Orange Is the New Black recap: 'Full Bush, Half Snickers' 

Taylor Schilling, Natasha Lyonne, Kate Mulgrew, Laura Prepon

has so far plotted a really solid course in season 5. It started out with a lot of intensity — it had to, after that season 4 cliffhanger — then pulled back, offered up some levity but also some important plot developments, and now has logged an excellent pivot for the halfway point of the season.

In “Full Bush, Half Snickers,” a new day has dawned at Litchfield and with it comes so much promise. Pennsatucky is doing her community service by passing out “yellow drink” to the inmates; Piper and Taystee are organizing a memorial for Poussey; the bunker babes are just generally being their awesome selves; the guards are getting a taste of their own medicine; and Ouija, Pidge, and the Nazis are coming together to run a coffeehouse. It’s wonderful — and obviously too good to be true for long.

But for a few glorious hours, it’s genuinely uplifting. All the story lines are really effective, showing the different ways people are coping and keeping busy.

Suzanne’s story line is especially affecting this episode. She is still really struggling with the events of the past few days and Abdullah realizes what she needs is routine and structure. So they draft the guards to come be “inmates” for Suzanne’s daily prison routine. It’s perfect because, while the guards have been getting a dose of their own medicine by being hostages, it’s not the kind of message that really sinks in because it’s so extreme. But this set-up is letting them see how even in the mundane, day-to-day activities, there’s a way to be a person and a way to be an a–hole — and maybe they should be more like people and treat the inmates as such.

It feels like, for at least a few of them, the message might finally be coming across.

Meanwhile, Taystee needs something to do because when there’s too much downtime she just feels ineffectual and sad. So she and Piper start auditioning people to create some kind of memorial to Poussey — which is a little terrifying. Maureen and her “hair dolls” are the stuff of nightmares.

But Brook takes time out from her rage training with Janae (which is still going on and is still awesome, BTW) to talk about what Poussey would have really wanted — people coming together to create something beautiful. Taystee is having a hard time letting Brook be right about anything Poussey-related because she doesn’t want to acknowledge someone else might be hurting as much as she is, but Piper convinces her to give Brook a chance and then we are treated to one of the most wonderful scenes all season.

I legit started openly crying when Brook revealed the new library in the hallway. Sure, it’s completely insane and impractical and where did she possibly get the time and supplies to set that up? But whatever, it’s a beautiful TV moment and I’ll cry if I want to, especially after Taystee and Brook come together for a half-hug.

Other than those two threads, the rest of the episode is made up of a series of funny, enjoyable, unexpected groupings having a good time and making the prison a nice place to be for a while. None of them are really advancing the plot at all (save Red and Flores, which we’ll get to in a minute), but they’re just delightful, easy plots that serve as reminders of how well

What is also noteworthy about this one is the absence of a flashback — honestly, I didn’t miss it one bit. Sometimes the flashbacks are so in tune with the present-day story that they really enrich the episode. But other times (actually a lot of the time this season) they feel a little forced and it’s nice to just stick with the action in the prison. This was definitely one of those times.

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