Showing posts with label Dollhouse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dollhouse. Show all posts
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Higher Expectations
Dollhouse: BelongingSeason 2, Episode 4
Whenever we talk about Dollhouse, there's the continuous debate between the show's potential and the generally poor execution on several levels. Unlike previously hyped episodes that are supposed to reinvent the series, this episode was the first I've entered with incredibly high expectations. Even if I was able to temper my hopes in the past (I just wanted a decent episode out of "Man on the Street"), after watching "Epitaph One", I circled the next episode by the same writers, "Belonging", on my calendar. If I could have higher hopes than an episode written by the team of Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon, adding Bill Riker himself as the director sufficiently did me in. I mean, Jonathan Frakes did direct First Contact, the most impressive Star Trek movie of all time. That's right. I went there Wrath of Khan fans.Going back to the third episode of the series, when Echo played an unconvincing struggling singer and Sierra absolutely killed as the starstruck fangirl, I became convinced that Dichen Lachman could act circles around the often-struggling Eliza Dushku. And by the time we learned a bit of their back stories - that Caroline chose this life and Sierra/Priya was kidnapped into it against her will - that she was the far more interesting character.
In this episode, which had some nicely handled use of jumping backward and forward in time, we learned that Priya wasn't actually kidnapped by the Dollhouse or the Rossum Corporation, as we were led to believe during last season's "Needs". Instead she turned down the affections of Dr. Nolan Kinnard (played by a creepy without having to try Vincent Ventresca) works with the corporation. After drugging her into madness, he calls in the Dollhouse to help her. It's an incomplete way to excuse Adelle and Topher and other employees of the Dollhouse - that she was kidnapped, but it was the higher forces that are the bad guys, like the Rossum executive Matthew Hardin played by Keith Carradine (Dexter, Deadwood) who excuses Nolan's behavior and demands Adelle hand over Priya permanently.
While the episode makes Topher (generally one of the two creepiest characters on the show) a bit more sympathetic, I don't understand why he couldn't just heal this mentally disturbed girl instead of making her a Doll for five years. The mentally ill can't really consent to the standard Dollhouse contract. And again its not especially understandable why afterwards he doesn't just erase her one bad day and let Priya go back to her life. Besides those two substantive plot holes however, its a great episode. The character development of Victor and Topher is even more interesting than Priya's story and that's saying something.
Between his passion to discover the truth and his remorse in this episode, his breakdown in "Epitaph One" and his scenes with Saunders in the season premiere, Topher has made huge strides this season in becoming a more empatheticcharacter and not just an amoral mad scientist. Previously just the morally empty version of Xander Harris designed to provide cute jokes (that almost never hit as well as the writers planned), Topher has become an almost tragic figure that could figure out any problem, but couldn't see the bigger picture to accept how the work he was doing was utterly wrong. The scene where he and Boyd dismember the body of Dr. Kinnard is handled expertly by Frakes
Despite the early positioning of Echo as the lead and her relationship with Ballard as the somewhat obvious routes for the series to take, the emotional heart of this episode and the series altogether is Victor and Sierra/Priya. When they first meet, Priya is still herself and Victor is one of many Dolls at a party specifically designed by Priya's stalker, with Echo and Victor extolling his many imagined virtues. It's humorous to watch her flirt with him while he mindlessly pimps out Nolan. It's actually moving to see how these characters love each other on such a basic level that it goes beyond who they are and what they know. Victor removing the black paint that haunts her and waiting without explanation or reason for her return after being sent to Nolan are some of the most emotionally moving moments in the series. When confronting Nolan and eventually taking her revenge, Priya has absolutely no memory of him, but know Victor exists and that she loves and will fight for.
For the most part Echo sits in the background, only pushing Topher off on his investigation of Sierra's past. I tend to think that the best episode of each of the first two seasons thus far has used Echo only sparingly. So often, little about her makes sense. We don't know specifically how she is able to remember things throughout various wipes. We don't know why she is queen of the glitches. And for the life of me, I have know idea how she convinced Boyd that she was trustworthy enough to entrust with an access key to the entire Dollhouse. Such a level of trust would be much more in line with the plot so far this year if Ballard (who for no reason besides they needed to avoid paying Tahmoh Penikett this week, is absent) provided the access card. Boyd has been onscreen far too infrequently this year (especially in scenes with Echo) for this development to feel authentic.
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Saturday, October 10, 2009
Good Gracious
Dollhouse: Belle ChoseSeason 2, Episode 3
"Topher has ethical problems......... Topher." - Boyd
I have ethical problems myself. Since this show's ratings are.. um.. corpse-like (and THAT is being kind), the show has apparently spent nearly a year of my life getting to the point I wanted to be reach only a month or two in, only to have the plug pulled when we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.I think a lot of people have a reasonable excuse for having given up on this show back in season one. After all, there's only so many times you can talk about a show's potential and little else positive before giving up completely. Sounds logical right? But then someone needs to explain Heroes fans to my Earth logic.
Entering this year, a second chance I gave the show, I mostly just wanted to move things towards the reality of "Epitaph One." That's all I'm asking for here. Just a little apocalypse, people. Work with me. And while I've complained about things moving too slow, Echo retaining her imprint information has been a significant step towards making Caroline a character again. We need the technology and plot to catch up just a wee bit more. We are SO close. But I worried. They don't call it the Friday Night Death Slot because people are dying to watch some television.
And wow, I've never heard Michael Hogan when he wasn't being Saul Tigh. Good to know he can be creepy when not pounding off the last whiskey in the Twelve Colonies. His role this week as the uncle of a raging sociopath is yet another one of our fun ethical dilemmas of the Dollhouse. The sociopath, Terry, coincidentally likes to make girls dress up to set up his imaginary still-life fantasies - drugging them into a mannequin-like state. So it's funny because he's like a one-man Dollhouse.
Since Terry is hit by a car and off in Coma-land, Terry's Uncle Brad wants the Dollhouse to save him. Barring that he wants to try and find the women Terry has kidnapped to buy them off (since you can't buy off a corpse as he mentions) - nice guy. Ballard's investigative skills make him a bit of a star this week. And what do we think happens when we put a sociopath incapable of empathy into the body of highly trained soldier? A good piece of advice might have been to dump him into someone a little less threatening.
One of the worst scenes is the girls Terry left behind waking up in a cage. Normally, I have nothing but good things to say about Tim Minear (or as I like to call him, The Man - Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Wonderfalls, The Inside, Drive - Jimmy like). But in this scene he lays it on too thick. We know Terry's game is a metaphor for the Dollhouse itself, but we don't need lines like, "We're human beings. Remember that."
Uncle Brad breaks Terry/Victor out... which I love, this is what happens when he doesn't have Adama making decisions for him. And I don't love it for the letting a killer out on the streets alone (of course he escapes Uncle Brad), but because we're finally introducing some of the larger concepts of the future that I want to see more of.
First, we have Brad who views an imprinted Victor as Terry because of the wipe this IS TERRY. What if he got away for five years? When is he not Victor? When is he Terry?
And then we have the idea of the remote wipe, which Alpha pulled off back in season one and Adelle wants Topher to use to stop Terry. And since we know the idea of remotely wiping effectively causes the world of "Epitaph One" - Jimmy like. Watching Topher actually pull it off is genuinely exciting. Then the lights go out... so it's kind of funny.
And where's Echo in all this? Being a hooker, of course. As party girl Kiki Turner, she's helping a college professor live out... well, I don't really need to go further, do I? But when the remote wipe somehow dumps Terry over into Echo and Kiki into Victor. One is creepy and the other is... creepy in another way. Enver Gjokaj slips into a crazy rave girl really easily.
And then there's:
"Paul, why did you ever leave me?" - Victor/Kiki
"You got a problem?" - Paul to the rest of the club
Watching Terry/Echo terrorize the escaping girls is of course, substantively less funny. Being aware of imprints makes Echo an inconvenient place for a killer to jump in, so we get a fight for control. Echo wants the girls to kill him/her and Terry wants to kill them. Paul and a Dollhouse swat crew show up just before Echo can talk them into it. And while the Paul-Echo dynamic isn't the Paul-Caroline one we're looking for, its nice to see the recognition between them. A little glimpse at the end is Echo saying Terry's catchphrase, "Good gracious." And it is curious how this imprint will change her. Is she really just a mix of all her imprints? Could she be evil if enough monsters were imprinted? Or is there some Caroline-esque core holding her together? There are some interesting questions. I just hope we get answers before the end of it all.
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Friday, October 2, 2009
Back to the Beginning
Dollhouse: InstinctSeason 2, Episode 2
While I could tolerate the premiere wasting a great deal of time trying to catch readers up with the status quo (who everyone is and how they are involved in the Dollhouse organization) at least it was well executed. Whedon's script and direction at the least were a form of well-done monotony. But this week's episode is written (Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters) and directed (Marita Grabiak) are new to the show, so perhaps there's some learning curve benefit of the doubt I can give them. I wouldn't classify this as a poorly executed episode, just one that was rotten from the point of conception. Don't misunderstand me that there are some big problems throughout the episode, but the actors all do a very strong job. Dushku does well enough, but really what could any actress do with lines like, "Mommy's here." while holding a newborn and a butcher's knife?The latest leap forward in imprinting technology of course occurs in Echo. It's funny how all of the other Dolls work so well, especially Sierra (who works with Echo this week and manages not to turn into a lunatic when the assignment is closed). Topher remarks that he imprinted Echo's mind so thoroughly she had a biological reaction. Meaning she's breast-feeding up a storm, as the mother to a newborn who lost his mother at birth. Since dad is blaming the poor kid, he brings in a replacement mother who glitches out (surprised? maybe that there's only one glitch this week) and gets attached in a way beyond memory.
In a way, Fazekas and Butters were a source of hope I had in this season. The creators of Reaper were being added to the writing staff in place of the departing show runners Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain, a pair I had little trust in after the first year bounced around so much between a show with potential and an underwhelming mess.
The reason I put a great deal of the blame on the writers is that they kept going back to the glitching well with too much frequency. And they can't adequately get over the easy solution. In the case of this episode its getting Ballard and Echo together. Because once they are in the picture together, their under-explained mutual understanding will take over. First, Echo miraculously climbs out a second story window while holding a baby only to be caught when she goes to the police for help. Nevermind ignoring the questionable ability to scurry out the window (good thing the ladder was there) while holding a baby!, but the only reason they do it is so Ballard can't ask Echo if she would like a treatment. Then the have the supposedly momentous bit involving Echo refusing a treatment and freaking out take place off-screen, only seeing the final bit before she is put in the chair.
Then Ballard gets distracted by Mellie/November/Madeline so echo can knock out Topher after her wipe. Then (again off-screen) she gets out of her handcuffs and wanders past all of the Dollhouse's security forces. She then bounces from asking a car to drive (that's a cheap throwaway joke that the writers probably thought was much funnier than it really was)to driving the car back to the baby's house. Good thing they don't take the keys out of the cars. Anytime a climax needs four or five outstanding lucky coincidences to be achieved that probably means it wasn't earned.
Do I even need to describe the problems with the finale which includes Echo taking a page from Michael Myers (cutting the power before breaking in), turning into another unfunny and blatantly obvious joke ("Mommy's home." Seriously?!?!?! No, I mean it seriously???) and ultimately being convinced to give up the child by the repentant father.
The character of the father is portrayed fine, another take on the grieving widow played by Patton Oswald in "Man on the Street" and this one doesn't even sleep with her. The lack of quasi-consensual rape we get on a weekly basis and his somewhat moving journey to forgive and form a bond with his son is all handled just fine. But even this character is tainted by the unending coincidences that plague this episode. Of course, Echo overhears him calling Adelle to return Echo to sender.
And at the end of everything, we finally get to Ballard and Echo sitting together to commit themselves to taking the Dollhouse. Which would have been great if the previous episode didn't end on The. Exact. Same. Scene. I just wish we weren't sitting around and spinning our wheels with this show.
One of the most enjoyable sequences is the scenes involving Alexis Denisof's performance as Senator Perrin stalling on his investigation of Rossum before getting a mysterious package. There isn't much substance here, we're really just setting the table for this plot. I would hope things would pick up if or when he goes looking for the FBI agent that was assigned to investigate the Dollhouse. I'm anxiously awaiting the guy who played my favorite character in the Buffyverse getting a chance to stretch his legs a bit more.
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Friday, September 25, 2009
Looking Ahead
Dollhouse: VowsSeason 2, Episode 1
I've mentioned it a couple of other places, most notably our lonely little podcast, I've mentioned the Year of Second Chances. I stopped watching Dollhouse two-thirds of the way through the first season after numerous reviews that bounced between adequate and disappointing. But I wasn't counting on one thing, my friends. I wasn't counting on "Epitaph One," the spectacular unaired 13th episode of the first season. After watching that, purchasing the BluRay and actually enjoying the last couple episodes (dominated by the hilarity that is Alan Tudyk) and the unaired pilot... I'm actually excited for Dollhouse. Who'd have believed it?! That doesn't even factor in my geeking out over the casting of Jamie "Apollo" Bamber and Alexis "Wesley Wyndam-Pryce" Denisof.I honestly can't imagine higher expectations for a second season premiere of a show I stopped watching before the first season finale. These are strange times indeed. But could Dollhouse, which has never been as good when I've watched it on TV as opposed to later, actually deliver when it never had before? Yeah, I'm even one of those Whedon is My Master Now guys that couldn't get over the problems with "Man on the Street." So far this show has always fallen into the Heroes Hole (though not as deep) where a show has all the possibilities in the world (in this case the wonderful themes involving identity and self-discovery), but never came through with living up to its own potential.
I'm not too hesitant to label "Vows" the best episode of Dollhouse ever aired, trailing only "Epitaph One" and perhaps the unaired pilot, "Echo." This still isn't Whedon in his prime, but while one storyline takes on the larger themes of the show that were rarely fully addressed last year, the other is perhaps one of the better Engagement-oriented plots yet. Are there still issues? Hell yeah, but the future is looking quite a bit brighter right now.
One of the continuing issues with the series is that the Engagements are rarely as interesting as other things going on. The Dollhouse missions were never as interesting as the far too thinly addressed pursuit of the organization by Ballard. But this week I can't say how much Amy Acker rules from inside the Dollhouse. Unlike the psycho that Alpha became, or the altruistic Echo that remained wholly devoted to Caroline owning her body, Whiskey/Dr. Saunders has become pretty much her own person. She goes to so many places emotionally and thematically this week. From justifiable rage to depression and fear, her interactions with Topher, steal the show. The scene where in her confusion she unsuccessfully attempts to seduce him is actually somewhat haunting. Saunders would be able to handle things so much easier if Topher had made this all one of his games like so much else. In the end, admitting she has thoughts of her own and, unlike Echo, her fear of the death that giving her body back to the original owner would entail, is the first time we've really felt empathy for an Active character instead of the body's true owner. I give some credit making her disappearance mean something besides Acker has another show and can only be in three episodes.
As much as I complain about this show, they manage to pull an idea from the original pilot that I loved. I'm a big fan of roles within roles, and people playing characters playing at being someone else. One of my favorite examples is the final scene of Boogie Nights when Mark Wahlberg is playing Eddie Adams playing Dirk Diggler playing Brock Landers. So when Echo walking back in to Ballard's room and revealed she was an FBI agent pretending to be a blushing bride, I got a kick out of that. But even an Apollo-Helo grudge match couldn't make this plot much more than it was... filler. They continue to hint at Echo's glitching to other personalities, but I'm too anxious to see Ballard and Echo working to take down the Dollhouse (as glimpsed in the future in "Epitaph One") to put up with much more of this. As always the show manages to frustrate by taking so long to get where we want it to be and the adventures they use to fill time are uneven at best.
I have to say that I'm a little disappointing how thin the explanation of DeWitt allowing Ballard to be "the client" and let him use Echo as an undercover agent to go after an arms dealer that he failed to bring down while with the FBI. The idea that she's curious about the glitch-factory that is Echo isn't just paper thin. It isn't even toilet paper thin... well, certainly not two-ply. Not the best week for DeWitt or Boyd. The two were only really utilized to set-up the threat of Buffy/Angel vet Alexis Denisof's new character Senator Daniel Perrin. And then Boyd makes a play for Dr. Saunders (did he become an insensitive dick over the summer or is that just inherent in the Head of Security position?) that blows up in his face. Like much else, Perrin is barely introduced, just sceen giving a speech in Washington. His real level of information and motivations have yet to be hinted at or examined.
I've raged against Eliza Dushku's limited range as much as anybody, but give her credit for really selling the movements between the various personalities near the climactic showdown between Bamber's arms dealer and Echo and Paul. It might not have been the step forward I wanted, but I will admit it was handled quite well. And if the ending, which hints at her Echo becoming a more unified and consistent personality perhaps she'll be able to sell her "role" better. The end goal being her getting to the point where she is Caroline consistently and can play that character just accessing other abilities or skill sets.
The execution of the episode is above what we normally expect from the series, but it is frustrating that after an entire season was devoted to setting the scene that we have to endure another episode along those lines. I brought up Heroes earlier. Where that show is three levels past dead to me, Dollhouse at least looks like it is moving in the other direction. That Echo will evolve into Caroline and she and Ballard will take on this global conspiracy. That the larger dangers of the Dollhouse will be exploited. That the show will become what it could be. But for now we still have chess pieces moving slowly and we're still waiting.
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Sunday, April 12, 2009
A Double Dragon Take on Dollhouse
Dollhouse: Needs/Spy in the House of LoveSeason 1, Episodes 8/9
Rather than jumping out immediately for the third "Well, it's not great but it convinced me to stick around another week" of the short season after last week's episode, "Needs," I held off in hopes off not being let down yet again. So after having raised the bar, I was slightly more impressed to find a second consecutive episode in "Spy in the House of Love" that not only failed to disappoint, but maybe raised the bar even a little further. So hit the jump and will analyze a nice little turn towards decent-level television.On its own, "Needs" was a strong episode with a terrible ending. The four main dolls (Echo, Victor, Sierra and November) recover their original personalities and attempt an escape. And besides Echo's moronic decision to stay behind (although given what we saw of her past, it's probably just stupid enough to be in character), things work out for them alright. The revelations that November probably retreated into it after the death of her daughter and Sierra was kidnapped into it by a client paint two strong opposing pictures of how people end up there.
More than anything, the theme last week was developing what an evil organization the Dollhouse really is. It's also the big problem since even Boyd is compromised by association, the Dolls are wiped again at the end of the things and Ballard's only big appearance is to discover the bug and have an utterly unnecessary sex dream. At least we can say they aren't shying away from exploring his somewhat obsessive attitude, even if the reasons why are still unexplored.
My biggest problem with "Needs" was that besides once again showing how significantly more interesting Sierra and Victor are than Echo, is that the entire escape is something the Dollhouse knew about and allowed in order to get the Dolls that are rebelling a sense of resolution, which is meant to stop their glitching... yeah, cause whenever my internet is running slow I have my computer visit Dr. Melfi, fixes things right up. But the development just immediately devalues everything the audience had been rooting for the entire hour.
Ballard's quest, mostly stalled out in "Needs" with the aforementioned crappy little dream sequence, but takes a huge leap forward as he reveals a growing obsession and a second message delivered through November/Mellie that manages to flip his little relationship upside-down in an instant. A very quick improvement to a pain-in-the-butt storyline, I have to say.
In the second hour, Topher discovers the technology the spy has been using to alter the programming. With DeWitt called away, rage-o-holic Dominic loads Sierra with the program of a spy to infiltrate the NSA and uncover evidence on the traitor.
Her break-in is well done and one of the more engaging sequences in the show so far, coming off like a prime years Alias sequence. Yet again, I argue that Sierra is a much more interesting doll than Echo, just as Dichen Lachman has much more range as an actress than Eliza Dushku.
In a neat little trick to reliving the day, another storyline reveals a few of the things we missed earlier in the day in the discovery process and flips it to show another side to Victor's Ms. Lonely Hearts Engagement with an elderly lady. After being dropped off he quickly leaves on his own for a weekend of fun with DeWitt. I'd like to say that were I in a similar situation, I wouldn't... um... dip my pen in the company ink, but to be in the same situation I'd be evil. So who am I to judge?
On the Echo front, besides the rather creepy sequence where she suggest Topher "change" her so she can help, attempts to trace down the spy herself. As a combination of Sherlock Holmes and Tim Roth's character from Lie to Me. Her interviews give us a little more depth on the members of the organizations and her fight with Dominic is the most exciting sequence in the show, raising the stakes on even Sierra's infiltration.
I have to hand it to writer David Solomon for pulling the wool over our eyes with the possibility of different spies with multiple perspectives and loyalties. And even more impressive is the deft way they rewind the day from multiple perspectives without telling the entire story in any one of them, but with each making the others better.
The show managed for a bit to make some other characters, especially DeWitt, interesting. But mostly it seems temporary and the criminal lack of Ballard's development continues to haunt things. But the possibility of Echo developing into more to the organization than just a Doll (did the same thing perhaps once happen to Saunders or Topher or Ivy?) gives the show more than the two themes of Echo discovering her personality and Ballard finding her. The subtle handling of all of this, including Boyd graduating from handler to head of security, makes the show seem more mature than the show has been this far. Now if only they can keep it up......
Final score: C/B+
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Sunday, March 29, 2009
Another One Bites (the Dust)
Dollhouse: EchoesSeason 1, Episode 7
And we're back to form after an exceptionally average episode. We're back to reminding people that despite having an international reach and possible plans to realign global society, the Dollhouse can still work as nothing more than a high-class prostitution ring. It's nice to stay in touch with your roots, right? This week's episode does nothing to convince me that this will ever be a good show. The question needs to be asked if this will ever be more than a rarely mediocre effort.Through the numerous looks into her pre-Big Wipe past, the show hasn't established a very compelling history for Caroline, since Dushku hits the same notes she did in the Angel arc where Faith was starting her desire for redemption when talking with DeWitt and before that she proved that trying to uncover a corrupt chemical testing never ends well (cough28DaysLatercough). But at least the moderately interesting history with the company behind the Dollhouse helps establish the eventual motivation for her rebellion.
The main point of this episode, that the outbreak of an inhibition degrading chemical (coughBandCandycough) infects a college campus as well as the Dollhouse organization, doesn't work well at all. It's a funny gimmick if it infects characters we've learned to like over the course of years (coughBandCandycough), but not if it we hate the characters. Topher is a creepy Xander ripoff, DeWitt runs a prostitution/assassination branch office (like a sociopathic version of Michael Scott) and Dominic tried to kill the lead character a couple weeks ago. Until Echo develops more of a personality and Ivy is revealed as the spy, Boyd and Ballard are the only characters worth paying attention to/giving a damn about it. So obviously, its a terrible episode when they are the two least featured characters. Sure enough, when Boyd giggles and utters, "Wow, did not maintain control of that situation." It's just about the only chuckle-worthy part of the episode.
Just because the Dolls always glitching is getting old, doesn't mean letting them work (except Echo) as normal (for a while at least) while the puppet masters freak out is an ingenious twist. It seems more sophomoric than impressive. That the writers of this episode (Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain) are the show runners isn't inspiring much faith that things can improve. And the combining of glitching and tweaking isn't funny, sad or dramatic - it's just more of the same confusing mishmash reality, nothing more than a deus ex machina to let Topher explain how the problem will solve itself.
Our good buddy Ballard is looking far too domesticated, making breakfast for his Doll-friend, but quickly at least states his determination to continue pushing. Why leave your best ass kicker on the sidelines so much? Why is he talking about doing things instead of doing things?! This does not compute.
As for the revelation of the name of the company being behind the Dollhouse as the Rossum Corporation, the mystery behind the company is only interesting if we've started to care about the people being hurt by them. Victor, Mellie and Sierra are (except for the briefest of flashes this week) creatures without human personalities. And as I mention above, Caroline/Echo isn't anyone we've especially been made empathetic with. Her flashback scenes set before the Big Wipe aren't interesting since we know it all falls apart and her being a PETA-ish sympathizer doesn't work any better for her character than it did for Brenda Walsh.
Final score: D
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Saturday, March 21, 2009
One Step Forward...
Dollhouse: Man on the StreetSeason 1, Episode 6
My expectations for this episode (written by Joss Whedon and directed by David Straiton) are probably lower than most. The build-up of this being the dramatic recreation of the series that magically raises it from bad television to the pantheon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly... yeah, that's probably asking too much. Instead I come hoping for something at least on lines of the second episode, "The Target." That episode by Buffy-vet Steve S. DeKnight at least showed some of the potential of the series, convinced me to stick around this far and was average television.Did it live up to these expectations? Sorta, kinda. Not exactly raving praise, but its still something. Below the jump will get more into the specifics of the episode and where I think this series will rank in the long run.
What's up with the person on the street interviews? Well, it does at least establish that there are rumors about the Dollhouse organization known to the common man. Even if they're quickly mocked or disregarded at least we don't have to watch people not knowing what Ballard is talking about anymore. And they also introduce the concept of the more large scale problem with the Dollhouse. That being - why do you need a free lower class when you could have a programmable one?
Finally we get the episode I wanted all along with an early and strong focus on Tahmoh Penikett's Agent Ballard (including a guest appearance from his Battlestar buddy Romo Lampkin a.k.a. Mark Sheppard). Our main investigative force actually manages to track the deposits to the Dollhouse through corporate fronts. Wow, six episodes in we get some real investigative work. But it takes a big step back when he starts going over the details of the investigation with his freaking neighbor! I think a character should have a line between recklessly determined and mistake-prone. There is no way this could possibly end well. The brutal revelation that she is a Doll isn't much of a surprise at the end, since being used is the only way Ballard doesn't look completely incompetent for involving a civilian. It's still an insanely stupid and unbelievable decision to talk to her about all this.
Without a doubt the fight scenes with Ballard are a highlight of the episode, which doesn't say a lot for the dramatic ability of the episode. Penikett is just good at looking cool while tearing into people. But there is some decent comedy, something the writers have not been able to really bring into this series much. So I have to credit Whedon for putting an actual humorous moment in the middle of a massive confrontation between Ballard and some protection agency goons.
Echo/Caroline/Rebecca Mynor - Is this a porn man?!
Joel Minor - There is no porn!
Tonight's big guest star is Patton Oswalt as Joel Mynor, who has Echo programmed to replace his deceased wife. It's the first real circumstance to show why someone would actually hire a doll as opposed to a prostitute, mercenary or involve the police/government in their problems. Not that a prostitute couldn't do what Echo was hired for this week.
I enjoy Joel's take on Ballard's compromised motivations, but it only highlights that we haven't really learned much about the second lead of the series and the only one of the two that actually has a personality from week to week. I enjoy him being the focus of this episode and hope they keep that up. I've mentioned it a half-dozen times now by Ballard and Boyd really need to be more of the focal point of this series.
I'm glad to see Whedon admitting this organization is clearly a bad thing with Ballard's take on Joel's fantasy of being with his dead wife again to show her their dream house:
And then you sleep with her.
The main advantage of the episode is how much darker things get at the Dollhouse itself with Sierra being raped, Victor being investigated for it and Boyd' nice solo investigation to determine the guilty party is Sierra's handler, Hearn. The big drawback of the Dollhouse is that every person who works there is a creep or worse. Well, except for the Dolls, themselves.
The good this week is an examination of the motivations behind Dollhouse clients (and I suppose the point of it is that they fall short of acceptable), not one, but two confrontations between Ballard and Echo/Caroline. And it's this second confrontation along with Ballard's conversation with Mynor that are the highlight of the episode. Of course Echo does a bit too well in the fight. I mean she doesn't have the proportionate strength of a Slayer here Joss. And we've routinely seen Ballard walk through three, five or more trained opponents without too much difficulty... aside from the bullet in his side.
As far as the deeper reaches of the Dollhouse itself, good job there. The show needs something deeper than what we've seen so far. But even if this---- all comes to fruition, I fear this show will never be more than an inferior riff on Alias. So let's just say I'm not holding out too much hope. But the darker and far more interesting story accomplished the goal of locking me in for little while longer. And the twist with Melanie being a Doll... predictable but nice.
All that being said - I love the global reach of the Dollhouse, the mole inside the organization (obviously the cute, little assistant programmer) and idea that this is all just the testing ground for wide-scale application of the technology. I just don't look forward to the inevitable step backward from the quality of this week.
Final score: B-
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Sunday, March 15, 2009
Another Week, A Lot More Bad Acting
Dollhouse: True BelieverSeason 1, Episode 5
We'll keep things slightly brief this week. As every review on the internet is pointing out, its next week's sixth episode that will start the rocking off of our socks. But let's not put all the weight on Whedon saving the day for this show. Especially since his debut episode doesn't really rate much more than an F. I'm beginning to think there might be no salvation for this show besides cancellation.In a minor advancement for Agent Ballard, he receives the video of Echo pre-Dollhouse that we saw Alpha watching in the first episode. It doesn't add much for the story. Although I personally enjoy the cold shoulder he keeps giving his obviously love-struck neighbor. Sorry honey, Elisha Dushku is the star of this show. But its very encouraging that he's at least closing in on the trail of Echo, just missing her in the cult ranch. If this show is ever going to start turning around, it might be when these two finally get in a room together.
The When Dolls Fall in Love humor-based storyline lets Amy Acker kick Fran Kranz' butt... in the acting sense. They're observing Dolls in the showers to determine why Victor is having "man reactions" while in his wiped states. It might have something to do with the showering next to naked women everyday. I mean we understand you wipe them and they're basically children. As I understand it puberty follows childhood fairly often. Despite some nice moments for one of my favorite Angel veterans, this storyline is yet ANOTHER repetition of the "Dolls are glitching out" plot that is being revisited every week. And why are we so concerned with Echo then? Shouldn't she be fairly unique? The good alternative to Alpha's bad? Otherwise, why isn't Sierra or Victor the main character of the series? Or as I've argued for weeks now Ballard or Boyd? None of this serves to do much except make the lead character seem even MORE commonplace.
Echo's storyline is once again the weakest aspect of the show... her adventures really need to stop being the A-plot of every episode. The main problem is that Tim Minear's script doesn't make an effort to give the cult a specific belief structure. And the idea that the ATF would waste this one opportunity to investigate the cult with an untrained operative that nobody besides this one creepy Senator has ever met before??? There goes my B-S alarm again... hold on. The fact that most of the followers are put off on the idea of guns being in the compound makes it hard to believe they're a legitimate threat.
On the outside of the compound, the best conflict of the episode occurs between Boyd and the ATF agent who set up the entire sting. Thanks to Harry J. Lennix' Boyd this portion of the story is much better performed and would have been a nice resolution to the story if, you know, the cult leader wasn't actually a violent maniac. One of the few bright spots week after week is Lennix' performance. Assuming this show doesn't last, he, Acker and Penikett are the only actors whose next project I would check out without question. They all deserve better than they have to work with here.
Luckily for the dramatic tension (again using that phrase in the lightest sense) there's more than enough idiots on both sides of the fence to ensure something blows up. The ATF agent is a big enough idiot consider going on a killing spree to catch Sparrow, the cult leader, and prevent his own illegal actions (planting the evidence that got the warrant in the first place) from coming to light. But to see this guy say tell the reporters that there aren't any more survivors and then see Boyd carry out Echo and adding the least convincing, "Thank God" ever... that's some nice unintentional comedy.
Oh, one last thing. I have to mention the line, "God has a message for you. And that message is... move your ass." Yet again, unintentional humor is the gift that just keeps on giving. It also utterly breaks character with everything Echo/Esther had done up to that point in the episode and further breaks down any confidence in the mind wiping/implanting procedure. Too much is happening to undercut this organizations credibility if the basic science behind it is failing. Once again, if this was only happening to Echo, she could stand out, instead of blending into the crowd. But apparently, Dushku has stomping ass hardwired into her DNA. It would be nice if this show would stop having sucking hardwired into its.
Final score: D+
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Sunday, March 8, 2009
Shall I Go Now?
Dollhouse: Gray HourSeason 1, Episode 4
Considering that after three of the four episodes of this series, I would have been interested in wiping my memory of the episodes, should I just give up now?I ask that question knowing that, "Hey you watch Heroes, so there's no real reason to complain in this case, right?" and accepting that being a complete Whedon-whore, I'm dragging myself back incessantly. I figure I'd offer our reader(s) the chance to talk me out of this masochistic endeavor. But the fact of the matter, I did watch the show and this week's efforts again fall so short of expectations that it's just sad now. And we're not talking about the super-high expectations I have for a show from Whedon. We're talking about expectations for any type of normal non-crap television. Continue with the spoilers if you dare below the cut.
Hey it's Saturday night! Time for Echo to dress like a hooker, not to exploit Elisha Dushku (oh, no, never... not on a Joss Whedon show), not in a desperate grab for ratings (Fox?!... oh, no never), but as part of terribly developed plan within a plan. Doesn't it say there's something inherently wrong with the premise of your show if all the engagements need to have glitches to be interesting (and I use that term as loosely as possible)?
If the Dollhouse is really a multimillion dollar private enterprise that can avoid, alter and control the upper echelons of government and organized crime... should something really be going wrong every week?
On the plus-side this week we see Echo and Sierra (played by Dichen Lachman) both get loaded with the same character. It isn't a very positive sign that Sierra has in the last two weeks shown a significant more amount of range in her roles than the main character. Is it possible that Echo is playing the wrong parts just to get more screen time?
Agent Ballard and the Dollhouse plant Victor (Enver Gjokaj) get a couple scenes together and the main questions are WHY the Dollhouse continues to antagonize Ballard for no reason. Let's face it the absolute only connections to the organization he has is a picture of Echo (probably sent by Alpha) and the contact that they give him. Did they learn nothing from the Syndicate's failed attempt to partner Mulder and Krycek? If an opponents only source of information is... YOU... don't interact with him. C'mon people, it's Conspiracy 101!
I haven't talked many of the other employees of the Dollhouse like Topher (the tech guy played by Fran Krantz) because they just aren't all that interesting. As long as they're cogs in a machine that the writers and director are determined to keep shrouded with hidden bosses, hidden enemies and no real purpose besides turning a profit, I honestly couldn't care less. Well besides the fact it's nice the teacher from Rushmore found more work. The fact that Topher is an evil a Xander rip-off doesn't help his case.
I just don't want to watch entire hour-long episodes to get a couple scenes of BATTLESTAR! and a waste of Handler Guy. Oh, and three seconds of a scene that shows Echo pulling more shadows of a personality into her tabula rasa state. If the creators really wanted to have a slow burn on that plot, they should have built the show around more interesting characters for the first few episodes and had some more interesting assignments early on to fill the background of the show.
Final score: D-
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Monday, March 2, 2009
Stumbling Backwards
Dollhouse: Stage FrightSeason 1, Episode 3
While I love the Pacino line I quoted last week, this latest episode is the part that reminds us that "The Godfather: Part III"... not so much with the good times. And while Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku and everybody under the sun tries to remind us how things get better at episode six, I have to ask, "What does that do for me now?" Because now I'm stuck with yet another show in my weekly rotation that could/should be vastly better than it is.The concept is a bit out there, but certainly could be pulled off in a manner more plausible than we've seen so far. While last week's installment was out there, it was at least sold in a convincing manner and advanced the storyline into a more tied-together universe. But now we've got leaps in believability almost as large as the premiere's "Hey, that's your kidnapper? That's SO weird. That's my kidnapper, too! OMG!" As always, spoilers below the cut.
Sorry, Ms. Dushku, but you're officially the Buffy of this show. And please don't mistake that as a compliment despite the fact that I am a huge fan of BtVS, considering it one of the top ten television shows ever. I've more than once argued that Sarah Michelle Gellar was the weak link of that series and by far the least talented of the four lead roles. If I had to name my biggest problem with an episode, something about her performance would be my answer more than 40% of the time. And at least here, Dushku shares the blame with the concept of her character. The fact that every character she plays is either rather innocent blank slate or any number of some strong, sassy, street-savy uploads certainly doesn't help. No writer has yet shown me a version of her that doesn't come off as fundamentally the same person. I'm not asking for Christopher Reeve-level Superman and Clark are practically different people acting here, just any substantive differentiation in attitude, accent, or actions. Ill-executing the prime concept of the series... not the best way to win over viewers to your cause.
The main assignment of the episode is just about as preposterous as the writers could have come up with. Instead of downloading Echo as a bodyguard and have her pretend to protect a Beyonce-type singer, they program her as a singer who subconsciously will protect her. This is a chronic case of taking it a step further for the writer to appear smarter than they might be (sorry "Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog" vets, Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen). It only gets worse that the singer is unconvincingly trying to commit suicide by stalker. If things are going to become more complex as the story unfolds, it should be for a better reason than to just make it harder for Echo.
While it's always great to see Kevin Kilner from "Earth: Final Conflict" pop up, it's hard to forgive the use of the terrible lack of involvement of Langdon as the other handler. After last week's action-heavy role and setting up the idea that he might not be ready to go in the field, I expected the second best character on the show to do something more interesting than sitting in a van for 40 minutes, then stepping out only to sit back and let Echo solve things. This human character, I've said before, should be our eyes and ears into the Dollhouse and it would be nice not having him continuously play second fiddle even when Echo isn't loaded with her butt-kicking personality.
At least the best character in the show, or the one currently showing the most potential, Agent Ballard, gets a nice action sequence this week. His showdown with the Russia mob hit men was by far and away (and imagine how far you think I'm talking about and multiply it by 47) the most interesting part of the episode. Unfortunately, he ends up gut shot, so I worry that might be an excuse to hold him out of next week's story.
My big debate after the show took a step back this week was whether I would continue watching on a weekly basis or just ignore it for two or three weeks until it's supposedly getting better. And by the way, it's a terrible sign for a show when the creators are jumping out after two weeks basically saying, "We know it kinda sucks, but it totally gets better." I mean neither "Buffy" or "Angel" hit the ground running at full steam, but they weren't this bad. Right now, however, I stick with it, since the horrific ratings (only 4.72, 4.22 and 4.13 million viewers) might mean we never get to that mythical sixth episode.
Final score: 1 star out of 5
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Saturday, February 21, 2009
Could We Just Wipe Last Week From My Mind?
Dollhouse: The TargetSeason 1, Episode 2
There's not too much mistaking my rather open scorn of the premiere of this show. Not only was it deserving of a thorough bashing because it was directed in an unengaged style and was full of numerous scenes worthy of being cut and contained the great enemy of a well-written script, the enormous coincidence, but the fact that it was written and directed by Joss Whedon just wreaks of betrayal. It was the difference between getting your butt kicked by a bully at school versus your favorite uncle. One just hurts more... not that I'd know from personal experience.On the bright side, its always thrilling when a show you are preparing to walk away from sucks you back in. Mostly because I get to say, "Just when I thought I was out...... they pull me back in!"
The main problem with the promotion of this show is that Eliza Dushku's Echo absolutely cannot be the main character. At least she can't right now. A main character that is effectively a blank slate brings nothing to the table. If they continue down the road hinted at during this episode that she can maintain pieces of what she remembers, then we can buy her prominence. But for now the only two characters worth following are Tahmoh Penikett's FBI Agent Paul Ballard and Harry Lennix as Echo's handler, Boyd Langdon.
Langdon should be the audience's eyes into the Dollhouse organization since he is involved deeply, but at the same time is the one person willing to question the morality of what they are doing and his arc in this episode going from being utterly ambivalent about Echo to genuinely caring about her is the correct approach. Also, it's nice to see more of the background on his early days with the company, establishing the accident involving Alpha should have been the start of the series... this is the danger of what Echo could turn into as well as what is hunting her.
The main assignment of this week, of her being engaged for a weekend date (although that would work better if we didn't just see it last week) and being hunted by mentally unbalanced young man, works well because it isolates the characters of Echo and Langdon. This makes them appear less as cogs in a big machine and more as individual people who can be placed in jeopardy and we should worry about. The fact that it's all a ploy, supposedly by Alpha, the rogue super-Doll (kind of like the Snake Eyes G.I. Joe toy that was cooler because he had a sword and was a badass) helps the show develop a cohesive main arc, rather than the one-shot style of last week. Ideally, your pilot should actually encourage people to come back for another episode, just fyi.
And I cannot stress this enough. The idea of Echo being able to recall things from previous imprints, even while in a cleaned slate status, absolutely needed to be introduced in the first episode. It seems utterly reasonable as an effect of a poison the spoiled rich boy hunting her down tricked her into taking. The fact that it was most likely provided by Alpha (because who would know more about remembering imprints), ties in excellently back to the main storyline of the series. Anytime you can make major character developments NOT be random (i.e. just happening to confront a kidnapper that took the person you were imprinted with), that's the way to go.
Agent Ballard comes off as far more of a joke to his co-workers in this episode, which is exactly how he should have been introduced (yeah, I know I've said that a lot this week). The most crucial needed development yet to be made is establishing why he is so driven. The character can't just be obsessive about this case for no reason. Since this is basically a story of missing girls, it would be easy enough to give him some history with this subject like a sister running away or a mother abandoning him for no known reason.
The entire episode works both to establish the series and more importantly the characters because it gives each of the actors something in their wheel-house. The hot and outdoorsy girl Echo is downloaded with is directly out of the Faith mold. Ballard striking out as the one man who believes and cares out of a moral imperative reminds us of more than one arc for Karl "Helo" Agathon. Langdon is the one character that lets the talented Lennix stretch beyond what I've seen of him before (mostly in "24" and "E.R.") and after this week, there's little doubt he can carry the bulk of this show for an extended time.
Now as positive as the review sounds, there are still significant holes in the series, mostly the rather limited range of Dushku. That could very well kill the series as right now it revolves around the idea of her actually being a completely different person every week and not just slightly altered flavors on the same meal. And while I can disregard the first episode, it is very important that Ballard not be isolated out of the main storyline for too long. The photo he receives of Echo is a good starting point, but at some point he needs to at least catch a glimpse of Echo in person or meet Langdon in some manner to bring the storylines more in sync. And at some point, he needs to be the A plot of an episode, which hopefully will help the series lose it's "Crazy Engagement of the Week" vibe.
Final score: 3 stars out of 5
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Saturday, February 14, 2009
Will We Get to the Better Parts?
Dollhouse: GhostSeason 1, Episode 1
I once almost bought a shirt once that said "Joss Whedon is my master now." I didn't... I'm loyal, if fairly cheap, but you should know where I'm coming from. I'm a huge Buffy, Angel and Firefly fan that once dreamed of creating an alternate reality where Serenity was a huge hit. So there weren't many shows this year I was looking forward to as much as this puppy. But now it feels like the Christmas where my mom got me a cat. And just like that cat this show is the type of thing that would crap under the couch, climb up the curtains and claw me in my sleep.But check out below the cut, beware of spoilers and off we go.
After watching this episode (written and directed by Whedon) and remembering that Fox had made them redo the pilot, I flashed back to Firefly and threw in "The Train Job" the remade pilot for Whedon's last show. Did it suffer through the same problems, namely an utter lack of focus? Nope, inside of six minutes the concept of cowboys in space the half the main cast are set-up and just as importantly named. Everything and everyone else is further set-up and explained and off we go in another four or five minutes. Because maybe I don't want to go through more than half an episode calling people: Echo, ex-cop Handler Guy, Eraser Procedure Guy, Head Chick from Rushmore, Head Chick's Assistant, Fred from Angel, BATTLESTAR! and Sierra the new chick.
The show's biggest mistake is keeping the audience at arm's length and throwing multiple unnecessary scenes in our path. The cold open is just painful to get through and full of things that should have been left on the cutting room floor. The first scene with Eliza Dushku deciding to join the Dollhouse organization should NOT have been in the show. The intentionally vague and ham-handed handling of her past does nothing but indicate that her life before the first wipe will be a secret with vague references to "her" and a "mistake". You know what else they could have shown to get that same point across? Nothing! And the next scene's bike race is shot in the most unengaged style I could imagine, making everything seem slower and less exciting than it should be. The cool premise of this show that these characters could be anything... and the first cool example they use to try and get us excited is... some rich kid's weekend date. Really, that's the best you could do? Something that any 50,000,000 girls could do if given the opportunity?
And let's not kid ourselves, the time to cut to a credit sequence would have been here and not after taking her back to the titular agency. I will give them that the memory erasing visual effect looks pretty sweet, but honestly the visual effect shouldn't be the only real highlight of the first fifteen minutes.
One of the biggest complaints I've read about is Dushku's range as an actress. That she can pull off the hot date, the party girl (with dance moves straight out of Buffy season three), but couldn't handle the changes of personalities to more professional appearances, in the case of this episode a hostage negotiator. And the best way to confront this would NOT be to have her first client question her on it and have her unconvincing response involve saying "I've been doing this all my life" more than once. We get it... she hasn't. Let's not dwell on this stuff. Perhaps the best way to prove she is smart is not to have her realize that the reason one of the captors didn't talk and wore a mask around the kidnapped girl was because she already knew the person, AFTER 24 HOURS! As the little kid was talking, I said aloud, "Why don't they take the phone away from her???" Also, remember Whedon the feminist... doesn't set the right tone for Fox to buffer every commercial with Dushku laying around bare-assed.
And the coincidence of one of THIS girl's kidnappers being one of the men who kidnapped Echo's borrowed personality? That type of once in a lifetime freak occurrence is unforgivable in a series pilot, unforgivable.
In the only real competing plot, Tahmoh Penikett from Battlestar Galactica (I missed his name, since it was just glossed over quickly and found out his name is Agent Paul Ballard thanks to good old Wikipedia) isn't handled properly. First off, the place he works shouldn't look so clean-cut and impressive. This guy is running an investigation that his superiors do not want... that means he should be stuck in the basement across the hall from Mulder, not in a skyscraper in a too-clinically clean office setting. And couldn't the actor just sell how driven he is by, ya know, acting??? They do not need to inter cut it with a fight scene where he enacts the reaction to his bosses' statements. This type of sloppy, over-managed approach is everywhere, as if Whedon has no natural feel for his characters like previous shows and doesn't really believe in the case he is presenting.
It's just a unorganized show and the only Whedon with anymore credits on this show is Jed. I just know there was a huge missed opportunity here. A few sources, promise the show gets better in future episodes, especially with the vaguely teased "Alpha" which I believe is the naked guy surrounded by dead bodies sending Echo's picture to Agent Ballard. By the way, the videotape he is watching of a younger Echo takes the time to show up what Echo was like before the series, further making the opening unneeded. If Joss Whedon wasn't involved in this show, I'd be done here.
But I'll probably keep at it for a while with hope that a relatively cool sci-fi idea will get more refined in the execution. Of course, that involves Fox doing their part and not sending this show to the land of DVD. Kind of like how I made mom give that cat to the old lady across the street.
Final score: .5 star out of 5
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