Some short review things

[osprey_archer]

1. Dollhouse, episode three. Again, all right; again, not top quality; I'm still watching the show to see if it improves. My favorite scene was the one with Ballard and the Russian mobster on the roof, where Ballard is explaining why he's sure Dollhouse exists - "Because the first thing people do with any technology is destroy." A hackneyed thing to say, but said with conviction, and the mobster's (who is, I think, an active?) response is good.

I think the Dollhouse could have been a really cool Macguffin, but it would have been better to make the show's main character either the FBI guy who is trying to bring them down, or one of Dollhouse's leaders, or really anyone who doesn't get her mind wiped at the end of everyone show. As this cogent discussion of the show points out, a main character who gets reset at the end of every week is death to character development.

2. Shadow Unit, episode 2.1. Not as harrowing as many of the first season episodes, but still solid, and it does feature the squirm-worthy spectacle of Reyes apologizing. Twice.

I must confess that Daphne's Wiccan-ness threw me for a loop. I didn't expect it, and it somehow didn't fit the image I had of the character, and I'm not sure why.

3. This is apropos of nothing, but I love this review of Eichmann in Jerusalem, which I blew my mind when I read it last year (the book, I mean, not the review). If you've never read it and you have any interest in Nazis at all, it's a fascinating book and I urge you to give it a try.

Comments

[entwashian.livejournal.com]

I don't know, I really like rooting for Echo. And I think it's intriguing trying to figure out just how much of person is in there.

ETA: Of course, I like Eliza Dushku a lot more than most people do, so...

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I think at the moment most people are happy to root for Echo; it's going to be later that they'll want more character development than "How much Caroline is left in Echo?"

And honestly, I think the fact that this is a Whedon show will work against it in some ways. People expect a lot of Whedon; they're going to complain if Dollhouse is about Echo's interesting new situation this week and nothing deeper.

[silksieve.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of at the wait-and-see point with Dollhouse, too, although I don't mind an active as the main character; I think there are hints that her true self (or whatever) is breaking through the science. So it's like character development, but in a weird inverted way.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Yeah. If there are hints at her true self breaking through for the next five episodes and then it actually breaks through somehow, then it counts as character development, but if there are hints at Echo's true self for five seasons but she remains a doll - I think that would be a very frustrating bait and switch.

[silksieve.livejournal.com]

Agreed, if it carries on too long it will be pointless, but the intriguing part right now that I think we're seeing hints of is Echo going to be the next Alpha? (Along with who is Alpha, what exactly happened and why, and what is he doing now?) (He was the naked guy, I'm supposing)

And it might not necessarily be her "true" personality that emerges, but some sort of deeper consciousness that will eventually merge her different imprints, etc.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

it might not necessarily be her "true" personality that emerges, but some sort of deeper consciousness that will eventually merge her different imprints

Now that is an interesting thought. You have a shiny brain.

[girl-called-sun.livejournal.com]

I wasn't sure about Daphne's Wiccan-ness, either - bit out of left field, for me. I missed Brady and Lau, stuck at HQ (and Chaz, of course). A solid start to build upon, I thought.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I know this is terribly stereotypical of me, but Daphne's just seems awfully feet-on-the-ground to be Wiccan. I could buy that she went through a Wiccan phase in college, but to be at it still?

I missed Brady and Lau a little, but I was glad Sol got so much screen time. It's the curse of the ensemble show.

[girl-called-sun.livejournal.com]

Yes, Daphne seems just too sensible, with too much of a science back ground. I completely buy that she had a phase and she would know all about it, but I would have expected her to have drifted.

I'm really warming to Sol. I want to hear his stories, true and otherwise.

[exuberantself.livejournal.com]

1. I'm in the same boat with Dollhouse. Basically, I'm holding out because I have faith in Joss Whedon. Regarding the death to character development bit, I think we're seeing foreshadowing now that there's going to be interesting changes on that front in the near future. I'm all about a slow burn, but he's taking a real risk right now with the story arc not yet being established.

2. I liked the end, but... I feel like sometimes the authors need an editor to step back and say, I don't know, something like, "you're readers aren't stupid" and cut out an average of two scenes per episode. I was surprised by the Wicca thing, but I did appreciate the continuation of the personal mythology limiting each gamma's powers.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

1. Yeah. In the current American TV climate, a slow burn is just begging to be extinguished - and as it's not all that effective on the story-telling front, I think it's a mistake on Whedon's part.

2. Which scenes would you have cut? It did feel a little off-kilter, although I'm not sure quite where or why.

[exuberantself.livejournal.com]

1. I think I could live with a limited slow burn--the kind that peaks for the first season finale--if the episodes themselves were more appealing. As it is, I feel like the episodes are just vehicles for that last thirty seconds where we see that something in Echo is changing. However, since they're also vehicles for Topher's rude and occasionally obnoxious wit, I'm sticking around for a bit.

2. My response turned out a little long, even for me (http://exuberantself.livejournal.com/64221.html#cutid1)

[visualthinker11.livejournal.com]

i'm hoping dollhouse will improve, too, but at least in the meanwhile the concept's interesting...
and yeah, i love victor (or whatever his mobster name is)'s response.

at the same time, though, i doubt echo will be completely wiped for long- she's already showing signs of retaining her thoughts, and i imagine when she meets paul (which is bound to happen) it will become much harder to retain them entirely. but the concept of the show from paul's point of view is very interesting... on the other hand, the characters in his world would need a lot more development, and we would miss out on the dollhouse staff- who have been my favorite part of the show thus far.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I think his name is Lubov? Or his real name is Victor, and his name when he's being a Russian mobster is Lubov. (Thus saith wikipedia, anyway.)

It's nice to know that he has redeeming qualities to people who do not go "Russian accent!!!11!! yay Russianness!"

You know what might be really cool? A show with Topher as the main character. Because the nerd guys never get their own shows. And then we could keep the Dollhouse staff interaction and solve the main-character-who-always-has-a-different-personality problem.

[visualthinker11.livejournal.com]

right, i believe victor is his doll name. or, you know, i might have made that up. i do like the name victor...

well, i mean, the russian accent is pretty excellent too. but, yes, he's interesting for more than just his cool voice. ; )

this is true about the nerd guys, but i don't know if i could handle a show full of topher. maybe a topher-centric episode, that might be really excellent. and i guess the other dollhouse staff members (i'm thinking about boyd and dr. saunders) are too busy being mysterious to warrant the star role...

[anait.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't have given Dollhouse a 2nd (or 3rd) chance if it wasn't a Joss Whedon show. I am not connecting with it at all. I'm not drawn to the characters, the acting or the premise of the show, and I really, really don't like the emphasis on ugly gender issues, which is apparently a theme for this show (I was hoping it would go away), and is not being handled well. I didn't appreciate the badly-drawn pop diva any more than the date-murderer or the child abuse. Not to mention the emphasis on the dolls as exploited child-like prostitutes. Ugh.

I also don't think that Eliza's acting is carrying the show very well. The whole point of this show for her as an actress was to display her versatility, but she's actually not that versatile. I wish she and the 'Sierra' actress would stop playing their 'dolls' as fake-children, or whatever it is that they think brain-wiped people would act like. They are not convincing.

Um. I do like Topher, who is happily amoral but not mean-spirited. Amy Acker's character scares me: she looks one baby-step away from a massive breakdown. Ballard makes me miss Helo. The lone wolf thing doesn't suit him-- he needs more people to play off of in his scenes; relationships, not empty action. I wish Boyd was given more than one note to play, because his actor is interesting. The one plot-thread in the show that has interested me was the last 30 seconds of the last episode, where Echo and Sierra communicated secretly in front of their guards. That has potential. So does the male doll/Lubov.

I don't know.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I think the problem is not so much on the emphasis on the exploitation, because I think the dolls would be exploited in real life (in fact, I think they'd be treated rather worse than they are on the show), but the fact that the show seems to revel in their exploitation. It uses it to sexualize the dolls for the viewers' delectation, and although it pays lip-service to the evil of the Dollhouse it doesn't really seem to believe in it.

That said, I also think it was questionable to base an entire show on such an exploitable premise. It's particularly upsetting given the show is by Joss Whedon, who's supposed to be a feminist - and that is part of why I keep watching, because I don't want to believe he screwed up this badly.

And I agree with you, the A-plots of the episodes have been terrible, both in conception and execution.

I'm not sure how I think the dolls should act in their wiped state. I think real amnesiacs are upset about their lack of memory, which would be inconvenient for the Dollhouse so of course they program that out. But the fact that the dolls appear to have cotton candy for brains when they're wiped is annoying (although I would say they seem more zombie-like than child-like).

Maybe if the dolls kept a default personality when they were wiped, like a pared-down version of their own past? That could have been interesting, and it would have been the dolls at least some rudimentary character development to help viewers connect.

[anait.livejournal.com]

but the fact that the show seems to revel in their exploitation. It uses it to sexualize the dolls for the viewers' delectation, and although it pays lip-service to the evil of the Dollhouse it doesn't really seem to believe in it.
Yes. I am not the audience this show is looking for. (Then again, who is?)

The mind-wiped dolls seem to me to be acting too obviously-- the 'big googly eyes=innocence' kind of approach. If you are really a blank slate, then wouldn't you act, well, blank?

Maybe if the dolls kept a default personality when they were wiped, like a pared-down version of their own past?
That is a truly fantastic idea. I wish they had done this. So interesting!

Thanks for the link to the Dollhouse meta you posted. I read it and it made me feel a lot better. The author articulated so well a lot of the things I was thinking and feeling, and pointed out many things I hadn't considered. And she called a spade a spade: "A show in which the heroine is brainwashed, mindwiped, has no volition beyond her programming, and is regularly raped (because she is sold for sex that she cannot meaningfully consent to)..."

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I am not the audience this show is looking for. (Then again, who is?)

Given the amount of time the female dolls spend half-naked and sweaty, I'd say oversexed teenage boys. Given how little overlap that group has with Whedon's fanbase, I can't help but think that was a poor decision.