'Orange is the New Black' binge recap: 'Bed Bugs and Beyond'

Spoiler alert! The following contains spoilers for Orange is the New Black season 3 episode 2. Already on to episode 3? You can read our recap here.

Are you binge-watching season 3 of Orange is the New Black? We are too! You can read all our recaps here.

A theme this show constantly comes back to is control. In prison, the inmates have such little control over what happens in their lives (unless they become a Red or a Vee), that any small thing that they can take power over becomes important, and conversely, any loss of control is felt harder. So something like a bed bug infestation -- which forces the women to wear trash bags, burn the books they love and sleep on toilet paper pillows -- is exactly the kind of thing to take what little control they had left away.

The inmates aren't the only ones who desperately want control. Caputo has finally become king of his own little hill only to have it taken away from him almost instantly. I'm not sure why Litchfield is closing (I mean, there have been so many things wrong with it that I'm a little surprised it took this long, but, alas, I digress), but it means that the guards will be laid off, Caputo will get transferred and the inmates will all be shipped off elsewhere. So, like Caputo says as he throws a book on the bed bug fire, nothing really matters for the next two months. (Given my binge schedule I'm sure I'll find this out in a couple of hours, but I'm guessing something will happen to keep Litchfield open before the season is over, since the show has already been renewed for a fourth season.)

"Bed Bugs and Beyond" was about control but also manipulation, as Piper admitted she manipulated Alex back into prison, Pornstache's mother and Aleida both manipulated each other over the baby and Cesar demonstrates his terrifying brand of parenting to Bennett. I'm glad that the show didn't drag out Piper's lie to Alex for too many episodes (really it was hard enough to watch her try to smile her way through it for an episode and a half) and I'm also glad that she's done trying to be so nice all the time. As Red says, "Nice is for cowards and Democrats."

And, um, I guess we should talk about Daya and Bennett, even though I've hated this storyline since season one (although Daya's pregnancy is a good marker of how much time has passed on the show). Bennett got to be the focus of our flashbacks this episode, which simply proved that he was as much of a coward at war as he is now, and we also got to see him go gawk at the poverty that Cesar and Aleida's children live in. At the end of the episode he abandons the crib that Cesar gave him and speeds off towards an unknown location, which I hope is away from this show.

Two episodes down, 11 to go. Looking forward to Crazy Eyes' promise: "I will potato her at a future time."

And in case you missed it, you can read our recap of episode one here.