Erin, I think you're right that she had flaws, but they were more... pedestrian. She had some bad relationships, she was maybe a little too clingy, she has the hots for her (wildly attractive, IMO) neighbor and wanted to woobie him a little. That's, like, whole continents away from "I sold my body to a corporation to let them remove my personality and use however they wish." You know, in my opinion.

But, see, I think that's the point! She just LOOKS like she's pretty together, a few twitches, but...

And then when you get under it, she's got all these deeply broken things.

I don't think the point is that everyone is fucked-up beyond redemption; I think the thing is, you don't always know what really makes up a person. "What? I can have layers!"

Are people all as fucked-up as the Dolls? Of course, not -- it's hyperbole. It's all about surfaces being deceptive -- in an evil corporate-animal cruelty way, sure, but also in a more prosaic, everyone has secret, hidden things that inform and shape them, and they're not always who you think they are. And that can be for good, bad, and for just it-is-what-it-is-ness.

I guess to me, it's just a different kind of broken for her to be a doll then just to be... fucked up.

YBrokenMV.

Oh, I agree. But I'm looking at it from an almost purely metaphorical stance, so...

But, see, I think that's the point! She just LOOKS like she's pretty together, a few twitches, but...

I never thought that she was together. She always seemed needy and clingy with the mooning and the manicotti. It wasn't until the recent episodes that she got a personality, and frankly, it was a complete turnaround, not just of her, but of Paul's attitude towards her.

and frankly, it was a complete turnaround, not just of her, but of Paul's attitude towards her.

I must admit, I blamed that on pilot-itis.

I was a little annoyed, because they could have still made her the neighbor with a crush but give her some personality in the beginning. They even could have redeemed the character by having her bring him some Tupperware with the pills and saying "no, it's really leftover this time, I've given up trying to impress you"

The whole Mellie/Paul thing was too fast. It's like she was crush!neighbor with the puppy-dog drool one second, and then she's got a key and cosy take-out?

Nope.

I guess I can see going from "Hi, neighbor!" to sleeping together and getting the run of the place over a couple of weeks if their earlier meetings had possessed mutual chemistry. But I just can't get past the fact that someone as obviously desperate and clingy as Mellie was early on would have had me creeping home silently below the eye level of the peepholes.

Yep, Matt. There was no "hey, there, baby" from Ballard at all.

Maybe it was the Vicodin?