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| “ | You called my food disgusting. You're not getting hazed, you're not getting harassed. You're getting starved to death! You'll leave Litchfield as a skeleton in a body bag. POW! Now, march your yuppie ass outta my kichen. Slowly, so you don't burn too many calories. | „ |
| ~ Red to Piper Chapman. |
Galina Reznikov (Russian: Галина Резников), known by the inmates and COs at Litchfield Penitentiary as Red, is a main antagonist in season one of Orange is the New Black.
She is an inmate at Litchfield, who terrorises Piper Chapman when she first arrives at Litchfield.
She was portrayed by Kate Mulgrew, who also portrayed Red Claw in Batman: The Animated Series, Zera in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Kyrian recreation of Kathryn Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager. In Soviet flashbacks she was portrayed by Xenia Leblanc.
Personality[]
Throughout the first few seasons, Red is the toughest in A-Block. She commands the most respect in the prison while she works in the kitchen, and is seen as a maternal figure by quite a few inmates. She refers to these inmates as her "family", even being called "Mom" by Nicky Nichols.
Physical appearance[]
Red gets her name from her dyed red hair, which she had before she was arrested. She often wore her kitchen uniform outside of the kitchen, and is almost rarely seen in normal uniform. She wears a lot of eyeliner, asking Sophia Burset to make her look "fierce".
Biography[]
Background[]
Red was born in the Soviet Union, and worked in a factory under communist rule. She met her future-husband, a foreman of the factory, Dmitri, and started dating him. She broke up with him, finding him too meek for her taste. Red at some point befriends Nadezhda, who introduces Red to banned Western influences such as denim jeans and rock music.
Nadezhda is implied to have enforcedly disappeared by the Soviet Army and is never seen by Red again. Dmitri offers Red the opportunity to migrate to America with him if they marry. Red reluctantly agrees to marry Dmitri, told by him that she can leave him the second they arrive. At some point, Red gives birth to three boys: Yuri, Maxsim and Vasily.
Some decades later, Dmitri and Red are still married and own a Russian café in New York. Their café is frequently used as a meeting place for the Russian mafia. Dmitri tries to impress Russian mafia leader Ganya, and introduces Red to them in the hopes she will befriend their wives. Red struggles to win over the wives, and insults one with a joke. Red believes that she has made a good impression, and waits for them to invite her out again.
Whilst shopping, Red sees the mafia wives walking without her. Feeling rejected and angry, Red storms over to them and confronts them. The women mock and put Red down, causing her to get angry and push one of the wives, rupturing her breast implant. Ganya demands tens of thousands of dollars. Unable to pay, Dmitri agrees to let the café be used to store dead bodies for the mafia which gets him a seat at Ganya's table.
Red begins to advise them on business, but is mocked by Dmitri. However, Ganya sees potential in Red. One night, Dmitri comes back to see Red at his usual place and treated as more of an equal than Dmitri was. Ganya tells Red that he has pushed forward with Red's idea to get the mafia contracts as food suppliers to prisons as a front to sell contraband.
Red becomes more accepted by Ganya and his men. One night she is introduced to Ilya, a young man that has been recruited by the mafia to get information on the Serbian mafia. She seems Ilya is slightly scared and regrets joining the mafia. He confides in her that he could change his mind, and speaks to her about him ambitions. It is clear there is a maternal bond between Ilya and Red. He is clearly traumatised by the violence he has witnessed while working with Ganya.
In an attempt to protect Ilya, Red tries to advise Ganya that he shouldn't be using someone so inexperienced to deal with the Serbians. This irritates Ganya, who tells her to stay in her place. Red confronts Ganya and asks why she is even allowed at the table if she isn't going to be listened to. Ganya accepts Red's point, but says that it is too last minute not to have Ilya go, and that he cannot cut him off the mafia because he knows too much.
One night, Ganya and his men drop a body off, which is revealed to be Ilya. Red, feeling responsible for his death, is inconsolable. Shortly after this, Red is arrested for her involvement with the mafia (although Dmitri is not). She is shown around the prison by Sam Healy, a CO and counsellor at Litchfield. She meets Norma Romano (who becomes her sidekick throughout the entire series). Red notices the supplier for the kitchen is the same as hers, and has a strong connection with them.
Red is put into a bunk with newly incarcerated Anita DeMarco and reincarcerated Yvonne Parker. Red is noticeably uncomfortable with having to adjust to a new life in prison, and is comforted by DeMarco. Red witnesses the altercation between Parker and Rhonda. Parker is initially friendly to Red Parker she knows the supplier. Parker suggests using them as a contraband supplier, but Red is reluctant as breaking rules got her into prison, but eventually agrees to the idea.
Parker and Red begin working in the kitchen together and their bond strengthens. Red shows Parker the contraband she is smuggling into the prison. Parker is impressed and also threatened, knowing that this will get Red total respect from the inmates. This turns out to be true, and Red runs a very successful business. Parker organises for one of her goons to forcefully take Red's company and threaten her. Red tells the inmate to tell whoever she works for to come and speak to her. Vee, who is also gaining more power, reveals to Red it was her. Betrayed, Red refuses her offer, and says she will tell Healy if they do. Vee then slaps Red, and has her team beat her up.
Orange is the New Black[]
Years later, Red still runs the kitchen and her contraband business still runs. She still retains a lot of power in the prison. When Piper Chapman arrives, she accidentally insults Red, and calls her food "disgusting". Highly offended, Red stops serving Piper food. When Piper become insistent on being fed, Red orders one of her girls to serve her a bun with a bloodied tampon inside it.
Piper confronts Red and tells her if she wants to hit her, to just hit her and keep feeding her. Red says that she doesn't need to hit her, because prison will do that for her. This continues for a number of days. Piper overhears Red complaining about her back pain. In an attempt to reconcile with her, Piper offers Red a homemade back cream. Red accepts this and stops starving her, but still dislikes her. Piper is reassigned bunks, and moved to A-Dorm. There, she is assigned Red. Red is intially highly reluctant to share with Piper, but eventually softens.
Red becomes less antagonistic as the series progresses. In season two, Red loses the kitchen and feels depressed and struggles with her identity. She returns to the kitchen later under Gloria Mendoza, who eventually quits under the stress and gives it to Red. In season three she starts working with Frieda Berlin and the golden girls to grow a garden and have nutritious food after the change in food supplier to cheap, inedible food. In series four, she begins a feud with Desi Piscatella, who starts psychologically abusing her and exhausting her. Piscatella makes an example of Red in front of everyone. In season five, Red works with Blanca Flores to find information on Piscatella and bring him down. In season six, Red forms an alliance with Carol Denning. She also learns she is a grandmother, and has the opportunity to see them, but sees Frieda, who betrays her to save herself and her sentence, and begins to choke her. She is put in the solitary housing unit for a significant period of time.
In season seven, Red begins working at the ICE detention centre's kitchen. Red begins to experience signs of dementia such as forgetting to turn on the oven, oversalting food, referring to deceased inmates as if they are alive, or inmates that are not in maximum security. This is linked with her time in the SHU, as well as the stress from the abuse she sustained from Piscatella. Her condition worsens, and she is moved to B-Block with the other elderly and mentally unwell patients. She initially forgets Frieda betrayed her, but remembers for a brief moment, and threatens her. Unable to work in the kitchen anymore, Nicky takes over in the kitchen.
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 Villains
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