'Orange Is The New Black' Season 6 Is Almost Here, So It's Time For A Refresher

We are just one month away from a brand new season of Orange Is the New Black, which means that now is the time for fans to start refreshing their memories on everything that went down when we last checked in with Litchfield Penitentiary. It has been over a year since Season 5 premiered, and chances are that you probably binged the whole thing in a matter of days, right? If you are having trouble remembering how did Orange Is the New Black Season 5 end, then read on to refresh your memory on last season so you will be ready to start binging Season 6 when it drops on July 27.

The Riot

Season 5 of Orange Is the New Black stands apart as unique in that it is entirely set within one, tense three-day period, during which Litchfield Penitentiary flips upside down in a prison riot. The season picks up immediately where Season 4 left off: with Daya holding a gun to abusive corrections officer Humphrey's head right after learning that Poussey has been killed. Rather than kill Humps, Daya shoots him in the leg and signals the beginning of a prison-wide riot. Taystee, Black Cindy, Janae, and Alison use the opportunity to force Caputo to record an actual statement about how Poussey was killed, and Piper and Alex decide to help Linda by disguising her as a fellow inmate.

The Hostages

Now holding the only gun in the prison, the inmates tie up all of the corrections officers and take them hostage, forcing them to strip to their underwear and then take a photo. They plan to use their hostages to bargain for prison reform, making a list of demands that include better food, healthcare, and education programs at Litchfield, along with CO Bayley's arrest for the murder of Poussey.

The Gun

It becomes more and more difficult to hold the COs hostage, though, especially when Daya can no longer find the gun. She has to pretend that she still holds the power in Litchfield until meth heads Leanne and Angie find the gun in Gloria's pants and take over. Of course, they waste no time in abusing their newfound power by forcing the guards to perform a talent show for them.

Eventually, Leanne and Angie find out that Pennsatucky is hiding CO Charlie Coates in the laundry room, and plan to take him hostage as well, but Pennsatucky manages to grab the gun and gives it to Coates, allowing him to escape.

Piscatella's Break-In

Throughout the riot, Red has begun inadvertently taking amphetamines, and it heightens her rivalry and hatred of CO Piscatella, who is on the outside of Litchfield during the riot. Piscatella joins an emergency response team, but grows fed up with the group's lack of action. Red begins to send him texts from Humphrey's phone, goading him to break into the prison. Unable to convince his team to join him, Piscatella breaks in alone and begins to round up all of Red's closest allies as hostages in a closet. But unbeknownst to Piscatella, the closet he has been hiding all his captives in includes a secret doorway to Frieda's underground "bunker." Frieda knocks Piscatella out and ties him up, as the newly freed group of inmates decide what to do with him.

The Riot's End

After the hostage guards manage to escape with Gloria's help (having been promised time to see her hospitalized son), the waiting officers finally storm into Litchfield and start removing the inmates. Leanne and Ang are able to burn their prison records before getting captures, and despite Linda's claims that she is not an inmate, she is lumped in with the rest. As the recaptured prisoners are loaded onto buses, besties Maritza and Flaca are separated.

The only inmates that were not removed are the ones still underground in Frieda's hidden bunker, namely: Alex, Piper, Taystee, Nicky, Red, Black Cindy, Frieda, Suzanne, Blanca, and Gloria. After Caputo reveals the existence of an underground pool beneath the prison, the chief of the officers orders that they recapture the finale inmates using deadly force if necessary, since they may be planning a sneak attack. The final shot of the season is the remaining inmates awaiting the riot officers in the bunker.

So, what is going to happen to the bunker group!? Season 6 lands on Netflix on July 27.