huh. your perspective compared to what I see in London is very different. I would argue that what you are characterising as "shrug and let them get on with it" is hoping issues go away and trying to not deal with their reality. Having seen racism and homophobia and transphobia manifest in both the US and the UK,…

agreed. I think they are also trying to make parallels to the concept of "family".

yeah I just meant the old fashioned practice of defining women by the colour of their hair.

interesting how it sort of parallels the possible crush that Mia feels for the her boss in the tea shop.

Niska keeps fingering her blue rubber band indicating I guess that she is still in love?

yeah exactly. and also the theme of "bad parenting" in that maybe she is the sociopath that she is because of the treatment she experienced or observed. Maybe they are making parallels to the kids in the family and the development of the newly awakened synths?

yeah I really don't understand why the AVClub reviewers are insisting that every episode be a "Very Special Episode". Sure good sci-fi can give us a nice mirror on our society but sometimes a cigar is just an entertaining cigar.

I'm impressed by the actors who play Mattie and Mia. Laura much less so. I really wish they'd teach British actors of a certain age to mumble less.

yeah or with a relative or something?

yeah those frats on my campus were all about the seal clubbing and opening up the Northwest Passage. Well, actually they used both of those as euphemisms.

yeah I like the character of Shinwell, but sometimes I think the actor is just mumbling instead of acting.

I don't disagree with you but aren't we asking too much of a show to be "A Very Special Episode" to tackle responsibly every current issues? I mean sometimes "Ripped From the Headlines" can just be a jumping off point to approach the semi-entertaining story of the week.

I actually didn't think it was too bad. I agree that it was over stuffed and weak on character development, but it had fun aspects and we know the characters pretty well at this point that we can fill in a lot of blanks.

on the objectification of prostitutes that Genevieve mentioned, Capt. Gregson refered to "A Brunette" repeatedly. Granted he is old school but still I don't think I hear anyone use those sorts of terms outside of police procedurals.

what was the food that Sherlock was eating and Joan was disgusted by?

kissie face

The opener felt a bit weird with the two camera conversation and the jarring cuts to give us a quick reaction view.

It was cool that the gamers were girls.

I like Capt. Gregson's raise of his eyebrows during the interview with the anti-seal clubbing lady. It was after he spent most of Det. Bell's intro looking down so he wouldn't be caught rolling his eyes over "e-sports" or "sealfie". I also liked how he tried to mansplain sports to Joan with a look of "kids these…

Joan wears a necktie AND the cool coat with buttons to the meet with Shinwell. She's prepared!