Critical Dissonance: Critics were not very favorable towards the show, giving it a 48% on Rotten Tomatoes and 57% on Metacritic. Some fans were much more receptive, giving it 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, 68% on Google reviews and 74% on IMDB; on Metacritic though, it holds a much more dismal fan rating of 43%. Some negative ratings were prompted by Joss Whedon's Role-Ending Misdemeanour rather than the actual content of the show.
Augie's particular brand of severe social awkwardness and desperate inability to read the mood / nonverbal parts of conversations, his self-awareness that he's "odd," plus his obsessive interest in birds (established long before he was Touched), all are very recognizable to people who are on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum. But given the time period, of course it's not labeled as such in-story.
Dr. Hague's assistant manages to establish himself as considerably further along on the spectrum in the few lines he has. He outright says that he has difficulty reading emotions face-to-face and is totally hopeless when he's expected to do it over the phone. (Of course, it doesn't help the poor dude that he's working for sociopaths.)
The Beggar King is a sadistic thug who threatens to cut Amalia's face if she betrays him, and regularly mutilates his lackeys with a straight razor, but is played with such obvious glee by Nick Frost that it's impossible (well, maybe a little) not to root for him.
Harsher in Hindsight: Primrose snapping "What would you know about being a mother?!" to Lucy is this following the discovery that Lucy accidentally killed her infant son when her turn first manifested.
Hilarious in Hindsight: The badass, awesome Su is played by Pui Fan Lee, who was the original portrayer of none other than Po.
Ho Yay: Between Augie and Hugo, and Hugo and Frank.
I Am Not Shazam: Many pieces of marketing went out of their way to point out that nothing in the show is actually called "The Nevers", and people shouldn't be waiting to find out what it's going to be - the title is rather a play on the period saying "Well, I never!" However, this has not stopped several reviewers from constantly asking (much to the consternation of fans) "Are we any closer to finding out what the 'Nevers' are?"
Les Yay: Between Annie and Maladie (who nearly share a kiss in the second episode) as well as Penance and Amalia, who seem to have about one moment per episode. In "True", Amalia outright calls Penance "my heart" while entreating the Galanthi.
Moment of Awesome: The fight between Odium and Amalia in "Ignition" is one for the show's creators, who actually looked up things like how insects walked on water in order to make Odium's turn look more believable.
Narm: Winemar puts about about twenty holes directly in Mary's chest from a bush halfway across the park, but then proceeds to only manage to graze Frank's face despite firing directly at him from a much closer range for a good 45 seconds. There's also the fact that, well, it's about twenty holes in her chest, and she remains upright for all of them despite having clearly been killed by the first shot - There's No Kill like Overkill indeed.
Nightmare Fuel: Lucy revealing the actual circumstances of her infant son's death, which somehow manages to be more horrific than the version she told Penance.
Lucy: I broke my son to pieces. I held my baby, and it killed him. And it wasn't sudden like I said. The breaks, they were sudden. But he... he held on. And he screamed. He screamed longer than I did pushin' him out... 'fore his heart gave.
Poor, poor Beth. She's sexually harassed by her boss, accidentally outed as one of the Touched, her best friend betrays her to the police, she's subjected to racist abuse while trying to seek help and after all that she finds herself at the mercy of Dr. Hague, who proceeds to experiment on her and leave her as an Empty Shell. Thank god she seems to have come back to herself as of "True".
Really, all of the Touched could count - just watch the look on Primrose's face when one of the nobles she's speaking with (and thinking she's impressing) suddenly treats her like a circus attraction.
Primrose: We had such a lovely time there. Of course, my father is much called away by his work. They're in Zurich for the season.
Lady: Your mother has found a very cunning tailor, dear. Vernal lace... Hard to find by the yard.
Primrose:[looking slightly uncomfortable, but still smiling] Oh, it's not yards...
Carl: Do we smile, or... [he suddenly jumps into a pose with a mock horrified expression] perhaps?
Primrose:[her face immediately falls and she looks visibly hurt]
Lady:[sharply] Don't be an ass, Carl.
The real Amalia True's life was just one misery after another from the moment she decided to marry for security instead of love, to the point that she killed herself by drowning. Slowly. While this was fortunate for Stripe, who needed an intact body, it means the real Amalia never got the empowerment the other Touched women got to experience.
