Shrug.

Stuff like the midwife crap and the constant rape just uses up all my goodwill and benefitofthedoubting, I think.

I think something similar was going on with the passively-suicidal pop-star, in that her own passivity was set up quite explicitly to reflect (or perhaps, more appropriately, to “echo”) Echo’s passivity in her mind-wiped state. It’s not like this was done subtly, so that viewers with sharp analytical skills would see it, while the rest of the population watches on in happy ignorance — Whedon was clearly trying to make A Point — and as I saw it, that point was that idealised constructions of femininity are just as fake for women who try to live up to that sort of pop-star/supermodel image as they are for the Actives.

I also find the way that the amount of exercise that the Actives do in their mind-wiped state (isn’t there a special word for that?) — Echo talking about swimming thirty laps, all that time she spends on the treadmills, the rabbit-food lunches, in conjuction with the way that Echo is implanted with a bunch of different TV/film tropes for female characters that are supposed to seem “effortless”, when they are really only something done for short periods of time, and can only be done after hours of exercise, strict dieting, etc.

To follow that completely, I may work harder to find a workaround to watch the show. :)

Oh, and the actor who plays Mellie – Miracle Laurie? Was set up in the casting notes as “heavy”. (Read it recently in two different places, can’t find the cite now.) I guess that’s Whedonheavy, as in Amber Benson “heavy”.

To me, the trailer seems to imply that they’re going to send her into a religious cult who will accept her because her blindness will be “healed” — if all goes according to plan. I didn’t get the impression that there will be numerous people with disabilities featured (although I guess there could be other people turning up to be healed), and I very much doubt that it’s actually going to attempt to realistically portray living with a disability in any way.

I don’t have t.v. (and can’t seem to use any workarounds for Hulu) so I’m mostly wondering if someone who is still watching could mention if people other than Echo are shown with disabilities, which is the implication in the trailer.

Was it only me? I totally thought Echo was supposed to be giving some woman head.

It wasn’t only you – the opening was designed to make us think the birthing woman was in sexual ecstasy. (It sorta recalled the Tara/Willow scene in Once More With Feeling, I think.)