1.5 The Chickening

'Please don't get dragged into the prison drama.'

Polly and Larry aren't just bored with Piper's big news from her small world, they can't stop her seeing that they are. Imagine how discouraging that would be.

Piper and Larry mutually withholding information about Alex. But what is the right thing to tell her? I'm inclined to agree with Larry's dad. Then again, what if they did keep it from her till she got released, and then told her? She's so full of resentment she might go after Alex then.

'They're not like you and me.' Imagine how that would feel: the people trying to cosy up to you are the climate change deniers. Mark Steel tells a story about being arrested after the Brixton riots, and getting released with a friendly caution while the police are beating up the black arrestees. 'The bonhomie was worse than the violence.'

Piper is beginning to fight back in this ep, with her request for masks, and rejecting Red's criticism of her behaviour. But from the spoilers I've read, this feistier attitude is going to get her in trouble later on.

The abrupt change of tone when the alarm goes off during the chicken hunt. What we thought would be a jolly diversion is stamped on by the passionless cruelty of the incarceration machine. It sends cold shivers through me.

I read some hope into the final scene. Piper may be behind multiple fences, but we pull back to see her under the big sky, and she loves to be outside.