Dollhouse

The Public Eye, pt. 1

Submitted by thinkwatchthink on Fri, 01/22/2010

Dollhouse Episode Review

In which there is a point to Senator Perrin. Who knew?

What Happened

Senator Perrin makes a nuisance of himself by producing Madeline (the Doll formerly known as November) at a press conference. She is willing to testify to the fact that the Dollhouse exists and how they used her for two years.

Told to stay out of it, Adelle suspects she's being hung out to dry. She sends Echo to discredit Perrin (sex tape, anyone?) and Ballard to retrieve Madeline.

Unfortunately, Topher's Doll Shut Down Device does not take out Perrin's wife Cindy - who they suspect as a sleeper. It takes down Perrin himself.

Freaked, Perrin and Echo make a run for it, followed by Cindy, a handler from the DC House. She captures them both and takes them to Washington for processing.

Madeline, meanwhile, confronts Ballard over his love affair with Mellie and convinces him to let her go forward with the testimony.

The Good

Alexis Denisof's performance as Perrin processed that he was a Doll. Everyone else we've seen under the influence was oblivious to the effects. Even Echo doesn't really have the awareness - yet - to review a lifetime of memories and question which were real and which were Memorex.

The Bad

Could have punched up Ballard's disgust over the fact that November's wiring was still in Madeline's head. He just sort of muttered his one-liner and stalked off without any fanfare. This is a pretty big thing for him.

The Cliche

Well, they made such a show of "proving" Cindy was a sleeper Doll that I was pretty sure that wasn't the real answer. It was too early in the episode to know the whole story and it was their first plan and first plans never go right.

What Did I Think?

The reveal of Perrin and this new use for the technology was effective.

I mean, who doesn't think they'd like to be a better version of themselves? We'd screw it up, of course, inevitably "correcting" the wrong things, but it is very easy to imagine people trying.

And it's really a delicious bit of political satire when you think about it.

Belonging

Submitted by thinkwatchthink on Thu, 01/21/2010

Dollhouse Episode Review

In which we learn about Sierra. And Topher.

What Happened

Flashback time: Priya (now our Sierra) was an artist selling her work as a beach vendor when she attracted the attention of a rich sleazebag named Nolan. He arranged a showing of her art as a way of impressing her and arranged to have some dolls like Echo and Victor there to talk him up as a way of really really creeping her out.

When Priya told Nolan to get lost, he used his knowledge of psychiatric pharmaceuticals to drive her insane. Then, he lied to Adelle and asked her to turn Priya into a Doll as a way of getting her under his control. He's been regularly renting her out ever since then.

Now, Topher - of all people - figures this out, but when he tells Adelle and she tries to pull the plug on Nolan's sick scheme, Nolan goes over her head. Rossum flunky Mr. Harding orders Adelle to program Sierra for Nolan and hand her over permanently.

Adelle bends, but Topher balks and he gives Priya her original personality back. Aware of everything that happened, she confronts Nolan and winds up stabbing him to death in self defense. Boyd covers for them, and Adelle buys the cover story that Nolan left the country before Sierra arrived. (Or at least she pretends to.) When Topher talks to Priya about rejoining the Dollhouse, she seems to intuit her connection with Victor and agrees.

In between covering Topher's butt, Boyd notices that Echo is acting more and more independently. Echo insists that a storm is coming and they all need to wake up to be ready for it. Deciding not to tell anyone, Boyd slips Echo an all-access keycard - just in case.

What We Learned

  • You move because there is wind.
  • Echo is like a ninja.
  • Taking charge is good.
  • Everyone likes to take a little something home from the office once in a while.
  • Everyone here was chosen because their morals were compromised in some way.
  • It was Topher's first moral dilemma. And it didn't go well.

Best Lines

Boyd: "You lost me at 'brain.'"

What Did I Think?

The story synopsis is pretty basic. I can't even begin to describe how much I loved the performances in this one, particularly Dichen Lachman and Fran Kranz.

Belle Chose

Submitted by thinkwatchthink on Wed, 01/20/2010

Dollhouse Episode Review

In which there is a serial killer.

What Happened

After his nephew is injured in a car accident, a man named Bradley asks Adelle to use the Dollhouse technology to wake Terry from his coma. He leaves out the part where Terry has kidnapped four women to work out his Mommy Issues.

When Topher balks at the whole "serial killer" thing, Adelle orders him to download Terry into Victor's body. Then, she has Ballard interrogate him for information on his victims.

Ballard discovers that they are alive, but Bradley doesn't like his methods and frees Victor/Terry. Who promptly escapes from Bradley and disappears. When it turns out Victor is no longer wearing his GPS tag, Adele has to find him some other way.

While Ballard searches, Topher works out how to do a remote wipe. In theory. Terry is wiped from Victor's mind - and dropped into Echo's. (She'd been off playing "hot for teacher.") Echo does still have her GPS, so Ballard is able to track her back to the warehouse where the kidnapped women are held.

They have managed to free themselves from their cage, and they fight back when Echo appears. Terry blames them for what happened to him and threatens to kill them. As he lifts the hammer, however, Echo emerges and warns them to kill her before Terry "returns."

Fortunately, Ballard appears before they can strike. While the women are rescued, he takes Echo back for a treatment. As Echo recovers, Ballard contemplates Terry in his coma. Adelle remarks that they will just have to hand Terry back over to his family, but as Ballard leaves the room - Terry flatlines.

What Did We Learn

  • Guess we have to find a new aunt sheila
  • It could also give him a man reaction.
  • There is no need to continue to translate Adelle.
  • Topher has ethical problems. Topher.
  • Art takes time.
  • Kiki skipped intro to evil.
  • Middle English has nothing to do with hobbits.
  • The one man manhunt is using public transportation.

What Did I Think?

Much better than last week. There was better dialogue, for one thing. I see a problem for them if they don't figure out what to do with Boyd, however, now that Ballard has moved in.

Instinct

Submitted by thinkwatchthink on Tue, 01/19/2010

Dollhouse Episode Review

In which the hand that rock the cradle is the hand that breaks Topher's nose.

What Happened

Ballard and Topher have a confab about Echo's latest assignment, all "It'll blow your mind, man" about whatever mental switch Topher has flipped this week. For all that build up, the answer is that Topher has prompted Echo to start lactating so that she can pretend to be some guys wife and nurse said guy's newborn son.

Unfortunately, would-be husband Nate is acting kind of weird around Echo, prompting her to decide that he's having an affair. When she goes through his stuff and finds all the pictures he kept of another woman, he calls the Dollhouse and wants to call the whole thing off. Believing that she and the baby are in danger, Echo takes the kid and runs. Suddenly, Nate is all concerned for his child - which he apparently was having trouble with after his wife died in childbirth.

Ballard retrieves Echo and brings her back to the Dollhouse in full freak-out mode. While Topher tries to wipe Echo, Ballard has an uncomfortable exchange with Madeline ("Mellie"), who is there for a check-up. She explains why she came to the Dollhouse: her daughter died and she was horribly depressed until Adelle offered a chance to forget her pain for a few years. Ballard tries to reconcile Madeline's calm acceptance of what she did with Echo's trauma.

Echo wakes up from her treatment, knocks Topher out, escapes the Dollhouse (seemingly without anyone noticing), and goes looking for Nate. As Ballard and the others take waaay too track her down, Echo menaces Nate over his attempt to separate her from "her" baby. He finally explains what is going on and Echo relents and hands the baby back to his father without bloodshed.

Afterwards, Ballard finds Echo and offers to have Topher truly wipe away her memories of motherhood, but Echo refuses.

What We Learned

  • Leave the tech to the grown-ups.
  • The human mind is like Van Halen. If you just pull out one piece and keep replacing it, it degenerates.
  • Adelle doesn't take no for an answer.
  • Nobody took anybody's baby.

What Did I Think?

I must admit to be a little underwhelmed by this one. I can see them moving the pieces around, but damn are they taking their own sweet time getting things into place.

In between all this, Senator Whatshisname gets more information on the Dollhouse, but that storyline is just irritating the crap out of me. Partly because Alexis Denisof needs to stop pitching his American accent through his nose. And partly because there is so far no real emotional connection between the him and the Dollhouse. If he's going to just flutter around the edges, he's going to have to get more interesting. Quickly.

Vows

Submitted by thinkwatchthink on Tue, 01/19/2010

Dollhouse Episode Review

In which Ballard makes a deal with the devil and Echo doesn't think she can be her best.

What Happened

Ballard is playing "client" at the Dollhouse. Having gotten fired by the FBI, he's decided to be a vigilante and uses Echo to get close to an arms dealer named Martin. She gets close enough to Martin to marry him, but when a picture surfaces of her meeting Ballard, Martin accuses her of being a spy.

Echo spins a pretty convincing tale of photo-shopped images. Trouble is, she's still getting flashes of her other imprints and when she flubs her own name, Martin decides that he was right the first time.

Back at the Dollhouse, Claire has gone a bit odd since learning that she used to be a Doll called Whiskey. She targets Topher, determined to make him pay for programming her. When she accuses him of "making" her hate him as part of a devious sex game, Topher protests that he needed to be sure she wouldn't just be a yes-man agreeing all the time with him. She decided on her own that she hated him.

Claire finally admits the real problem is that she knows she's fake, that she's in someone else's body, but she is afraid to "die" when the body goes back to its owner. Claire finally leaves Boyd a note saying that she's running out... of excuses. Then, she drives away.

Ballard sees that Echo is in trouble with Martin and goes in to rescue her. Realizing that she's glitching again, Ballard tries to bring one of her more kick-ass personalities to the fore. Echo gets the better of Martin, blows up his car, hits him some more, and then turns to share a Meaningful Look with Ballard.

Returning Echo to the Dollhouse, Ballard tries to apologize to her for things she doesn't remember. She tells him that she does remember (sort of) and wants his help figuring out who she is and what is going on. Ballard agrees and allows Adelle to make him Echo's handler so that he can keep her safe.

What Did We Learn?

  • It's the autumn rush. Temperatures plummet to the high 60s. That one leaf falls off that one tree on Wilshire Blvd.
  • Topher doesn't deal well with rodents.
  • There's no judging in the Dollhouse.
  • Claire's entire existence was constructed by a sociopath in a sweater vest.
  • That is the minority vote.
  • Be a dream and bring mommy a Vicodin.
  • Honeymoon's over.

What Did I Think?

Loved Claire and Topher's showdown. Season premieres on Joss Whedon shows can be a bit slow, but this one pretty much fired on all cylinders. The danger will be the same one Pretender faced: making the supposed bad guys more interesting the main character.

Season Two

Submitted by thinkwatchthink on Mon, 01/18/2010

My suspicion is that going into Season Two everyone knew they were living on borrowed time.

After a couple of set-up episodes at the very start ("Vows" and "Instinct"), they pretty much put the pedal to the metal and started blowing through stories that otherwise might have taken entire seasons rather than tight little two-parters.

In some cases it paid off. We got to the meat of the Perrin plot before I'd had a chance to get really irritated with him. In other places, characters such as Mellie / November / Madeline were under-served simply because there was no time.

And you could see them short-handing things. How Ballard found Echo, for example, was covered in exposition instead of seeing it play out. We simply had to imagine the conversation where he phoned Boyd and told him what was going on.

I can only imagine them looking at the list of things that had to happen in ten episodes and despairing what had to be cut out. It works for the most part, as they strip down to the most important story, themes, and characters. A certain focus is created when you have to be that ruthless in your storytelling.

There were so many interesting things left on the table, but it seems to me that they got the bones of what they wanted to say out there, if not the blood and guts.

Season One

Submitted by thinkwatchthink on Mon, 01/18/2010

I saw most of season one and enjoyed it, but there was not a real bonding with the characters a la Firefly. It was nice and I was glad they gave it a second season where hopefully things would pick up.

Then I caught "Epitaph One," the unaired thirteenth episode at Comicon, and that put a whole new spin on things. Suddenly, a lot of elements the writers had seemed to pick up and then put down again took on a more sinister meaning.

From a plot perspective, it gave the Rossum Conspiracy greater weight and scale. Anyone can say they are working on technology to change the world - this demonstrated where the Tech could go.

From a character perspective, it sketched out destinations that were very different from what I might have expected, Topher and Adelle being the biggest example.

And it defined some of the philosophical questions about identity and the body with far greater clarity than any of the other episodes so far. This was and was clearly meant to be a game-changer episode.

I have not, however, actually reviewed any of the first season episodes yet.

Watching: Action Television

Submitted by thinkwatchthink on Mon, 01/11/2010

Dollhouse

Well. That rocked. On the one hand, if they'd gotten here a year ago, they might not have been canceled. On the other hand, if they hadn't gotten canceled they might never have gotten here.

I can almost see the stories that got sliced and diced to pull us along this far this fast, but the writers are really making the most of what they have. Which is a stellar conspiracy tale with some serious philosophical undertones about identity and control.

Definitely worth watching.

American Ninja Warrior Marathon

Because nothing says "I'm an adult and a productive member of society" like playing video games all day and then staying up until midnight to watch a bunch of guys run an obstacle course in their underwear.

(Okay, it was just the one guy in his underwear... his purple underwear.)

Dollhouse

Submitted by thinkwatchthink on Sat, 01/02/2010

I have to admit: I was a bad fan of Dollhouse.

For one thing, I missed the premiere because I forgot it was on. That it aired on a Friday Night Death Slot was no excuse. That I didn't exactly connect with the characters right away is more of one. This wasn't Firefly or Buffy where everyone was lovable right out of the gate.

The concept of made-to-order "Dolls" who became new people every week to fulfill a client's request had potential. I think the show's biggest problem was that the structure and population of the Dollhouse itself - the supporting cast of supposed "bad guys" - was far more interesting than what they were doing with any of the Case of the Week stories.

It's fashionable to whisper breathless reports of network interference from FOX, and they did stick Dollhouse in the aforementioned Friday Night Death Slot, but the fact remains that the first season was a bit uneven. The second season worked better, mostly because they had no room to fool around if they were going to finish this out before being canceled.

Created by Joss Whedon. Starring Eliza Dushku, Tahmoh Penikett, Harry Lennix, Olivia Williams, Fran Kranz, Dichen Lachman, and Enver Gjokaj. Recurring guests included Summer Glau, Alan Tudyk, and Amy Acker.

Watching: Dollhouse

Submitted by thinkwatchthink on Sat, 12/05/2009

The Public Eye

Perrin finally pays off. I guessed maybe a couple of minutes out that Perrin was the doll. Not so early that I felt I had it all figured out;  just enough that I was eagerly waiting to see if I was right. They'd just made too much of Cindy, so she had to be a red herring. Alexis Denisof gave a great performance, even if I'm just not used to his American accent.

The intro to Bennett was smooth. Just the difference between her and Topher was like a wash of cold water.

The Left Hand

Bennett was such an interesting character. Her enthusiasm for Topher was so sincere, but her ruthlessness when it came to Caroline was chilling.

Enver Gjokaj was fantastic as Second!Topher. Him and Topher talking about Bennett? Golden. Particularly when you think that both he and Fran Krantz would have been talking to air while they were filming.

Next Week: Looks like Ballard and Echo make a connection. And Alan Tudyk comes back as Alpha.

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