Okay, shallow review thoughts first, it didn't strike me as a masterwork, but it worked for me. Dr. Horrible (the character) was perfectly sung and acted, every second of the thing. Penny could have used a little more variety - both of her solo songs sounded a bit too much alike to me, but she was good in the part. I must say that I would have preferred less of a downer for the ending, but this is Joss. How do we always forget we're dealing with Joss? Somehow, despite all of us knowing his tricks, he remains the king of the bait and switch.

Some people are saying Penny is a Woman In A Refrigerator - and I admit, I thought about it. She is, definitely, a Saintly Dead Love Interest.

I completely get and respect that interpretation. The thing that makes me feel as if she isn't, quite, is that usually in the most egregious Woman In Refrigerators cases the woman's death, while theoretically bad for the man, is, in a way, good for him in the long run. He thumps his chest, vows vengeance, etc, but really her death is the spur that leads him to having a fabulous adventurous lifestyle.

Often, to add insult to injury, there's a what if / time travel type story, in which he is shown that she shouldn't be rescued, because it led to him becoming a hero, so really, everyone is better off with her dead. Yeah. I can't stand it either. And that's if - if! Anyone remembers she ever existed, several stories later.

Whereas with Dr. Horrible... He was already getting what he wanted. He was already winning. He had just committed the deed that got him into the Evil League of Evil. Losing her only destroyed him, not built him up. He turns from gleeful villainy, to a man whose life is ashes in his mouth. Her death does *not* improve his life.

If you're going to kill a love interest, that's a more respectful way to do it.

That said, Joss Whedon kills a hell of a lot of women on his television shows. I mean, more women die than men, by a long shot - not that female characters should never die, but when the numbers are so imbalanced... you wonder.

On Buffy, in particular, it seems as if the only primary or secondary non-villain characters to die were, well. Women. People made the argument that of course people die around vampires, there's nothing skeevy about it, but I can't think of a male non-villain character who got screen time and characterization who died. Not one.

Women? DEATH COUNT! Tara, Buffy (Well, for a while), Joyce, Anya (though she does have an evil past, but her death had nothing to do with it, so YMMV) - and, at a pinch, Kendra and more potential slayers than you can shake a stick at.

Men? Um. Does Jonathan count? Because he was an ex-villain and fugitive from justice at that point and killed by his fellow ex-villain who relapsed. Does Ben count? He didn't have that much screentime and he knew his body was hosting a Hell God. 

I didn't watch Angel, but I hear things were pretty much the same on there as well.

Firefly and Serenity - at least what we saw of it, seemed to reverse that trend, so there's hope, but... Joss means well, but his track record isn't the greatest.