My reaction was... how could it be that the episode is filled with EVEN MORE FAIL than I anticipated?? Unkindly, but with some justification, I had to conclude that even when I've resigned myself beforehand to "full of fail" the show outdoes my expectations. In the opposite direction.

Instead of having two black male characters who are violent and toolish, we have one who is even more so. Not really an improvement, in my opinion.

True fact.

I wonder if experiencing being a black man in 1970s America had any effect on future!Uriel's determination to bring about the apocalypse.

I've read that story, but set before the twentieth century. (I mean, this before we knew that Uriel popped down in the '70s.) I have to say it's pretty ridiculously awful no matter how you slice it.

In conclusion, I wish the show and fandom didn't keep living down to... well, the first review I saw on TV.com for the episode was raving about how awesome it was that Anna died, among other things. I actually had some faith in TV.com reviewers for other shows like Homicide and iCarly, specifically with respect to being able to identify racism on a Watsonian or Doylist level, but I guess I was expecting too much. Again.

I did think Anna's roots showing was a nice character detail.