Lesbian Request Denied

In flashbacks, Sophia Burset (Laverne Cox), formerly Marcus (M Lamar), a firefighter, pays for her sexual reassignment surgery by stealing credit card information from fire-wrecked houses. Sophia's wife, Crystal (Tanya Wright), while unaware of Sophia's crimes, fully supports her transition, although she requests that Sophia keep her penis so that they can continue to have sex. Sophia's son, Michael (Michael Rainey Jr.), however, is upset by her transition, and, upon discovering her credit card fraud, reports her crime to the police, causing her to be arrested.

In the present day, the prison switches Sophia to generic drugs and halves her dosages of estrogen in order to make up for budget cuts. After attempting to negotiate with prison counselor Healy (Michael J. Harney), she swallows the head of a bobblehead dog in order to see a doctor about her hormone therapy. However, the doctor decides to take Sophia off of hormones altogether, fearing that they are affecting her negatively. After fending off the proposition of prison guard Mendez (Pablo Schreiber) of hormones in exchange for oral sex, Sophia asks Crystal to smuggle in hormones for her; Crystal is disgusted with Sophia, telling her to "man up" for the sake of her wife and her son.[5]

Meanwhile, mentally unstable inmate Suzanne (Uzo Aduba), called "Crazy Eyes", begins stalking Piper (Taylor Schilling). Piper is perturbed by the attention, despite using Suzanne to ward off her ex-girlfriend Alex (Laura Prepon). Piper decides to let Suzanne down easy by informing her about her fiancé. When Piper confronts Alex for "stealing her good life" by naming her in trial, Alex insists that she had no part in her being in prison.[5] Piper decides to ensure this by asking her fiancé, Larry (Jason Biggs), who is dealing with his sexual abstention in Piper's absence, to find out whether Alex named her.

Miss Claudette (Michelle Hurst) receives a new roommate, Janae (Vicky Jeudy), who disrespects her expectations for cleanliness and privacy. Miss Claudette uses her power at the prison to remove Janae from her bunk, resulting in Piper moving into the bunk. Miss Claudette's code of conduct is violated when Suzanne vengefully pees next to Piper's bed.

Explaining how she got involved in the production, Jodie Foster said, "I read the book [Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison] and I said to my agent, 'Oh man, I really want to do this.' He was like, 'Well, [the showrunner is] Jenji Kohan!' And I was like, 'Would you please pass along that I'd like to be a part of this?' Then eventually I found out a friend of mine was doing prep work for the show, and I told her, 'Please tell the writer [Piper Kerman] I love that book and I'm dying to do something.' Then that's what happened. They don't tell you what episode you're shooting so it's a wonderful exercise and meditation in letting go because you have no idea what you're doing. One episode takes eight days to prep and eight to shoot. It's a fast deal. And I'd never done TV before."[6]

Series creator and showrunner Jenji Kohan stated that Foster directed the episode as "sort of her dry-run for when she does her television thing", referencing an as-of-yet unrealized project for Showtime Foster was to spearhead. When asked about Foster's merits as a TV director, Kohan said, "Movie directing is different from TV directing and I think some things were like a culture shock for her because, in way, you know the director's not the king in TV. It's more collaborative with the writers than she's used to...That said? She was incredibly collaborative and really game and came in saying, 'I haven't done this before. It's a learning curve.'"[7]

Cox initially wanted to play Sophia pre-transition as well, but was dissuaded by Foster, explaining, “I was like, ‘I have to butch it up,’ because I don't think Jodie believed that I could pull this off. I go to Jodie and she looks at me and she's like, ‘We’re gonna have to hire someone.’ Jodie Foster didn't think I looked masculine enough to play a guy.” Cox said that several "really butch black men" auditioned for the part before “our casting director found out that I have a twin brother [M Lamar]...He auditioned, and he got the part.”[8]

Speaking about the scene in which Sophia's wife, Crystal, gives her advice on clothing, Foster said, "That was the toughest day of the shoot. It was like, 'How am I going to accomplish this?' I love to shoot fast because I prep like an insane person. But that scene was so incredibly long. It's two people talking. And in order to work with [looking in the] mirror and the kissing -- all those different beats were extremely challenging. It was the hardest day for acting by far. I loved their performances and the subtlety of the things that aren't said. Laverne really brought it home. I'm so proud!"[6]