Uzo Aduba (Crazy Eyes)'s character was only meant to appear in the first three episodes. After seeing her performances, the writers and producers made her a recurring character.
The joke ending in the punchline "he's not an eggplant, he's retarded" is delivered by four different characters in four different episodes. This is the first time the punchline was used, this time by Red (Kate Mulgrew). The next is by Cesar Velazquez i(Berto Colon) n episode 1.5, The Chickening (2013), and the last being Nicky (Natasha Lyonne) in episode 1.13, Can't Fix Crazy (2013). The joke is not mentioned again for several seasons until episode 5.4, Litchfield's Got Talent (2017), by Josh (John Palladino).
The episode won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series.
Samira Wiley (Poussey Washington) & Madeline Brewer (Tricia Miller) also worked together on The Handmaid's Tale (2017) as Moira & Janine respectively.