Do Piper and Alex end up together in Orange Is the New Black season 7?

29 July 2019, 21:49

By Sam Prance

OITNB season 7 reveals how the Piper and Alex love story rounds up.

It's official. Orange Is the New Black season 7 is here and we now know if Piper Champan and Alex Vause end up together.

As soon as Netflix released the first season of Orange Is the New Black in 2013, viewers were transfixed by the complex love story between Piper (Taylor Schilling) and Alex (Laura Prepon). They dated before prison and were involved in crime together. Alex was a drug dealer and Piper is in prison because Alex got her to smuggle cash through customs in a European airport. In prison, they fell back in love and they got "prison married" just before Piper was released at the end of season 6.

READ MORE: Orange Is the New Black fans are in tears over Karla's harrowing ICE storyline

OITNB season 7 shows what happens next and if Piper and Alex break up once they're no longer both in prison.

WARNING: MAJOR ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK SPOILERS BELOW

At the start of season 7, Piper and Alex both seem committed to making their relationship work. In spite of her lack of money and strict parole regulations, Piper goes above and beyond to visit Alex. Alex also seems keen to keep her head down in jail so that she can get an early release. However, things quickly begin to change. Piper struggles to go to Litchfield regularly and Alex is blackmailed into selling drugs by CO Hellman and, later, CO McCullough.

Alex then suggests that she and Piper have an open relationship so that they can both fulfil their sexual desires while they're separated by prison. Alex begins sleeping with McCullough. Meanwhile, Piper tries having sex with various people but tells Alex that she doesn't want to be in an open relationship. At the same time Piper becomes close friends with a woman named Zelda. Jealous, Alex continues to sleep with McCullough in secret.

Alex later decides to break up with McCullough. However, McCullough is heartbroken and tells Piper about her relationship with Alex. When Piper finds out, she sleeps with Zelda. Piper and Alex then meet up and apologise to each other. Alex tells: Piper: "I think I was trying to protect myself because your life is out there now and I was scared that you would leave me." Piper says she wants to stay with Alex.

Things take another twist though, as McCullough gets the Warden to transfer Alex to another prison so that she won't see her anymore. Alex breaks up with Piper, stating: "I want you to go and be happy and free". However, instead of accepting this, Piper moves to where Alex has been transferred. She gets a job at Starbucks and we last see her meeting Alex in prison. They both look happy.

We ship them with all of our hearts.

What did you think of the Alex and Piper ending?