I think I may have seen that episode in the hour or so since I wrote this post! At least - well, I just heard about the back story of the girl who is, shall we say, a daughter of the manse? That was pretty mind-blowing.

And yes, about the creepiness - I'd not consciously noticed the frame ratio (unsurprisingly), but I'd certainly been thinking "mind-altering substance".

Normally I watch one anime episode a night, but in this case I may just have to rush through to the end after all - I'm not sure I can bear to leave it hanging at the end of the week.