The penultimate episode of last season of Orange Is the New Black was host to the most tragic and infuriating occurrence on the series yet. (Season 4 spoiler alert.) Poussey Washington (Samira Wiley), a character who went from underwritten foil for her bestie Taystee (Danielle Brooks) to arguably the series’ most nuanced player, was choked to death in a sequence mirroring the killing of Eric Garner. A new preview released by Netflix today gives us a glimpse at the first 60 seconds of Season 5, which picks up right where Season 4 left off.
A manifestation of the brutality and negligence we’ve seen from the powers that be across Orange Is the New Black, the death sparked a protest (started by Taystee) and escalated when corrections officer Humphrey (Michael Torpey) began to reach for his gun, and was knocked to the ground. His firearm suddenly was in the hands of an enraged Daya (Dascha Polanco), who ended the season with the gun aimed at Humphrey’s head. I’m sorry to say that by the end of the preview clip, you still won’t know what happened with that gun.
As we see the women of Litchfield continuing their riot, egging Daya on, Piper (Taylor Schilling) and Alex (Laura Prepon) begin unknowingly walking towards the chaos. Then we witness a very quintessential Piper/Alex exchange.
“If this is a real riot, do you think this is a step forward or backwards for equality?” asks Piper, with her standard nonchalantly tone deaf approach to “caring” about the less privileged.
“I don’t care, we’re getting out of here now,” says the no-bullshit Alex.
Daya, meanwhile, panics, telling the raucous crowd around her to “be quiet,” then we see the screen cut to orange, hear Daya say “goddamn it,” before the gun shoots. Of course, this could indicate that Humphrey gets shot — but given the strategic cut, it could just as easily mean that there’s outside intervention, and the recipient of that bullet is anyone in the cast, or the floor, the ceiling, etc.
Whatever or whoever gets shot, though, we do know that this isn’t the end of the riots. From Netflix’s description of the upcoming season, it’s the first to take place in real time (though they also say it takes place over the course of three days, which would mean that real time would technically be 72 hourlong episodes); over the course of these days, the inmates “fight for redemption, resolution, and the respect they deserve.”
Watch the clip:
The new season will be out on June 9.
Netflix also released some first look images from the season:
Courtesy of Netflix
Courtesy of Netflix
Courtesy of Netflix
Courtesy of Netflix
Courtesy of Netflix
Courtesy of Netflix
Courtesy of Netflix
Courtesy of Netflix