EP432: Inappropriate Behavior

[ancawonka]

I found the narration extremely effective. The frustration of Evan, who is trying to save his life by slowing it down to inches of frustrating communication - the doctor, who assumes Annie is simple and reducible to rules of propriety - and Annie herself who struggles to understand and be helpful while living in the world as Kafka's cockroach.

Each of these people, had they been able to figure out a simple thing, obvious in retrospect, could have gotten Evan rescued a bit faster. Since this isn't a Kafka story, Evan didn't die and Annie experienced some personal growth in the hands of someone who stopped long enough to listen. The tension towards the end was palpable and real.

One of my friends has a very young child who is autistic. She listens to him very carefully, trying to understand his world so she can be there when he needs a translator and advocate. I thought of her while the tension built up until Annie chose self-agency in a small way.

As for the narration, I enjoyed it. I thought I wouldn't, but her voice grew on me. I would listen to her again.

[FireTurtle]

I enjoyed this story very much. As someone who is just neurotypical enough, I had not trouble understanding Annie's POV and honestly envied her her island retreat. I want a mechano. Sometimes. Kudos to the author for treading that fine line between preaching and storytelling and landing on the storytelling side of things.

As far as Dr. Rhodes is concerned, I think he served as a fine example of when NTs are incapable of the same sort of analysis of situations that they accuse the atypicals of. Terrible sentence structure, but you know what I mean, I hope. Basically, he "forgot" about the fluorescent lights and then completely perseverated with his own agenda even when it was clear that it wasn't' working that day. He didn't read the cues either.

The "successful" characters stepped outside their own social milieu long enough to effect changes that while uncomfortable in the short term, were greatly beneficial in the long term. Annie got the man off of her island after resorting to inappropriate behavior and Uncle Mars got Annie after having to create a series of arrangements that  would otherwise seem nonsensical to an outsider.

Yes, it was an NT ending of a sort, but since our main characters liked fairy tales so much, I don't feel that did a disservice to her atypical character.

As for the narration: I think the narrator has an interesting voice that was fairly well suited to the material at hand. But, it seemed she perhaps needed to read the material a few more times to help with some of the stumbles and then a more fine-toothed editing. There were instances when I heard the editing "clicks" so I know the piece was edited somewhat, but a more thorough job was needed to catch the stumbles so it read more fluently. If it was me doing the reading I probably would have read the whole thing over again instead of resorting to the painstaking editing. I am speaking from experience here.

[laurasbadideas]

I loved this story. I think it was really effective at conveying Annie's and Evan's frustration and their similar-yet-different approaches to solving the problem.

A few people have talked about the story having an "NT ending". It didn't seem that way to me. An NT ending would have her hugging Evan and/or becoming friends with at least one person her own age, not dropping out of school at 12 years old to live in a tank and avoid all human interaction except for a few sessions with a therapist each week.

[TrishEM]

At first I thought this story was going to be too similar to Elizabeth Bear's Tideline (It took me a while to realize that it was actually a human-run drone instead of an AI-bot -- I thought that Evan was wrong about that, right until Annie woke up in her tank.). But despite the initial similarities of shipwreck, beach, and robot searching for objects, I thought the story was interesting anyway, and it soon became revealed as its own individual thing.

There were a few repetitive elements within the story, but I thought that style fit well with the theme of fairy tales, which also often use repetitive elements.

The narration didn't bother me as it did some people. I was doing chores at the time, so I noticed only one actual stumble, and I thought there was enough difference to cue me when POV shifted.

It was such a breakthrough when Annie realized she had to try something else, and managed to communicate the problem to someone who listened! And yeah, the nurse's rich owner-uncle was a bit convenient, but again, fairy tale, and I was quite satisfied with the happy ending.

I do wonder whether Evan deliberately chose Jack and the Beanstalk to encourage Annie to break rules -- if so, that was very clever. I also wonder more about his background. However, I'm fine with those questions being left to speculation rather than answered in the story.

[Jompier]

This story took a little bit of time to grab my attention, but it did. I found this to be one of the most rich and complex stories offered here. I was totally impressed with the narrative techniques used. There are so many things that I hope we talk about, aside from the recreation of a first person narrative told from someone on the autism spectrum.

Here are a couple of elements that really intrigued me:

First was the parallel dynamic between Dr. Rhodes and Annie then Evan and Annie. Of course we get alternative outlooks on the differences between appropriate and inappropriate behavior, but I liked how the author used the Rhodes/Annie relationship to emphasize a very paternalistic and subjugating interaction in which Dr. Rhodes, under the guise of trying to help, forced Annie into a confined role of the autistic child, the object of a professional gaze. It prevented him from hearing what she was saying because he assumed to know what she meant. The Evan/Annie relationship is interesting because it seems to reverse the Rhodes/Annie relationship. Here, Evan is beset by his environment, having difficulty communicating and understand the norms and appropriate behavior to engage Annie. The affectless visage of the mech makes it more difficult still because Evan cannot read information from facial expressions or other cues that NT folks might rely upon. I don't care how you slice it ... that's plain cool story telling.

Second is how the fairy tales are used as allegories of normal and appropriate behavior. Cinderella was a great choice to contrast with Jack and the Beanstalk. It gave me a chuckle when Annie noted how often people went to balls and parties in stories like Cinderella. Isn't that true? The same holds true for our modern versions of allegorical tales of normalcy and fantasy: cartoons. Ever notice how many cartoons (especially for girls ... my children restrict my sampling to these data) involve people holding parties and having fashion shows? Anyway, what I liked was how Annie dissected the Cinderella fable to show the absurd caricature of normal and appropriate behavior that it presents. Then, her analytic comparison to Jack and the Beanstalk uncovered wonderful issues of normalcy and appropriateness in a context where character actions feel more realistic for their moral ambiguity (setting aside the fact that there is nothing normal about giants and giant beanstalks). I loved Annie's observation at the end that Evan was Cinderella and she was the Fairy Godmother and that there was a hint of sadness and remorse in her observation that by calling Uncle Mars to the island that she sent Evan to the ball.

Third, I was really intrigued by the idea of using the mech as a theraputic tool. It says something about where my mind has been lately, but the whole technique seems to reflect thinking of Soviet Psychology in the the mid 20th century, that individual development, the development of self is inextricably connected to the environment and culture. Theraputic interventions might include developing mediating devices that help a patient achieve beyond his/her abilities on the expectation that those mediating interventions eventually become internalized as guides or rules of thumb or habits. The environmental controls of the mech, I imagine were perhaps ideal in that they allowed Annie to adjust stimuli that bothered her. Mediation by learning to control the stimuli themselves. When Dr. Rhodes met with Annie, he commented on the buzzing and flickering of the lights and it appeared to me that he was trying to see if Annie had internalized the ability to exert control over external stimuli by noting that she could turn off the light. Fascinating stuff.

[danthelawyer]

I have to say I'm on Seekerpilgrim's side on this one. The story seemed like it was written by someone writing their first work of fiction, and the narration seemed like it was done by someone just learning to read. I confess I quit during the Cinderella story, at which point I was nearly in tears of frustration.

The second point has been covered -- maybe this was a rush job, with no time for the narrator to read the story once through before recording or was aiming for a particular effect. Either way, it really didn't work for me.

As to the first point, there was just so much telling rather than showing. For example, we learn the girl is in a sensory isolation tank to operate her mechano, kind of like in the movie Pandora. But then we learn about the precise constituents of the broth she's floating in. Then we get this detailed explanation of NT and non-NT reactions to Cinderella. Good grief, I felt like I was being read to out of a textbook by a third grader. Some of the commenters seem to be suggesting that this impression was precisely the point. Maybe that would have worked better with a shorter story.

Count me in the China Mieville camp: tell me what the characters are doing, but don't explain every little thing about how they're doing it. The example he gave once, I think, is that in a non-SF story, the author might just say a character called someone. In an SF story, the author so often feels compelled to explain how a telephone works. This story seemed an extreme version of that latter impulse, and frankly it drove me up the wall.

[Conejo Gordo]

I loved this story! It is complex and tangly and hard to explain to my friends (which I have tried on multiple occasions since my first listen). I found myself rooting for Annie and her bravery. 

I applaud, but disagree with the brave voices that didn't like the story. I wonder if some of them/you aren't suffering from a lack of experience with people who are autism or asperger's, or other neurological problems. RATHER they do have that experience and didn't realize it. You might have met someone and just think they are a jerk (can I say A-hole).  Its hard to tell the difference but it is an important one.  These folks aren't hard to communicate with because they chose to be. They can find societal interaction to be extremely challenging. That's why I find Annie so awesome. Even if she was just a selfish little girl (like a Francis Burnett Hodges character) she breaks through her problem to save a man's life. That's pretty heroic.

[eytanz]

Danthelawyer - this is an official moderator warning. Your substantive criticisms of the story and the reading, as contained in your second paragraph onwards, are fine. Your disparaging remarks about the author and narrator in the first paragraph are not. Especially in a thread where a moderator already reminded everyone of the rules of conduct. By all means keep being critical but please keep the gratuitous snark aimed at individuals out of future posts.

[inqydesu]

I have to say, I loved this story.  Like so many good SF stories it highlighted a social problem using a near future technology situation.  I did have some concerns about the audio quality, but not so much it destroyed my enjoyment of the story.

I loved it because it explained to us "NeuroTypicals" how someone effected by autism or a neurologically atypical person might see things, how their goals and motivations might be different and how their communication may be hampered by a lack of understanding regarding social rules and overwhelming social distractions.  I wondered if such a virtual reality environment might facilitate communication with someone in this situation, and whether this might be a viable treatment.  After all, we see that Evan the anthropologist, who did not take assumptions as to what was proper behavior (as this was his training, to understand different greeting rituals) was able to communicate more clearly. 

I liked how it started out with the Meccano, and a question in my mind as to whether this was an AI or an alien or a human, which underlined the differences between the child and the NTs who surrounded her.   


The fairytales, which are usually meant/used to teach social norms, were also a point in contrast which provoked a lot of thought.  We see the stepmother and stepsisters "punished" and Cinderella rewarded for her long suffering, but does this really teach the right lesson, that women should just take punishments that are handed out.  similarly If we are supposed to follow the rules, why then is Jack rewarded for his foolishness and theft?  Is it because the giant was bigger?  Sure the giant tried to eat jack, but only when Jack invaded his home.  In some parts of this country the castle doctrine would have ruled the giant the tragic hero.

To me the "lesson" if there is one is to listen to others and try and communicate, and the story was an enjoyable illustration of the same.

[danthelawyer]

I apologize. And I mean that sincerely. My own behavior was clearly inappropriate. I'm afraid if I say more it will sound like a non-apology apology, and I don't want that, but at the same time I don't want to seem brusque. I look forward to engaging more constructively with this group.

[Asomatous]

I was very excited to hear "Inappropriate Behavior." I am a long time educator who has used SF to help pre-service teachers better understand the challenges of teaching when I worked at university. I have experience working with children/students who have a variety of different learning abilities. I found the description of Annie (despite Alasdair [sic] repeatedly calling her "Mary" at the story's end) to be extremely insightful. The challenges to communication by all characters in the story are a daily experience for me and learners I am guiding. The seeming buffoonery of Dr. Rhodes vividly captures the challenges of communicating with an autistic learner. The desire to help the learner sometimes causes even the best intentioned to over simplify or too specifically focus an interaction. Before writing him off as a well meaning fool, I feel he should be credited with getting Annie into an environment where she blossomed. As so many have already mentioned, I too admire the courage and determination of the coming-of-age Annie. I was particularly fond of how she seemed at ease in the meccano and so ill at ease in her own skin (meat suit). I continue to ponder how strongly Annie identified as a non-NT and how determined she was not to become NT. My experiences with autistic learners are that some are very eager to communicate with NTs and others seem disinterested in things beyond their rich inner worlds. Some are very helpful and master social conventions well while others seem completely uninterested in any social conventions. Annie's desire to be alone and cut off from sensory overload seems more a NT coping mechanism (say of an extreme introvert) than an autistic learner trait. Some have mentioned Annie is selfish in their analysis but I see her more as someone trying to cope with the situation around them. Filtering and making sense of input is an isolated exercise for most of us. It behooves us to recall making sense of the world is a very selfish process for all of us. The irony is that all our perceptions are actually social constructs.

Finally, I would like to know where I can get the text of the story. I may have occasion to use it as part of a philosophy/psychology of education course. I have used the story "Billy's Bunter" in the past and want to expand using SF stories to help communicate challenging information. As Annie says, "Tell me a story" seems a better approach than the traditional Socratic method.

[carter101]

I was walking along a quiet street when I suddenly felt like cheering at the top of my voice.  Hearing Annie tell Kiri about the problem felt like a winning goal just before the end of a game.  The bravery and personal growth exhibited brought a tear to my eye.

I'd love to know if the author has any personal experience with an autism-like condition.  I have some little experience as a teacher but this came across as very realistically yet sensitively handled.

I thought the fairy tales viewed through Annie's perspective were fascinating and added to my understanding of her. 

The moral grey area was thought provoking.  She is clearly content with her mecha form.  But using her interests for profit making?  Hmmm.

I hated Dr Rhodes.  Hated.  I know arrogant doctors have a basis in reality, but it was the combination of self satisfied smugness combined with his position of power than made him such an effective (and unknowing) antagonist.

This was one of the best stories I've heard on Escape pod for ages.

[matweller]

Finally, I would like to know where I can get the text of the story. I may have occasion to use it as part of a philosophy/psychology of education course. I have used the story "Billy's Bunter" in the past and want to expand using SF stories to help communicate challenging information. As Annie says, "Tell me a story" seems a better approach than the traditional Socratic method.

We almost always post the text of the story with the episode postings on the website. You can get this one here: http://escapepod.org/2014/01/25/ep432-inappropriate-behavior/

[Devoted135]

Fascinating discussion for a fascinating story.

I really appreciated the story's portrayal of what felt like an authentically autistic mind. An obvious connection, but it put me strongly in mind of "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" by Mark Haddon. One thing that I was really curious about though was Annie's ridiculously frequent use of the term NT and her fixation on whether others were or were not NT. Is that something that would be on her mind so often? For me it came off as forced and sort of pushed the story over the line from an effective narrative into "now I will teach you a lesson about autism" territory. Which is really sad, because I think it's great to see more stories from that perspective.

[Dem]

Fascinating discussion for a fascinating story.

I really appreciated the story's portrayal of what felt like an authentically autistic mind. An obvious connection, but it put me strongly in mind of "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" by Mark Haddon. One thing that I was really curious about though was Annie's ridiculously frequent use of the term NT and her fixation on whether others were or were not NT. Is that something that would be on her mind so often? For me it came off as forced and sort of pushed the story over the line from an effective narrative into "now I will teach you a lesson about autism" territory. Which is really sad, because I think it's great to see more stories from that perspective.

My experience of people with an autistic condition is that, if something is in their mind, it's in their mind and that's that!

[Devoted135]

Fascinating discussion for a fascinating story.

I really appreciated the story's portrayal of what felt like an authentically autistic mind. An obvious connection, but it put me strongly in mind of "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" by Mark Haddon. One thing that I was really curious about though was Annie's ridiculously frequent use of the term NT and her fixation on whether others were or were not NT. Is that something that would be on her mind so often? For me it came off as forced and sort of pushed the story over the line from an effective narrative into "now I will teach you a lesson about autism" territory. Which is really sad, because I think it's great to see more stories from that perspective.

My experience of people with an autistic condition is that, if something is in their mind, it's in their mind and that's that!

Haha, excellent point! I guess my question is better phrased as wondering whether that is a concept that is frequently taught to autistic children/pre-teens, and if so what is the goal in doing so? To help them understand that they are different? To help them evaluate how others are responding to them? I love that people who work in special ed have participated in the thread and find it valuable as a learning experience.

[Melsana]

I don't come here to post often, but I loved this story so much I just had to come and say so.

I was totally sucked into the story and totally emotionally tied up into wondering/worrying that the poor man on the island wouldn't survive.  I was quite happy to get the happy ending for everyone involved even if it did seem a bit too perfect. 

I loved how it really highlighted the different parts of communication and how so many things we take for granted can really change how things work out when they aren't available. 

[Dem]

Fascinating discussion for a fascinating story.

I really appreciated the story's portrayal of what felt like an authentically autistic mind. An obvious connection, but it put me strongly in mind of "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" by Mark Haddon. One thing that I was really curious about though was Annie's ridiculously frequent use of the term NT and her fixation on whether others were or were not NT. Is that something that would be on her mind so often? For me it came off as forced and sort of pushed the story over the line from an effective narrative into "now I will teach you a lesson about autism" territory. Which is really sad, because I think it's great to see more stories from that perspective.

My experience of people with an autistic condition is that, if something is in their mind, it's in their mind and that's that!

Haha, excellent point! I guess my question is better phrased as wondering whether that is a concept that is frequently taught to autistic children/pre-teens, and if so what is the goal in doing so? To help them understand that they are different? To help them evaluate how others are responding to them? I love that people who work in special ed have participated in the thread and find it valuable as a learning experience.

I don't hear the NT thing much in the UK but elsewhere it seems almost to have become a way of saying 'if you're going to label us, we're going to label you'. This is quite affirming for many who want to own and value their autistic characteristics - the ways of thinking that make them unique - while at the same time managing to make being neurotypical somewhat of a ho-hum state to be in. Vive la difference, I say!

[Kaa]

I thoroughly enjoyed this story, although there was a point when I wanted to take that stupid, idiotic doctor and throttle him with my bare hands. I've had some small experience being around teenagers with autism since I have friends who have children on the autism spectrum (one very high and one slightly farther down). It felt quite realistic to me, and I sent the link to the story text to my friends, even though they're not used to reading science fiction.

I didn't notice any major issues with the narration. Judging by what has been said, I must have been sucked into the story enough that I just didn't notice whatever problems there were.

I also really enjoyed the breakdown of the fairy tales.

[slic]

After hearing this story, I felt as though this was an excellent writing exercise that turned into a sale.  Trying to write in the another person's voice is always difficult, and while I only have casual knowledge of people with mental disabilities (my wife used to work with high school students of this nature), I think the writer did a very good job.  However, I think it is fair to say that while the story was true to the character it was not entertaining (to me).
I very much disliked the narration.  Once I realized that Annie was autistic, I thought it was a clever device, but the same halting, difficult tone was used for all the characters.  Although the story started of in 1st person, it did not always stay there, so there is no logic for this.  Given the long list of credits of the narrator and her background (Special Education English teacher), I surmize that she made a conscious choice.  Unfortunately, I didn't like it.

I think Seekerpilgrim was given short shrift.  He never even came close to saying something nasty about autistic people.  He commented on a character in a Fictional story.  He didn't run out and steal candy from an kid with Asperger's Syndrome nor knock over a paraplegic in a wheelchair.   
"...a spoiled, sheltered little girl selfishly wants…" Annie said it herself - she didn't want to answer questions, so she changed the topic (sounds kinda selfish).  She may not have grasped the seriousness of the man's situation, but she still just didn't want to do what he wanted. 
Autistic people can be selfish too, and I believe, by definition, autistic people have to be sheltered - they have serious trouble coping otherwise.  And spolied ;-) She has her own Mecha - totally spoiled!  But seriously, people with autism are People - flaws and strengths both - when she told Kira that was huge for her, when she didn't want to answer Evan's questions anymore, not so much.

I liked Asomatous' comments.

In the same vein as this story - check out the movie Gabrielle (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3106846/) Canada's submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars (the main character is played by a woman with mental disabilities).

[Windup]

This story worked extremely well for me.  I think one of the best things about stories is that they allow you to see the world from another point of view, and I thought this one did that in spades.  I've dealt with people on the autism spectrum, and I thought that it rang very true in terms of the types of reactions both by and to them.  I also thought the narrator did an excellent job with the character.

I thought Alasdair was a little hard on the doctor in outro, though.  I think it was expecting an awful lot from him to decipher what the child was driving at, especially when he had a perfectly good reason to believe he understood what the problem was.  I'm also not quite as impressed with the uncle.  As others had pointed out, if  he'd simply done his job and fixed the cameras instead of "refusing on general principles," others would have immediately been able to understand about the shipwreck survivor. I think they both exhibited some pretty common human flaws.

[Jompier]

I though Alasdair was a little hard on the doctor in outro, though.  I think it was expecting an awful lot from him to decipher what the child was driving at, especially when he had a perfectly good reason to believe he understood what the problem was.  

I think you're right.  The doctor did as he was surely trained to do - his profession consolidates the power to make diagnoses and lay out treatment plans in its practitioners. So it is no surprise to me that he acted paternalistically. That's kind of his job. Could he have listened a bit more, I'm sure he could have, but I think we should keep in mind that it's easy to dislike the doctor in this story because our narrative vantage point allows us to see where the miscommunication lays.

The reason our castaway has some luck talking with Annie has more to do with the nature of his situation and his relationship to Annie. He has to listen because he has no lever of persuasion like the doctor has.

[Unblinking]

It took me a little while to warm up to the story.  It helped once I got to know her nature a little more--the first section with Evan seemed to drag on some.  And then I didn't really love it until I was sure that her POV felt pretty authentic to autism as I understand it.  The pacing was a little slow, and frustrating at times, but just think how slow and frustrating it must've been for Evan.  So it worked for me.

The narration was a bit difficult at times.  I'm not sure if that was intentional or not, since the narration was the same for all the POV characters.  The main thing that tripped me up, though, was that I didn't catch the POV transitions for the first 1/3 of the story or so because my ear didn't catch the character name in the header as being formatting rather than speech.

The fairy tales made a good framing device for her understanding--I liked that a lot.  I really wanted to slap the doctor at several times during the story.  And I understand that dealing with Annie has to be incredibly frustrating for anyone.  But he's the one who's supposed to be helping her, he has the responsibility to at least listen to what she has to say.  The first conversation I could understand to some degree--she didn't manage to say a great deal.  But in the second conversation she said a man needed help.  That phrase means a variety of things, and he should've taken the time to ask what kind of help instead of just dismissing it out of hand.  Even if it were just a technician. if the man needed help she was relaying useful information.

I don't understand what people are saying when they say that the ending is NT. What's NT about it?  If it were NT it wouldn't end with her being exploited by a Uncle Mars the corporate man.  But from her POV it is a happy ending because she gets her mechano and gets to do what she was doing with it before anyway--collecting rocks and being helpful.   Is uncle Mars exploiting her?  Yes.  But he's also allowing her to do what she wants to do, and he is the only one who can allow this.  He is an interesting character in that he acts in the most possible selfish way, which also happens to be the most selfless way from her POV. 

From Annie's point of view, the thing that spoke to me the most was the part about eye contact.  I have always had trouble figuring out eye contact.  I am missing the wiring that everyone else seems to have which tells me what the appropriate proportion of time to look at somebody while conversing with them.  So I either end up staring, or end up avoiding their gaze, either thing makes many people uncomfortable.  And if I'm fatigued, my eyes start twitching uncontrollably the more that I focus on trying to control them.  Sometimes, especially in situations that make me nervous anyway, trying to manage this ends up taking up so much of my focus that I'm barely able to pay attention to the words being exchanged so that I seem distant and uninterested when I'm really just trying desperately to seem normal enough so that the other person won't just walk away.  It has crossed my mind before that I might be in serious trouble if I ever am taken into a police station for questioning--I've heard on cop shows at least that they can tell if a person is lying by watching their eyes for too much or too little eye contact.  I hope I have a rock-solid alibi if that ever happens.

Autism is often referred to as a spectrum. I think that NeuroTypical comes with a spectrum too, and though I'm socially functional in most respects, I'm off-center towards the less NT end.  I think my level of NT is not unusual in my career as engineer, as we tend to get more leeway on the social norms than many other people because it can be channeled toward rigorous scientific work with good benefit to all--science has rules that are written down and easy to understand.

I've learned a lot about autism from Temple Grandin (including the movie), who really has a great story for how she managed to not only function in the world, but has managed to turn her atypical manner of thinking to make positive changes--such as redesigning cattle chutes so that the animals don't become terrified at the sight of them. 

[Dem]

NT is nothing term really because it's just the so-called normal end of the same scale as autism. If you have enough of the characteristics associated with autism, the diagnosis is likely to be made (especially if this is causing you problems) but further back along the scale, with fewer and fewer of these, you might be described as NT. It's no more a useful label than Emotionally Typical might be if you don't have a bipolar disorder but, as I said somewhere way back when (up there), it's used increasingly by people with autism who want to own their characteristics and also have a bit of a dig at everyone else. So with all of us being on the same scale, there's a point at which not quite autistic becomes not quite not autistic and away you go.

[davidthygod]

After reading the reviews, I may have to give this another chance, but after the first ten minutes, I turned it off due to the narration and story pacing.  I actually agreed with SeekerPilgrim and DerangedMind, that this might have been rushed or an afterthought as an episode.