This one?

I can't check youtube from work, so I dunno.

t edit I'll take it to spoilers lite.

sumi, that's not the trailer that aired after "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" in the UK. The one Jon's referring to only had scenes post-episode 1.

That one has (at least) scenes from episode 2.

If the color of the "villain" in #2 is problematic, is the solution to recast and give the role to a white person instead? Is it only problematic because they had the black cybervillian last season? How long is a good enough gap between black villains, or how many white non-villains do you have to have inbetween (seems that the number is large than one)?

Needless to say, this didn't ping me much.

I think it's less an issue of a gap than the fact that both were young black females, part of interracial couples, who were stripped of their humanity and taken over by aliens.

As I say, it didn't ping me either. It pinged Betsy hard.

Yeah, Dana hits it on the head for me.

But the more interesting bit is the way Jack is played against the backdrop of the conflict. If he is (high pressure tactics, aggressive, pain-inducing) supposed to be in the Right in this episode, then I am upset with the minority depiction because I am supposed to regard her as inhuman, a threat, to be immediately destroyed without thought to her humanity. But if he is wrong and Gwen is in the Right (empathetic, relationship-based, can we redeem) than I am fine with the character being minority, because I am supposed to regard her as human, respect her point of view, attempt to communicate with her.

Does that make any sense?

Is it only problematic because they had the black cybervillian last season?

I'd actually normally be right there with you on this one, if it weren't for the Who/Torchwood franchise's more dominant habit, which is to cast tall, slim, attractive black women with killer cheekbones whenever possible. Not that I mind. Quite the contrary, actually.

In addition to the Cyberwoman and the Sleeper Agent, we've also got the cop that told off Jack and then helped them get out of their HQ, and over on "Who" we've got Martha, of course, in addition to the mom of the kid who could trap people in drawings, and a few others that I'm spacing on, but enough that I'd long-ago begun to think the casting directors have a "type."

There was also that chick in "The Long Game."

There was also that chick in "The Long Game."

Oh, yeah. The journalist who eventually helped them defeat the editor.

And the cop actress was also cast as Jabe very early in new Who.