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"Litchfield's Got Talent" is the fourth episode of the fifth season of Orange Is the New Black. It is the fifty-sixth episode of the series overall. It premiered on June 9, 2017. It was written by Josh Koenigsberg, Jenji Kohan, and Tara Herrmann, and directed by Nick Sandow.

Synopsis[]

Red and Blanca dig for dirt on Piscatella. Suzanne conducts a séance. The guards show off their talents for "Litchfield Idol" judges Leanne and Angie.

Plot[]

Present[]

Seeing his girlfriend Linda Ferguson among the inmates, Joe Caputo calls off the hostages' plan to fight for freedom at the last second as he does not want her to be hurt. Furious, the other hostages worry that they will never escape.

Leanne Taylor and Angie Rice, still playing the pantsing game they started in "Pissters!" , run up to Gloria Mendoza and pull her pants down. The missing gun tumbles out of her waistband, and a scuffle ensues. Dayanara Diaz realizes it was Gloria all along who knocked her out and stole the gun from her. Angie emerges the victor and shoots the gun into the ceiling, proclaiming loudly to the Latina women "I'm the Jeffy now!" (a mispronunciation of jefe, meaning "boss.")

Having fully abandoned the riot, Piper Chapman and Alex Vause move outside to the yard, setting up camp in the bucket of one of the pieces of construction equipment left over from excavating the garden. Piper expresses worry that Linda will turn Alex in to Caputo for her role in killing Aydin Bayat in "Work That Body for Me", but Alex insists she doesn't care whether she is turned in or not. They are gradually joined by a handful of other inmates trying to escape the riot, including a disillusioned Daya. They gravitate to Alex as the leader for their "resistance" to the riot going on inside, which irritates Alex.

The clatter of falling meal trays (pushed off the table by an angry Sankey) wakes Suzanne Warren, Maureen Kukudio, and Soso, who had been dozing on the spot on the cafeteria floor where Poussey Washington was killed. They conclude that Poussey's spirit is still lingering in the prison, and decide to hold a séance in order to communicate with her. As they begin, Taystee, Black Cindy, and Janae Watson wander into the cafeteria and are invited to join. Cindy and Janae join in - more for the entertainment value than an actual belief that it will work - and Taystee reluctantly follows. The séance exposes some tension between Soso and Taystee, as each believes they were closer to Poussey, and Taystee storms away, breaking the circle.

An increasingly strung-out Red and Blanca Flores are still combing through guard files for damning information on CO Piscatella, which they plan to use to get him fired. Growing impatient with their lack of findings, they have a lucky break when the light from Red's flashlight falls on a cardboard box sitting on a bookshelf. This box contains a number of thick files labelled "Piscatella". The two women pop a couple more energy vitamins and dig in. Finally, Blanca finds the bombshell they've been looking for: While Piscatella was the guard on duty at his former prison, an inmate was found dead in a running shower, covered in severe burns. A week later, Piscatella was transferred and never faced charges. To great dismay, Red realizes that Caputo had to have known about Piscatella's past and allowed him to work at Litchfield anyway.

Back in the dormitory, Leanne and Angie have the gun but no idea what to do with their newfound power. Frustrated, Leanne complains that she wishes they could just get high and watch The Voice. This gives Angie an idea: they will host a talent show, with the hostages forced to perform for entertainment. They invite Linda and Maria Ruiz to be judges, and relegate Carrie Black to the role of stage manager. The talent show begins to raucous applause, but the acts are a mixed bag. CO Dixon's singing gets mixed reviews; Mormon CO Blake's reenactment of the Joseph Smith story combined with magic card tricks piques some of the inmates' interest; CO Luschek's stand-up comedy draws loud boos; COs Artesian McCullough and Davis do a "helping hands" improv skit that earns some laughs; Josh the PR rep's attempt to tell jokes in Italian falls on deaf ears; and Caputo's rendition of his band Sideboob's song "Workers in the Mine" meets with near-unanimous boos and mocking (with no objection from Linda.) The last act comes from CO Stratman, who, having picked up the skills trying to earn extra money in college, performs a Chippendale's-style striptease. He singles out Leanne during the act, causing Angie to become jealous and declare Josh the winner despite Stratman having obviously gotten more cheers and applause from the audience. Josh, offered the "prize" of picking another hostage to receive a punishment, selects Caputo, who is led outside and unceremoniously sealed into a stinking Porta-Potty (called "the Poo", a play on SHU - the solitary confinement the guards often doled out as punishment prior to the riot.)

Still helping nurse Adarsh Khanna tend to the inmates in medical, Sophia Burset learns from one of the patients that her friend Sister Ingalls is in max. Wanting to make sure Ingalls is all right, Sophia breaks out of the prison and turns herself in to law enforcement so she too will be sent to max. While awaiting processing, Sophia speaks to another inmate sweeping the floor, whom she learns was in the SHU at Litchfield at the same time she was. This inmate reveals that Ingalls had contracted pneumonia and was given compassionate release.

In the early hours of the morning, the governor is woken and alerted to the standoff taking place at Litchfield. Due to the fact that Litchfield is a women's prison, he does not seem to be in a rush to handle it and tells his assistant he will deal with it in the morning.

Erica Jones and Anita DeMarco interrogate a captured Judy King about the location of her "panic room" - where, due to misinterpreted texts from Judy's husband and boyfriend, they believe she is being fed quality food and kept away from the chaos of the riot. Judy (truthfully) denies the existence of such a place, but no one believes her. To keep her from running away again, Jones, Anita, Brandy Epps, and Skinhead Helen tie her arms to a board as a restraint. As they do so, Kasey Sankey uses one of the stolen cell phones to show off pictures of her boyfriend Anders on the outside. Terrified by the other women's threats, and looking to distract them from torturing her, Judy lies about how a helicopter is due to bring her food, alcohol, and other comforts by supply drop on the roof that very night. Just then, though, Sankey becomes distraught, having stumbled across a photo of Anders with another woman. As Judy, supposedly leading the group to the "drop spot", sets them to aimlessly meandering the halls of the darkened prison, Sankey confides in Brandy and Helen that the other woman is actually her friend Corinne, whom she had talked into sleeping with Anders while she, Sankey, was in prison in order to keep him from abandoning their relationship. She is angry because Anders is seemingly having a relationship with Corinne now, including bringing her to Sankey and Anders' daughter Brittany's birthday party. As they wind their way towards the roof access staircase, Sankey starts to lose cell service and stays behind to find better reception so she can call Anders. The others make their way onto the roof, and Brandy and Helen decide to cover their faces with black cloths to avoid being identified. Finding no supply drop, the white supremacists are prepared to throw Judy off the roof when, miraculously, a helicopter does appear. It is not a supply drop, but a news copter. Judy almost instantly passes out from flicker vertigo, and the copter grabs several pictures of her unconscious, still being restrained.

Flashback[]

Alison Abdullah[]

Alison Abdullah sits in a diner with her husband Hassan, trying to find a suitably halal meal on the menu. They discuss Alison's being overwhelmed with work and taking care of their daughter Farah. Hassan seems content to hire a nanny, but Alison insists he stay open to taking a second wife into their family. Reasoning that most of their friends and even Hassan's father are living in plural marriages, and that such an arrangement might make for a more harmonious home life, Alison states that they should talk more about it if/when the right person comes along.

Some undetermined amount of time later, the family - including a new wife, Sahar - is gathered at the local bowling alley to throw a party for Farah's birthday. Alison does not like that Sahar has placed a princess figure on Farah's birthday cake, believing that the princess ideal sends young girls the wrong message. However, the two women easily agree to take the princess figure off the cake, and their relationship appears to be otherwise untroubled and even sisterly. While Sahar shows Farah how to hold the bowling ball correctly, Alison expresses her glee to Hassan that the new arrangement is working.

One day some time after the birthday party, Sahar brings Farah home from the mall and Alison is appalled to find that she has allowed Farah to have her ears pierced. Hassan believes that Alison has been too harsh on Sahar, and states that, since they are all a family now, Farah is Sahar's daughter as well as Alison's. While it was initially Alison's idea to bring Sahar into the family, it is apparent that she has become jealous of her relationship with Farah and Hassan.

These flashbacks are juxtaposed with present scenes, reflecting both Alison and Sankey's anxiety that they are being replaced by other women while serving their time.

Memorable Quotes[]

"I'm willing to take my chances, it's up to God, right?" - Sophia Burset. "Uh, no, it's up to you." - Nurse

"Of course. The dyke does tech. Perfect." - Carrie Black, on her role in the talent show

Galleries[]

Present[]

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Flashbacks[]

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Cast[1][]

Main Cast[]

Guest Starring[]

Co-Stars[]

Music[]

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Trivia[]

References[]

Navigation[]

Alison's Flashbacks
Litchfield's Got Talent?
Episode Navigation
Season 1 I Wasn't Ready  •  Tit Punch  •  Lesbian Request Denied  •  Imaginary Enemies  •  The Chickening  •  WAC Pack  •  Blood Donut  •  Moscow Mule  •  Fucksgiving  •  Bora Bora Bora  •  Tall Men with Feelings  •  Fool Me Once  •  Can't Fix Crazy
Season 2 Thirsty Bird  •  Looks Blue, Tastes Red  •  Hugs Can Be Deceiving  •  A Whole Other Hole  •  Low Self Esteem City  •  You Also Have a Pizza  •  Comic Sans  •  Appropriately Sized Pots  •  40 Oz. of Furlough  •  Little Mustachioed Shit  •  Take a Break From Your Values  •  It Was the Change  •  We Have Manners. We're Polite.
Season 3 Mother's Day  •  Bed Bugs and Beyond  •  Empathy Is a Boner Killer  •  Finger in the Dyke  •  Fake It Till You Fake It Some More  •  Ching Chong Chang  •  Tongue-Tied  •  Fear, and Other Smells  •  Where My Dreidel At  •  A Tittin' and a Hairin'  •  We Can Be Heroes  •  Don't Make Me Come Back There  •  Trust No Bitch
Season 4 Work That Body For Me  •  Power Suit  •  (Don't) Say Anything  •  Doctor Psycho  •  We'll Always Have Baltimore  •  Piece of Shit  •  It Sounded Nicer in My Head  •  Friends in Low Places  •  Turn Table Turn  •  Bunny, Skull, Bunny, Skull  •  People Persons  •  The Animals  •  Toast Can't Never Be Bread Again
Season 5 Riot FOMO  •  Fuck, Marry, Frieda  •  Pissters!  •  Litchfield's Got Talent  •  Sing It, White Effie  •  Flaming Hot Cheetos, Literally  •  Full Bush, Half Snickers  •  Tied to the Tracks  •  The Tightening  •  The Reverse Midas Touch  •  Breaking the Fiberboard Ceiling  •  Tattoo You  •  Storm-y Weather
Season 6 Who Knows Better Than I   •  Shitstorm Coming   •  Look Out for Number One   •  I'm the Talking Ass   •  Mischief Mischief   •  State of the Uterus   •  Changing Winds   •  Gordons   •  Break the String   •  Chocolate Chip Nookie   •  Well This Took a Dark Turn   •  Double Trouble   •  Be Free
Season 7 Beginning of the End   •  Just Desserts   •  And Brown Is the New Orange   •  How to Do Life   •  Minority Deport   •  Trapped in an Elevator   •  Me as Well   •  Baker's Dozen   •  The Hidey Hole   •  The Thirteenth   •  God Bless America   •  The Big House   •  Here's Where We Get Off
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