Seasons 2 and 3 were so tepid that I hadn't actually planned on watching 4 but they've really upped their game so I'm glad I did. It needed the darkness. I've always applauded the fact that they keep it very real, even down to being one of the few programs to show all body shapes in a confident way, but you can't keep that level of realism and not offset the comedy with the real aspects and issues of prison life.
Lolly definitely needs to be in psych, albeit a nicer version if possible. She's not stable enough to be in with the rest of the prison population. I think that realisation has broken Healey...couldn't help his mum, couldn't help Lolly either. It's dragged up a lot he thought he'd dealt with.
I think next season is when Sophia's story really gets some swing...in the aftermath of Poussey's death, someone will hilight her experience with the conditions in the prison to the press. Probably her wife.
Hating Nicki in this season. She's gone from being a bit of a cow sometimes to outright sexual assault. And the storyline with Dogget and the guard is upsetting me too. I know that people do forgive these things but it's a hard and upsetting line for me nowadays.
Agreed about the comparisons drawn between Poussey and Bayley. That really stood out to me too.
Caputo infuriated me in the last 2 episodes. He wants to do right by the women, I've always gotten that from the character. But he won't properly stick his neck out to do the right thing. Piscatella should have been fired when he started telling Caputo what he was going to do. He had plenty of reason. And he should have called the police immediately when he realised it hadn't already been done, not checked it was alright. He's lacked the backbone to really do good for ages now (letting the women be fed slop, not insisting on books, guard training, etc) but I was really hoping he'd stand up when it was really necessary, and not just to save the neck of an unfortunate white man while failing to focus on the black woman who died.
Daya. She's rebelling but I really wouldn't put pulling the trigger past her. Even if it's just to hit back at an attempt from Gloria to stop her. She's always struck me as really immature and easily led.
Morello/Muchio should probably take a little trip to psych too. She's completely harmless until her jealousy takes over but then she gets abusive and delusional.
Weirdly, I couldn't give two shits about Piper or Alex this season. I admittedly have never liked Piper but Alex used to intrigue me at least. Now their screen time bores me.