Moreover, the episode has been reclaimed by feminist film critics. While the male gaze is obvious, the power of the episode lies in the fact that Cora loses. She is not punished by a jealous husband (the standard trope); she is punished by her own conscience and the societal architecture of marriage. This makes her a tragic figure, not a cautionary one.
The genius of this episode is how it subverts that trashy expectation. When we first meet Cora, she fits the trope perfectly. She is the trophy wife of a high-ranking official in the chaotic world of the Wild Cards universe—a world where an alien virus has rewritten humanity, creating Aces (superpowered individuals) and Jokers (those cursed with deformities). cora the unfaithful housewife episode