Orange is the New Black: The 21 craziest moments thus far

Religion finds the inmates

This might be a bit of an overstatement. Religion doesn’t so much find the inmates as the inmates just kind of create it. Through an odd set of circumstances (or maybe just out of a need for attention and control), inmate Leanna Taylor comes to believe that fellow inmate Norma Romano (who happens to be mute) is a prophet of some sort.

We find out in season 1 that Norma is actually an angelic singer in spite of her silence, which might be part of it, but who knows really. This whole subplot could just be rooted in Leanne’s desire to be part of something.

Like the panty racket subplot, this turn of events feels a little unwieldy to me. It seems sort of contrived and removed from the girls even though it’s supposed to be an emotional release. Even in moments like Poussey’s embrace of the cult religion, it feels almost cartoonish. Every time an episode returned to this story, I got antsy for it to be over. The group is always being broken up and scattered by CO’s, like a flock of geese being chased off a football field, which to me are the funniest moments of these religious meetings.