Orange Is The New Black season 5 is here and it’s finally demystifying some long-held questions about Litchfield Penitentiary. We’re finding out who Daya (Dascha Polanco) shoots after the last moments of the season 4 finale, what C.O. Piscatella (Brad William Henke) did to end up at Litchfield, and one very unexpected reveal: the reason Black Cindy (Adrienne C. Moore) is called Black Cindy. Why would the OITNB team need that modifier? After five years of television, it’s not like there’s some other Cindy running around the prison. Except, there is.
We’re reminded White Cindy very much exists with season 5, episode 5, "Sing It, White Effie." With the inmates quite literally in charge of the madhouse that is Litchfield, they’re doing whatever they damn well please. Marisol "Flaca" Gonzalez and Maritza Ramos (Diane Guerrero) are modeling for the news cameras, Zirconia (Daniella De Jesús) is showing those same cameras her bare butt, and Pidge (Miriam Morales) and Ouija (Rosal Colon) are playing the most highly invasive version of Jeopardy in history. Instead of playing the game with random trivia, the Latinas are using the classified files on their fellow inmates.
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The first person under scrutiny is a 56-year-old woman born in China’s Hebei province, who weighs in at 108 pounds. "Who is Mei Chang?" Oiuja breezily answers without even thinking about it. So, Pidge attempts to throw her friend a real hard ball. "I’m from Omaha, Nebraska. 46 years old, 130 pounds, ashy-blonde hair, and I’m doing 9 for media piracy," the curly-haired woman hints in her best attempt at a Midwestern accent. “Who is White Cindy?” Ouija quickly answers.
This is officially the most information we’ve ever gotten about Black Cindy’s title counterpart. White Cindy is from Nebraska, likely loves a good steak, and probably loves HBO, but hates paying for it. At this rate, White Cindy could be heading towards her own flashback episode for season 6. Although this is the most OITNB has ever told us about White Cindy, this isn’t actually the first time the show has ever brought her up. Most people have simply forgotten the short peek we got at the inmate years ago.
In Orange season 2’s "Comic Sans," Black Cindy is a victim of Litchfield’s aggressive new shot policy. Although she has 45 seconds to make it to count, C.O. Donaldson (Brendan Burke) still gives her a shot for "being late." The guard explains there’s "not enough time to get there," like he’s Tom Cruise in Minority Report. "White Cindy ain’t going to make it, either," she points out as a 40-something-year-old woman with ash-blonde hair strides by. While we only see her face for a split second, that’s definitely White Cindy, in the flesh. The moment is so fast, the actress who plays White Cindy isn’t even given a shout-out in the credits.
But, don't cry for White Cindy. The late great Poussey Washington will always deserve justice more than anyone else who's ever stepped foot in Litchfield.