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* ConspiracyTheorist: It's eventually (and hilariously) revealed that the reason behind Healy's hatred for lesbians is [[spoiler:that he believes there's a growing conspiracy in which lesbians take over the world through the use of genetically engineered test-tube babies, resulting in the extinction of men.]]
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* [[BaitAndSwitch]]: Played with [[spoiler: but ultimately subverted. While you're led to believe that she was in for murder, her background story begins to tell her being in for human trafficking. But in the end, she killed a client who was abusing one of her girls, confirming the rumors.]]
to:
* [[BaitAndSwitch]]: BaitAndSwitch: Played with [[spoiler: but ultimately subverted. While you're led to believe that she was in for murder, her background story begins to tell her being in for human trafficking. But in the end, she killed a client who was abusing one of her girls, confirming the rumors.]]
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* [[BaitAndSwitch]]: Played with [[spoiler: but ultimately subverted. While you're led to believe that she was in for murder, her background story begins to tell her being in for human trafficking. But in the end, she killed a client who was abusing one of her girls, confirming the rumors.]]
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** TookALevelInJerkass: Gets colder during the second season after getting transferred back. Soso is annoying, but threatening her after she needs comfort and [[ItMakesSenseInContext trying to trade her to Big Boo for a blanket]] definitely shows how far she's come since the first season.
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** Backfires in the start of the second season, when she tries to take all the responsibility for her and Pennsatucky's fight. Caputo points out that her new martyr complex isn't helpful, considering she'll receive worse punishment if the beatdown was one-sided.
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* TookALevelInJerkass: [[spoiler: as of season two under Vee's "parenting", Crazy Eyes has gone from mentally unstable but well meaning to actively malicious. While somewhat unhinged, Crazy Eyes wasn't particularly violent in season one. Once she becomes Vee's enforcer, she starts to physically beat and humiliate the people Vee sics her on.]]
to:
* TookALevelInJerkass: [[spoiler: as A tragic example. As of season two under Vee's "parenting", Crazy Eyes has gone from mentally unstable but well meaning to actively malicious. While somewhat unhinged, Crazy Eyes wasn't particularly violent in season one. Once she becomes Vee's enforcer, she starts to physically beat and humiliate the people Vee sics her on.]]
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* BlackAndNerdy: She works i the prison's library (which she can navigate perfectly) and is very protective of Harry Potter books. It's also implied that she read Ulysses (or tried to, at least).
to:
* BlackAndNerdy: She works i in the prison's library (which she can navigate perfectly) and is very protective of Harry Potter books. It's also implied that she read Ulysses (or tried to, at least).
** Season 2 flashbacks show she is ''incredibly'' talented at calculating business transactions on the spot in her head.
** Season 2 flashbacks show she is ''incredibly'' talented at calculating business transactions on the spot in her head.
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** Season 2 reveals flashbacks of her childhood, showing her mother as extremely vocally supportive, standing up for her defense to be respected and treated fairly by others. This constant encouragement to do great however left a violently repressed resentment from the extreme pressure given her.
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* NoodleIncident: Mentions a traumatic violent episode with her neighbor, implying that might have been the reason she was imprisoned.
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* JerkassHasAPoint: During the second season she actually makes a few good points when people tell her to stop screaming and cursing with her cohorts, furiously retorting that she is expressing her frustrations in an open, healthy alternative to violence.
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* ImportantHaircut: At the end of Season 2.[[spoiler:It shows her commitment towards her being TheAtoner]]
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Changed line(s) 66 (click to see context) from:
* DisproportionateRetribution: He [[spoiler:throws Piper in the SHU for basically no reason. Even Mendez thinks it's over-kill.
to:
* DisproportionateRetribution: He [[spoiler:throws Piper in the SHU for basically no reason. ]] Even Mendez thinks it's over-kill.
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* BigBadDuumvriate: Of the first season, with Healy. She's the most openly antagonistic toward Piper.
to:
* BigBadDuumvriate: BigBadDuumvirate: Of the first season, with Healy. She's the most openly antagonistic toward Piper.
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* TheAtoner: [[spoiler:In season 2, Healy tries to make the effort to be a better person. As a person he's so twisted that he finds this difficulty.]]
* HairTriggerTemper: Healy has anger issues. He eventually ends up bonding with Pennsatucky over their mutual anger issues.
* TheAtoner: [[spoiler:In season 2, she tries to turn over a new leaf.]]
Changed line(s) 224 (click to see context) from:
* BigBad: Of the first season. She's the most openly antagonistic toward Piper.
to:
* BigBad: BigBadDuumvriate: Of the first season.season, with Healy. She's the most openly antagonistic toward Piper.
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Changed line(s) 61,62 (click to see context) from:
* AffablyEvil: In the beginning of the season he genuinely comes off as a good-natured man who is looking out for Piper, who happens to have a weird fixation on lesbians. Though he quickly [[FauxAffablyEvil lost this mask]].
* BerserkButton: Homosexuality.
* BerserkButton: Homosexuality.
to:
* AffablyEvil: In the beginning of the season he genuinely comes off as a good-natured man who is looking out for AbhorrentAdmirer: To Piper, who happens to have considers him a weird fixation on lesbians. Though {{Yandere}} but his feelings toward Piper (be they romantic, lustful or even fatherly) are somewhat ambiguous.
* BigBadDuumvirate: With Pennsatucky in the first season. In the second season, hequickly [[FauxAffablyEvil lost this mask]].
begins settle down a little in terms of his evil-doings.
* BerserkButton:Homosexuality.Homosexuality, specifically lesbians.
* TheCynic: Healy may have a conscience buried somewhere deep inside, but he is so jaded and unhappy that he has lost sight of right and wrong.
* DisproportionateRetribution: He [[spoiler:throws Piper in the SHU for basically no reason. Even Mendez thinks it's over-kill.
* EvilAllAlong: Healy's mild affability can make him come across as rather likable, but gradually it becomes clear that he's a deeply vindictive man who's excellent at holding a grudge.
* BigBadDuumvirate: With Pennsatucky in the first season. In the second season, he
* BerserkButton:
* TheCynic: Healy may have a conscience buried somewhere deep inside, but he is so jaded and unhappy that he has lost sight of right and wrong.
* DisproportionateRetribution: He [[spoiler:throws Piper in the SHU for basically no reason. Even Mendez thinks it's over-kill.
* EvilAllAlong: Healy's mild affability can make him come across as rather likable, but gradually it becomes clear that he's a deeply vindictive man who's excellent at holding a grudge.
* FauxAffablyEvil: In the beginning of the season he genuinely comes off as a good-natured man who is looking out for Piper, who happens to have a weird fixation on lesbians. Though he quickly [[FauxAffablyEvil lost this mask]].
Changed line(s) 65,66 (click to see context) from:
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: He seems fairly incompetent and kindly until ''"Fucksgiving"'' when he loses his top and manages to intimidate Pornstache, of all people.
** It's a little tough to determine exactly where Healy goes from being goofy and ignorant to dangerous and hateful, but it's clear that by the last scene in the series, where he [[spoiler:ignores Chapman's cries for help and leaves her to a fight with Pennsatucky that he ''knows'' will likely be fatal]], he's definitely crossed the MoralEventHorizon.
** It's a little tough to determine exactly where Healy goes from being goofy and ignorant to dangerous and hateful, but it's clear that by the last scene in the series, where he [[spoiler:ignores Chapman's cries for help and leaves her to a fight with Pennsatucky that he ''knows'' will likely be fatal]], he's definitely crossed the MoralEventHorizon.
to:
* MailOrderBride: His wife is one, and she's very clearly not into him. Healy seems to be in love with her, however, and is even learning Russian to try and communicate better with her.
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: He seemsfairly rather kindly, if incompetent and kindly weird, y until ''"Fucksgiving"'' when he loses his top and manages to intimidate Pornstache, of all people.
**people. It's a little tough to determine exactly where Healy goes from being goofy and ignorant to dangerous and hateful, but it's clear that by the last scene in the series, where he [[spoiler:ignores Chapman's cries for help and leaves her to a fight with Pennsatucky that he ''knows'' will likely be fatal]], he's definitely crossed the MoralEventHorizon.
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: He seems
**
Changed line(s) 68,69 (click to see context) from:
* TheCynic: Healy may have a conscience buried somewhere deep inside, but he is so jaded and unhappy that he has lost sight of right and wrong.
* [[spoiler: TookALevelInKindness: Throughout season two, Healy gets more in tune with his feelings and tries to do the right thing.]]
* [[spoiler: TookALevelInKindness: Throughout season two, Healy gets more in tune with his feelings and tries to do the right thing.]]
to:
* TheCynic: Healy may have a conscience buried somewhere deep inside, but he is so jaded and unhappy that he has lost sight of right and wrong.
* [[spoiler:TookALevelInKindness: Throughout season two, [[spoiler:In the second season, Healy gets begins to get more in tune with his feelings and at least tries to do the right thing.]]
* [[spoiler:
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* IntrepidReporter: [[spoiler: Becomes this in season 2, looking into the prison's financial irregularities under the guise of starting a newsletter.]]
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* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: After she comes under Vee's influence, she replaces her Bantu knots with similar braids.
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* TheCynic: Healy may have a conscious buried somewhere deep inside, but he is so jaded and unhappy that he has lost sight of right and wrong.
to:
* TheCynic: Healy may have a conscious conscience buried somewhere deep inside, but he is so jaded and unhappy that he has lost sight of right and wrong.wrong.
* [[spoiler: TookALevelInKindness: Throughout season two, Healy gets more in tune with his feelings and tries to do the right thing.]]
* [[spoiler: TookALevelInKindness: Throughout season two, Healy gets more in tune with his feelings and tries to do the right thing.]]
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* TheCynic: Healy may have a conscious buried somewhere deep inside, but he is so jaded and unhappy that he has lost sight of right and wrong.
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* TookALevelInJerkass: [[spoiler: as season two under Vee's "parenting", Crazy Eyes has gone from mentally unstable but well meaning to actively malicious. While somewhat unhinged, Crazy Eyes wasn't particularly violent. As of season two, she works as Vee's enforcer.]]
to:
* TookALevelInJerkass: [[spoiler: as of season two under Vee's "parenting", Crazy Eyes has gone from mentally unstable but well meaning to actively malicious. While somewhat unhinged, Crazy Eyes wasn't particularly violent. As of violent in season two, one. Once she works as becomes Vee's enforcer.enforcer, she starts to physically beat and humiliate the people Vee sics her on.]]
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added tropes to Red and Crazy Eyes
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* [[spoiler: TheMentor: Plays this role for Piper of all people, after becoming her bunk-mate in season two.]]
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* TookALevelInJerkass: [[spoiler: as season two under Vee's "parenting", Crazy Eyes has gone from mentally unstable but well meaning to actively malicious. While somewhat unhinged, Crazy Eyes wasn't particularly violent. As of season two, she works as Vee's enforcer.]]
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Changed line(s) 218 (click to see context) from:
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Her fellow prisoners joke she should get new teeth for Christmas. [[spoiler:Gets her old ones punched out by Piper in the season 1 finale.]]
to:
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Her fellow prisoners joke she should get new teeth for Christmas. [[spoiler:Gets her old ones punched out by Piper in the season 1 finale.finale, and gets them replaced early in Season 2 with shiny new ones as an incentive by Healy to keep her quiet about his inaction toward said beatdown.]]
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* OutOfFocus: She's still the main character, but season 2 spends more time with other characters and she doesn't even appear in the second episode.
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* Acrofatic : Despite her larger body type, she does an impressive splits in Season 2's "You Also Have A Pizza."
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* {{Badass}}: She's well-respected and feared by other inmates.
* ADayInTheLimelight: "Imaginary Enemies"
* {{Jerkass}}
** JerkWithAHeartOfGold
to:
* {{Badass}}: She's well-respected and feared by other
* ADayInTheLimelight: "Imaginary
*
**
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* [[spoiler:PutOnABusToHell: When her appeal failed, she attacked a guard in a fit of rage and despair. Attacking a guard is an instant transfer to maximum security - and you never get out.]]
to:
* [[spoiler:PutOnABusToHell: When PutOnABusToHell: [[spoiler:When her appeal failed, she attacked a guard in a fit of rage and despair. Attacking a guard is an instant transfer to maximum security - and you never get out.]]
Changed line(s) 88,89 (click to see context) from:
->'''Played By''': Kate Mulgrew
to:
->'''Played By''': By:''' Kate Mulgrew
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-->''"I always miss you until you're here. Then I realize the mom I miss must have been someone I invented when I was a kid"''
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Changed line(s) 185 (click to see context) from:
* DeadpanSnarker
to:
* DeadpanSnarkerDeadpanSnarker: Probably the most brutally and wonderfully sarcastic character on the whole show. Only Big Boo comes close.
Changed line(s) 190,191 (click to see context) from:
* LipstickLesbian
* MessyHair
* MessyHair
to:
* LipstickLesbian
LipstickLesbian: She has no problem attracting the likes of Morello.
*MessyHairMessyHair: Nicky's hair is unruly and wild...always.
*
Changed line(s) 202,203 (click to see context) from:
->'''Played By''': Taryn Manning
to:
->'''Played By''': By:''' Taryn Manning
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* AxCrazy: Pennsatucky is utterly batshit insane. She shot an abortion clinic worker for 'disrespecting' her.
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* WhatTheHellHero: In one of her more humanizing moments, Pennsatucky gives a fairly understated WhatTheHellHero to Piper after her gas-lighting and the subsequent torment she underwent.
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Changed line(s) 205 (click to see context) from:
to:
!!!Tropes
Changed line(s) 208,212 (click to see context) from:
* [[spoiler:BigBad: Of the first season. She's the most openly antagonistic toward Piper.]]
* ChurchgoingVillain
* CorruptHick
* CrisisOfFaith: A brief one [[spoiler:after being in the psych ward.]]
* DoesNotUnderstandSarcasm
* ChurchgoingVillain
* CorruptHick
* CrisisOfFaith: A brief one [[spoiler:after being in the psych ward.]]
* DoesNotUnderstandSarcasm
to:
* [[spoiler:BigBad: BigBad: Of the first season. She's the most openly antagonistic toward Piper.]]
* ChurchgoingVillain
* CorruptHick
Piper.
* CrisisOfFaith: A brief one[[spoiler:after after being in the psych ward.]]
ward.
*DoesNotUnderstandSarcasmDoesNotUnderstandSarcasm: Or rhetorical questions. Pennsatucky is...not a clever woman.
* ChurchgoingVillain
* CorruptHick
* CrisisOfFaith: A brief one
*
Changed line(s) 214,216 (click to see context) from:
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Her fellow prisoners joke she should get new teeth for Christmas. [[spoiler: Gets her old ones punched out by Piper in the season 1 finale.]]
* FromNobodyToNightmare
* TheFundamentalist
* FromNobodyToNightmare
* TheFundamentalist
to:
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Her fellow prisoners joke she should get new teeth for Christmas. [[spoiler: Gets [[spoiler:Gets her old ones punched out by Piper in the season 1 finale.]]
*FromNobodyToNightmare
* TheFundamentalistTheFundamentalist: Pennsatucky is viciously and aggressively religious, although she often misses the point of the very sermons she espouses.
*
* TheFundamentalist
Changed line(s) 218 (click to see context) from:
* HolierThanThou
to:
* HolierThanThouHolierThanThou: Despite being a crazy, meth-addicted killer Pennsatucky looks down on the other inmates who she doesn't consider sufficiently holy.
Deleted line(s) 220 (click to see context) :
* ManipulativeBitch
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[[folder:Pennastucky]]
!!Tiffany "Pennsatucky" Doggett
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/doggett_tiffany_3836.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I'm just a simple woman doin' the work of the Lord."'']]
->'''Played By''': Taryn Manning
A prisoner who goes around preaching about God and healing others. Works with Alex in the laundry room. Often causes problems for Alex and Piper. Pennsatucky was sent to prison after a nurse in the abortion clinic she frequented made a snide comment on how many abortions Pennsatucky had had, and Pennsatucky shot her for "disrespectin'". She converted to Christianity after a Christian law firm earned her less time in prison, believing "God had found her".
* AsTheGoodBookSays: She frequently justifies herself with (often incorrect or out of context) quotes from the Bible.
* BecomingTheMask: Prior to prison (prior even to her trial), Tiffany was a nihilistic meth-head on her fifth abortion who murdered a nurse solely for 'disrespecting her', and was misinterpreted by pro-lifers as one of their own. She quickly bought into her own press and became a legitimate holy warrior.
* [[spoiler:BigBad: Of the first season. She's the most openly antagonistic toward Piper.]]
* ChurchgoingVillain
* CorruptHick
* CrisisOfFaith: A brief one [[spoiler:after being in the psych ward.]]
* DoesNotUnderstandSarcasm
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: While not her first moment on screen, her first episode with extended screen time starts off with her being forced to carry her own cross out of the chapel.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Her fellow prisoners joke she should get new teeth for Christmas. [[spoiler: Gets her old ones punched out by Piper in the season 1 finale.]]
* FromNobodyToNightmare
* TheFundamentalist
* HeteronormativeCrusader: Since being "born again". A lot of her dislike for Alex and Piper stems from this.
* HolierThanThou
* JeanneDArchetype: Subverted, but she sees herself this way. One of the inmates even calls her out for this.
* ManipulativeBitch
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: In early appearances she seems to just be an idiotic fuck-up, and she is... but that doesn't mean she isn't extremely dangerous, as Piper learns.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Aside from being homophobic, she's also fairly racist.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Downplayed and for a certain value of 'good'; Pennsatucky regularly gets fan-mail and had a throng of pro-life extremists at her trial because she murdered an abortion clinic doctor (though not for the reasons they think she did). Note that her admirers are hardly pillars of society.
[[/folder]]
!!Tiffany "Pennsatucky" Doggett
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/doggett_tiffany_3836.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I'm just a simple woman doin' the work of the Lord."'']]
->'''Played By''': Taryn Manning
A prisoner who goes around preaching about God and healing others. Works with Alex in the laundry room. Often causes problems for Alex and Piper. Pennsatucky was sent to prison after a nurse in the abortion clinic she frequented made a snide comment on how many abortions Pennsatucky had had, and Pennsatucky shot her for "disrespectin'". She converted to Christianity after a Christian law firm earned her less time in prison, believing "God had found her".
* AsTheGoodBookSays: She frequently justifies herself with (often incorrect or out of context) quotes from the Bible.
* BecomingTheMask: Prior to prison (prior even to her trial), Tiffany was a nihilistic meth-head on her fifth abortion who murdered a nurse solely for 'disrespecting her', and was misinterpreted by pro-lifers as one of their own. She quickly bought into her own press and became a legitimate holy warrior.
* [[spoiler:BigBad: Of the first season. She's the most openly antagonistic toward Piper.]]
* ChurchgoingVillain
* CorruptHick
* CrisisOfFaith: A brief one [[spoiler:after being in the psych ward.]]
* DoesNotUnderstandSarcasm
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: While not her first moment on screen, her first episode with extended screen time starts off with her being forced to carry her own cross out of the chapel.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Her fellow prisoners joke she should get new teeth for Christmas. [[spoiler: Gets her old ones punched out by Piper in the season 1 finale.]]
* FromNobodyToNightmare
* TheFundamentalist
* HeteronormativeCrusader: Since being "born again". A lot of her dislike for Alex and Piper stems from this.
* HolierThanThou
* JeanneDArchetype: Subverted, but she sees herself this way. One of the inmates even calls her out for this.
* ManipulativeBitch
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: In early appearances she seems to just be an idiotic fuck-up, and she is... but that doesn't mean she isn't extremely dangerous, as Piper learns.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Aside from being homophobic, she's also fairly racist.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Downplayed and for a certain value of 'good'; Pennsatucky regularly gets fan-mail and had a throng of pro-life extremists at her trial because she murdered an abortion clinic doctor (though not for the reasons they think she did). Note that her admirers are hardly pillars of society.
[[/folder]]
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[[/folder]]
[[folder:Nicky]]
!!Nicole 'Nicky' Nichols
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nichols_nicole_5729.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"It's like the Hamptons, only fuckin' horrible."'']]
->'''Played By''': Creator/NatashaLyonne
A former drug addict, now in Red's group in the prison. Nicky has a loud mouth and is Red's most trusted girl. Red helps Nicky get clean when she lands in prison, and Nicky looks to her as a mother figure. [[spoiler:Her real mother lived in a separate house and Nicky was raised by a nanny. Nicky was involved in a sexual relationship with Morello until Morello broke it off. Nicky has a scar on her chest from having heart surgery as a complication of a bacterial infection in her heart.]]
* DeadpanSnarker
* TheGadfly: Frequently trolls Piper and Alex (mostly Piper, as she is more receptive to being baited) to gain information on their past.
--> '''Nicky:''' She said you were a squirter.
--> '''Piper:''' I don't - that's - once! It happened ''once!'' It took us both by surprise!
--> '''Nicky:''' Wow! I was kidding, but good to know!
* LipstickLesbian
* MessyHair
* MetaCasting: The scar on her chest? It's real. Natasha Lyonne really ''did'' have heart surgery a few years back, and it really ''was'' from a bacterial infection resulting from use of a dirty needle.
* MommyIssues: She hates her mother for choosing to live in a different home as she was growing up because her new husband didn't like kids. Nicky was subsequently raised by a nanny.
* ParentalSubstitute: Red is hers, as she tells Piper when Piper is genuinely confused why Nicky calls Red "Mommy".
* PrincessInRags: Apparently came from a wealthy family and used to travel the world. Alex comments that she would be exactly the kind of person she'd target.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Pennastucky]]
!!Tiffany "Pennsatucky" Doggett
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/doggett_tiffany_3836.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I'm just a simple woman doin' the work of the Lord."'']]
->'''Played By''': Taryn Manning
A prisoner who goes around preaching about God and healing others. Works with Alex in the laundry room. Often causes problems for Alex and Piper. Pennsatucky was sent to prison after a nurse in the abortion clinic she frequented made a snide comment on how many abortions Pennsatucky had had, and Pennsatucky shot her for "disrespectin'". She converted to Christianity after a Christian law firm earned her less time in prison, believing "God had found her".
* AsTheGoodBookSays: She frequently justifies herself with (often incorrect or out of context) quotes from the Bible.
* BecomingTheMask: Prior to prison (prior even to her trial), Tiffany was a nihilistic meth-head on her fifth abortion who murdered a nurse solely for 'disrespecting her', and was misinterpreted by pro-lifers as one of their own. She quickly bought into her own press and became a legitimate holy warrior.
* [[spoiler:BigBad: Of the first season. She's the most openly antagonistic toward Piper.]]
* ChurchgoingVillain
* CorruptHick
* CrisisOfFaith: A brief one [[spoiler:after being in the psych ward.]]
* DoesNotUnderstandSarcasm
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: While not her first moment on screen, her first episode with extended screen time starts off with her being forced to carry her own cross out of the chapel.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Her fellow prisoners joke she should get new teeth for Christmas. [[spoiler: Gets her old ones punched out by Piper in the season 1 finale.]]
* FromNobodyToNightmare
* TheFundamentalist
* HeteronormativeCrusader: Since being "born again". A lot of her dislike for Alex and Piper stems from this.
* HolierThanThou
* JeanneDArchetype: Subverted, but she sees herself this way. One of the inmates even calls her out for this.
* ManipulativeBitch
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: In early appearances she seems to just be an idiotic fuck-up, and she is... but that doesn't mean she isn't extremely dangerous, as Piper learns.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Aside from being homophobic, she's also fairly racist.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Downplayed and for a certain value of 'good'; Pennsatucky regularly gets fan-mail and had a throng of pro-life extremists at her trial because she murdered an abortion clinic doctor (though not for the reasons they think she did). Note that her admirers are hardly pillars of society.
[[folder:Nicky]]
!!Nicole 'Nicky' Nichols
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nichols_nicole_5729.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"It's like the Hamptons, only fuckin' horrible."'']]
->'''Played By''': Creator/NatashaLyonne
A former drug addict, now in Red's group in the prison. Nicky has a loud mouth and is Red's most trusted girl. Red helps Nicky get clean when she lands in prison, and Nicky looks to her as a mother figure. [[spoiler:Her real mother lived in a separate house and Nicky was raised by a nanny. Nicky was involved in a sexual relationship with Morello until Morello broke it off. Nicky has a scar on her chest from having heart surgery as a complication of a bacterial infection in her heart.]]
* DeadpanSnarker
* TheGadfly: Frequently trolls Piper and Alex (mostly Piper, as she is more receptive to being baited) to gain information on their past.
--> '''Nicky:''' She said you were a squirter.
--> '''Piper:''' I don't - that's - once! It happened ''once!'' It took us both by surprise!
--> '''Nicky:''' Wow! I was kidding, but good to know!
* LipstickLesbian
* MessyHair
* MetaCasting: The scar on her chest? It's real. Natasha Lyonne really ''did'' have heart surgery a few years back, and it really ''was'' from a bacterial infection resulting from use of a dirty needle.
* MommyIssues: She hates her mother for choosing to live in a different home as she was growing up because her new husband didn't like kids. Nicky was subsequently raised by a nanny.
* ParentalSubstitute: Red is hers, as she tells Piper when Piper is genuinely confused why Nicky calls Red "Mommy".
* PrincessInRags: Apparently came from a wealthy family and used to travel the world. Alex comments that she would be exactly the kind of person she'd target.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Pennastucky]]
!!Tiffany "Pennsatucky" Doggett
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/doggett_tiffany_3836.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I'm just a simple woman doin' the work of the Lord."'']]
->'''Played By''': Taryn Manning
A prisoner who goes around preaching about God and healing others. Works with Alex in the laundry room. Often causes problems for Alex and Piper. Pennsatucky was sent to prison after a nurse in the abortion clinic she frequented made a snide comment on how many abortions Pennsatucky had had, and Pennsatucky shot her for "disrespectin'". She converted to Christianity after a Christian law firm earned her less time in prison, believing "God had found her".
* AsTheGoodBookSays: She frequently justifies herself with (often incorrect or out of context) quotes from the Bible.
* BecomingTheMask: Prior to prison (prior even to her trial), Tiffany was a nihilistic meth-head on her fifth abortion who murdered a nurse solely for 'disrespecting her', and was misinterpreted by pro-lifers as one of their own. She quickly bought into her own press and became a legitimate holy warrior.
* [[spoiler:BigBad: Of the first season. She's the most openly antagonistic toward Piper.]]
* ChurchgoingVillain
* CorruptHick
* CrisisOfFaith: A brief one [[spoiler:after being in the psych ward.]]
* DoesNotUnderstandSarcasm
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: While not her first moment on screen, her first episode with extended screen time starts off with her being forced to carry her own cross out of the chapel.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Her fellow prisoners joke she should get new teeth for Christmas. [[spoiler: Gets her old ones punched out by Piper in the season 1 finale.]]
* FromNobodyToNightmare
* TheFundamentalist
* HeteronormativeCrusader: Since being "born again". A lot of her dislike for Alex and Piper stems from this.
* HolierThanThou
* JeanneDArchetype: Subverted, but she sees herself this way. One of the inmates even calls her out for this.
* ManipulativeBitch
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: In early appearances she seems to just be an idiotic fuck-up, and she is... but that doesn't mean she isn't extremely dangerous, as Piper learns.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Aside from being homophobic, she's also fairly racist.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Downplayed and for a certain value of 'good'; Pennsatucky regularly gets fan-mail and had a throng of pro-life extremists at her trial because she murdered an abortion clinic doctor (though not for the reasons they think she did). Note that her admirers are hardly pillars of society.
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[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Piper]]
!!Piper Elizabeth Chapman
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chapman_piper_1630.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I have been starved out, felt up, teased, stalked, threatened, and called Taylor Swift."'']]
->'''Played By:''' Taylor Schilling
->''"I'm scared that I'm not myself in here. And I'm scared that I am."''
Piper is sent to prison for carrying drug money for her past girlfriend, Alex, and navigates the stresses it creates in her life and with her fiancé Larry. While in prison, Piper endures it all while trying to understand and find her place in the hierarchy, and even runs into Alex. Piper started a line of artisanal soaps prior to leaving for prison.
!!!Tropes
* BiTheWay: She had a passionate relationship with Alex for many years, but gets engaged to Larry before going to prison. She states that she likes, 'attractive people'.
* BreakTheCutie: A sheltered, upper middle class white girl being thrown in a cage with psycho lesbians, murderers, and religious fanatics? It was an inevitability.
* CorruptTheCutie: Much of Piper's change in behavior to that of a typical inmate is a result of her own actions after entering prison.
* DeadpanSnarker
* FishOutOfWater: To say that soap-selling Pablo Neruda- and Robert Frost-studying Piper doesn't fit in to the prison frame of mind easily is... an understatement.
* GranolaGirl: Attempted to be this out of prison, adopting different diets and setting up a soap company.
* GuileHero[=/=]ManipulativeBastard: By her own admission, Piper comes to realize that she is manipulative, but she uses her talents in the pursuit of saving her own ass masterfully, making back cream to smooth things over with Red, re-opening the track after accidentally leading to Watson getting sent to solitary, and all but coercing Fig to get her a marriage form.
* JerkAss: Pretty much, even as our point-of-view character her actions to her friends and fellow inmates remains crass throughout the entire series. She even spends some time commenting on how should feel worse than she does over actions, and fears what this makes her.
* NeverMyFault: Constantly tries to shirk the blame when she gets in trouble. Part of her CharacterDevelopment is her learning to accept responsibility for her actions.
* [[spoiler:NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: the very last scene in season 1 is of a desperate Piper repeatedly punching a downed Pennsatucky in the face after the latter assaulted her with a sharpened wooden cross with intent to kill.]]
* SanitySlippage: Implied; we still have no idea whether the chicken ''or'' the voice Piper heard in SHU are real.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Polly.
* YourCheatingHeart: Starts up a relationship with ex-girlfriend Alex whilst engaged to Larry.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Alex]]
!!Alex Vause
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vause_alexandra_7068.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Heroin was the best girlfriend I ever had."'']]
->'''Played By:''' Creator/LauraPrepon
Alex, Piper's former girlfriend, is serving time in the same prison as Piper. Alex, with a mother that worked four jobs and a washed-up rock star for a father, grew up poor with girls in school bullying her and eventually wound up in the drug business.
!!!Tropes
* AloofDarkHairedGirl: Rarely shows sincere emotion to anyone beyond Piper, has black hair (with blue streaks and occasional Bettie Page bangs in flashbacks), and is described by Larry at their first meeting as 'tall'.
* {{Badass}}
* BettyAndVeronica: The "doing X on a beach in Cambodia with three strangers in drag" Veronica to Larry's Betty.
* DeadpanSnarker: Best summarized with her first non-flashback appearance, where she walks up to Piper after having not seen her for five years in the prison Piper more-or-less believes Alex is responsible for putting her in while Piper is having a breakdown and deadpans, "I'm guessing now's a bad time to say hi."
* DisappearedDad: Her father was a 'rock god' her mother romanticized an encounter with; when she met him as an adult, he mostly talked about how awkward it would have been if they'd accidentally had sex.
* EmbarrassingNickname: Growing up, she was called 'Pigsty' by the AlphaBitch and her posse.
* HiddenDepths: At least from the viewers' perspective. She's initially depicted as a manipulative sociopath who exploited Piper and wrecked her life, and it's a long time before we're given a good reason to think differently, despite how charming she is. "Fucksgiving" implies that she's secretly insecure and probably has abandonment issues, while "Tall Men with Feelings" shows that [[spoiler: Piper really did break her heart]].
* LipstickLesbian
* PrisonRape: She threatens Pennsatucky with this, although she doesn't mean it.
* RaceLift : In Piper Kerman's memoir, the drug runner was a black woman.
* RavenHairIvorySkin: Luschek describes her as 'the hot one' of her and Piper and the dark hair and pale skin combination does undeniably work for her.
* VagueAge : Laura Prepon was 33 when the show aired. Piper, according to the storyline, met Alex "ten years ago," when she was in her early twenties (although Piper was already a college graduate). When Polly meets Alex, she says the latter is thirty and has too much money for her age. Which would make her at least forty by the time of the show, and she's clearly not.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Healy]]
!!Sam Healy
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/healy_9405.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Lesbians can be really dangerous. It's the testosterone."'']]
->'''Played By''': Michael J. Harney
Healy is an older guard and supervisor who acts as prison counselor to Piper and several other inmates. Healy is outspoken against lesbians and has a strange vendetta against them, cautioning Piper at the beginning of the series not to be involved with them. He is initially presented as someone who, though rigid, avoids confrontation and so is referred to as "Samantha" by Caputo, who feels that Healy is not tough enough on the inmates. Healy generally appears weary and often tells the inmates what they want to hear so they will leave him alone. Early on, he appears particularly sympathetic towards Piper and even acts biased in her favor; however, he gradually begins to dislike her the more he hears rumors of her alleged lesbian activities.
!!!Tropes
* AffablyEvil: In the beginning of the season he genuinely comes off as a good-natured man who is looking out for Piper, who happens to have a weird fixation on lesbians. Though he quickly [[FauxAffablyEvil lost this mask]].
* BerserkButton: Homosexuality.
* EvilIsPetty: He [[spoiler:throws Piper in the SHU just for dancing with Alex, albeit in a suggestive fashion.]]
* HeteronormativeCrusader: He has a strong distaste for lesbians (and implicitly, homosexuality in general) and makes it something of a mission to steer inmates away from lesbianism.
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: He seems fairly incompetent and kindly until ''"Fucksgiving"'' when he loses his top and manages to intimidate Pornstache, of all people.
** It's a little tough to determine exactly where Healy goes from being goofy and ignorant to dangerous and hateful, but it's clear that by the last scene in the series, where he [[spoiler:ignores Chapman's cries for help and leaves her to a fight with Pennsatucky that he ''knows'' will likely be fatal]], he's definitely crossed the MoralEventHorizon.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: He's quite openly homophobic, even other staff members in the prison call him out and tell him to see a therapist about this.
* VillainousCrush: Piper thinks he has this for her, and she may be right but his actions could be interpreted in other ways.
* {{Yandere}}: Fixates on Piper to the point of [[spoiler:sending her to solitary for ''dancing'' with another girl]] in a perfect storm of his obsession with her and his broader 'lesbian witch-hunt issues'.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Miss Claudette]]
!!Miss Claudette Pelage
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pelage_claudette_9972.png]]
->'''Played By''': Michelle Hurst
Piper's cubemate, a woman who is very strict and feared at the prison. She treats Piper roughly when they are first assigned to live together due to her obsession with cleanliness and dislike of the messy situations Piper brings with her, but softens to her over time. Miss Claudette was [[spoiler:inducted into forced child labor and sent to the United States to pay off a familial debt. She later ran her own illegal child labor cleaning service. She murdered a customer who beat and abused one of her cleaning girls, which is the basis for the rumor amongst the prisoners that she is in for murder.]]
* {{Badass}}: She's well-respected and feared by other inmates.
* ADayInTheLimelight: "Imaginary Enemies"
* {{Jerkass}}
** JerkWithAHeartOfGold
* MamaBear: As shown in "Imaginary Enemies," [[spoiler:her crime was the murder of a man who had abused one of the girls under her care.]]
* [[spoiler:PutOnABusToHell: When her appeal failed, she attacked a guard in a fit of rage and despair. Attacking a guard is an instant transfer to maximum security - and you never get out.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Red]]
!!Galina 'Red' Reznikov
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reznikov_galina_3801.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"There are rules in this place."'']]
->'''Played By''': Kate Mulgrew
->''"Those Spanish probably won't even eat it, just cut her throat and drink her blood, or something else superstitious. All I wanted was to eat the chicken that is smarter than other chickens and to absorb its power. And make a nice Kiev."''
Red runs the prison's kitchen and is the behind-the-scenes leader of the prison's Caucasian population. She and her husband ran a restaurant and got involved with the Russian mob. Red drew the ire of the mob bosses by punching one of their wives in the chest (rupturing a breast implant) but later impressed the same boss by offering sound advice that allowed her to swiftly climb the ranks of the organization. Red is feared and respected by most of the prisoners, has a lot of pull with Healy, and is considered the de facto leader of the white inmates at the prison.
* ActorAllusion: In one episode, one of the inmates complains that she's not Red's Spock. Mulgrew was a captain in the Star Trek franchise. A promotional poster for the show says "Red runs a tight [[CoolStarship ship]]."
* {{Badass}}
* TheBaroness: Rosa Klebb edition, as the sexless Russian powerhouse of the jail's kitchen - reconstructed prior to her incarceration, where she fails to make the connections with the Mafiya wives, but impresses the men with her cunning.
* ADayInTheLimelight: "Tit Punch".
* DeathGlare: Known to have a look that 'makes [people]'s ass leak'.
* TheDreaded
* HuskyRusskie
* [[spoiler:HoistByHisOwnPetard]]
* [[spoiler:HumiliationConga: Has her status as head of kitchen revoked after Pornstache leaks her smuggling operation to the prison administrators. Made worse when the food under Gloria, the new Latina head of kitchen, turns out to be delicious. Red attempts to sabotage the kitchen operation in her absence but ends up accidentally burning Gina and losing Norma's trust. Finally loses her food privileges in the same way as she subjected Chapman at the beginning of the series.]]
* HypocriticalHumour: Twice in one piece of dialogue. Firstly she tells Piper not to be racist, and instantly says all black inmates are on heroin. Then she says that all Spanish are crazy and superstitious before stating that she wants to eat the smartest chicken to absorb its power.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: She helps junkies beat their addiction, and [[spoiler:is distraught at the death of Tricia.]]
* MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: She's known as 'Red' to both staff and inmates.
* ParentalSubstitute: For Nicky, who calls her "Mama", "Mommy" and when Piper admits confusion, flat-out says she sees Red as "a mother figure", as she's estranged from her own mother.
* TeamMom: A very stern example, but Red serves as a distinctly maternal figure who straightens out and regulates the behavior of several girls by taking them under her wing.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Larry]]
!!Larry Bloom
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bloom_larry_8369.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Jason Biggs
A freelance writer trying to get established, Larry is blindsided at the beginning of the series when his fiancée (then girlfriend) Piper reveals to him her former life as a lesbian who smuggled cash for the drug cartel. Larry is initially very supportive of Piper and gets engaged to her before she goes inside. As the series progresses he begins to cool toward her, becoming upset when he learns that Piper's former lover is in the same prison and she didn't tell him about it.
* ActorAllusion: He refers to a '[[AmericanPie webcam horror and a penis-shaving incident]]' in his past.
* BettyAndVeronica: The 'marriage and kids and normalcy' Betty to Alex's Veronica.
* DeadpanSnarker
* [[spoiler:DisposableFiance]]: During the first season.
* InsecureLoveInterest: He doesn't think very highly of himself.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Like Polly, he was understandable at first in realizing that his problems don't stop mattering just because he's not the one in prison. He gets more like this as time goes on and he realizes that he can benefit from Piper's struggles.
* JerkAss: Pretty early on starts to break little promises he made to Piper, such as not watching MadMen without her. Though he takes a firm step into this direction once he started writing articles and radio interviews about Piper's experience without her consent or awareness, profiting off of her own misery.
* JerkassHasAPoint: He knows Piper has it worse than him, but he's aware that he doesn't live in a vacuum in Piper's absence. He confesses that he feels lonely and frustrated without her, needing just as much of their missed affection as she does and that he shouldn't be considered an asshole for having issues just because he's not the one in prison. He also calls Piper out [[spoiler:for cheating on him while in prison.]]
* NiceGuy: Drops everything to help Piper when they first meet after she'd been bit by a dog. In the earliest episodes, it's clear how much he loves his girlfriend.
* NiceJewishBoy: At first but then the nice starts to slip when his relationship with Piper becomes more strained.
* NotSoAboveItAll
* PlayingAgainstType: For Jason Biggs, enjoying one of his more high-profile roles that isn't a dorky teenager.
* [[spoiler:RomanticRunnerUp]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Pennastucky]]
!!Tiffany "Pennsatucky" Doggett
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/doggett_tiffany_3836.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I'm just a simple woman doin' the work of the Lord."'']]
->'''Played By''': Taryn Manning
A prisoner who goes around preaching about God and healing others. Works with Alex in the laundry room. Often causes problems for Alex and Piper. Pennsatucky was sent to prison after a nurse in the abortion clinic she frequented made a snide comment on how many abortions Pennsatucky had had, and Pennsatucky shot her for "disrespectin'". She converted to Christianity after a Christian law firm earned her less time in prison, believing "God had found her".
* AsTheGoodBookSays: She frequently justifies herself with (often incorrect or out of context) quotes from the Bible.
* BecomingTheMask: Prior to prison (prior even to her trial), Tiffany was a nihilistic meth-head on her fifth abortion who murdered a nurse solely for 'disrespecting her', and was misinterpreted by pro-lifers as one of their own. She quickly bought into her own press and became a legitimate holy warrior.
* [[spoiler:BigBad: Of the first season. She's the most openly antagonistic toward Piper.]]
* ChurchgoingVillain
* CorruptHick
* CrisisOfFaith: A brief one [[spoiler:after being in the psych ward.]]
* DoesNotUnderstandSarcasm
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: While not her first moment on screen, her first episode with extended screen time starts off with her being forced to carry her own cross out of the chapel.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Her fellow prisoners joke she should get new teeth for Christmas. [[spoiler: Gets her old ones punched out by Piper in the season 1 finale.]]
* FromNobodyToNightmare
* TheFundamentalist
* HeteronormativeCrusader: Since being "born again". A lot of her dislike for Alex and Piper stems from this.
* HolierThanThou
* JeanneDArchetype: Subverted, but she sees herself this way. One of the inmates even calls her out for this.
* ManipulativeBitch
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: In early appearances she seems to just be an idiotic fuck-up, and she is... but that doesn't mean she isn't extremely dangerous, as Piper learns.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Aside from being homophobic, she's also fairly racist.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Downplayed and for a certain value of 'good'; Pennsatucky regularly gets fan-mail and had a throng of pro-life extremists at her trial because she murdered an abortion clinic doctor (though not for the reasons they think she did). Note that her admirers are hardly pillars of society.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Taystee]]
!!Tasha "Taystee" Jefferson
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jefferson_tasha_1816.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean place."'']]
->'''Played By''': Danielle Brooks
->''"So there I am, topless, sitting in this bulldozer in like a construction site. BBQ sauce all over my titties, and I’m like,“What the fuck… again?"''
An inmate who is somewhat vocal and sassy, and works as the prison librarian. Was a ward of the state until she was 16.
* BigFun
* BlackAndNerdy: She works i the prison's library (which she can navigate perfectly) and is very protective of Harry Potter books. It's also implied that she read Ulysses (or tried to, at least).
* BurgerFool : In a flashback season 2, we see she held a fast food job in the past.
* DeadpanSnarker
* HiddenDepths: She's a lot smarter than her attitude makes her appear.
** Several characters note she's become an informal legal expert and counsel to the other prisoners. [[spoiler:Subverted when she's paroled, as she has no idea how to use these valuable skills on the outside.]]
* SadClown: Miss Claudette points out that she uses humor to make everyone miss how concerned she is about life outside of prison.
* [[ThoseTwoGuys Those Two Girls]]: Never far away from Poussey.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Poussey.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Crazy Eyes]]
!!Susanna "Crazy Eyes" Warren
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/warren_susanna_2227.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"[[MakesSenseInContext I threw my pie for you!]]"'']]
->'''Played By''': Uzo Aduba
An African-American inmate who helps out Piper in the second episode but then expects reciprocation in ways that make Piper uncomfortable.
* ButchLesbian
* HairTriggerTemper
* HappilyAdopted: Is shown having a conversation with her two Caucasian parents on Thanksgiving, where her parents are shown to be a little overbearing, but are nonetheless shockingly more normal than one might expect.
* HiddenDepths: Apparently has a deep appreciation of Shakespeare. As well as having been shown writing poetry early on. And likely some ballet classes, shown in her (PlayedForLaughs) talent show audition.
** The episode "Tall Men with Feelings" deconstructs her rather comedic role in the show so far, as she talks about how horrible the conditions in the psych ward are, how angry she gets about her own lack of self control, and how much it confuses and hurts her that people call her "Crazy Eyes".
** [[spoiler:It's heavily implied that Crazy Eyes is legitimately insane, and should not be in prison at all.]]
** Her conversation with Piper in the E Block Bathroom.
--> That's called "coping".
* LargeHam
* SuddenlyShouting
* StalkerWithACrush
* {{Yandere}}: A pretty unhinged case, obsessing with Piper to the point of following her everywhere and acting cruelly when spurned.
* [[ManChild Woman Child]]: At first she borders on the [[PsychopathicManchild psychopathic version]], but once the audience gets to know her better it's clear this isn't the case.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Piper]]
!!Piper Elizabeth Chapman
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chapman_piper_1630.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I have been starved out, felt up, teased, stalked, threatened, and called Taylor Swift."'']]
->'''Played By:''' Taylor Schilling
->''"I'm scared that I'm not myself in here. And I'm scared that I am."''
Piper is sent to prison for carrying drug money for her past girlfriend, Alex, and navigates the stresses it creates in her life and with her fiancé Larry. While in prison, Piper endures it all while trying to understand and find her place in the hierarchy, and even runs into Alex. Piper started a line of artisanal soaps prior to leaving for prison.
!!!Tropes
* BiTheWay: She had a passionate relationship with Alex for many years, but gets engaged to Larry before going to prison. She states that she likes, 'attractive people'.
* BreakTheCutie: A sheltered, upper middle class white girl being thrown in a cage with psycho lesbians, murderers, and religious fanatics? It was an inevitability.
* CorruptTheCutie: Much of Piper's change in behavior to that of a typical inmate is a result of her own actions after entering prison.
* DeadpanSnarker
* FishOutOfWater: To say that soap-selling Pablo Neruda- and Robert Frost-studying Piper doesn't fit in to the prison frame of mind easily is... an understatement.
* GranolaGirl: Attempted to be this out of prison, adopting different diets and setting up a soap company.
* GuileHero[=/=]ManipulativeBastard: By her own admission, Piper comes to realize that she is manipulative, but she uses her talents in the pursuit of saving her own ass masterfully, making back cream to smooth things over with Red, re-opening the track after accidentally leading to Watson getting sent to solitary, and all but coercing Fig to get her a marriage form.
* JerkAss: Pretty much, even as our point-of-view character her actions to her friends and fellow inmates remains crass throughout the entire series. She even spends some time commenting on how should feel worse than she does over actions, and fears what this makes her.
* NeverMyFault: Constantly tries to shirk the blame when she gets in trouble. Part of her CharacterDevelopment is her learning to accept responsibility for her actions.
* [[spoiler:NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: the very last scene in season 1 is of a desperate Piper repeatedly punching a downed Pennsatucky in the face after the latter assaulted her with a sharpened wooden cross with intent to kill.]]
* SanitySlippage: Implied; we still have no idea whether the chicken ''or'' the voice Piper heard in SHU are real.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Polly.
* YourCheatingHeart: Starts up a relationship with ex-girlfriend Alex whilst engaged to Larry.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Alex]]
!!Alex Vause
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vause_alexandra_7068.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Heroin was the best girlfriend I ever had."'']]
->'''Played By:''' Creator/LauraPrepon
Alex, Piper's former girlfriend, is serving time in the same prison as Piper. Alex, with a mother that worked four jobs and a washed-up rock star for a father, grew up poor with girls in school bullying her and eventually wound up in the drug business.
!!!Tropes
* AloofDarkHairedGirl: Rarely shows sincere emotion to anyone beyond Piper, has black hair (with blue streaks and occasional Bettie Page bangs in flashbacks), and is described by Larry at their first meeting as 'tall'.
* {{Badass}}
* BettyAndVeronica: The "doing X on a beach in Cambodia with three strangers in drag" Veronica to Larry's Betty.
* DeadpanSnarker: Best summarized with her first non-flashback appearance, where she walks up to Piper after having not seen her for five years in the prison Piper more-or-less believes Alex is responsible for putting her in while Piper is having a breakdown and deadpans, "I'm guessing now's a bad time to say hi."
* DisappearedDad: Her father was a 'rock god' her mother romanticized an encounter with; when she met him as an adult, he mostly talked about how awkward it would have been if they'd accidentally had sex.
* EmbarrassingNickname: Growing up, she was called 'Pigsty' by the AlphaBitch and her posse.
* HiddenDepths: At least from the viewers' perspective. She's initially depicted as a manipulative sociopath who exploited Piper and wrecked her life, and it's a long time before we're given a good reason to think differently, despite how charming she is. "Fucksgiving" implies that she's secretly insecure and probably has abandonment issues, while "Tall Men with Feelings" shows that [[spoiler: Piper really did break her heart]].
* LipstickLesbian
* PrisonRape: She threatens Pennsatucky with this, although she doesn't mean it.
* RaceLift : In Piper Kerman's memoir, the drug runner was a black woman.
* RavenHairIvorySkin: Luschek describes her as 'the hot one' of her and Piper and the dark hair and pale skin combination does undeniably work for her.
* VagueAge : Laura Prepon was 33 when the show aired. Piper, according to the storyline, met Alex "ten years ago," when she was in her early twenties (although Piper was already a college graduate). When Polly meets Alex, she says the latter is thirty and has too much money for her age. Which would make her at least forty by the time of the show, and she's clearly not.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Healy]]
!!Sam Healy
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/healy_9405.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Lesbians can be really dangerous. It's the testosterone."'']]
->'''Played By''': Michael J. Harney
Healy is an older guard and supervisor who acts as prison counselor to Piper and several other inmates. Healy is outspoken against lesbians and has a strange vendetta against them, cautioning Piper at the beginning of the series not to be involved with them. He is initially presented as someone who, though rigid, avoids confrontation and so is referred to as "Samantha" by Caputo, who feels that Healy is not tough enough on the inmates. Healy generally appears weary and often tells the inmates what they want to hear so they will leave him alone. Early on, he appears particularly sympathetic towards Piper and even acts biased in her favor; however, he gradually begins to dislike her the more he hears rumors of her alleged lesbian activities.
!!!Tropes
* AffablyEvil: In the beginning of the season he genuinely comes off as a good-natured man who is looking out for Piper, who happens to have a weird fixation on lesbians. Though he quickly [[FauxAffablyEvil lost this mask]].
* BerserkButton: Homosexuality.
* EvilIsPetty: He [[spoiler:throws Piper in the SHU just for dancing with Alex, albeit in a suggestive fashion.]]
* HeteronormativeCrusader: He has a strong distaste for lesbians (and implicitly, homosexuality in general) and makes it something of a mission to steer inmates away from lesbianism.
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: He seems fairly incompetent and kindly until ''"Fucksgiving"'' when he loses his top and manages to intimidate Pornstache, of all people.
** It's a little tough to determine exactly where Healy goes from being goofy and ignorant to dangerous and hateful, but it's clear that by the last scene in the series, where he [[spoiler:ignores Chapman's cries for help and leaves her to a fight with Pennsatucky that he ''knows'' will likely be fatal]], he's definitely crossed the MoralEventHorizon.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: He's quite openly homophobic, even other staff members in the prison call him out and tell him to see a therapist about this.
* VillainousCrush: Piper thinks he has this for her, and she may be right but his actions could be interpreted in other ways.
* {{Yandere}}: Fixates on Piper to the point of [[spoiler:sending her to solitary for ''dancing'' with another girl]] in a perfect storm of his obsession with her and his broader 'lesbian witch-hunt issues'.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Miss Claudette]]
!!Miss Claudette Pelage
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pelage_claudette_9972.png]]
->'''Played By''': Michelle Hurst
Piper's cubemate, a woman who is very strict and feared at the prison. She treats Piper roughly when they are first assigned to live together due to her obsession with cleanliness and dislike of the messy situations Piper brings with her, but softens to her over time. Miss Claudette was [[spoiler:inducted into forced child labor and sent to the United States to pay off a familial debt. She later ran her own illegal child labor cleaning service. She murdered a customer who beat and abused one of her cleaning girls, which is the basis for the rumor amongst the prisoners that she is in for murder.]]
* {{Badass}}: She's well-respected and feared by other inmates.
* ADayInTheLimelight: "Imaginary Enemies"
* {{Jerkass}}
** JerkWithAHeartOfGold
* MamaBear: As shown in "Imaginary Enemies," [[spoiler:her crime was the murder of a man who had abused one of the girls under her care.]]
* [[spoiler:PutOnABusToHell: When her appeal failed, she attacked a guard in a fit of rage and despair. Attacking a guard is an instant transfer to maximum security - and you never get out.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Red]]
!!Galina 'Red' Reznikov
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reznikov_galina_3801.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"There are rules in this place."'']]
->'''Played By''': Kate Mulgrew
->''"Those Spanish probably won't even eat it, just cut her throat and drink her blood, or something else superstitious. All I wanted was to eat the chicken that is smarter than other chickens and to absorb its power. And make a nice Kiev."''
Red runs the prison's kitchen and is the behind-the-scenes leader of the prison's Caucasian population. She and her husband ran a restaurant and got involved with the Russian mob. Red drew the ire of the mob bosses by punching one of their wives in the chest (rupturing a breast implant) but later impressed the same boss by offering sound advice that allowed her to swiftly climb the ranks of the organization. Red is feared and respected by most of the prisoners, has a lot of pull with Healy, and is considered the de facto leader of the white inmates at the prison.
* ActorAllusion: In one episode, one of the inmates complains that she's not Red's Spock. Mulgrew was a captain in the Star Trek franchise. A promotional poster for the show says "Red runs a tight [[CoolStarship ship]]."
* {{Badass}}
* TheBaroness: Rosa Klebb edition, as the sexless Russian powerhouse of the jail's kitchen - reconstructed prior to her incarceration, where she fails to make the connections with the Mafiya wives, but impresses the men with her cunning.
* ADayInTheLimelight: "Tit Punch".
* DeathGlare: Known to have a look that 'makes [people]'s ass leak'.
* TheDreaded
* HuskyRusskie
* [[spoiler:HoistByHisOwnPetard]]
* [[spoiler:HumiliationConga: Has her status as head of kitchen revoked after Pornstache leaks her smuggling operation to the prison administrators. Made worse when the food under Gloria, the new Latina head of kitchen, turns out to be delicious. Red attempts to sabotage the kitchen operation in her absence but ends up accidentally burning Gina and losing Norma's trust. Finally loses her food privileges in the same way as she subjected Chapman at the beginning of the series.]]
* HypocriticalHumour: Twice in one piece of dialogue. Firstly she tells Piper not to be racist, and instantly says all black inmates are on heroin. Then she says that all Spanish are crazy and superstitious before stating that she wants to eat the smartest chicken to absorb its power.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: She helps junkies beat their addiction, and [[spoiler:is distraught at the death of Tricia.]]
* MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: She's known as 'Red' to both staff and inmates.
* ParentalSubstitute: For Nicky, who calls her "Mama", "Mommy" and when Piper admits confusion, flat-out says she sees Red as "a mother figure", as she's estranged from her own mother.
* TeamMom: A very stern example, but Red serves as a distinctly maternal figure who straightens out and regulates the behavior of several girls by taking them under her wing.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Larry]]
!!Larry Bloom
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bloom_larry_8369.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Jason Biggs
A freelance writer trying to get established, Larry is blindsided at the beginning of the series when his fiancée (then girlfriend) Piper reveals to him her former life as a lesbian who smuggled cash for the drug cartel. Larry is initially very supportive of Piper and gets engaged to her before she goes inside. As the series progresses he begins to cool toward her, becoming upset when he learns that Piper's former lover is in the same prison and she didn't tell him about it.
* ActorAllusion: He refers to a '[[AmericanPie webcam horror and a penis-shaving incident]]' in his past.
* BettyAndVeronica: The 'marriage and kids and normalcy' Betty to Alex's Veronica.
* DeadpanSnarker
* [[spoiler:DisposableFiance]]: During the first season.
* InsecureLoveInterest: He doesn't think very highly of himself.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Like Polly, he was understandable at first in realizing that his problems don't stop mattering just because he's not the one in prison. He gets more like this as time goes on and he realizes that he can benefit from Piper's struggles.
* JerkAss: Pretty early on starts to break little promises he made to Piper, such as not watching MadMen without her. Though he takes a firm step into this direction once he started writing articles and radio interviews about Piper's experience without her consent or awareness, profiting off of her own misery.
* JerkassHasAPoint: He knows Piper has it worse than him, but he's aware that he doesn't live in a vacuum in Piper's absence. He confesses that he feels lonely and frustrated without her, needing just as much of their missed affection as she does and that he shouldn't be considered an asshole for having issues just because he's not the one in prison. He also calls Piper out [[spoiler:for cheating on him while in prison.]]
* NiceGuy: Drops everything to help Piper when they first meet after she'd been bit by a dog. In the earliest episodes, it's clear how much he loves his girlfriend.
* NiceJewishBoy: At first but then the nice starts to slip when his relationship with Piper becomes more strained.
* NotSoAboveItAll
* PlayingAgainstType: For Jason Biggs, enjoying one of his more high-profile roles that isn't a dorky teenager.
* [[spoiler:RomanticRunnerUp]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Pennastucky]]
!!Tiffany "Pennsatucky" Doggett
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/doggett_tiffany_3836.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I'm just a simple woman doin' the work of the Lord."'']]
->'''Played By''': Taryn Manning
A prisoner who goes around preaching about God and healing others. Works with Alex in the laundry room. Often causes problems for Alex and Piper. Pennsatucky was sent to prison after a nurse in the abortion clinic she frequented made a snide comment on how many abortions Pennsatucky had had, and Pennsatucky shot her for "disrespectin'". She converted to Christianity after a Christian law firm earned her less time in prison, believing "God had found her".
* AsTheGoodBookSays: She frequently justifies herself with (often incorrect or out of context) quotes from the Bible.
* BecomingTheMask: Prior to prison (prior even to her trial), Tiffany was a nihilistic meth-head on her fifth abortion who murdered a nurse solely for 'disrespecting her', and was misinterpreted by pro-lifers as one of their own. She quickly bought into her own press and became a legitimate holy warrior.
* [[spoiler:BigBad: Of the first season. She's the most openly antagonistic toward Piper.]]
* ChurchgoingVillain
* CorruptHick
* CrisisOfFaith: A brief one [[spoiler:after being in the psych ward.]]
* DoesNotUnderstandSarcasm
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: While not her first moment on screen, her first episode with extended screen time starts off with her being forced to carry her own cross out of the chapel.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Her fellow prisoners joke she should get new teeth for Christmas. [[spoiler: Gets her old ones punched out by Piper in the season 1 finale.]]
* FromNobodyToNightmare
* TheFundamentalist
* HeteronormativeCrusader: Since being "born again". A lot of her dislike for Alex and Piper stems from this.
* HolierThanThou
* JeanneDArchetype: Subverted, but she sees herself this way. One of the inmates even calls her out for this.
* ManipulativeBitch
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: In early appearances she seems to just be an idiotic fuck-up, and she is... but that doesn't mean she isn't extremely dangerous, as Piper learns.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Aside from being homophobic, she's also fairly racist.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Downplayed and for a certain value of 'good'; Pennsatucky regularly gets fan-mail and had a throng of pro-life extremists at her trial because she murdered an abortion clinic doctor (though not for the reasons they think she did). Note that her admirers are hardly pillars of society.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Taystee]]
!!Tasha "Taystee" Jefferson
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jefferson_tasha_1816.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean place."'']]
->'''Played By''': Danielle Brooks
->''"So there I am, topless, sitting in this bulldozer in like a construction site. BBQ sauce all over my titties, and I’m like,“What the fuck… again?"''
An inmate who is somewhat vocal and sassy, and works as the prison librarian. Was a ward of the state until she was 16.
* BigFun
* BlackAndNerdy: She works i the prison's library (which she can navigate perfectly) and is very protective of Harry Potter books. It's also implied that she read Ulysses (or tried to, at least).
* BurgerFool : In a flashback season 2, we see she held a fast food job in the past.
* DeadpanSnarker
* HiddenDepths: She's a lot smarter than her attitude makes her appear.
** Several characters note she's become an informal legal expert and counsel to the other prisoners. [[spoiler:Subverted when she's paroled, as she has no idea how to use these valuable skills on the outside.]]
* SadClown: Miss Claudette points out that she uses humor to make everyone miss how concerned she is about life outside of prison.
* [[ThoseTwoGuys Those Two Girls]]: Never far away from Poussey.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Poussey.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Crazy Eyes]]
!!Susanna "Crazy Eyes" Warren
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/warren_susanna_2227.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"[[MakesSenseInContext I threw my pie for you!]]"'']]
->'''Played By''': Uzo Aduba
An African-American inmate who helps out Piper in the second episode but then expects reciprocation in ways that make Piper uncomfortable.
* ButchLesbian
* HairTriggerTemper
* HappilyAdopted: Is shown having a conversation with her two Caucasian parents on Thanksgiving, where her parents are shown to be a little overbearing, but are nonetheless shockingly more normal than one might expect.
* HiddenDepths: Apparently has a deep appreciation of Shakespeare. As well as having been shown writing poetry early on. And likely some ballet classes, shown in her (PlayedForLaughs) talent show audition.
** The episode "Tall Men with Feelings" deconstructs her rather comedic role in the show so far, as she talks about how horrible the conditions in the psych ward are, how angry she gets about her own lack of self control, and how much it confuses and hurts her that people call her "Crazy Eyes".
** [[spoiler:It's heavily implied that Crazy Eyes is legitimately insane, and should not be in prison at all.]]
** Her conversation with Piper in the E Block Bathroom.
--> That's called "coping".
* LargeHam
* SuddenlyShouting
* StalkerWithACrush
* {{Yandere}}: A pretty unhinged case, obsessing with Piper to the point of following her everywhere and acting cruelly when spurned.
* [[ManChild Woman Child]]: At first she borders on the [[PsychopathicManchild psychopathic version]], but once the audience gets to know her better it's clear this isn't the case.
[[/folder]]
