Dollhouse 1x7

[clodia_risa]

I loved everything about the episode EXCEPT the layout and design of the building. And one other thing.


1) Animal facilities are separate from laboratories.
2) Laboratories always have locks on the door.
3) Animal facilities always have multiple locks, hallways and doors both.
4) The more secure the facility needs to be, the crazier the lock. I've seen biometrics.
5) As much as I sympathize with Caroline, I am annoyed at her "using animals in the name of 'science'" spiel. There are very few times that I want to yell "Damn Hippies!" but this particular cause is one of them. Obviously, whatever Rossum was up to was evil, but animal research in and of itself is not evil. Further there are no viable alternatives to animal research at this time. How do I know this? Because that's my husband's job right now - to figure out cell culture alternatives to animal research. If that becomes possible, we're going to have to know a LOT more about how the various organs and systems interact. We don't have that knowledge. Further, all research facilities that do animal research are held to extremely high standards on the humane treatment of said animals. There are severe punishments if you do not hold to said standards.

Ignoring the above factors, I loved the episode. Especially all the handlers and staff being on drugs. Hilarious. Also, my new theory is that they're going to alienate Ballard until he quits, and then they're going to make him an offer he can't refuse. I know he'd get buyers.

Comments

[zebeckras.livejournal.com]

I haven't watched any of this show so I have literally nothing to say about it. ;) But I'm interested in what you're saying about animal research. For my job I kind of have to be okay with it, because most of the medical journals I work on use various kinds of animals. I hadn't heard of what your husband does before - I think that's REALLY interesting.

I had lunch with one of the editors-in-chief of one of the journals (along with the managing editors and so on) and at one point they were talking about the protests of animal research etc. Apparently in the UK it's like, MAJOR. A major issue, I mean. The protesters are rabid there and it's harder for researchers to publish, because when they do, a lot of the time they get death threats. O_O

[clodia-risa.livejournal.com]

Well, my husband is working for a major corporation in a group that does research that's not immediately applicable to company projects. He's been contracted for a limited time in order to work on this project, and while he has bosses and stuff, and help, it's mostly him. That's the thing that frustrates me the most about (some) animal activists - I want to know what other solution we have? Researchers would LOVE to get rid of animal testing, there's a lot of costs and regulations there. It's much cheaper to work on cell lines. The upkeep costs alone on rats are more than you would think, especially in the sizes that you have to have to get reliable data.

I know that in California, there have been scientists harassed by the unhappy public at their houses. While their spouses and children were inside.

Animal research isn't something that I'm happy about. (Just like I'm pro-choice but I'm not all about murderin' babies.) But I know that it's done with the best possible attitude and in the best possible way, and that if there were a better alternative, that science would adapt it. I do acknowledge that there are probably some labs that would fit under the "evil science" category, and that there were reasons for each and every single regulation that the government has had to come up with. But I know that it's done seriously, and I know from personal experience that the animals are treated well and are not unhappy. The cats that I've seen are so happy to see people and to get attention, even if the people are wearing lab coats. Is that a traumatized animal?

[zebeckras.livejournal.com]

I think in many ways there are still a lot of people who see animal research as an equivalent with animal testing, without knowing the regulations that go into it (which were ignored by cosmetics companies and things). That's the thing with science, though... there are so many grey areas and you can't tell someone they're wrong for thinking that animal research, or stem cell research, or whatever, is wrong... But at the same time they really can't tell others that it's solely wrong and based on needless cruelty. Bah. I get tired arguing these things even in my head. ;) But yeah, I am with you on everything you said.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Animal experimentation isn't a hot-button issue for me, so I didn't really connect to Caroline that way. In fact, I felt very disconnected to her, like we were watching flashbacks of a dead person. I don't know if that's the direction or the acting.

I liked the use of animal experimentation, though, because it set up Caroline as an activist in the most pro-active sense: someone who intervenes and fights. I also thought it was kind of laughably ironic that she's so concerned with animal experimentation, when set in the larger world of horror that is this show. It made her seem naive, a trait which might explain why she eventually ends up coerced into the Dollhouse instead of being killed or not getting caught. Caroline wasn't prepared for the real enemy. But maybe Echo will be.

[clodia-risa.livejournal.com]

I didn't think of it that way before. Seeing her activism distanced me from her, but that's because of my background. Thinking about what they were trying to accomplish with the animal activism thing, I'm down to one of two things. Either what you just described, or (if there's an overwhelming animal research=bad/science corporations=bad atmosphere in Hollywood) that she's the noble hero that just got over her head.

I'll be able to like her a little better if I go for the naive good girl. Thanks for that thought!