Recap / Orange Is the New Black S03E01 "Mother's Day"

"Mother's Day" is the first episode of the third season of Orange Is the New Black.

Following an unspecified amount of time after the second season finale, things are starting to change for the inmates at the new "kinder and gentler" Litchfield. Alex is back and bruised after violating her probation, Red is back from the medical facility following getting "slocked" by Vee, and the whole of the prison is preparing for Mother's Day; Caputo has authorized special visitation for relatives, including a children's fair on the grounds. Meanwhile, Nicky and Boo are trying to find a way to sell the heroin they stole from Vee.

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This episode provides examples of the following tropes:

• Comically Missing the Point: One of the inmates almost strips naked while her group is attempting to remove a spell with an invisible ball of energy. Being Literal-Minded, she then follows it up with "I thought we didn't believe in Christ".
• Comically Small Bribe: Pennsatucky gives one to God, of all people. She marks graves for her aborted babies and "pours one out" from her Mountain Dew in the hope they get to heaven. Except she only pours out a capful between all 5 markers, and chugs the rest of the bottle for herself.
• Dropped a Bridge on Her: Miss Rosa is said to have driven the van into a quarry, fulfilling her wish to go out with a bang on her own terms.
• In Harmony with Nature: Wiccan inmates are now allowed nighttime walks during the full moon to commune with nature, thanks to Caputo.
• Innocent Bigot: Morello makes the mistake of addressing the transgender Sophia as a "lady-man" while she's doing her hair.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The ongoing "voodoo"/bruja being practiced in the kitchen.
• Meaningful Background Event: The whole time Aleida and Daya's family are visiting, you can see them scratching and one of the little girls picking at her brother's hair. This leads into the bed bug issues that occur throughout the season.
• Non Sequitur : Flores' speech about Tequila the goldfish, in the middle of a discussion about Mother's Day.
• Odd Friendship: Boo and Pennsatucky. Boo makes Tucky feel better about her five abortions by telling her that they would have grown up to be "meth-head white trash pieces of shit."
• Parental Neglect:
  • One inmate is seen using her baby as a drug mule and leaving her on the ground next to a port-a-potty alone in order to snort said drug. And Aleida is shown once again not to care much about her children.
    Aleida: Where is what's her name? The little one?
  • Pennsatucky's mother forces her daughter to drink an entire bottle of Mountain Dew before their appointment with a social worker, so she can get more money.
  • We met Nicky's mother earlier, but we see her idea of Mother's Day is to have a strained lunch with Grandma then head to the spa.
• Shout-Out:
  • Taystee comparing her friend's demise to Cedric Diggory from Harry Potter and The Goblet Of Fire.
• The Bus Came Back: Alex, who only appeared in a few episodes in Season 2.
• Undying Loyalty: Crazy-Eyes is still loyally supporting Vee even though she's no longer present.