This week, everything is Orange is the New Black and nothing hurts. Check out all the impressive ladies currently ruling Litchfield Prison that we felt deserved the Hypable Honors treatment.

One of the best parts of summer is marathoning shows you haven’t had a chance to keep up with all season, or in the case of Orange is the New Black, shows that just reappeared in your life. The ladies of Litchfield have truly upped the ante in their first 2 seasons, and it’s about time we took the time to highlight a few of our favorites.

Next week we will be back to our regularly scheduled ‘Hypable Honors’ program and take a look at all the currently airing shows, but we thought it only fitting to take a chance to give these ladies their due.

Hypable Honors

Character: Galina ‘Red’ Reznikov

Actor: Kate Mulgrew

Red had one of the hardest journeys to begin season 2, as her former empire had literally been stolen out from under her. Everything she knew, and everything she prized at Litchfield was gone. She had lost her Litchfield family, as her friends all felt betrayed, she had lost her kitchen, and most devastating of all, she had lost her mojo.

Red spent the majority of the season trying to drag herself up off the dirt as she rebuilt everything that she had lost: her parade of contraband, a loyal band of followers, and a new domain to call her own. Throughout season 2, Kate Mulgrew managed to keep Red’s spirit alive and well, even in the most dejected of moments. It was nice to see Red rise back to a position of prominence, and it was even sweeter to see her determination after that disastrous run in with Vee late in the season.

Kate Mulgrew did an amazing job of portraying the emotional roller coaster Red survived this season, and we cannot wait to see what season 3 has in store for her character next. We’re sure she’s up for the challenge.

Character: Poussey Washington

Actor: Samira Wiley

If you started Orange is the New Black season 2 without loving Poussey, we’re pretty damn sure that’s not how you ended it. Season 1 had her and Tastee bringing us to tears again and again, sometimes tears of joy and sometimes tears of heartbreak. Season 2 saw them mostly separated due to Vee’s intrusion in their lives. We were never sure why Vee saw it necessary to continue to hit Poussey with a barrage of evil tactics, but if that was the only way to ensure that we got a touching moment as Tastee and Poussey reunited in the library, then so be it.

Most impressive, in addition to her constantly standing up to Vee, was Poussey’s backstory, which shed some much needed light on exactly how Poussey’s life outside of Litchfield had turned her into the woman we know inside. It was a truly tragic story, and watching her break down in front of her father’s homophobic superior with a gun tucked in her waistband broke our hearts. Her loving father stepped in to stop the confrontation before it could get any uglier, though, and brought tears of pride to our eyes as he declared, “Thanks, but she’s fine.”

The Best of the Rest

Character: Suzanne ‘Crazy Eyes’ Warren

Actor: Uzo Aduba

While most of the characters carried on with their usual ways of life in Litchfield, season 2 brought a significant change to Suzanne. Crazy Eyes spent much of the first season as the funny loner never truly belonging anywhere, but when Vee stepped in and turned Suzanne into her enforcer we saw just how desperate Suzanne was for that type of closeness.

Vee may have been manipulating her all season, but it was clear that Suzanne was happy to be included for once. The kinship brought a fierceness out of her we had seen before, but never with such purpose. As happy as we all are to see Vee get her comeuppance in the finale, we can’t help but wonder what her absence will mean for Crazy Eyes and Uzo Aduba. Hopefully the rest of her season 2 family will continue to include her because we cannot imagine how devastated she would be to have to slip back into her loner ways again.

Character: Vee Parker

Actor: Lorraine Toussaint

With a prison full of felons, it’s hard to believe that you need a true villain in a show like Orange is the New Black, but that’s exactly what we got when Lorraine Toussaint grimaced her way to power in season 2. She lorded her power over everyone all season long, showing her dominance through both calculated manipulation and brutal strong-arming.

Unlike most of the other characters, we didn’t feel too badly for her after seeing her backstory either. She was a truly heinous individual that was always working for her own good. Whether inside or outside Litchfield, Lorraine Toussaint brought Vee’s destructive power to life with energy and passion to rival even the most heinous of villains, and it made for an incredibly satisfying season.

Character: Lorna Morello

Actor: Yael Stone

Morello may not have been a major player in the Vee vs Red power struggle going on this season, but when we did see her, we were treated to another beautiful dose of her brand of crazy, courtesy of Yael Stone. Morello is one of the most sympathetic characters on television, let alone Orange is the New Black, a definite feat considering it’s a show about convicted felons.

Her infatuation with her fiance has been a defining characteristic for Morello since the pilot, but seeing exactly what secrets her past held with the man told us a lot about Morello’s character outside of Litchfield. This clarity breathed new life into her story, and suddenly we were all conscious of her every move and anxious to know where her character would go after her little field trip. We are most anxious to see Morello’s journey continue in season 3.