‘Orange Is The New Black’ Season 3 Episode 3 Recap: Alex & Piper Have An Empathy Breakthrough; Nicky Can’t Part With The Heroin

Orange is the New Black episode “Empathy is a Boner Killer” sees Piper and Alex’s relationship evolve, while Nicky, Boo and Luschek try to move their heroin scheme forward.

‘Orange Is The New Black’ Recap

Luschek (Matt Peters) barges into Nicky’s (Natasha Lyonne) cube to meet about moving the heroin out of the prison. It’s taken him awhile, but he’s finally found a guy who will sell it on the streets for them. Nicky tells him that unfortunately the heroin was stolen from its hiding place, which makes Luschek furious, especially because he’d earned some respect from his sister over his felonious money-making endeavor.

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As for Piper (Taylor Schilling) and Alex (Laura Prepon), they’re continuing their hate sex marathon in the library, which leaves a hickey on Alex’s neck for when she meets with new guard/counselor Berdie (Marsha Stephanie Blake). Berdie wants to get to know Alex, but first, she wants her to join in during her new drama class. Alex scoffs at the idea, and at Berdie’s delusion that she’s one of the “good guys” while collecting a paycheck from a broken and corrupt system. “I have my own quilt of lies to sew,” Alex tells her.

After the meeting, Alex bumps into Piper in the hallway and scolds her for branding her with a hickey like she’s some “sex cow.” Piper denies that she’s making any power plays and thinks that Alex has gone completely psycho. Alex insists that her fears about her life being in danger are perfectly reasonable. Now that she’s back at Litchfield, Kubra knows exactly where she is and could be plotting to have her killed.

At the drama class, which Healy (Michael Harney) is unnerved to find so well-attended, Berdie selects Piper and Alex to get up in front of everyone to perform an improvisational skit. Piper plays a manager at a grocery store to Alex’s unhappy customer. “You get what you pay for,” Piper spits at Alex, with the skit becoming more and more personal. Towards the end, Piper monologued, “I’m sorry I sold you the fruit, and yes, fine, I will admit that i knew it was bad. But, I wanted my power back too because I wanted you back, because I missed you and I missed your… patronage. So, I sold you bad fruit, so you would come back into my store. And I know it was wrong and I’m sorry, but I’m also not sorry, because it is so good to see you… customer….”

Outside later, Healy approaches Red (Kate Mulgrew) while she’s in the garden and apologizes for letting his own issues get to him when she told him that she wanted to divorce her husband. After Red accepts his apology, Healy says that the language gap is still an issue between him and his wife and asks her to step in as a translator so that they can talk. During the meeting, Healy’s wife complains that he misrepresented himself online and that she deserves to be taken to the opera. Red loses her patience with the woman and yells at her, “This is what a good man looks like. He’s handsome and he’s good and at least he’s f–king trying, which is a lot more than I can say for you!”

As it turns out, Nicky and Boo’s heroin was not stolen from the laundry room vent; Nicky had taken it. She re-hides it in the overhead lights in the laundry room, but after she leaves, it drops down onto the floor only to be picked up by Leanne (Emma Myles) and Angie (Julie Lake). While the former meth heads are getting high, Big Boo (Lea DeLaria) starts to sense that it was Nicky who had taken the drugs. When Nicky realizes that Leanne and Angie got their hands on them, she runs to Luschek to tell him what happened.

Luschek ends up finding Leanne and Angie high in the laundry room with the heroin stuffed into their bras. Now that he has the junk, they’re all back in business – though Nicky agrees with Luschek to cut Boo out of the deal. Unbeknownst to Nicki and Luschek, however, there’s a new hitch. Leanne and Angie are tipping the guards off about the drugs. When Caputo (Nick Sandow) raids electrical, he finds a baggy of heroin taped under Luschek’s desk. Though he’d unloaded the drugs earlier that day, Nicky had kept a baggy there for herself. Enraged, Luschek puts all the blame on Nicky, who gets carted off to max.

Season 3 Episode 3 Odds & Ends:

Daya (Dascha Polanco) starts to plan her wedding with Bennett (Matt McGory), but starts to worry when he doesn’t show up for work.

Taystee (Danielle Brooks) and Poussey (Samira Wiley) hold a memorial service for the burnt library books, spreading the ashes next to a tree in the yard – “The ultimate book return.”

Caputo blackmails Fig (Alysia Reiner) about her husband’s sexuality to get her to help him keep Litchfield open, and she gives him the number of a private company that might be interested in buying it.

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