In Part 2, we discuss Red & Lorna’s downward spiral, Nikki evolving, Daya & Aleida squandering life, and the immigration storyline with Blanca, Karla, and Maritza. My name is Kent, and I am the guy who came up with the questions. I also leave comments in bold every once in a while. I have 3 ladies here to help me out, start up a bit of a conversation. Please, leave a comment or like this or pass it along to someone you know who enjoys this show.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
4. Lorna lost her baby. Red has dementia. Nikki had a new love interest (Shani may have been her name). A) Was Nikki’s new girlfriend just a distraction for Nikki so she didn’t have to deal with Red and Lorna, or was it real love? B) We got flashback stories of both Red (The young man getting killed) and Lorna (the newlyweds and their accident). Which did you prefer? C) Who’s downward spiral made you sadder: Lorna or Red? D) Did it make sense for Nikki to become the head cook?
Kristi: Nikkis girl was a distraction. The people she loves are falling apart. She needed a love interest for her not to fall apart.
Reds story supersedes anyone. She’s badass! (The biggest badass on the show!)
Also Red. Lorna will eventually come out of it. Red has dementia. She will die. That sucks.
Yes, I actually kinda loved that. She learned a lot from Red. I’m happy she took on that role. She started as a junkie and ended up following in her role model’s footsteps. Good for her!
Cece: Poor Nikki. She really had to deal with a LOT this season. I definitely believe Shani and Nikki had a true connection, but I don’t think it was true love. Red’s story definitely made me sadder because Lorna is just… unbearable at times. And yeah! Nikki finally has a purpose to hold on to.
Raylene: Nikki lady was just a distraction I believe she truly is in love with Lorna. Red’s story was incredibly sad to me. Lorna also hit me hard too I’m not sure if she can bounce back from that. Nikki seemed to just be the natural choice.
Kent: I’m not sure how much I am going to respond to the answers here as they are all very similar. I tend to agree with most of the consensus here. A) Nikki’s girl was a pleasant prison distraction, and outside of prison, maybe they would have pursued it more. I really liked the girl who played Shani, I thought she was really good for that part. B) Regarding the flashback stories, as much as I love Red, probably my favorite prison character along with Suzanne, I am going to choose Lorna’s flashback. That was really tough to watch given what we know about Lorna. It took a giant leap of faith with how Lorna ended up being there at the wrong time, but it was rough. Red’s story was more believable by leaps and bounds, in my opinion.
C) Red’s downward spiral is the story of the season that hit me hardest for a multitude of reasons. I see my mom’s mind slipping far more than I would like. I see my mind slipping faster than it should, and I dread the idea of getting to that point in life. Lorna was always a girl that was going to be messed up, and while that is sad on its own merits, Red’s hit home for me much more. She went from arguably the most powerful prisoner in season 1 to this. That’s harsh. D) Nikki has been through so much and has been the beneficiary of some of the best guidance from Red. She has a lot on her plate now taking over the role, but she finally seems ready for that responsibility for the first time in this show’s history. It’s definitely a bittersweet situation.
5. Daya tried to become the top dog and Aleida ended up back in prison after raging against Eva’s drug-dealing boyfriend. A) Did any character throughout the show’s run change as much as Daya? B) Did Aleida do the right thing in how she dealt with Eva’s boyfriend? C) Was any of this story interesting to you or just straight-up filler?
Kristi: I’d say, Nikki. She was a straight-up druggie in the beginning. It was nice to see her shape up. Susanne as well. She really grew into herself and is way more level headed. I didn’t care for this story. It was a little boring for me. (It was certainly boring for me. Out of the Latina contingency, this wasn’t the story to highlight, in my opinion.)
Cece: This whole storyline was stupid. Daya was my favorite character in the early seasons and she just totally became her mother, or worse. I hated seeing her deteriorate. Aleida is a dumbass who keeps playing this abusive relationship with prison. (I have long loathed Daya, which I have made clear in these blogs throughout the years. Still, I did find it jarring at how easily she just went from a young woman in prison who had a quiet sweetness to her to this wannabe badass with no real process. And she also reminds me a bit of Dany in GoT in that the character she ended up being was actually always present, but it was masked in one way or another. I never thought I’d make that comparison.)
Raylene: Suzanne to me seemed to have the most character growth as a little child to a somewhat functioning adult. I say she was just trying to protect her child since she went wrong with Daya. It was just a story filler. (Aleida, I think was doing what she knew. Some people don’t know enough to evolve and even with somewhat best intentions, they can’t evolve and their antics cause history to repeat itself.)
Kent: A) Daya is right now who she was in the beginning. Much like Dany, I will go ahead and challenge you to go back to the beginning and you will see these traits were always there to an extent. I at least still liked Dany up to season 4 or 5. Daya I have long loathed since Day 1. There isn’t a single season where Daya wouldn’t have been among my 3 most loathed characters. The right answer here is either Nikki or possibly Suzanne. I am going to opt for Nikki because she has gone through so many ups and downs. Suzanne’s heart was kinda always there, but she didn’t always have the right support system. I’d also toss Fig and Sam in this conversation.
B) I will admit that I loved when Aleida lost her shit on that dude. You know the outcome, but for a few moments, I thoroughly enjoyed her doing the right thing. I also love her as an actress and hope to see her in more stuff. C) This was the most filling of the filler of the season. Some of the Piper & Alex stuff dragged on, same with the immigration, but there was a point to it. The whole point here was that dumbasses surrounded by dumbasses take on dumbass traits and fail to evolve. Yay, what a story!
6. Let’s talk about ICE…..not the Vanilla one. A) Was this whole thing an important story to tell or did it feel too heavy-handed? B) Maritza got deported back to Colombia (I think). Did you feel bad for her after seeing all the poor decisions that she made? C) Karla got deported and then made another trip back to cross the border but injured herself. Did leaving her in the desert just feel like a huge slap in the face? Like, would you have preferred not seeing her again after being deported or are you happier that we saw her try and fail again? D) Blanca had a very difficult time but eventually, everything worked out with her and Diablo. Were they your favorite couple in the show’s history? If you say no, then tell me your favorite.
Kristi: I enjoyed this storyline. Maritza is a dumbass. I appreciate that she wanted to help others but you need to take care of you first. She did herself in. I would have preferred to just be done with Karla’s story rather than seeing her, probably die alone in the desert. I did enjoy Blanca’s story. Happy she chose him. That’s true love right there! (Maritza really showcased worse decision making than most in the show, which is saying a lot!)
Cece: This part was really hard to watch too. It’s too real to what we are dealing with in the world today. Maritza getting deported was pretty sad because her mom lied to her about being a citizen. And Karla- I have no true feelings about. Blanca is awesome & I’m so glad she was able to get out and be with Diablo. Honestly, they seem to be the most healthy couple of the show, lol. (It’s sad that Maritza’s mom lied to her, but doesn’t some of the blame have to go on Maritza here?)
Raylene: Maritza was just young and dumb period. Karla story just ended up being sad but I don’t think she’ll give up unless she dies out there. I am truly happy for Blanca. (We will never know about Karla, and I’d rather know one way or the other. This isn’t Cube. There are no blue rooms. I don’t need a mystery. I want answers!!!)
Kent: A) This was too heavy-handed, and in my opinion, one of the fatal flaws that led to this show consistently losing viewers and supporters. It’s an important story to tell but enough with making almost every man some horrible asshole. That’s some sexist shit right there and this show has been guilty as hell with this throughout its tenure and for the particular crowd that feels that this heavy-handed stuff is good and necessary, then I think it is fair to say that this show was horribly sexist. B) I didn’t feel bad at all for Maritza. She was a dumbass and she made a lot of bad decisions. Sometimes you get punished for those bad decisions. She was unfortunate. What sucks is how much I loved her and Flacka together on screen, so I wasn’t happy that it happened to her.
C) I really thought that Karina Arroyave, who played Karla, was the breakout performer of the season. Her acting was very enjoyable. I hated seeing her fail, it was crushing, BUT I loved seeing her pull a 50 Cent and die trying, presumably. Her conversation with her boys was really a difficult scene. I don’t always need a happy scene, but this one could have been and wouldn’t have hurt how evil certain people are in America BS propaganda thing that they had going on. D) I love Diablo and Blanca as a couple. I still prefer Fig and Joe but these 2 are a very close second. Practically a 1B. I really liked how this story ended and if you could only get one happy ending from all of this, I would choose Blanca and Diablo out of familiarity.