Where Did ‘Orange Is The New Black’ Leave Off? A Recap Ahead Of The Season 5 Premiere

The time has come to dive back into another action-packed season of “Orange Is The New Black.” Before Season 5 premieres on Netflix, let’s take a moment to recall how Season 4 left off.

The episode, titled “Toast Can Never Be Bread Again,” opened with a flashback of Poussey Washington’s (Samira Wiley) pre-prison life. When viewers returned to Litchfield, guards — specifically Captain Piscatella (Brad William Henke) — were trying to cover up what happened. Caputo (Nick Sandow) wasn’t having it and sent the guard home, after he claimed Poussey was “extremely violent” and the protest of her wrongful death was anything but peaceful.

Read: Everything You Need To Know About Season 5 Of ‘Orange Is The New Black’

Hours after her initial shooting, Poussey’s body was still lying in the cafeteria she died in. Bayley (Alan Aisenberg) was sheltered in a supply closet, where he revealed to Healey (Michael Harney) the truth about what went down. He admitted that he was wrong, but it was too late.

As for the inmates, many had grown restless as Litchfield remained on lockdown— especially those who were close with Poussey. Taystee (Danielle Brooks) mouthed off to a guard who refused to share any information about the next steps. Big Cindy (Adrienne C. Moore) interfered, but quickly became angry herself when the guard showed little to no apathy.

Watson (Vicky Jeudy) couldn’t face her bunk, where Poussey’s bed lay empty. She, Taystee, Big Cindy and Crazy Eyes (Uzo Aduba) gathered in one bunk to grieve together. Struggling with her guilt, Crazy Eyes attempted to bury herself in books to learn “what it feels like to not breathe.”

Everyone at MCC, the corporate company that purchased Litchfield, was working to find an angle to cover up Poussey’s death. They dug into her medical records to find a pre-existing condition, searched for a history of violence in her prison record and even looked to her past. They hoped that in doing so, they’d find their scapegoat.

Viewers returned to Poussey’s trip to New York City, where she got separated from friends and found herself at an over-the-top party, complete with drag queens and dancing. She eventually made friends and asked to borrow one of the queens’ phones, hitched a ride with a bunch of monks on bicycles. and wound up at the Hudson River overlooking the city.

In the present, her prison friends had set up a shiva for her in the yard. Soso (Kimiko Glenn) turned to hooch, which Poussey was known to make, to cope with her loss. Meanwhile, Crazy Eyes was still committed to her quest to crush herself with heavy books.

Her search for enough titles to stack on top of herself to make breathing difficult lead her to the library, where Poussey once worked. While combing through the shelves, one came crashing down on top of her. She landed in medical right next to Kukudio (Emily Althaus), whom she’d previously broken up with.

Everyone in Litchfield was grieving in their own, unique way. Red (Kate Mulgrew) gathered a few of her girls to read a book Poussey had given her, in the hopes that she’d be able to distract them from the looming riot. Meanwhile, Alex (Laura Prepon) confided in Piper about notes with the name of the guard she’d killed and dismembered on them.

“He was a person,” she told Piper (Taylor Schilling) after Poussey’s death. “No one should die without a name.”

Poussey’s best friend Taystee was trying to busy herself with work in Mr. Caputo’s office. He approached her to discuss what happened, but the conversation didn’t go as he planned. Taystee felt he was trying to get her to justify her friend’s death, which she refused to do in any way.

“What are you asking me, if she deserved to die?” she questioned.

Even after talking to Taystee, Caputo refused to condemn Poussey’s killing. He defied MCC, painting Bayley as an innocent guard who made a mistake. Caputo revealed that, as is often the case in real life, Bayley would be suspended before returning to work at a later date.

Armed with a new sense of rage, Taystee returned to her bunk to gather her girls. She called on the women of Litchfield to come together and rise up against the guards who were abusing their power. They took to the hallways, sweeping Piper, Alex, and Judy King (Blair Brown) into the madness as it ensued.

Officer Humphrey (Michael Torpey) pulled out a gun, but Maritza (Diane Guerrero) saved the day. She pushed him, forcing the gun to slip and wind up in Dayanara’s (Dascha Polanco) hands.

The Season 5 “OITNB” trailer suggests the show will pick up on the exact moment it left off. An early 60 second preview, as well as the full length trailer show Daya pointing the gun at two guards as the rest of the prison population urges her to pull the trigger. It’s unclear from either clip whether she does it or not.

Stars of the Netflix original series have teased what’s to come in various interviews. Schilling, 32, recently told CNN the fifth season of “OITNB” was going to be politically charged and extremely relevant to current events. Schilling added that there was something “nice” about taking on such a project.

“Everything takes on more importance,” she said. “It was a nice confluence of art and life. In our own lives there was a lot of chaos, and in this prison there was a tremendous amount of chaos.”

Wiley also spoke at length about the political topics embraced on “OITNB,” telling The Hollywood Reporter she was happy to bring Black Lives Matter and their platform to the show. She explained that tackling timely topics in the way they did in Season 4 brought real life issues to the living rooms of people “who might not have a personal relationship” with the matter. Wiley, 30, said that seeing these stories play out with your favorite TV character has a different effect on some than seeing it on the news.

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“There are people who are watching television who might not have a personal relationship with Black Lives Matter, but they know Poussey,” she explained to THR. “What I’ve been reading online from people is just this profound sadness, something that they can’t shake away. And that is exactly what Jenji [Kohan, the show’s creator] is wanting people to feel, she wants people to not be able to shake this off.”

“OITNB” Season 5 begins streaming on Netflix Friday, Jun 9. For more information about when and how to watch, click HERE.