sick girl has aspergers syndrome.
The Episode, which many people seem to view as one of the more interesting/better episodes, is also one of my personal favorites, mainly because I like the main character Ida.
But very early on I recognized what I believe to be a classic case of Asperger syndrome.
Asperger Syndrome is a relatively new psychological disorder of the Autism spectrum. It has only been recognized as a disorder since the mid 1990's
Some of It's characteristics are.
Social awkwardness
having very narrow interests in uncommon fields.
Clumsiness or awkward movements.
Speaking in weird tones or using strange voices.
Talking at great length to people about obscure topics and not picking up on the social ques that would indicate to them that the other person is not enjoying the conversation.
Ida displayed many of these characteristics.
particularly when talking (using strange voices and or tones)
And if you watch the way she walked to the elevator when she first walked past Misty in the lobby of her office building.
People with Asperger syndrome often find themselves in careers where social interaction is kept to a minimum, Bookkeeping,,working in a mail room ,,working in a museum as a curator,, or entomology,, where she can be extremely focused on something and not be bothered by a lot of social interaction.
Personally I think that is what made Ida such an interesting character and it is her awkwardness that caused me to find her the best part of the episode.
I believe who ever wrote this episode and specifically wrote the character Ida is familiar with Asperger syndrome, They obviously wanted Ida to be an odd duck type of character and I think they must have chosen to make her a person with Asperger syndrome because she has all of the classic signs of it.