Wow (possible OINTB spoiler)

Late to the party I am only about 1/2 way through the latest season of OITNB & I have to say that Lori Petty is really S4's best.

Her stark & painfully real portrayal of the quite often co-occurring homelessness and mental illness really floored me. I love her characters coping mechanisms such as the bell/metal wand & reaching out to others in her own way while maintaining her own safe space in isolation. It was heartbreaking to watch the bicycle cops detain her. (Is it just me or do the jerkiest cops always get bike duty?!)I also loved the scene with her and Sam Healy in the cardboard box. Michael J Harney's reaction to Lolly & desire to help her is another beautiful facet of a pretty stellar season of the show. When he closes his eyes and is holding the potato in the box there is really no need to explain what he is feeling.

Having known people with paranoid schizophrenia and having studied various mental illnesses in college she really fit the part better than anyone in recent memory. I feel she should be recognized for that. A really great book for anyone interested in the subject that I have read 2x is An Unquiet Mind by Kay Jamison.

I first became a fan of Lori Petty due to her role in Point Break. I love surfing movies & that was a great film -which did NOT need to be remade btw- I remember thinking as a younger man that she was related to Tom Petty the singer lol. This of course was way before IMDB even existed so one can hopefully forgive the naivety. I lost track of her for awhile and then saw her in a smaller, but similar part in Prison Break as Daddy. Not as poignant a role, but still excellent. 10/10 for S4 of OITNB.

“The critic has to educate the public; the artist has to educate the critic.”