally)

In my opinion, I don’t think it’s likely that Diaz will go through with it. She is still looking forward to getting out of prison and being with her baby, and shooting a CO or someone else would certainly jeopardize her freedom. However, one of the many criminals surrounding her could potentially shoot Humphrey or another CO, especially since the inmates are still dealing with the emotional effects of the death of Washington in the previous episode. The prime candidates for this would be Taystee or Brooke Soso, both of whom have had close relationships with Poussey in the past. Gloria Mendoza, Maritza Ramos or Blanca Flores could be involved as well. The least likely to pull the trigger in my opinion would be Piper Chapman, Alex Vause and Galina “Red” Reznikov, as all of those characters seem too concerned with their freedom to do something rash. Although officer Humphrey was not directly responsible for Washington’s death, (that blame belongs to CO Bayley), Humphrey still forced a fight between Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren and Maureen Kukudio, and he also made Ramos choose between eating a live baby mouse or ten dead flies with a gun to her head in what was one of the most disturbing moments of the show so far.

  1.    Vause in danger once again

What you might not remember from the season four finale is that Chapman and Vause were going around the prison burning scraps of paper that Vause had put around the prison as her way of mourning the death of Aydin Bayat, who Lolly Whitehill killed in the first episode of season four. But when the riot broke out, an inmate kicked the trash can containing the burning paper scraps onto the floor just before Chapman and Vause tried to escape from the mayhem. It’s very possible that a CO or even Caputo himself could find the scraps. This could come back to haunt Vause in two ways, as she could either be seen as responsible for his death, or Kubra Balik (the drug kingpin from Vause’s past) could be out to avenge his employee. No matter what, if the scraps are found, Vause might want to watch her back.

  1.  Revolution at Litchfield

It’s very likely that there will be a crackdown on the riot in the first few episodes. This could be similar to what happened in the first episode of season four, when the prison went on lockdown after all the inmates escaped to swim in the lake. However, I think this one will be more severe, as captain Desi Piscatella has had time to get accustomed to Litchfield. The inmates will use all of the press that comes from the celebrity chef Judy King situation and warden Joe Caputo’s press conference to make change at Litchfield. I think that Taystee will be the ringleader, and she will try to rally the different cliques in the prison together. Everyone will unify by the end of the season, and Litchfield will never be the same afterwards.

  1.  Whitehill and Healy reunite

Last time we saw inmate Whitehill and CO Sam Healy, they were both in a very bad place mentally. Whitehill was sent to the psych ward by Healy, after admitting to killing Bayat. Healy, feeling haunted about both the mental issues of his mother and all that he’s experienced at Litchfield, admitted himself to a psychiatric institute in the season finale. I think Healy will come back some time during next season, and he will be more than ready to help the inmates and the operation of the prison. As for Whitehill, she may never get out of psych, but she is an entertaining character who could make the show more exciting by making things more complicated within the prison.