‘OITNB’ episode 10 recap: What do I gotta do?

There’s a lot of give and take in this show. Sometimes the inmates (and the guards!) will give and not take, or sometimes they refuse to give and just take whatever they want. It’s the latter that usually gets them in trouble.

There was once a time when Pennsatucky was my least favorite character. She was a self-righteous shit bag. I rooted for Piper to beat the living shit out of her in the first season, and I hardly noticed her throughout the second.

But here we are in Season 3 and her relationship with Big Boo is one of the strongest on the show and a rare breath of fresh air. There’s a lot of give and take between those two; they’re both so different, yet perfectly matched for each other.

This episode starts with a flashback to her childhood when she gets her first period at 10 years old. Her mother—who might win the worst mother of all time award—gives her a lecture about puberty and what her period means. It’s a horrible flashback because you start to realize just how fucked up Pennsatucky is.

We see Pennsatucky later in life at an outdoor party. She sees a guy on a truck and locks eyes with him, but when another guy comes over with a six-pack of Mountain Dew knockoff, she accepts it as payment to have sex with him. While having sex, she gets bit by a spider (maybe) and runs off. The dreamy guy from earlier bandages her wound and asks her if he can take her to a movie. When she asks him what she’s got to do, he says nothing. He just wants to go to the movies with her.

Their relationship moves along, but unfortunately, his family is moving and their romance ends. While she’s at another party, the same guy from earlier who paid for sex with soda rapes her in the bathroom. We flash forward to Pennsatucky’s relationship with Officer Coates. For a friendship that I once truly wanted to happen, it didn’t take long for me to change my mind. And there was a clear and obvious reason why this episode focused on Doggett.

When Coates gets a talking to from Caputo for being late for count, he lashes out at Doggett. She apologizes—while flirting a little—and he throws her into the back seat of the transport van and rapes her while saying “I love you, Doggett.”

It’s one of those scenes that is so heartbreaking because it sort of puts into perspective the kind of life Pennsatucky was living.

Episode 10 has been the hardest to watch so far in Season 3, so I’m breaking down the key moments rather than key characters.

>> Alex confronts Lolly about the notebook she’s been keeping, but Lolly has a backup ready to go. It was a very WTF moment, but Alex finally has enough and almost chokes Lolly to death in the bathroom . Turns out Lolly isn’t working for Kubra, but just crazy as fuck. She’s completely paranoid and thinks Alex is working for the NSA, which is why she was tracking her movements in Litchfield.

>> Gloria finally confronts Sophia in the bathroom about their sons. The situation escalates and Sophia pushes Gloria into a wall. Shit’s about to get real between those two and it hurts because whatever bond they had is gone.

>> We see Pornstache for the first time this season and he’s without his mustache. His mother visits him in prison to let him know the baby is not his, but he won’t have it. Delia placates him and out of the goodness of her heart, she goes to visit Daya and offers to adopt the baby anyway. I truly think Daya and Delia are both incredibly big-hearted people. And in the long run, Daya agreeing to give up her baby to Pornstache’s mother is a wise decision. “”Take her and give her the best life you can give her,” Daya says. And there goes all the tears in my body.