'Orange is the New Black' binge recap: 'Don't Make Me Come Back There'

Spoiler alert! The following contains spoilers for Orange is the New Black season 3 episode 12. Already onto episode 13? 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.

There is so much to unpack from the penultimate episode of the OITNB's third season that I don't know even if the show is going to be able to do it in the final episode. If I could, I would spend this entire recap making fun of Cal and his weird wife, but alas, there are more important things in the OINTB world.

I suppose we should start with Aleida, who is the focus of the episode's flashbacks. We saw a little bit of her during Daya's flashbacks in season one, but now we're seeing her as a young mother, grappling with the same questions Daya is about her unborn child. In the present when Daya goes into labor and there are complications, Aleida decides of her own volition to tell Pornstache's mother that the baby died and to send the very well baby off to Cesar's. I agree with Gloria: Daya is going to kill her.

Meanwhile, Big Boo's plan for revenge involves going all Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on donut guard, which means knocking him out and doing things I don't feel comfortable writing down on this site. But when it comes time to, er, do the deed, neither Boo nor Pennsatucky can do it. Boo mentions that maybe this wasn't such a good idea, but she thought it would help Penn deal with her rage. "I don't have rage," Penn says. "I'm just sad." And yup, I will reiterate that this show is doing a monumentally better job portraying sexual assault than like 85% of the rest of television.

Which leaves us with Sophia. Oh Sophia. Laverne Cox is such an incredible actress that watching her go through this episode nearly brought me to tears. After Sophia pushed Gloria last episode, Aleida has been spreading around that she still has male organs, a rumor that leads to a frankly disturbing hate crime when a group of women try to pull down Sophia's pants to see for themselves. One of the stupid, bumbling, ineffective new COs sees the incident and responds to Sophia's cry of "Help me!" by saying "I'll go get Caputo" and running away. Sophia is, naturally, angry as anything afterwards, threatening to sue and demanding the guards be properly trained (all reasonable reactions). Her demands go up the ladder, all the way to Danny and his daddy (who share a scene at a driving range which is the best caricature of white corporate America if I've ever seen one). For a second we're led to believe that something good will be done, but the episode ends with three guards walking Sophia down to SHU, for "her own protection."

In my recap of the second episode of the season, I mentioned how control becomes so important to these characters living in a place where they have so little. When Sophia tried to take control of her health and safety, she was punished. Piper took control and now her business has gone to her head. Aleida took control and now she might lose her daughter all over again. With all these forces fighting each other, something's got to give in the finale.

12 down, 1 to go. Our journey is almost over, guys.

And in case you missed it, you can read our recap of episode 11 here.