The Biggest Villains in Orange is the New Black

By Evil Jenji

How many villains does Orange is the New Black have? Many! We have several among the guards. Classic villains like Vee and Piscatella, villains who humanized themselves throughout history like Doggett. Villains that even we sympathize with, like Luschek. But the vast majority of OITNB’s villains, today we see that they are just people. That there is a bit of villain in each of us, probably equal to kindness. Orange’s villains became humanized, came out of stories like mine and yours, with their traumas and difficulties. I’ve made a list of some people I consider villains in at least part of their history. It’s not in order of importance, many of you won’t understand why some characters made the list. You can add who you think is out, use the comments for that!

The Guards of Orange is the New Black

Much of Orange’s villainy is among the guards. It may not always be obvious, but many of them just reflect their own limitations, to the point of killing for example. I’ll start with someone I don’t even consider a villain, but who might as well be on this list for being responsible for one of the most painful deaths in the series: Baxter Bayley! responsible for Poussey’s death. Killed out of fear, inexperience, not always a villain is composed of 100% explicit evil! He is one of those cases, he has a weak character. People with fingers do absurd things just to defend themselves. The point is that they assess wrong, your safety instincts react too quickly, and presto, you got it wrong! Surely you know someone like Bayley! But come on, starting with the guards!

James Coates

Coates developed an inappropriate relationship with an inmate, Tiffany Doggett (Taryn Manning). Inappropriate means rape, bullying. Even though seemingly harmless, it did. Because he was raised that way, is he sexist or was it by accident? Never mind, they are excuses from a violent mind.

CO Hellman

CO Hellman, the power-hungry and bored guard who uses women for fun. In the first episode alone, Hellman beats Daya (Dascha Polanco) and Taystee (Danielle Brooks). That said, he’s friends with some of the other inmates because he’s involved in the drug import business. He’s a classic villain, Orange only has one on the same level as this one. There is no humanity in Hellman. We all want to get rid of it. But what would the good guys be without the bad guys, right? The writers have put much of the bad stuff from the last few seasons on his back. And it worked!

Joel Luschek

Honestly, what is Luschek’s problem? It’s hard to discern his true feelings behind his listless facade. He has a weak character, the kind one who fucks his partners out of fear, so as not to get hurt. Luschek developed some real relationships with prisoners based on mutual respect – such as with Nicky (Natasha Lyonne). But he also sent her to maximum security prison. Luschek’s laziness and ultimate carelessness ruined any genuine friendship in his life.

Madison Murphy

“Badison” Murphy emerged as the truer villain of Barb and Carol Denning’s (Mackenzie Phillips and Henny Russell, respectively) sidekicks in season six. Though each cell block boss had No. 2, Badison never veered from being a one-note villain with an inferiority complex, while Daddy (Vicci Martinez) emerged as a much more complicated and layered character. Badison and her her Boston accent’s sole purpose of her, it seemed, was to get under everyone’s skin and, kudos to the actress who played her, it worked.

Tiffany ‘Pennsatucky’ Doggett

Originally positioned as a rabid and rabid junkie, Pennsatucky soon became a fleshy figure who had been through a lot and was looking to atone for his sins. The nun who kills, who hated gays, who denounced everything that happened, and what didn’t, just to sow hatred. It was perhaps the biggest arc of the seven seasons. Each season was a bigger step towards the end.
The final season was tragic for Doggett, it turned into one of the best parts of the entire series.

Linda Ferguson

Even though she spends time behind bars and gets to experience Litchfield life as a prisoner — thanks to a mistake and Caputo’s (Nick Sandow) silence during the season five riot — Linda has unabashedly no interest in prisoners’ rights. After being mistakenly locked up, developing a relationship with Big Boo (Lea DeLaria) and lying about who she is, Linda uses the mistake to better her own position with the rebranded corporation that owns Litchfield, PolyCon. Linda provides for enjoyable moments of comedy all the while never veering from who she is: In the season six finale, she reveals herself as the true face of the for-profit prison when she unveils new plans for immigration detention centers.

Sam Healy

Maybe it was the guy from Litchfiled who got the writers’ white flag; We need to tell your story! And it was cool. Mr. Healy is a complicated guy! Piper defines him very well. Remember?

For the first three seasons, Healy personified the ineptitude of correction officers. His first moments of sympathy for the inmates in his charge were often overshadowed by his backward views of the world and decisions based on white privilege and a sexist view. Later seasons, however, revealed that Healy was more a lost man than a joke, and a much more complex character who had a history of mental illness. His admission to a psychiatric ward following a near-death experience results in a cameo in a satisfying full circle in season six. Maybe it was the guy from Litchfiled who got the writers’ white flag; We need to tell his story! And it was cool. Mr. Healy is a complicated guy!

Stella Carlin

Yes Stella is bad! accept friends! While true Vauseman fans haven’t welcomed Stella’s arrival, Season 3’s new prisoner has shaken the relationship at the center of the show and has become a provocative love interest for Piper (Taylor Schilling). Ultimately, Stella cheated on Piper and protagonist OITNB pushed her to Max, where she also had an impact on Nicky Nichols (Natasha Lyonne), but the courtship provided a hurdle Piper and Alex needed to overcome before they became engaged – and, finally getting married – in the sixth season.

Natalie Figueroa

For you to classify Fig as a villain, you’ll have to remember the first seasons of Orange is the New Black. Fig was presented as the corrupt face of the system, particularly when she botched her job as director of Litchfield and left an embezzlement scheme. But as she continued to return in subsequent seasons and develop a growing relationship with director Joe Caputo (Nick Sandow), Fig has emerged as an enemy that viewers love to hate. She traded some of her villainous skin with her compromising attitude in the mutiny’s failed negotiations, but it was in season six when she really revealed herself more as an empathetic counterpoint to MCC/PolyCon’s Linda. Fig would definitely be a character I would bring to the spinoff, we wouldn’t be able to talk about corruption without her.

Polly Harper

Who needs a friend like Polly! In the beginning, she is best friends with Piper. When Piper goes to prison for the first time, Polly seems to support her. Together they have a business creating handmade soaps and beauty products. Piper’s plan was to continue running the company with Polly while she served her sentence. It started with her giving up on the soap company without consulting Piper. She quickly began to criticize everyone in prison and everything about her, including Piper. She then slept with Piper’s fiance Larry and ended up leaving her husband to be with him. In the end, they are happy together and Polly is pregnant with another baby. They even announced that Jenji Kohan would be interested in a spinoff with the couple. How could I? In my opinion these are the stories with less depth and more obviousness. And mostly, nobody likes the characters!

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Galina ‘Red’ Reznikov

A sympathetic character from day one, Red took an objective and loving approach to everything she did. Why did I put her on this list? Because especially in the first season she used the power, of being the “owner” of the kitchen, as a form of power and leadership through revenge. Remember Piper’s tampon sandwich? You were either with her or against her. The truth is that despite this, she was a much loved character. Perhaps the wisest, of the best phrases, with a very peculiar ethics. She smuggled in everything but drugs. Her interactions with the crowd of characters were some of the best parts of the show, and her fall into the final season only increased how strong she was on the show. Her backstory was fascinating and, overall, she was one of the most convincing inmates.

Desi Piscatella

A corrections officer that comes to the prison in Season 4, Piscatella’s attempt to get the rioters under control leads to Poussey’s death. Fans hated Piscatella for this action alone as Poussey was beloved and her death was senseless and avoidable. Piscatella’s brutality continues throughout the season and into Season 5.

He is homosexual so the ladies’ usually tactics of flirting and offering sexual favors don’t work on him. In the end, he is accidentally shot in the head by CERT officer. In death, Piscatella faced no consequences for his actions and had a quick death. Even worse, Tasha Jefferson (a.k.a. Taystee) was charged and convicted with his murder. She faced the death penalty and was sentenced to life in prison for a crime she didn’t commit.

George Mendez “Pornstache”

Nicknamed “Porn Stash” by the inmates, Mendez is cruel to the inmates. He brings in drugs and his supply and pressure are large contributing factors to Tricia’s overdose and death. He extorts and pressures other inmates, especially Sophia and Red’s “family.” Daya is impregnated (willingly) by C.O. Bennett. In an attempt to get him fired and arrested, Daya entices an affair with Mendez and makes him believe that the baby is his.

The Denning Sisters

Barb and Carol are bad, they spent most of their lives in prison for killing their own sister out of jealousy. It is perhaps one of OITNB’s most amazing stories. So rich that even Vauseman fans would love to see a Spinoff tell more about how it all happened. Their decades-long rivalry became the backdrop for season six, which moved to the maximum security prison on the hill and featured a smaller group of the show’s massive cast. After a long season of building a cell block gang war disguised as a kickball game, the Max bosses ended up killing each other. In his absence, the infighting between cell blocks ceases and the inmates have fun in the afternoon, showing once again how the system is the enemy. Barb and Carol, who had revealing backstories, found a fitting ending to a season that tackled white privilege when it was revealed that the childhood story they each claimed as their own was actually a tale told to them by a black waitress with whom they worked before their incarceration.

He does a brief stint in prison where he continues to believe that Daya’s baby is his and that she’s in love with him, even after the truth comes out. Mendez’s mother adopts the baby and in Season 7, Mendez is seen being a father to the baby he believes is his daughter. He is never held accountable for bringing drugs into the prison or his many other acts of brutality and gets to have a nice life at his mother’s house with Daya’s baby while she’s in prison.

Vee

The life and death of Yvonne Parker, also known as “Vee”, had by far the greatest impact on Litchfield and his inmates. (Who didn’t applaud when Rosa pulled off the road to flatten Vee with the prison van?) Her one-season reign nearly destroyed the Ghetto Dorm girls, including the central friendship between Poussey and Vee’s adopted daughter Taystee. In its wake, the women emerged as the united family that propelled the next three seasons. But Vee’s betrayals as Taystee’s manipulative mentor continue to haunt the main character, who is once again facing a hopeless situation and not sure who to trust after the bleak outcome of season six. She was the only villain in the series that was never humanized, so maybe I can define her as the greatest villain of all OITNB characters. She was always the bad, manipulative girl.

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The Biggest Villains in Orange is the New Black