They bring it up. ShE IS nypd poster child after her arm loss so her boss cant fire her even tho he said he wants to 

http://digitalpriest.com/legacy/comics/adventures/frames/panther_intro.htm

The white tiger and black panther are related. Bast, patron goddess of the Black Panther is the sister of the white tiger god. (Whose servents mostly are hispanic)

But this episode was an agressive Dagobah homage. Like they were rippong acenes wholesale. It was good and all but still derivative.