#oitnb meta

In equal parts as it was wonderful to watch, it was also painful to watch the Nichorello scenes. This season I thought they were really going to pull through and finally come together, officially. It certainly seemed that way during many of their scenes together.

In the end, however, we were left with Vinny actually coming through for Lorna and wanting to be there for her and the baby. She is finally getting everything she has dreamed of: a husband and a child of her own. It is the (strange) “fairytale romance” she’s always longed for. 

On the other hand, we were left with Nicky painfully letting her go and giving Vinny her blessing. I admit, this initially left me bitter and really upset as I believed they were done for good, but the hopeless romantic in me doesn’t want to believe it’s over.

For the entirety of the series, we have been shown time after time, that Nicky is hopelessly in love with Lorna. Lorna is the love of her life. She will accept all the good and the bad and love her unconditionally. In fact, Nicky loves her so much that even if it was unbearably painful, she decided to let Lorna go (romantically). She called Vinny and told him how to take care of Lorna the way she needs to be taken care of and loved. This method of loving her though is the way Nicky and only Nicky has always done for her. I’ll get back to this point later.

Vauseman Parallels

Nicky/Lorna have many times paralleled Alex/Piper in this series. They have been the pairs that have been established since the start. 

Nicky and Alex have always been steady about their feelings about the one they love. They are the ones who are constantly suffering because of their deep love. On the contrary, you have Lorna and Piper who have more than once been fickle in their feelings. Morello has always loved Nicky, but much like Piper with Alex, she hasn’t always prioritized Nicky or her feelings. What is interesting is you have a season where Lorna and Piper live without Nicky and Alex, respectively. Season 2 for Piper and Alex and Season 3 for Lorna and Morello. Maybe this is just a coincidence or some formula. Probably a coincidence? Who knows.

There are many more parallels but I don’t feel like digging them all up. They are there, however, and I think they’re important. I’ll only mention a couple.

In episode 7, you have Nicky crying over what happened with Lorna in the shower and Alex alludes to her also having issues with (”Worthy Cause”) Piper.  “Girls are the fucking worst.” Again, these two are always suffering in some way as their loved one always seems to prioritize someone/something over them.

Later in episode 7, after Vinny abandoned Lorna, Lorna finds Nicky with some random “hot” girl (Nicky knowingly stares at her hurt). She storms off because now she’s completely alone. Her husband left her and her prison ‘girlfriend’ doesn’t want anything to do with her. If we rewind all the way to season 1, we had a similar situation with Piper. After Larry left her, Piper tries to go back to Alex who ends up messing around with Nicky (though I can’t remember exactly if Piper sees this), still, Alex makes it clear (vocally) that she’s upset. Piper is left alone without Larry and Alex just as Lorna is left alone without Vinny and Nicky. (Though admittedly this S1 Larry/Piper/Alex bit also parallels Nicky/Lorna/Christopher, because at that time we didn’t really know the story with him, but Lorna chose Christopher over Nicky.)

There are more parallels mentioned when Red, Piper and Alex are in the hallway in episode 9 of s5. They’re a little different as they deal with Piper and Nicky being the ones to both mess around with this sudden appearing “hot” prisoner and the effect it had on the relationship they had with their loved one. 

At the end of season 4, you have Piper realizing that she hasn’t been there for Alex in the way that Alex has been for her. Then at the end of season 5, Piper comes to the realization that she doesn’t ever want to live without Alex. I brought all of this up because I feel that with all of the Vauseman/Nichorello parallels, many of which I haven’t even brought up, we could see something similar with Nichorello in the future. In my opinion, it makes no sense to largely parallel these pairs otherwise.

Where can we go from here?

It may seem small, but I think there is a lot of weight to Morello’s final scene in season 5. We see her looking around the bus, her eyes searching for someone, but then she looks sad, she didn’t find who she was searching for. It’s obvious that she was looking for Nicky, but Nicky wasn’t there. Again, this scene may seem small but I think it’s important for how Lorna will move forward from here.

As I said earlier, Vinny has come through. He will care for Lorna the way she has always wanted to be cared for by a man. Her vision of men and love will become sort of like they do in the movies. Vinny will come though in these ways, just as Nicky advised of him because he loves her. She will probably eat it up at first, after all, this her dream, right? But the things we dream for, aren’t always what we want. 

I think Morello will eventually realize that this love she’s getting from Vinny won’t feel right. She will finally have some man love her the way she’s always wanted and yet her heart won’t be content. I think she will find that she doesn’t want to be cared for in that way unless it’s by Nicky, which I think will finally lead her to realize that she’s in love with Nicky in that same way Nicky has always been in love with her. Except, Nicky won’t be there anymore either physically or romantically, I’m not sure.

I’m not sure because I don’t know how next season will go for the last 10 inmates in the pool. One or more may die or they will all be separated or their sentences will be extended. I don’t want to think any of them will die because I really love them all.

Again paralleling Piper, Lorna will come to realize that the one she truly desires has been in front of her all along. I feel this could happen in three ways:

1) Vinny loving her the way Nicky always has won’t feel right. 

2) It will take something drastic that makes her realize she can’t live without Nicky and she doesn’t want to live without her.

3) Both of the above.

It’s always Nicky who has been the one to show her unwavering love, but we haven’t really seen that from Morello. We know she loves Nicky but I don’t think she realizes how much.

I think the season happened in this way because it’s Morello, who needs to realize what she wants and who she loves, not what she thinks she wants and who she thinks she should love. 

I think it could have also happened in this way to have Nicky give up, that way later she finds out that she is worthy of the same love she has always given. That that love is reciprocated. We’ve been shown time and time again that Nicky will do anything for Lorna, I think it’s time we see that Lorna will do the same for Nicky. I think it’s time that the audience learns with Lorna, how she truly feels for Nicky and for Nicky to learn how Lorna truly feels about her.

It is important for Lorna, on her own terms, to realize that she wants to be with Nicky and not Vinny.