‘Orange Is The New Black’ Season 3 Episode 6 Recap: ‘Ching Chong Chang’

Orange is the New Black episode “Ching Chong Chang,” as the title would suggest, focused heavily on the backstory of perhaps Litchfield’s quietest inmate, Chang.

Orange is the New Black Recap

When Chang (Lori Tan Chinn) was a young girl, her brother, finding her a burden, tried to have her married off, but a deal with a matchmaker fell through once the man saw her looks. She is, as her brother told the man, resourceful to this day, making inventive food creations with her prison rations and stealing away to eat oranges while watching Chinese soap operas on a contraband iPhone.

Oblivious to Chang’s routine are the corrections officers, who are as harried as ever. O’Neill (Joel Marsh Garland) and Bell (Catherine Curtin), while grabbing some donuts, read in the paper that Litchfield is hiring more part-time guards. Once they get into work, they confront Caputo (Nick Sandow) with the rest of the guards about the ad and their future at the prison. They make Caputo tell them that he loves them, and promise that he’s going to try to make it right. True to his word, Caputo talks to Pearson (Mike Birbiglia) about the situation with the guards. Pearson says that while he agrees it might be better to have the guards full time, tells Caputo to be optimistic about finding some new gems in the application process

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Morello (Yael Stone), meanwhile, is on her own hustle, meeting with an assortment of of male visitors. To one, she’s the mastermind behind a major jewel heist and loves guns. To another, she’s the most wanted arsonist in Winter Park, Fla., and loves anime. While preparing for a guy who has a love of birds,  Morello gets advice from Alex (Laura Prepon), which includes her understanding of an owl’s digestion habits, and how delicious coq au vin is. In the meeting room, Morello keeps talking to the guy about birds. But this isn’t the bird guy; it’s the Brazilian Jiu Jitso guy. He calls her out on trying to scam him – she is the top contract killer in Jackson Hole, Wyo. Morello, through tears, explains that she’s just been lonely since her good friend Nicky was sent to Max, adding of her efforts, “I watched so much Discovery Channel!”

In the panty den, Flaca (Jackie Cruz) and Piper (Taylor Schilling) analyze the lingerie models, and agree that though their diet consists of pills, the models’ lives are likely better than theirs. Meanwhile, Cindy (Adrienne C. Moore) wants to play the, “How many pages until they put in a token blackie,” game. Cindy, who has some trouble focusing, then ends up sewing one of the panty legs closed. During a chat about black beauty standards, Flaca says there’s so much pressure to be skinny, but Cindy argues that that’s not the case for black women. Flaca’s counter-argument? Beyonce. “She ain’t out there with her nappy hair and plus-sized dashiki, OK? She playing white girl game.” Cindy agrees, “And she winning.”

As for Piper, she’s postulating aloud to whomever will listen about the sexual politics of lingerie, and how, in her view, it can make a woman feel powerful. Enter Stella (Ruby Rose), who mocks Piper for acting like it’s so hard for her – a tall, thin blond woman – to feel pretty. Stella also teases her being a “Betty,” who feels like she has to make it known that she’s also smart and well-educated.

Piper tries to offer her superior smarts to the overseer of the Whispers panty factory, suggesting that it’s possible to make more panties out of the fabric sheets they’re using. He’s not interested. So, Piper decides to use the extra fabric to sew herself a pair, which she gets caught modeling for herself in the bathroom mirror by Chang, who calls her Bo Derrick in 1981. The kind remark leads Piper to apologize for having made fun of her with Alex earlier in the day.

After she was rejected as a young woman, Chang helped her brother at his store, and wanting to prove herself useful, she used her knack for being invisible to go with his business partner to make a deal on the black market.  When the deal went south, she saved the partner from certain death. In her debt for his life, he offered to grant her any favor, and she knew exactly what she wanted – vengeance on the man who had refused her. Though for a moment she had second thoughts, Chang ordered that the man’s gallbladder be removed, a scene that she has her fellow inmates recreate in drama class.

Season 3, Episode 6 Odds & Ends:

Healy chastises Red for trying to play him, but helps her get back in the kitchen anyway.

Poussey’s favorite culinary celebrity Judy King gets arrested on tax evasion charges.

Mendoza gets Sophia to agree to letting her son Benny carpool with her wife and son.

Lolly arrives in Litchfield and teaches the inmates about Kosher prison meals.

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