it's striking how many other shows this feels applicable to.

*nods* True! In this case, I think the message is particularly insidious because we're distracted by the apparent "requirements" of adaptation--"they had to do it that way," we say. The racism in the second episode was awful, and yet fandom minced its words, calling it "orientalism" or an "updating" of 19c tropes. (Gah, sorry so many scare quotes.) In any case, thanks for giving this a try, even without an investment in the source material. Maggie