The opening quote -"I thought of making myself a beautiful marionette. It must be wonderful, one that can dance, fence and turn somersaults." - is from the children's story "The Adventures of Pinocchio".
The bird in Coach Anker's house is a common finch, which Darwin mentioned in his journals after his expedition to the Galápagos Islands.
Officer Franco's first episode as a sergeant.
Eric refers to Portland as the farthest reaches of the Louisiana Purchase even though the land acquired in 1803 went only as far west as the Montana-Idaho border. Technically it would be the Oregon Territory as established in the Oregon Treaty of 1846.
The opening quote scene in this episode is the same one used for the quote in "Game Ogre".