In present day, Sophia fights back against the prison reducing her dosage of exogenous estrogen due to budget cuts.
[4] 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.
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.
[5] Meanwhile, mentally unstable inmate Suzanne (Uzo Aduba), called "Crazy Eyes", begins stalking Piper (Taylor Schilling).
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.'
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.'
'"[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.
"[9] Amy Amatangelo of Paste rated the episode 8.9 out of 10, repeating McNutt's point that "on the surface, we've all seen a TV character like Sophia before (probably on a crime drama sassing a detective), but Orange delved deep to show us a complicated and fascinating woman".
Henderson also praised the characters of Ms. Claudette and Nicky, calling them "fun" and "scene-stealing", respectively, while criticizing Piper and Larry for "living in the no longer useful framework of... Waspy obliviousness".