The episode won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special.
Buridan's Ass refers to the name of a Medieval paradox concerning the logic of rationality and freewill. It's a hypothetical dilemma in which a person is postulated as presented with two equally attractive and attainable alternatives and therefore loses freedom of choice. It was named after the 14th century French philosopher Jean Buridan, whose philosophy of moral determinism it satirises.