Joss Whedon's Dollhouse

[Jingus 0]

Another Friday, another mixed bag.

 

-I forget if I mentioned this before, but the title credits sequence is pretty bad. "La la la LA la, la la la LA la", while Echo walks around looking like she's reenacting old episodes of Silk Stalkings, ugh. The only part which doesn't feel like I'm watching The OC: Counter Terrorist Division is that bit at the very end where you get the abstract light pattern and the music-box-winding-down chime.

 

-I'm hoping that all this rapid-fire acting challenges will somehow make Dushku into a better performer. Hasn't worked so far, though. Her trying to play "blind" was just awful, as were line readings such as "Move your ass!".

 

-Why can't they just do an episode centered around the damn Dollhouse itself and forget about the missions? The bits where Topher and Saunders were watching for boners in the shower, that was hilarious. I'd way rather watch a plot focusing on the supporting tech people than always watching Eliza trying to emote and somehow coming out the same "badass bitch grrl power" every time.

 

-I'm not feeling this Law & Order style of "ripped from the headlines!" stories which are based on notorious recent events. No, the fact that there are so many wacky religious cult compounds in Texas does not mean that it's great to invent a new one for your show; it's a shopworn cliche by now. Hell, what was this one doing that was so bad? They had a bunch of guns, but I'm not sure why, since they seemed to be doing zero illegal activities which could get them in trouble. No explanation was given for their paranoia.

 

-The one good part of Eliza's adventures is the amount of time that gets spent on Boyd. The actor has a fairly thankless part of being the straight man and voice of reason, but he's got that "I am a tall, noble, dignified black man and every word I say in my deep voice sounds like Gospel" kind of Dennis Haysbert thing which makes him seem utterly trustworthy and reliable.

 

-While we're at it, let's give a cheer to Amy Acker for showing off her ability. Her doctor character here is superficially similar to how she was on Angel, but she's utterly changed everything from her voice to her posture to the way she uses her facial muscles. When she's Fred or Illyria or Saunders, it almost feels like you're not looking at the same person.

 

-Why does the blond security guy hate Echo so much, and why is he such a fucking asshole about it? I know he's afraid of getting another Alpha but that doesn't explain trapping her in a burning building, trying to make her die in a fire. Plus he's always just a fucking asshole to everyone, which makes it hard to give a shit about a guy when he's such a one-dimensional plot device. Ya fucking asshole. I'm glad Vic Mackey shot you in the face.

 

-The preview for next week's episode was like a parody of Fox's usual previews. "NEXT WEEK, EVERYTHING WILL CHANGE AND NOTHING WILL BE THE SAME AGAIN!" Fuck off. It's been years since shows like Drawn Together have been making fun of that shit.

[Mecha Mummy 0]

Hell, what was this one doing that was so bad?

 

Not much, which I think was the point; the whole thing was fabricated on the part of that one guy who was so deadset on getting the cult leader for managing to get out of prison the last time he was arrested.

 

The preview for next week's episode was like a parody of Fox's usual previews. "NEXT WEEK, EVERYTHING WILL CHANGE AND NOTHING WILL BE THE SAME AGAIN!" Fuck off. It's been years since shows like Drawn Together have been making fun of that shit.

 

To be fair, episode six is in fact actually supposed to be the episode where the show kicks into high gear or what-have-you, according to an interview with Eliza Dushku a couple weeks back. That doesn't make those sorts of previews not overused and agonizingly bad.

 

As for Eliza's acting, eh, I thought he was fine doing the blind schtick, but when she suddenly turned into Faith with crappy lines like the "Move your ass!" one I wasn't so impressed.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

Isn't the show dead last in the ratings among shows in its timeslot for network programming? Pretty sure I read that somewhere. If true, then yeah, hoping we get all 13 filmed episodes is pretty much the best we can do.

 

I haven't seen the show, but how wide of the mark was I with this post back in May 08 about what I thought the show would be?

 

The 'Doll' has had her memory wiped, so she won't remember or know why she does what she does, I'm betting as time goes on her memories come back and she starts to resent the things she's done and tries to quit/goes emo like Buffy did a few times.

Echo is indeed starting to remember things. But she's recalling very little, very gradually. And it's not her old life she's remembering, but instead she seems to be retaining tiny little pieces of her fake reprogrammed personalities.

 

The 'Doll' has muscle memory which will probably result in her have superhuman strength and agility.

Nope. Apparently the Dollhouse makes all its agents exercise a lot and stay in great shape, but that's all, nothing superhuman. (Except maybe Alpha, who is vaguely hinted to have extraordinary abilities, but we haven't really gotten that far yet.)

 

I think there are alot of elements of Alias in this too, as someone mentioned above. So I can see and call it now that as the series progresses the 'Doll' will eventually turn on the 'Dollhouse' as she finds out they're actually the bad guys after all. The 'Handlers' are just the 'Watchers'.

Ok, so she won't be fighting demons, but they'll probably be a rival 'Dollhouse' house somewhere with their own super agile 'Dolls', which will lead to some OTT Buffy Battles.

Aside from Handlers = Watchers, none of this has even been implied. Could happen, but basically that's just fantasy booking, and anyway the show doesn't look like it's gonna stick around long enough to get to further storylines like that.

 

Ah well, it seems I was wide of the mark a bit on some of my guesses. Though I still reckon if this show goes another season they'd start to go that way. Might watch this once the season is over so I can speed through the episodes and get the general story arch if its as bad as you think - just like Tru Calling.

[HarleyQuinn 0]

This was there and like Jingus, I enjoyed the "boner" scene the most.

 

I'm more intrigued by the relationships being set up (Sierra/Victor as a possible budding romance, the blond guy going against the lead woman and targeting Echo as a result, the cop getting closer and closer to Echo, and Boyd in general is great) but I'm still finding the main Echo plots boring and uninteresting because Eliza really isn't suited for a lead role. She's great in spurts (see Faith or even as Missy in Bring It On) but just doesn't have the range or capability to carry something.

 

Joss wrote and directed next week's episode so I'm really hoping that the show does kick into high gear and more importantly, is a great episode in general. There've been brief hints (i.e. the shower scene in this week's episode) at the show possibly being good but it's just way too hit and miss right now.

[HarleyQuinn 0]

Here's how Dollhouse has done week to week according to James Hibberd. First number is the overnight in terms of million viewers. Second number is the 18-49 bracket rating.

 

Episode 1: 4.7 and a 2.06

Episode 2: 4.2 and a 1.70

Episode 3: 4.1 and a 1.60

Episode 4: 3.6 and a 1.50

Episode 5: 4.3 and a 1.60

 

Here's how Firefly's first 5 episodes did in terms of overnight ratings... TV Ratings for Firefly

Episode 1: 4.9

Episode 2: 4.3

Episode 3: 3.9

Episode 4: 3.4

Episode 5: 3.2

-----------------------

Episode 6: 3.3

Episode 7: 3.1

Episode 8: 3.0

Episode 9: 3.1

Episode 10: 2.8

Episode 11: 2.9

[Atticus Chaos 0]

I'm quite excited to see the next episode 'Man on the Street' since seemingly everyone whose seen it has been stunned by it, and this is when Dollhouse is supposed to get really good.

 

 

[Jingus 0]

Well whaddya know, it DID get good. After the first five episodes' dithering and killing time with boring Crises Of The Week plots, Dollhouse decides to grow up a bit. Let's hope they continue on this path. And not just in the plot, though that was taken to the next level with Departed-style rats and traitors on every side. I mean it felt like they finally dealt with the issues underlying the concept of the show, especially the sexual aspect of it so many people have been complaining about. The news interviews with the people on the street delved into it one way, the handler raping Sierra was another, the whole weird Patton Oswald angle was a third view on it, Victor luvs Sierra is a fourth, FBI Guy luvs Echo est #5.

 

A few things which I did note:

 

-Finally, some comedy which seemed like it was actually written by Joss Whedon and not by someone trying to copy his style. "PORN!"

 

-It took 'em a while, but they finally made the FBI guy interesting. Not just the romance with the neighbor/doll, but also making him one bad motherfucker, able to take down damn near anyone with his bare hands.

 

-But oh dear Lord I hope they never play that awful techno music again that was in the background of his fight with Echo, that was some musical waterboarding right there.

 

-For a brief moment I thought they were going the "supervillain kills superhero's girlfriend and stuffs her body in the fridge" route with the neighbor lady. I was ready to get all pissed off at that particularly tacky cliche. Fortunately, by now Whedon is more than good friends with that tacky cliche, and by now is familiar enough with it to set us up to expect Tara getting shot again and then subvert it.

 

-Did anyone else notice that bizarre shot near the end? DeWitt and blond guy walk out of her office, into the elevator, camera stays with them without cutting away... and they walk out of the elevator into the main Dollhouse set. Except, there's no way that could've possibly been a real elevator ride, there wasn't enough room for the camera crew and lights and everything to ride along with them. How the hell did they do that?

[Anakin Flair 0]

Well whaddya know, it DID get good. After the first five episodes' dithering and killing time with boring Crises Of The Week plots, Dollhouse decides to grow up a bit. Let's hope they continue on this path. And not just in the plot, though that was taken to the next level with Departed-style rats and traitors on every side. I mean it felt like they finally dealt with the issues underlying the concept of the show, especially the sexual aspect of it so many people have been complaining about. The news interviews with the people on the street delved into it one way, the handler raping Sierra was another, the whole weird Patton Oswald angle was a third view on it, Victor luvs Sierra is a fourth, FBI Guy luvs Echo est #5.

 

A few things which I did note:

 

-Finally, some comedy which seemed like it was actually written by Joss Whedon and not by someone trying to copy his style. "PORN!"

 

-It took 'em a while, but they finally made the FBI guy interesting. Not just the romance with the neighbor/doll, but also making him one bad motherfucker, able to take down damn near anyone with his bare hands.

 

-But oh dear Lord I hope they never play that awful techno music again that was in the background of his fight with Echo, that was some musical waterboarding right there.

 

-For a brief moment I thought they were going the "supervillain kills superhero's girlfriend and stuffs her body in the fridge" route with the neighbor lady. I was ready to get all pissed off at that particularly tacky cliche. Fortunately, by now Whedon is more than good friends with that tacky cliche, and by now is familiar enough with it to set us up to expect Tara getting shot again and then subvert it.

 

-Did anyone else notice that bizarre shot near the end? DeWitt and blond guy walk out of her office, into the elevator, camera stays with them without cutting away... and they walk out of the elevator into the main Dollhouse set. Except, there's no way that could've possibly been a real elevator ride, there wasn't enough room for the camera crew and lights and everything to ride along with them. How the hell did they do that?

 

It's an old trick. The elevator itself rotates until it's facing the proper set, and suddenly they are on a whole new floor.

[Jingus 0]

Rotates, eh? D'oh. I was trying to think of complicated solutions involving large sections of floor which raised or lowered on hydraulic lifts or something along those lines. Or in theory they could've just composited it with some really slick CGI. But yeah, I guess rotating makes the most sense. They would have to have those two sets built right next to each other and it would still be a complicated setup; you'd literally have to construct the entire set in that manner specifically to get that one shot. Seems like a lot of work.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Color me stunned the episode actually lived up to the hype, but it really did. Probably too little too late, but at least this show had a single moment of greatness.

[HarleyQuinn 0]

Finally! All the talking and hinting results in a kick ass, solid, good episode!

 

I wasn't expecting

Neighbor lady to be an active or at least controlled by DeWitt although I liked the three flowers aspect of it. Subliminal fun

and I almost cheered out loud when

Boyd sent asshole handler through the window, followed by handler getting killed in said above scene

.

 

Next week's episode looks like it might be continuing the "grown up" aspect of it and it really feels like the show has a better stride now on what exactly it's going for. You have

Alpha trying to help the FBI guy, DeWitt dealing with possibly both her superiors and the evil side guy, a multitude of reasons why the Dollhouse is going to self implode from FBI guy to memories returning

.

 

Positive Rating News from TV By The Numbers: Predictions of Dollhouse getting crushed did not come to pass. The much-anticipated sixth episode finally arrived and performed similarly to last week when it had 4.3 million and a 1.6 rating with 18-49s. Last night it had 4.13 million and a 1.5/5 (rating/share) with adults 18-49.

[The Niggardly King 0]

I must say that actually was a good episode.

 

All credit goes to Patton Oswald

[SuperJerk 0]

Should we start watching yet?

[HarleyQuinn 0]

Should we start watching yet?

 

Start with the 6th episode (IMO, it's the "turnaround" episode i.e. Surprise/Innocence in Buffy's Season 2 where things ramped up). Next week's episode looks like it'll continue to build off episode 6, which can only be good.

[Mecha Mummy 0]

Eh. I would say watch the actual segments at the Dollhouse from the first episode and also the end of the episode with the FBI guy watching the video of Echo, watch all of the second episode, only watch the FBI guy scenes from the third and maybe the end of that episode for the overall moral/plot point of it, watch all of the fourth, and then the fifth... I dunno about the fifth. Episodes two and four are both pretty good TV and worth watching, but 1, 3, and 5 have really weak main plots (especially 3, which is one of the worst hours of a Whedon show I've seen outside of the sixth season of Buffy).

[fairtoflair7 0]

I don't know what was so special about the past episode. I mean it was a step up and sure, there were a few twists but what made it so special to you guys? The fact there was actual plot development with the overall picture and not an Echo individual story?

 

I don't get the hype of how this is the "game-changing" episode of the series.

[HarleyQuinn 0]

I don't know what was so special about the past episode. I mean it was a step up and sure, there were a few twists but what made it so special to you guys? The fact there was actual plot development with the overall picture and not an Echo individual story?

 

I don't get the hype of how this is the "game-changing" episode of the series.

 

You pretty much said it yourself...

 

#1: The Twists.

- You have the neighbor as an active/doll. Ballard is going to figure things out, especially with Lubov/Victor also being a doll. He now knows for a fact that Echo is a doll and was sent to kill him as well.

- You have Alpha able to hack into Echo with future communication with Ballard hinted at.

- There are hints that what happened to Alpha is happening to Echo (or the other Dolls).

 

#2: The Plot Development.

- The knowledge that there are at least 20 individual Dollhouses.

- Ballard is fired from the FBI with the possibility that the FBI will soon learn of and go up against the dollhouse.

- We now know that DeWitt is working under people, who are clearly powerful in their own right.

- An active killed a handler. Not to mention that there's question of the dolls developing within the dollhouse (i.e. sexual feelings).

 

#3: More so than the twists and the plot development was the fact that it was typical Joss. Interjecting humor, drama, action, while smoothly building up the plot and setting up future episodes without being beaten over the head with it.

 

In terms of "game changing" as you called it, the best analogy I can come up with is that the previous episodes were all jagged lines and this episode was a smooth line. It not only was a "step up" but it showed the capabilities of what this show can be and could be from here on out. I'm not saying it was a 10/10 episode but it's a step in the right direction.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

The real game changer episode will be when Echo has a composite event, like Alpha, albeit not as evil or deranged. Then she'll be Caroline with superpowers. That's when we don't have to bother as much about the missions and the real action can start.

[Jingus 0]

Which is, apparently, next week. Can't accuse them of wasting time. The overly spoilerrific teaser makes it look like a half-assed version of "Spin the Bottle".

 

Which is totally appropriate, since tonight's was a quarter-assed version of "Band Candy". After last week, this was a disappointing drop back to the status quo for this terribly frustrating show. Had a couple of priceless moments, especially with DeWitt wigging out and Topher, uh, basically staying the same. But the overall storyline was awfully incoherent, and the flashbacks were those Lost style which somehow confused more than explained. If nothing else, at least they made Blonde Asshole Security Guy Whose Name I Never Remember seem a bit less sociopathic and a bit more human.

[Mecha Mummy 0]

Eh, there's some important stuff that happened here, though it was a big step down from last week; the aforementioned flashbacks (which I thought made a fair amount of sense), the connection between the Dollhouse and Rossum Whatever-the-Hell, giving more insight on how people actually get recruited for the Dollhouse, and so on.

 

But mostly the highlight of the episode was DeWitt wigging out. The shot of her on the trampoline in the background was hysterical.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

Caroline's backstory was dissapointing. I thought it was would be a lot more major than it was. Not to mention, she didn't come off as crazed animal rights activist, but that might have been Dushku's acting. She came off as far too casual about the whole thing. She was planning a major break in at a top medical facility like it was a sleepover.

[HarleyQuinn 0]

Disappointed mostly with the episode, despite some of the backstory revealed. I will say that DeWitt was priceless, "Say hi for me!" *bounce bounce* and I also was hoping that Caroline had done... more than just that. I did like the character of Sam and thought he was a solid part of the episode.

 

I hope Rossum Corporation is big though. It was kind of unclear but I think Caroline saw (the mind stuff) that Rossum was doing Dollhouse style experiments? Feel free to correct me.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

The episode got 3.8 million viewers. Which is a less than last week and they didn't have nearly as much competition. I can't figure out this show's audience.

[HarleyQuinn 0]

The episode got 3.8 million viewers. Which is a less than last week and they didn't have nearly as much competition. I can't figure out this show's audience.

 

I think several factors have hurt it...

 

1: The friday time slot, which hasn't helped the show at all. The Osbournes Reloaded is getting a tuesday slot... kinda says it all in terms of Fox's priorities. There also hasn't been much in the way of advertising to promote the show outside of the general "double" ads featuring Sarah Connor and Dollhouse.

 

2: Most of the people watching it are Joss diehards and sporadic general population seeing what the big deal is supposed to be. It doesn't help that the first 5 episodes were mediocre at best and Fox apparently waited until episode 6 to take a more hands off approach.

 

3: There's a general negative attitude of, "Why watch when it'll just be canceled anyway?" that could turn out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. When (if?) it gets canceled, people will just say, "See!" rather than watching in the first place and helping ratings.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

It still doesn't explain why it fluctuates from week to week, though. The last 3 million rating they got people said it might have been the Watchmen premiere splitting the audience, but I'm not sure how you explain last night.

[HarleyQuinn 0]

I'm not sure either. Looking at the ratings, most shows actually rose in the ratings and there seemed to generally be more viewership overall last night but Dollhouse noticeably dropped (yet Sarah Connor noticeably improved too).

 

The only thing I can surmise is more watched the NCAA Basketball game. Although some shows improved in the 18-49 rating too. *Shrugs Shoulders*

 

Last Week: 08.36 and 2.9

This Week: 10.31 and 3.6

 

By comparison... Sarah Connor

Last Week: 3.65 and 1.3

This Week: 3.83 and 1.3

 

and Dollhouse...

Last Week: 4.13 and 1.5

This Week: 3.87 and 1.3

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

This weeks was still far better than the first 5 episodes were.

[Mecha Mummy 0]

I dunno. I felt it wasn't as good as either 2 or 4, though it blew 1, 3, and 5 out of the water completely. But then, a test pattern could probably blow the third episode out of the water.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

Last night's episode got 3.49 million viewers, according to tv by the numbers.

[Anakin Flair 0]

The episode got 3.8 million viewers. Which is a less than last week and they didn't have nearly as much competition. I can't figure out this show's audience.

 

I think several factors have hurt it...

 

1: The friday time slot, which hasn't helped the show at all. The Osbournes Reloaded is getting a tuesday slot... kinda says it all in terms of Fox's priorities. There also hasn't been much in the way of advertising to promote the show outside of the general "double" ads featuring Sarah Connor and Dollhouse.

 

 

Does that really matter when several stations are refusing to air/airing that show later?