Also, did anyone else ping Topher (the science guy) as Warren? Cause that's totally the vibe I got from him.

He totally takes his bonuses as paid time with the actives. Can we get a Willow guest appearance for the season finale?

Was anyone else squicked by the Summer/Eliza promos? They were just creepy and seemed designed to tingle the boy geek sensibilities (i.e. Eliza with with her leather clad leg propped up on the chair)

Very much so. They stopped just short of dressing them in catsuits and having them arch their backs for the camera while giggling. If I didn't have a history with Joss and Eliza's shows those promos would have ensured that I would never watch it. (I did absolutely love the Grindhouse-style promo earlier this week though.)

I can't even begin to describe how happy I was to see the Grr Arrgh guy at the end of an episode of new television.

This and the nifty familiar credits will bring me back. The squick is big and it is taking a lot to get me past that. The promo, gross, although my boys would probably like it. I have to give it a chance and see the development. I live in hope. If it feels like L&O:SVU I won't be staying.

Echo: She was a good lead. She was convincing in her 2 imprints and provoked interest with the flashes of who she might be. I give her a thumbs up.

Ballard: I get it. I understand the boxing thing. I expect we will get to know him more and hope it is interesting.

Langton: I kinda have a crush on him. It will be important to my viewing pleasure how his relationship with Echo develops. Not saying he has to be a good guy or a bad guy, but it better be done well.

Brink: It is going to take brilliance to not force me to the hall when his character appears. I loves me a good bad guy (Sylar in Heroes, Ben in Lost), but I do not like this guy at all. Ick.

We didn't see enough of the other characters for me to form any opinion. I do have hope and abundant faith in the powers that be here.

How much do we think that this is how writers/directors/producers see actors?

I can see this, in fact I've known some actors that would love the opportunity to use this tool.

The messing around with the intended order of episodes is going to be crazy making. Please let this turn lighter on the anvils and heavier on the character development.

The naked guy at the end was sending the picture of Echo to Paul Ballard, the FBI agent played by Tahmoh. Mmmm, Tahmoh! (Thanks for that boxing scene, Joss, because in addition to revealing Paul's character, it also did a good job of revealing his body. Mmmmmm...)

Anyway. Liked the ep well enough to stick around for next week, but I do have some questions about the depths of ED's acting skills--can she do more than blank slate or kick-ass dancer/partier/action girl? The torn-up abuse victim lacked quite a bit due to her lack of skill there, IMO. I just didn't buy it.

Steph, I don't think Joss is (or needs to) teach us why trafficking is wrong. At least, I hope not.

I would have agreed with you if not for the heavy-handed anvilly message hammered home.

The issue I think I'm going to have with this show is that we're being set up to be sympathetic with characters who participate in this ongoing abuse of the Actives. Amy Acker's character, the handler, and maybe even Topher (except he's so totally skeevy and Warren-ish it's hard to find him sympathetic but I don't know that the show intends him to be unsympathetic). It's as if this were Buffy, the demon-rape happened every week, and Giles participated.

So, yeah. Is challenging the premise in the text sufficient? I'm not sure. It's not like there's a shortage of television that exploits women, you know?

I'm also over-sensitized to the presentation of characters of color these days, and the only COC on screen so far are a powerless black subordinate and an Asian hottie. This is not multi-culturalism, Joss.

It did worse in the ratings than FIREFLY, THE INSIDE and DRIVE. And probably WONDERFALLS, I haven't checked yet.

This will be fun.

(except he's so totally skeevy and Warren-ish it's hard to find him sympathetic but I don't know that the show intends him to be unsympathetic)

I didn't find him skeevy in this episode. I find his perspective interesting because I get the sense that, while he believes they're helping people and is proud of his work in a scientific sense, he finds it unfortunate that he has to continually strip the Actives of their peopleness, leaving them nothing but shells.

And putting the actual victim IN THE REFRIGERATOR? I laughed and laughed and laughed. "Look how ironic I'm being! Because the victim survived and was in fact rescued by another woman, so my skeevy gender issues are okay!"

Ha! I didn't pick up on that.

Polter-Cow, I quite like Topher, so I'm thankful to find somebody who at least finds his perspective interesting. There's a lot 'o hate online.

I've also seen mostly hate, and I don't really get it. I know the "cutting-edge science in a house full of hot chicks" line is troubling (although I've read it as more of a joke [and I think it was written as one], the reality of the line in the world as depicted is that the "hot chicks" are literally just bodies in that house), but in this episode, he didn't seem particularly leery of the women. He's just doing his job. His job just happens to be icky.

I wasn't too thrilled with "the new moon has made her a virgin again", or whatever that line was. Mindwipe does not equal sexual purity.

But I'm definitely willing to watch another episode and see where it goes.