"Thirsty Bird" is the premiere episode of Season 2 of Orange Is the New Black.
Piper is moved from SHU to a facility somewhere else in the nation for reasons unknown to her; she eventually learns that she is in Chicago for a federal trial. This latter she learns from Alex, who is there for the same reason: the man who ran her drug ring, Kubra, has finally been extradited, and they are to serve as witnesses. More of Piper's back story is shown, including how her father trained her to always avoid rule-breaking.
This episode provides examples of the following tropes:
- All Men Are Perverts: Darius, one of the male prisoners who is transported to Chicago alongside Piper, immediately starts flirting with Piper from the moment he gets on the plane. He then later agrees to help Piper send a message to Alex in exchange for her panties and is further delighted when Piper explains that she's been wearing them for four days straight. He then sniffs them before walking away.
- Bittersweet Ending: Piper doesn't have to stay in the awful Chicago prison and will be returning to Litchfield but she could have gone free there and then had she decided to tell the truth like Alex decided to. Piper and Alex's brief reunion is also ruined by the fact that Alex coaxed Piper into lying, only to change her own mind at the last minute and tell the truth.
- Blatant Lies: After a CO pulls a razor blade from under the tongue of an inmate on the bus: "That's not mine."
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Invoked by Alex: "God, I can never tell what's going to be black and white with you."
- Both Sides Have a Point: Alex and Piper and their testimonies against Kubra; Piper ultimately decided to lie, as Alex pointed out that Kubra wouldn't look kindly on those that betrayed him while Alex was inspired by Piper to tell the truth as it could be their one chance to put someone as dangerous as Kubra away for good.
- Celebrity Paradox: Ashton Kutcher is mentioned. Kutcher and Laura Prepon stared in That '70s Show together.
- Character Focus: Piper is the only member of the main cast seen for the majority of the episode and we also get flashbacks of her childhood.
- Deadpan Snarker: Pretty much everyone on the plane, including the pilot, but the con who says "There ain't no mountains in the Midwest, just plains, corn, and a shitton of white people who don't vote in their best interest" is the best example.
- Disproportionate Retribution:
- Kubra is an international drug dealer and a stone-cold killer. Alex pleads with Piper to pretend they never met him, so that they aren't Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves. Piper does. Alex changes her mind and doesn't. Alex goes free, while Piper is left incarcerated, and likely facing perjury charges on top of her existing sentence.
- Piper accidentally squashes her bunkmates cigarette carrying cockroach on first entering the cell and is told that she either has to find a new cockroach or pay for the loss of earnings. All poor Piper did was take one step inside, it just happened to be where the cockroach was at that time.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Lolly sits on the plane next to Piper and later has a brief interaction with her at the Chicago prison. She ends up coming to Litchfield in season three.
- Flashback Echo: Piper's conflict over telling the truth about having met Kubra in her upcoming trial is echoed by flashbacks of a young Piper who was punished for telling the truth about her father having an affair. Her grandmother even advises her that sometimes it's better to keep the peace and the truth to herself.
- Food Porn: Lolly is excited at the bland food they're given while on the aeroplane, stating that she'll get fat if she's allowed to eat every day.
- Foreshadowing: Piper's decision to lie about having met Kubra is hinted at during her flashbacks to her childhood, where she's both punished for telling the truth and advised that sometimes it's okay to hide the truth to avoid said punishment.
- From Bad to Worse: The Chicago prison is so bad that Piper is almost reduced to tears when she's reassured that she'll be able to go back to Litchfield after the trial is over.
- Hellhole Prison: The Chicago prison is filled with dangerous prisoners of both genders, there's eight people to a cell and you spend the majority of your time there outside of meal times and weekly yard time. Piper, whose crime is carrying drug money once, is roomed with someone who killed thirteen people and someone else who ripped her girlfriend's tongue out.
- Heroic BSoD: Piper has a breakdown on the plane re: her No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of Pennsatucky. "I went there and I didn't know there was a there."
- I Have No Son!: Larry's father Howard comes out to help Chapman, at her own request. By the end of the episode, he's washing his hands of her.
- In Medias Res: The episode begins with Chapman being rousted out of SHU, having been there for a month. The Cliffhanger from the Season One finale has not been addressed, and nobody tells her where she's going and why. Both she and the audience are unable to get their bearings for at least a third of the episode.
- Karma Houdini: Alex is the reason that Piper is in prison after having named her just to get time off her sentence and is also the once who convinces Piper to lie on the stand. Alex changes her mind at the last minute and tells the truth and is able to walk free while Piper gets sent back to Litchfield.
- Kick the Dog: Piper's bunkmates relentlessly harass her over the fact she accidentally killed their cockroach even when she tries to make amends by catching replacement ones.
- Mr. Fanservice: The Fanservice part is debatable, but the female inmates on the plane do start cheering and whistling when the male prisoners are bought on board.
- Must Have Caffeine: Larry's father brings Piper coffee when he's coaching her for the upcoming trial, and Piper admits that coffee really is one of the things she misses from the outside.
- One-Steve Limit: One of the prisoners at the Chicago prison mistakes Piper for another Piper that an acquaintance of hers knew who could apparently 'blow out candles with her coochie.'
- Potty Emergency: Piper is asked if she needs to go to the bathroom before she's taken from SHU but she's more focused on finding out where they're taking her. She's then left desperately needing to pee during the bus ride to the airport but one of the marshals finally lets her go on the plane. On arriving at the Chicago prison Piper ends up filling her urine sample jar to the brim.
- Put on a Bus: Alex. Pretty much the closest to real life that show!Alex has ever been to book!Alex. Being moved to a different facility to testify against another dealer is the only time Piper Kerman ever shared a prison with her former lover.
- Spoiler Opening: several actors have been Promoted to Opening Titles, including Udo Azuba, Natasha Lyonne, Danielle Brooks and Taryn Manning. If you're lucky enough to not know who plays who, you're in business; but if you do know, then one of the Driving Questions of the episode (whether Pennsatucky, played by Manning, survived) is pretty much answered.
- Stepford Smiler: Piper's mother is revealed to be one. She'd rather punish the 12-year-old Piper for seeing the R-rated Dazed and Confused than confront what Piper saw just before said film: Her father kissing a woman who was not her mother.
- That Poor Cat: One of Piper's flashbacks has her brother Cal setting his room on fire while trying to send their pet cat to the moon via rocketship; we only hear a distressed yell from Whiskers .
- Title Drop: Piper's introduction in the episode. She's been painting the wall in SHU with her breakfast eggs. "I call this one Thirsty Bird."
- Wham Line: After the trials are over and Piper sees Alex go free after she lied for her:Piper: What’s going on?Alex: Listen Piper. Everything just happened so fast.Piper: What’s going on?Alex: I had to tell the truth.
