"Appropriately Sized Pots" is the eighth episode of Season 2 of Orange Is the New Black. Rosa receives the news that she doesn't have much time left. Piper spends time with the Golden Girls and finds out her furlough has been approved. Soso refuses to shower. Caputo tries to track down the source of contraband within Litchfield.
This episode provides examples of the following tropes:
- A Day in the Limelight: Rosa's back story is revealed.
- The Alcoholic: The nurse who takes blood from Rosa in the clinic is a drunk. So is Luschek, who spikes his morning hot chocolate with schnapps.
- Bearer of Bad News: Healy to Rosa. The DOC doesn't cover the surgery that might save her.
- The Bus Came Back: Fischer is fired. Rather than wait for Caputo to find a replacement, Fig brings back Pornstache.
- Cartwright Curse: Every man in Rosa's life dies. Played with in the example of the boy from the clinic. She sees his mother weeping and believes he's dying too, but it turns out he's in remission. She joyfully says goodbye to him, telling him to enjoy life.
- Fan Disservice: Brook Soso having to strip naked and take a shower against her will.
- Feet-First Introduction: At the end of the episode, a sports car comes tearing into the parking lot. The door opens, and the camera cuts to the driver's feet. Pan up to reveal the return of Pornstache to Litchfield.
- Foreshadowing: Rosa saying she sees herself going out "in a blaze of glory."
- Forced Bath: Soso refuses to shower for so long that others complain about her body odor. When the guards intervene, she lies down outside the showers, claiming she's "demonstrating passive resistance." The unimpressed guards respond that they are "demonstrating aggressive aggression!" and just force her into the showers, making her cry.
- Irony: Fischer points out to Caputo that the punishments being handed out are arbitrary and unnecessarily harsh, and is immediately fired.
- Last Kiss: Rosa shares these with her lovers before they meet an unexpected death from "the curse".
- Macgyvering: The battery-lighter returns from the previous episode. Nicky shows it off to Luschek, who doesn't understand how it works.Nicky: ... You're head of electrical.
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: Several of the inmates express both jealousy that Piper was granted furlough and the reasons they applied, mostly dying family members. Sophia's is particularly poignant. At the end of the episode, Piper is told her grandmother passed away before she could say her farewells.
- Odd Friendship: Rosa with the boy in the clinic. Nicky and Luscheck.
- One Last Job: Played for laughs. Rosa robs a purse with a kid that she befriends at the clinic, snagging $63 in her last robbery. All of this is planned and executed during a single chemo session.
- Put on a Bus: Fischer speaks up on behalf of both the staff and the inmates, and is fired for it. She gets some advice from Nicky and heads out to make a new life for herself.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: After going through the trouble to get furlough, Piper finds out that her grandmother passed away.
- Shower of Angst: Soso takes one as she is forced to shower due to complaints.
