Dollhouse S1E1

[blahflowers]

Well, that was probably the weakest pilot for a show that Joss has made, but then considering the rewrites that Fox made him do I suppose that was inevitable. It wasn't bad bad, but it did highlight a problem with the concept at play here, and not in a "I'm setting up storylines down the road that will have major ramifications!" kind of way. Taking people, wiping their memories, letting them walk around a controlled environment in a stupor, then periodically loading them up with other personalities and skill sets and sending them out in the world to do good deeds for really rich people who can be counted on to be discreet and not expose them to law enforcement agencies, then after their job is done bring them back in and wipe those memories.

Why?

This was the main problem I had watching the episode, the rather baroque method of... well, I'd say fighting crime but it would seem that this bunch of human traffickers aren't out for doing good but even for a bunch of selfish mercenaries, it seems a rather ornate means of doing business. And I wonder if Joss has a reason for this worked out, or whether we're just going to get Eliza Dushku in the shower and Amy Acker looking pensive until we forget all about it. Where does it go from here? We might have Quantum Leap without the time-travel, where each week Echo takes on a new personality but, having pulled the 'someone from the personality's past' trick with episode one, I can't see the personal stake plot being used each week and it's hard to care about the characters if, at the end of it, the central actor doesn't have a personality. If Echo starts to remember her 'real' life or previous personalities then I can't see how that won't break the show, as you're moving away from the central premise of the show. It could go all Dark Skies, Echo could remember who she really is and go on the run, but Dark Skies was rubbish, lone vigilante against mighty organisations stories are so silly by their very nature and again, premise-breakage.

I'm prepared to give the show a while to settle in because it's Joss and, when he works, he works, but the omens from the first episode are not good. The curse of Fox... again?

Comments

[djm4]

Aside from the influences you mention, it also seemed a bit Charlie's Angels (non-government organisation with seemingly huge resources hiring out women who assume different identities each episode - there's even a sort of John Bosley figure). Basically, I found it boring, apart from the parts when Olivia Williams was on screen when I wanted to tear my ears off - she manages that irritating trick of sounding like an American trying to do an English accent while actually being English.

I liked episode 2 more, but I'm not quite sure I could say why.

[thermalsatsuma.livejournal.com]

I wondered why the client in the first episode didn't just hire a hostage negotiator rather than the presumably more expensive and difficult to find programmed doll. How would he know that such a service was available? Indeed, how does the Dollhouse manage to stay secret and yet presumably bring in enough business to make money. Just how much are they charging for somebody to pretend to be your girlfriend for the day?

Still, never mind the plot holes - Eliza Dushku in the nuddy ... pwhoar, eh?

[blahflowers.livejournal.com]

Well that's it, how does this agency advertise it's services so that some rich Dad or rich bloke who wants a great night can engage their services without the FBI finding out (Although we assume the FBI don't know)? I would argue that a regular negotiator with links to the police and everything would be more useful, if you want to just pay the ransom then why do you need a special person to do it? What does Eliza Dushku thinking she's your girlfriend get you that a high-class call girl doesn't?

And Eliza Dushku in the nuddy... I think there's a good argument to be made that Joss Whedon is often guilty of just being more female-friendly only because he puts more young women in his shows but then (aaaah! I've forgotten the word I'm after and I have to leave now!) uses their physicality in exactly the same way as any tv show or film or video that has female eye candy.

With the sole exception of Zoe and Kaylee, but then you've got the whole thing with Inara.

[elijahdprophet.livejournal.com]

My big problems with the pilot were the "I never back down" montage where we find out the Agent Battlestar Galactica Guy not only won't back down from his case, BUT HE WON'T BACK DOWN WHEN KICKBOXING EITHER! That was just terrible.

I also want to know where they get these personalities. I mean, if there was a core of geeks custom building the skill sets that would be one thing, but Echo was imprinted with the psyche of someone, including their memories. Not just anyone, mind you, but someone who was sexually abused and later killed themselves. This seems like the sort of thing a group like the Dollhouse would want to avoid. "Whoops, turns out that double jointed gymnast hooker we used for a profile was also a serial killer, I'm sure that won't be a problem..."

The second episode was stronger, and the pilot was better then the original leaked pilot, whose plot revolved around Echo being the perfect weekend date for a divorced guy going to his ex wife's wedding. this is a show I think I will watch, since I don't DO anything on Friday nights, but I don't know how sad I will be when it eventually goes away.

[blahflowers.livejournal.com]

Kickboxing: Not only that, but you can punch and kick the shit out of someone and they will show no physical signs of injury at all, beyond a little blood in their spit.

[mordantcarnival.livejournal.com]

I feel grubby after watching this. So far it's basically an excuse to put an (admiteddly very attractive) actress in a succession of conventionally semi-fetishistic outfits. And then she is played with by a geeky guy in between handfuls of Pez. And then she goes to sleep in a box. The fact that this is all done in a very self-conscious way (haha box, haha gumball machine, haha figure moe zoku doll-programmer DO YOU SEE AHHHHHH) doesn't really help me at all.

A few slightly more interesting things happened in the next ep., but really, I'm just not seeing this going in a good way.