Dollhouse Season 2-1

Are you still watching Dollhouse, the very darkly themed Whedon show starring Eliza Dushku as Echo, the brain-wiped human tabula rasa-slave? The last time we saw Echo, she was kidnapped by Alpha, the escaped Active, who then zapped all the personalities she'd been programmed with before all at once into her. The idea was to make her his Omega. As we know, he didn't succeed. Omega killed him and chose to return to her blank state.

Our dubious Knight-in-Shining-Armor didn't quite rescue Echo either. In fact, he took the gray road, agreeing to work "with" the Dollhouse PTB in exchange for...I'm not sure what...and Melon'sDecember's freedom.

The first episode of Season Two started in a confusing manner for me. Ballard seemed to be using the Dollhouse to trap a bad guy (illegal weapons dealer) who he hadn't succeeded to catch during his FBI days. Echo was programmed as his "partner" who had lured the bad guy into marrying her.

This indicated that some time had passed since last season's finale, right, because it takes time for a bad guy to decide to marry some beautiful woman and have a big wedding. Right? If so, then I have the problem of Ballard actually doing unto Echo what he professed to abhor all last season--using her for sex (and other things) without permission. Granted, the sex wasn't with him, but with the weapons dealer, but heck, that's splitting hair.

Sure, he seemed uncomfortable about it and there were some funny moments spliced into the usual gratuitous shots of Echo naked under a male, like the insertion of Ballard doing some push-ups while the bad guy was on top of Echo doing some...umm...push-downs, heh. And yeah, in the end, Echo got the bad guy, with Ballard coming to the rescue when she was in danger, but what is Whedon doing with Ballard's character? He's no longer someone we root for.

Echo's story hasn't grown much, except her telling Ballard at the end that she knows about the "others" inside her. I'm not sure what she meant when she said she was going to look for these personalities. What was the point? Ballard knew they were just composites of people that Topher created. I suppose we could interpret that as part of the Caroline "got to save things/people/causes" personality waking up, but I thought last year's little hints were stronger than this premiere's memory lapses/flashbacks.

The most interesting subplot was Dr. Saunders, who had found out that she was a doll called Whiskey, reprogrammed because of her facial scars. Wow, a tortured angsty doll?! So are we to surmise that a doll who had been given her personality for too long will become that personality? What does that say about the mind? Dr. Saunders rejected her old "life," and was afraid that they would kill her (the Dr. Saunders personality), yet there were some sparks of that Whiskey wickedness showing. She tortured Topher with a zealousness that was totally unlike her Dr. Saunders kind demeanor; she was quite menacing toward Echo, looking at the razor and then taking the lollipop for herself (instead of the usual giving the lollipop to the doll after examination). In the end, she ran away, going into the "real" world. The doll wants to be real.

And what about Topher, our evil geeky smart-mouth genius? Turns out he had a human side, giving his reasons to reprogram Whiskey the way he did. He didn't want Whiskey as Dr. Saunders to be his "yes" sidekick. He wanted someone who would question him, so he gave her a dislike of himself, even his smell. Topher is very strange indeed. Yet, he made perfect sense. Best line: "I didn't make you hate me. You chose to do that." So again, there is the idea being tossed out that a programmed doll could "grow" as a person.

The friction between Boyd and Ballard is delicious. I can't wait to see them at odds even more as the season continues, especially now that Ballard had become Echo's handler. Boyd not gonna like that, no sirree.

That last bit was damning too. Ballard is now part of the Dollhouse, whether he had any good ulterior motive, or not. So who is left to save our Dolls?

(Almost must add--Viktor and Sierra holding hands in the end = glad to see them reconnecting).

So, what are your thoughts?

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Dollhouse Episode 9

I know, I know, you're just dying to hear my take on the latest Joss Whedon show :-).

Okay, this was an awesome yet odd episode overall. There were several horrifying revelations that really changed the way we and the characters view their reality. First. we finally met Ms. Lonely Hearts and it wasn't some old crone getting the services of Viktor/Roger--it was, Holy Kamolly, Adele! Yikes.

Intriguing as this was, there were things that made me scratch my head. I gathered that this was meant to show the dark side of Adele and yet, we were also meant to see her vulnerable side, with a bit of her past snuck in there. I suspected that she recreated an old lover out of Viktor, Continental accent and all. But in essence, she's not much different from Sierra's ex-handler who raped her, right? She acted as if that act was such a crime and killed that bastard, but what about herself? Her using Viktor, even with imprintment, was really no different from Sierra's ex-handler, who used her imprinted trust of him.

But the fencing scene and the conversations in bed are making Adele a very rounded bad guy. Her decision to give up her make-believe Roger also signaled her realization that the real world around her was in danger; her most trusted man himself a fake. That was one cool thematic use of nothing black and white about this show, even for the bad guys.

Second, the Mellie of the Melons reveal to Ballard. Oh, man. Poor, poor Ballard. Nice juxtaposition too, that he found that HIS reality was also not quite what it seemed. The woman he had slept with was a doll and now, we the audience are also questioning the dilemma of whether his future sexing of her would be rape. He couldn't tell Mellie because her kill trigger would be activated and yet he also couldn't change the relationship too drastically because that would make the Dollhouse suspicious. Like I said, poor Ballard.

Third, Dominic's reveal as the NSA mole. That was quite a surprise punch for me. Never saw that happening. So we now know that the NSA was trying to control the technology from spreading and our perception of Dominic as Really Bad Guy also changed; in the overall pic, he had a mission to stop the Dollhouse technology from spreading to terrorist countries, etc.

But he was caught by...ECHO/spyhunter who I'm sure was now truly composited (if that's a word). She controlled the whole situation from the getgo--getting Topher to imprint her ("did I just lose an argument to a Doll?" best quote of the night), then asking questions from each of the people who had control of her and showing some kind of insight of their inner workings, and then that classic Faith-inspired fight at the end with Dominic (awesome use of glass table, hee).

We now see the reality of the Attic. I was a bit disappointed about that, just a bunch of wires to torture? What made the Dolls any different from an Atticked Doll? I'm imagining the Atticked Dolls lying comatose somewhere. What point would that serve if that was true? They just sit in the Attic for decades? Plot hole there for me.

Another confusing element is the number of spies against the Dollhouse running around inside and around the place. We have Alpha. We have Alpha's insider. We have the NSA insider. We have Ballard. And maybe we have more. Here's the best I could understand what was happening:

1) Last week Echo's destruction of electrical components gave Topher some problems with his imprintment equipment.

2) They imprinted Mellie before the discovery of whatever that thing was that was NSA technology, hence they knew it was NSA, in the chair.

3) Dominic, the NSA undercover op, pretended to be angry and then had Sierra imprinted with Sydney Bristow's brain ;-) so she could run an Alias-like operation at NSA. Of course, this was a set-up and that's why no one could recognize that Sierra looked nothing like the Asian girl she was pretending to be :-). Sierra/SydneyBristow was supposed to steal something that would reveal the identity of the NSA mole. We already know that Dominic had set up Ivy as the mole.

4) Meanwhile, imprinted Mellie revealed stuff to Ballard. Her words pointed to ANOTHER agent, who wanted Ballard to find out why and not where. I'm saying this because Dominic was pretty damn sure he was protected, yet here, Mellie, who had no idea what was happening at the Dollhouse, said their inside agent had been compromised. I'm thinking maybe Ivy is a mole too, but not for NSA.

5) Back at the Dollhouse, we get the Dominic reveal and Ivy is saved from the Attic.

6) Adele atticked Dominic. Their conversation was very revealing (ahem) too--he was working to stop the technology from improving and he could see that Alpha was just the beginning of what could be done to the human mind. He could see it happening to Echo. Of course, that didn't make him any less the bastard he was for trying to off Echo.

7) So, in the end, one mole caught, Alpha still on the loose, and his inside Mole might not have been compromised yet.

Last few thoughts: Adele as Wonder Woman with the Bullet hole was pretty cool ;-). Also, Topher's and Dr. Saunders' motivation for being the Dollhouse were interesting. Boyd was as mysterious as ever and yes, I think he could be a mole too. Echo's final re-imprintment to trust a new handler--her trigger words were said with her eyes on Boyd and not on her handler. Wonder what that means?

Whew. I know, I think too much about a TV show. Joss does that to me. //bow

Your thoughts?

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Weekly Dollhouse Ruminations: Episode 8

Okay, so it's basically a Reset Button episode, a fake run-through of "Dollhouse Doomsday" by the PTB. The idea has merit and there were several cool twists and aspects, but overall, I came away thinking something was off with the story.

First, the good stuff:

1) character background.
Yay, we now have some back stories so we could cheer for the main characters. Can I say Victor, whom I didn't like in the first couple of episodes, has grown into my favorite character? Definitely an interesting idea to give the "actives" their basic personalities back without their memories. Victor, again, was the standout and most interesting. I'm thinking he "volunteered" because he suffered from PTSD. Mellie of the Melons obviously did out of the pain of losing a child (maybe she wanted to forget?). Caroline, in the two years after her boyfriend's death, has grown tougher because she sure didn't know how to fight like that in the lab chase in college, which tells that something more happened than mere running. Sierra's character is the darkest, much to my surprise, and it cast a very horrifying light about the Dollhouse.

2) overall arc
The mythos is very clear--the Dollhouse will do and can do whatever necessary to keep going/making money. For whom, it isn't quite clear yet and Alpha was underutilized in this episode. Contrasting their personalities with the dolls walking around was good too, e.g., Victor's muttering of baseball in an effort to not look around in the community bath. The scenes showing outside of the Dollhouse main area was interesting too--the giant clothes room (also very disturbing but with one funny moment showing Victor quickly putting back his thongs) and the

The Bad.
Sierra's background story with the douchebag who sold her and then the Dollhouse RENTING HER BACK TO HIM for more abuse? That was a WTF moment for me. Could be a major dealbreaker for me if not addressed sometime soon. This episode emphasized closure for the characters to sort of shut off that memory valve in their brains, but how the hell is this closure for Sierra?!

Also, wtf again with the Dollhouse doing that to Sierra? They had one of the Handlers killed off for raping her, but they allowed her to be rape via rental? Gag. Joss Whedon, no. Take that back. Nolan must die soon.

Really did NOT like Echo's original mind, Caroline. Gag. Hate that kind of PETA-Savior complex. I was amused, though, by Adele's observation that Caroline wasn't exactly smart. Because YES the woman is stupid. Instead of going to the cops and perhaps having a chance of going against people with guns, she put on a one-woman Save-The-World operation on her own. She was going to release the dolls the same way she was going to with the lab monkeys in her earlier life. Dumbass.

Anyway, the test run was meant to normalize the growing doll glitches. The doctor (forever Fred in my mind) was also a neat surprise. I can't decide whether she is for or against the dolls. She doesn't approved of looking at them as "pets," yet she was the one who initiated this retooling and reset idea.

Joss's very dark aspect of Sierra's chilling fate really underlined that the Dollhouse is evil, no matter how kick-ass Adele is or how amusing and smartmouth Topher is. It's an emphasis on the same disturbing theme of human trafficking from the first episode, only this time, it's even more personal for us because we've gotten to know Sierra through several episodes.

One more quickie thought--what the heck was the opening scene?! Yeah, Shirtless (now ex-)Agent Ballard was nice but having a nightmare-seduction dream with Caroline? With Mellie as the voice of conscience? So obviously ploy of meaninglessness eye-candy. I mean, Shallow Jenn thank you for Shirtless Ballard, but I know visual bribery when I see it. Bad boy fantasy. Yes, looking at you, Joss.

Oh, final words. Nolan. Must. Die.

Your thoughts?

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Dollhouse Episodes 6 & 7

Hey, someone emailed and asked where my Friday Dollhouse post was. I didn't know anyone was interested in those mini thoughts ;-).

Let's see. I'm still watching because His Geniusness, Joss Whedon, has hooked me with Episode 6. He'd promised that that particular episode was untampered by any Wolfram and HartFox Execs, and the pacing definitely picked up with Echo and Paul Ballard finally connecting. Kewl Buffy-esque fight scene between them as Echo was programmed to be an assassin.

Loved, loved the scene where Melly of the Melons turned deadly. And Paul has his confirmation that the Dollhouse did exist (on a shallow note...Paul can be my nekkid neighbor any time, 'kay?).

This week was a complete turnabout from that serious Dollhouse vs Paul/documentary to a funny (but with serious implications) episode. It wasn't perfect but I enjoyed Adelle de Witt and Topher getting high together. That was pure Whedon humor, especially Topher's telling his superior, Adelle, "You haven't seen my drawer of inappropriate starches." OMG. I wanted that line for my own. And Adelle's, in her drunken Brit accent, "Indomitable! Oooh. I can eat that word."

The twist with the Dolls getting some of their memories back...that one had a bit of a plot hole problem for me. The explanation for their "dollness," the way I understood it, is that their mind/memories were wiped and they are essentially blank slates. Meaning, there are NO memories in there to get flashbacks of, so the drug shouldn't affect the memory compartment of their brains the way it was portrayed.

As for Echo--the show is hinting that she is still different from the others because she was having flashbacks without ever coming in contact with the drug. The sight of the uni on TV started her recollection. So I'm still thinking that there is something special about Echo.

Her flashbacks of her previous (real) life explained a lot about how she ended up at the Dollhouse, so Whedon is doing his job in making me root for her "self" to come back. I'm now wondering whether Alpha is her presumed-dead boyfriend? She was also on the run for two years before Adelle found her--what was she doing? Joss is still reeling me in ;-).

Next week looks kick-ass as the main characters wake up with their memories intact. I keep wondering how this series is going to keep going if by next week we're getting a mini rebellion. Or maybe it's just another mind-imprint by Dollhouse to test their dolls???? Ooooh! Or maybe we're going to get Joss' version of Prison Break, heh.

There you go. Happy now, Casee?

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Post #2: Grrr. ArRrr. I'm Joss Whedon's Bitch.

Dollhouse tonight was the one over which Joss Whedon was given total control without any FOX executive meddling.

Holy smokes. I'm now a believer of the concept. There's still that disturbing "high-class" prostitution theme), but now there is SOMETHING/SOMEONE I can root for.

Joss, please accept my adoring worship.

P/S I want Joss Whedon's genius programmed into the writing compartment of my brain, please, thank you.

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