It's only been about four months.  After such a short time, it's very realistic for Piper to be able to *say* how she needs to be, and have more trouble actually living it every day.  But I do see a difference between Piper now and the Piper who lectures the homeless kid about having a dog in that flashback. 

Doesn't Boo imply that Morello is in prison for fraud on eBay?  My theory is that she did it to finance her dream wedding.

Claudette totally *wanted* Piper terrified at the beginning.  Or at least intimidated enough to toe the line, keep their cube clean, and use the right hooks. I'm sure she knew she had a scary reputation — she probably cultivated it on purpose, or at least she didn't care.

Diaz getting a medical abortion still lands Bennett in hot water, though.  It doesn't solve any of the problems the inmates are trying to solve.

So if Mendez goes to jail for rape, and then later it comes out that
Bennett is the real father, what actually happens?  It's not like Mendez
is going to be exonerated — there's proof.  The conclusion would just
be that Diaz was raped by two guards.  Then they could both be in jail and the inmates would be safe from…

I don't think Suzanne is a hypocrite, at all; I think she really doesn't understand how her behavior looks to other people.  Remember the flashback in the bar, where Alex is flirting with Piper? That's how Suzanne thinks she comes across.

I don't think it's that she's dumb, but that she's seizing on a story about herself that gives her an importance that she's never had before.  She's actually a lot like Piper in her willingness to suddenly switch to a new self-image and decide it's real. 

It is awfully fast, but then Doggett is already trying to convince herself she can faith heal even before Alex starts gaslighting her.  So she's primed for it.

An actual meeting would have been way too convenient, but I do like how Tricia's flashbacks prepare us to sympathize with the homeless kid Piper lectures.  That's such an obnoxious thing for Piper to do, and without the Tricia connection it could easily have gotten lost in the meet cute.

Come to think of it, "Bora Bora Bora" also makes a point of showing us that relationships formed outside prison don't last when one partner is incarcerated (Morello and her fiancé) AND that those formed inside melt away as soon as one partner is released (Tricia and Mercy).

I want to see Uzo Aduba play Coriolanus for real now.  Somebody please make that happen!

On the one hand, these episodes do undermine her relationship with Alex by suggesting that she's just desperate for physical contact — "weak," as she says, which is a really unflattering way of putting it.  Yet at the same time, the flashbacks also start to undermine her relationship with Larry; apparently when they…