Characterization In her fictional backstory, Morello grew up in Boston, after her Brooklyn mother married an Italian Bostonian man. Morello escaped by going to the movies and committing mail fraud by purchasing designer clothing online, then claiming she never received the items to get a refund. Stone said Morello was a positive person and "a really vulnerable human being", who was dealing with her situation the best she could. Morello's distinctive accent is a mix of
Brooklyn and
Boston. She also travelled to Boston to do some research and met with a dialect coach. Stone stayed in character for her first four months on set to help perfect the accent. Morello is a big fan of the musical film
West Side Story and its lead actress
Natalie Wood, so she styles her hair and make-up in a similar way. Morello scrapes out lipstick tubes with her fingernails to achieve her signature red lips, and she uses instant coffee to create brown
eye shadow. Her vintage-style waves are set with toilet paper curlers and Lizzy Dening for
Grazia observed that they reflected Morello's "romantic ideals". Morello's pre-prison style consisted of designer outfits, as showcased at her trial when she wore a little
Dolce & Gabbana dress covered in chains. Lyonne said that the character's relationship had been "push-pull" and they had both been through a lot with their obsessive-compulsive personalities.
Character expansion Morello was a recurring character for the first and second seasons of
Orange Is the New Black. While Stone commented there would be some "pretty hard hitting truths coming out" and that she was amazed at what happens to her character. Lorna exhibits a pathological need to lie. The episode, titled "A Whole Other Hole", revealed that Morello's often mentioned fiancé, Christopher MacLaren (Stephen O'Reilly), was not actually her fiancé and she had been incarcerated for stalking and terrorizing him. Stone learned the truth about Morello's backstory the day she got the script for the episode. Prior to that, she had imagined her own version of Morello's history, believing that she might have committed an assault or been charged for the mail fraud. Stone pointed out that there had been some hints that Morello was not telling the truth during previous episodes, including Nicky mentioning that Christopher had not been to visit and Morello's sister, Francine (Kristen Sieh), calling her to say that Christopher was getting married. After reading the script, Stone became worried that if Morello was caught, she might lose her job on the show. On June 13, 2014, it was announced that Stone had been promoted to the regular cast for the third season. Following Nicky's removal to the maximum security prison, Morello becomes lonely and joins a
pen pal program. She meets with several men and memorizes various facts about their hobbies to keep them interested. In the tenth episode of the season, she meets Vince Muccio (
John Magaro) and proposes to him not long after. The couple are married in the season finale and Morello recites the lyrics of "
I Want to Know What Love Is", knowing that
Foreigner is Vince's favourite band. Lyonne told Jackie Strause of
The Hollywood Reporter that she thought both Nicky and Morello loved each other, but while Nicky has intimacy issues, Morello is in denial about her sexuality. Lyonne also commented, "and I think Lorna's probably somewhere on the spectrum. So for Lorna, it's probably a case where the person transcends gender and I think that it puts them both in this complicated dance with true intimacy. Where once they do decide to sign up full-on with that relationship, it's going to become very real pretty quickly because they are both pretty clear on the fact that they love each other so much." In the fifth season, which portrays a prison riot in Litchfield, Morello and Nicky take over the prison pharmacy. Nicky makes sexual advances toward her, but she rebuffs them. When Nicky tells Morello that she has fallen in love with her, Morello kisses her passionately and they have sex. Afterwards, however, Morello says that she is pregnant, and only had sex with Nicky because of her pregnancy hormones. Nicky angrily tells Morello to stop toying with her affections and ends their friendship. Nevertheless, Morello saves Nicky from abusive head guard Desi Piscatella (
Brad William Henke) and tells her that she fears that Vince wants nothing to do with the baby. Nicky then calls Vince and tells him that he needs to take responsibility for his wife and child, leading him and Morello to decide to be a family. She is then taken to another facility. In the sixth season, Morello is reunited with Nicky in Litchfield Maximum Security, but they decide to keep their relationship platonic. Together, they manage Morello's
prenatal care, and have an ongoing debate over what sex the child will be. They also witness Piper and Alex's wedding in the prison chapel. ==Reception==