10 Idiotic Decisions By TV Characters Who Should Have Known Better

Piper Chapman is supposed to be the smart one. After all, she is a college educated woman convicted of a crime that had nearly run through the statute of limitations. Her presence in a federal prison was one of poor luck and a singular poor decision.

So how could she be so stupid?

By Season 3, Piper essentially becomes a gang boss, and is doing pretty well for herself. Competition was to be expected, but up to that point she had dealt with it using some pretty ruthless methods.

When it became clear that Piper needed protection from rival Maria Ruiz, she wisely obtained some, enlisting bunkmate Stephanie Hapakuka and forming a reluctant alliance with a white supremacist group. Things went off the rails pretty quickly after that.

First, she ditched Stephanie to be caught by the guards carrying contraband. Then Piper distanced herself from the white supremacists, effectively disbanding the entire group of people dedicated to protecting her. So when Stephanie catches up with Piper later, it has some pretty horrific results.

Piper had spent months in prison already. She had been repeatedly warned of the consequences of both allying with white supremacists and angering Maria Ruiz's gang. Piper definitely had all of the information she needed in order to make a smart decision. Her response? Remarkable idiocy.

It was yet another nail in the coffin for the supposed protagonist that viewers had already loathed.