"Low Self-Esteem City" is the fifth episode of Season Two of Orange Is the New Black. The rivalry between prison groups escalates, along with Nicky and Boo's sex competition. Gloria's back story is revealed. Red offers relationship advice to Healy. Healy and Caputo bond over the band Caputo is in (he plays bass).
This episode provides examples of the following tropes:
- A Day in the Limelight: Gloria Mendoza.
- Badass Boast: Nicky delivers one to Big Boo during their sexual competition. "I am a sexual Steve Jobs."
- Bestiality Is Depraved: Big Boo's Noodle Incident with an animal.
- Bitch Slap: Mendoza's husband slaps her across the face when she talks back.
- Cluster F-Bomb: While drinking with Caputo, Healy appends "fuckin'" to every possible noun.
- Didn't Think This Through: A customer complained to Gloria that the candle he lit in order to find a job did not work. But instead of delivering the application to the workplace, he deliberately left it next to the candle. Did he really think that a job would be delivered to him that way? Invoked by Gloria when she asked him if he had "filled out another application that he delivered to the employer".
- Domestic Abuse: Mendoza's husband abuses her.
- Ethical Slut: Discussed. While Boo and Nicky are reviewing the terms of their contest with Chang, Piper finds out they've designated her a "three out of ten." She protests, because she's "not easy." "You're slutty, not easy," Nicky clarifies. "Semantically, there's a difference."
- Fan Disservice: Some of the women in the shower are unattractive.
- Fanservice: Martiza and Flaca in towels.
- Heel–Face Turn: After Caputo discusses their responsibility to the inmates with him over drinks, Healy begins making a concerted effort to amend his previous behavior. He begins by trying to obtain furlough for Chapman.
- Hollywood Voodoo: Mendoza's back-door business in Santeria.
- Incompatible Orientation: Nicky tries to seduce officer Fischer. It does not work.
- Kick the Dog: When he tries to make plans to spend time with her, Healy's wife prefers to spend time with her friend. Healy tells her "Your friends are my friends," and she replies "You don't have any friends, Sam."
- Laser-Guided Karma: The fate of Mendoza's husband. After Mendoza's arrest, he returns to her store to steal her cash hoard, but leaves his keys on the counter. In the back room he kicks over one of the Santeria candles and is unable to escape through the self-locking doors he installed while the room goes up in flames.
- Mood Whiplash: Piper is psyched about winning Cal's guessing game a split second before it sinks in that her grandma is dying.
- MST: Caputo and Healy riffing on the political commercial while in the bar.
- Noodle Incident: Big Boo getting drunk and doing something with an animal is this.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Big Boo's drunken encounter with an animal is brought up by Nicky.
- Police Are Useless: The police arrest Gloria for fraud but don't arrest her husband on domestic abuse.
- Story Arc: Figueroa's embezzlement takes on a new dimension when commercials about her husband, Jason Figueroa, running for State Senate start showing up on television.
- Title Drop: While Nicky and Boo are talking smack to each other, Nicky says "There's plenty of nickel sluts in Low Self-Esteem City."
- What the Hell, Hero?: Piper delivers one to Healey for just standing there and not helping her when Pennsatucky threatened her.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Mendoza's husband always pulls this to win her back after abuse.
- Would Hurt a Child: Mendoza's husband abuses her son Benito.
