1x12 Fool Me Once

This show is so good!

This episode really plays with your mind when it comes to your capacity for empathy and understanding people and forgiveness. When Pennsatucky starts getting flashbacks, you're like "Oh, this is going to be where we get the flashback that shows that she used to be a good person", and it's just like... nope. But it's still like, you want to try to see if you can at least sort of still consider her a human being (like that one nice guard lady says to the boss - note the thematic connection since this episode is about reminding us that each of these characters is a) a human being and b) a criminal) and she is actually being nice to Piper, and well, the thing about religion is it really is about forgiveness, and so if I'm a good person, I should be able to forgive someone, even if they've committed a crime, if they're truly repenting? And she sort of is for most of the episode and it's actually sort of nice, because, well, people have the ability to do horrible things but also do good things. And then at the end if you're feeling good about her at all, it whips right back around to bad. It's such a rollercoaster, all in one episode. And yet, paradoxically, despite her doing horrible things and vowing to do another one, she is still somewhat more redeemed than she was in past episodes...?

The drama with Daya and her boyfriend felt a bit forced. Like, I get why he's upset, but it's a bit contrived that she never told him about the plan in advance and that she dealt with telling him so badly. I can see why it's realistic though. He's appalled that she's not appalled. But she was appalled at first, she's just had time to get over it and is focusing only on the success. I do hope they'll make up though... hopefully she gets a chance to explain better... I was terrified he was going to expose her or side with Mendez, but he did not.

The drama with Piper and Alex is super good and is a great example of drama that doesn't feel forced at all. Such a complex situation and I liked Piper's reaction to learning about Alex's lie. Super sad for Piper's roommate... doesn't get the appeal so she throws away everything. Relatable. I too have a tendency to want to throw everything in my life away if one thing doesn't go my way.