So currently Dollhouse is watched by less people in Fox’s target demo than the total number of followers Felicia Day has on twitter. If you enjoy the show (or even just my reviews), then think about watching in a way that will get measured, because I can’t.
So it’s a new season and we get sparkly new opening credits. The new credits achieve the two tasks set for them: they explain the premise of the show very well, and they show Eliza Dusku as a wide variety of clichéd male fantasies. 1 I’m really disappointed that they didn’t include the rest of the cast – this show is an ensemble show as this episode demonstrated.
I am always a bit apprehensive about the first episode of Joss shows, as beginnings aren’t his strong-point. And beginnings of Dollhouse are even less his strong point2. But this felt like “When She Was Bad” or “Anne” a great episode, that is providing a solid base for a great season.
Obviously the greatest part of this episode was every time Dr Saunders was on screen – everyone was their best then. It was fantastic that they just committed to the premise and took it all the way.
I loved that they showed a scene between Echo and Dr Saunders. There are so many parallels between there experiences, but they can’t connect.3. Echo doesn’t know how, and Dr Saunders can’t forget. I think the many way the Dollhouse throws up barriers between people, gives the relationships on the show so much more power.
But the scene that owned this episode was Fran Kranz and Amy Acker in a room.
I could write my entire review about that one scene, and still not do it justice. I’ve been writing stuff and then deleting it, because everything I say about that scene seems to detract from its brilliance.
So I’ll skip to the end when Dr Saunders drives away. She shows faith in herself (a faith that seems pretty non-existence among the non-imprinted Dollhouse employees) and it’s beautiful.
After watching Epitaph One I wasn’t sure how it would effect viewing the show. It seems to be a big risk to say “this is where we’re going to end up.” I still have reservations, after the after the brilliant reveal of Echo’s awareness in Epitaph One, the ending of this episode felt a little anti-climactic. But with Topher, I think Epitaph One has brought his story to life. We know that he will have to the arc of a tragic hero – that he flew too close to the sun, and the inevitability of that ending makes his scenes stronger not weaker.4 The echo of his eventual madness is already there when he says “I know what I know” to Dr Saunders on the phone. I think whatever we lose from knowing where the show is going, will probably more than be off-set than the power given to Topher’s storyline.
I think for pure joyful “Ha-take-that-ness” the scene between Adelle and Paul was my favourite in the episode. Paul is so much more bearable when Adelle has said everything that needs to be said to him.5
I don’t have that much to say about the Engagement this week, apart from “Lee Adama is British, and less annoying than I remembered.” I enjoyed it, but I think the problem with engagements is pretty fundamental. There’s no way I’m going to care a much about two people I’ve never met the same way I care about even the small things among characters I care about (Whiskey’s drinking Whiskey – it’s awesome!). It’s not about the acting (I am completely sold on Eliza as an actress at this point) or the writing, engagements just can’t compete.
What was interesting about this engagement is what it says about Ballard. Which is a lot, none of it nice, and most of it not airable on broadcast TV. Because this week he’s fighting crime by listening to Echo have sex – it’s terribly noble. I’ve always said Joss shoots good sex scenes, but I think Paul Ballard’s press ups take it to a whole nother level.6
I do wonder what the purpose was for the extra level on the engagement – why was Echo Paul’s partner pretending to be in love with Lee Adama, rather than just Lee Adama? On a storytelling level I’m not sure it worked that well, it added an extra layer, which was never resolved. I think they needed to go back to the ‘partner’ character somewhere in the end sequence, because as it was that just dangled.
But also inside the story why did the dollhouse, whose skill is actually creating people, create someone to play a part? The implication is that it’s because he couldn’t handle creating an Echo that fell in love with someone else. And that is twisted, in a gloriously Paul-Ballard-hating kind of a way. He laid it straight out there, all through season 1 “this is rape”. He makes it better for himself, because at least this created character knows what’s going on – and is consenting to have sex with Lee Adama to get the information. But if you’re built to consent, you can’t say no, and if you can’t say no, you can’t consent.
Although the discussion about shoes between Paul Ballard and Echo as his partner, undermined my silliest theory about the dollhouse. After various discussions about shoes in the dollhouse, I decided that the female dollhouse profile defaulted to an ability to run in, and preference for wearing, very high heels. In fact the first sign that Dr Saunders was a doll was that she was wearing improbable heels. I thought it explained a lot. But then they had Echo complaining about her stilettos and my entire theory has been undermined.
I think Sierra’s imprint at the beginning of the episode needs to be unpacked (translation: I’m going to write more paragraphs on the scene than there were lines of disalogue in the scene). It was played as a simple funny scene, but in many ways it was actually the darkest, and most interesting, scene in the episode.
One of the things that frustrated me with the first season of the dollhouse is their lack of interest in the embodiment of identity. What does it do if they take a personality of someone who was Chinese-Americans and put them in Eliza Dushku’s body? Or someone with only one leg? Or someone who is fat? Can the effect of living in a body that society deems wrong be tweaked away by Topher fiddling with some buttons? Now this scene didn’t answer those questions, but it did acknowledge them. What does she see when she looks in the mirror? What do any of the imprints (apart from those who are imprinted with a knowledge of the dollhouse) see when they look in the mirror? What happens when the person the dollhouse wants them to be, and the body they are in don’t match?
What the show did not acknowledge at all was the horror at what was being done. Because the person who did this to Sierra is a psychopath (as well as the sociopath in a sweater vest who enabled it). To take someone and make them hate themselves is deeply degrading. If that’s all there is to that character, or that storyline, then that scene was doing what this show should and can’t afford to do, which is not taking its premise seriously.
But I think it’s possible, maybe even probable, that this was played for laughs, precisely so the horror can be drawn out later. One of the people I was watchin this with pointed out that Sierra is wearing the same outfit she wore in the unaired pilot in a short sequence where she’d been bleeding from her head. It could be just that they were re-using the outfit, but I think they could also be re-using the engagement. Given everything we know about Nolan (the man that put Sierra in the Dollhouse), then imprinting her with this personality to degrade her, would fit his character exactly.7
If they’re going somewhere with this, then I think giving it to us a comedy first could work. But if they’re not – then that scene is despicable. Funny, but not OK. The show has no purpose if it’s going to turn the degradation of the actives into cheap jokes. If there is no comment on the person who would do this to Sierra, then the writer becomes the client, degrading Sierra for their own reasons.
Even if there is a reason, I’m still not sure about doing this. Being a bastion of multiculturalism when compared to Buffy is nothing to boast about, it’s still a very white show. To take the white-washing of characters of colour further, is something that has to be earned, and I don’t think Dollhouse has done that.
Also does anyone have an opinion whether this scene is an example of passing the PoC Bechdel test?8 Because I really can’t make up my mind. It is one of the key questions of the dollhouse, who are dolls when they are imprinted?
But that’s not all Sierra did in the episode, because she touched Victor’s face and they held hands. 9 This is like watching X-files again – as a 17 year old X-file fan I’d spend all my time going “Mulder and Scully smiled at each other, clearly they’re in love”. But rather than being the product of great acting and under-developed writing, the beauty of Victor and Sierra’s relationship is an intentional part of the show. One of the most powerful, moving aspects of the relationships in the dollhouse is that every connection is an act of resistance.
Like I said, the final scene felt anti-climatic to me, as a reveal. I think partly because I was so much more engaged in Dr Saunders leaving, and Victor and Sierra existing, that to end on Echo’s awareness was a let down (particularly because we knew it was coming). 10 As a reveal it didn’t work – but as a set up for this season? I’m very, very excited. I think this is a great way to take it. I’m less excited about the Paul Ballard-ness of this storyline, but as long as Adelle insults him every episode and Echo makes an ally of Sierra soon, I couldn’t be more stoked about the direction of Season two.
(Oh and because I couldn’t fit it in anywhere else – the Jonas brothers line was awesome – how did they get Fox Legal to clear that?)
- Although at this point it feels insulting to leave out the shirt pretending to be a dress. [↩]
- I have a half written review of the DVDs including the unaired pilot – I probably won’t be able to finish it till they pre-empt Dollhouse for basketball though [↩]
- Failing to connect with the one person who has the same goal as you was also the theme of Ballard and Boyd. Although that was less about emotional complexity, and more about what hypocrites those two are. If their special combination of self-righteousness and complicity was really about protecting super-special-Echo then they’d be glad to find an ally [↩]
- Topher seems to be so fascinated in creating whole people, because he doesn’t feel like one himself. It’s a powerful point for a writer to make. [↩]
- That scene also did a very good job of making why she’s keeping echo around believeable. She used to a head a research lab and if Echo’s evolving that is interesting to her. Olivia Williams makes Adelle layered even when she appears straight-forward, but the more complex Adelle is revealed to be, the more believeable everything that she does (and everything the plot needs her to do) is. [↩]
- although if the networks were a wee bit less afraid of female orgasms I think Buffy’s Once More with Feeling or Dollhouse’s Man on the Street would win [↩]
- although this asks a whole set of other questions. Who within the staff knows that Nolan put Sierra in the Dollhouse? Surely sending her back to him would cut through whatever lies they’re telling themselves about the reason they’re there. [↩]
- Although I disagree with that post that Dollhouse hasn’t ever passed the PoCBechdel test – Sierra as Audra and Rayna in Stage Fright and Boyd and Sierra in Man on the Street are both passes. Although two out of thirteen is not a good ratio [↩]
- incidentally that wasn’t hard – why didn’t they include something like this in Omega? My problem with that episodes were multiple, but I would have been 60% less annoyed with the whole episode if they’d just shown me a moment of Victor and Sierra. It only takes 15 seconds. Cut something Alpha said to get the time [↩]
- Although to go off on a tangent – where’s Travis? I’m guessing the actor got other work. But it felt as if they were beginning a story when they made Travis Echo’s handler and the end of Spy In the House of Love now feels cheaper knowing that it was never paid off [↩]
What does she see when she looks in the mirror?… What happens when the person the dollhouse wants them to be, and the body they are in don’t match?
My framework for understanding the dissonance is a little out of left field (maybe from outside the ballpark), and I’m fairly certain it’s not a metaphor that Whedon and the other writers intended. But it seems to work:
I understand it from the standpoint of an anorexia survivor. I know what it is like to look in the mirror and see one thing–truly, honestly, would-swear-to-it-on-a-Bible see it–but experience everyone react to me as though I am The Opposite. But the thing is that I couldn’t say this until I was in fairly solid recovery. Until the point when I actually stopped seeing a fat girl in the mirror, other people’s reactions didn’t matter. Who I “was” (weight being a/the foundation of identity for many people with EDs) overrode what/who society told me I was.
As I said, I don’t think Dollhouse is meant to be a metaphor for mental illness. But it can be a *really* interesting way to look at the show.
I LOVE Dollhouse! And Joss Whedon. You are right that he’s not that good at beginnings, but I thought this episode was great. I especially liked the storyline between Saunders and Topher. I feel as if they know each other from before the Dollhouse and Topher knows this but Saunders obviously doesn’t.
Anyways, you can read my review of the premiere here: http://adventuresofayoungfeminist.com/2009/09/dollhouse-vows/
I find the Dr. Saunder’s story the most interesting by far and I’m of course very disapointed that Amy Acker will only appear in two more episodes this season.
Her dilema is one of what it means to be a “real” person. The original ower of the body is not her “real” self. Dr. Claire Saunders is. She has her memories, her emotions, her ability to grow and change. To return this body to it’s real owner would be nothing less than her death, as she points out. Also interesting that when Topher said “You need a freakin’ treatment!” it had no impact on her. Aren’t all actives programmed to become completely compliant as soon as they hear the word “treatment?” But Saunders is different, as an active who is aware she’s an active, she’s no longer bound by their rules. So of course it’s wonderful to see her defy her programming and take off on her own, but there’s also the fact that someone else really belongs in that body. And whoever that woman is has just had that body taken from her. The moral complications this Dollhouse world brings to the surface is what keeps me coming back for more.
I think the season is off to a good start. I agree with you about the credits and can’t help but think that Eliza Dusku has something in her contract that guarantees that nobody can be seen in the credits who isn’t her.
The thing that’s currently frustrating me is that, in a vacuum, I really liked what we saw of the “Epitaph One” dynamic between Ballard and Echo. At the same time, I’m not seeing how we get there from here in a way that I’m going to find at all satisfying. Boyd and Dewitt’s snark feels to me like a sufficient deflation of his white knight persona if and only if he actually ends up backing away from Echo; with the endgame being that he actually ends up working with her against them, it’s hard for me to see how that won’t undercut the snark no matter what the actual relationship between the two of them is.
I mean, some of it might be Whedon’s general outlook of “what’s important is who’s doing good right now, regardless of their past” (see: both Angel and Spike). I can respect that to some extent, but it’s a much more difficult line to walk when the past in question took place when the character was already wearing the hero hat in the story…
I totally approve of the way the show is starting to deal with the idea that imprints are human beings too (not just in the Dr. Saunders plotline, but also with Echo’s ending statement that she wants to find “all of them”, not just Caroline). That was an obvious-seeming implication of the technology that the first season seemed to mostly gloss over, with a complex enough set of moral dilemmata attached to it that it’s worth exploring.
On a less serious note, I kind of loved how both Jamie Bamber and Alexis Denisof showed up with unexpected-but-actually-more-natural-to-the-actor accents.
Yay, a new review!
“I totally approve of the way the show is starting to deal with the idea that imprints are human beings too (not just in the Dr. Saunders plotline, but also with Echo’s ending statement that she wants to find “all of them”, not just Caroline).”–micah
I’ve seen a lot of people talk about this part as if Echo was referring to her other imprints, but that never even occurred to me. I’m positive she was actually referring to finding the original personalities of all the other actives. That was her mission in “Needs” and it’s always seemed like this was going to be one of the main goals of the show.
The actual “engagement” in that episode was a little weird.
Was Echo’s “husband” aware that she was a doll, or not? Boyd made a comment about some engagement being “sick” even compared to the others he’s seen, and, soon after, we see someone marrying Echo. I thought what was supposed to be “sick” was marrying a doll. That character’s later actions, though, make more sense if we assume that he didn’t know that his new wife was an imprint, and that Ballard had been setting Echo up to seduce and marry the suspected illegal arms dealer. After reading this blog post, though, I now think that it was probably Sierra’s engagement, in which she became a racist with a bias against her own race, that Boyd was referring to.
Chris: Rats. You’re probably right; that makes more sense. Unfortunately I find it less interesting. (It’s not, mind you, that the original people behind the other people don’t need rescuing; in fact, they so self-evidently do that declaring that as a mission seems hardly worthy of being called a plot point.)
Doug: I figured Boyd was calling Ballardsick. Hasn’t he used that word to describe Ballard’s attitude toward Echo in the past?
Doug–No, Bamber’s character was not aware Echo was a doll and as far as we know has no knowledge of the Dollhouse. Don’t ask me where “Roma Klar” got all of her wedding guests.
Micah–that’s funny, because the idea that Echo’s mission is to round up all of her old imprints is what holds no dramatic interest for me. Though you are right that the mission of rescuing the other dolls is so obvious as to be anti-climactic, I think it was still necessary for Echo to declare that this is what she wants to do. Unfortunately given the way the dialogue was phrased, it seems like a lot of people didn’t get this, making the revelation seem even more lacking in punch.
Of course, I could be wrong and you could be right. Or maybe it was intended to be ambiguous. I guess we’ll see tonight.
Thanks for all your comments.
I interpreted the scene at the end the same way as Chris does. But what I find so interesting is the tension between Echo’s feeling that no-one is real but Caroline, and Dr Saunders desire to live. I really like the way they’re exploring that.
Doug – I assumed that Boyd was so anti the engagement because of his pissing competition with Ballard.
Willow – that mental illness observation is something I hadn’t thought of – and is really interesting. I love the layers.
Enjoy tonight’s episode everyone.
I think I disagree with you about the engagements — I think it is, at least in part, the writing and acting.
I agree with you that it’s hard to make a new storyline engaging each week, when each engagement features nearly all new characters. But it can be done, and a lot of shows have done it without being nearly as awful as many of Dollhouse’s story-of-the-week are.
No matter what, I’d be more engaged with the stuff in the Dollhouse than with the engagements, for the exact reasons you say. But if the engagements were well-written and well-acted, they’d at least be enjoyable. As it is, I’m groaning with embarrassment at how crappy they are. It’s amazing to me that the boring, paint-by-numbers gangster plot this episode was written by the same person who wrote the amazing Topher/Saunders story.
I think some of the engagements are done better than others but they’re weaker than the story lines involving the Doll House. I still don’t buy Echo and didn’t like the credits focusing on her. I think the actors who play Saunders, Sierra and September(or Madeline who made another appearance) do much better even when they have less. I liked it when they brought September/Madeline back for a few minutes.
I wish Boyd would kick Ballard’s ass and September/Madeline would kick all their butts. I think she’s more believable as a kick ass heroine than Echo/Caroline.
Is anyone else baffled by the way this show has inspired so much talk among its online fan community but apparently almost nobody is actually watching it? I heard it pulled a .08 rating for its second episode (yikes!!) and I fear that Fox is going to cancel it before all 13 episodes air.
And if they do, I will be quite bummed.
I’m not too worried about it being canceled mid-season. These two articles explain why Fox renewed the show. One reason reason was that they simply didn’t have anything better to put in the time slot; a new show might end up doing even worse than Dollhouse. They also said that the secondary audience (DVRs, Hulu, DVDs, etc.) was disproportionately large compared to the show’s ratings. So if the episodes were filmed, they’re probably going to show them.
Unfortunately the show is in trouble (the 0.8 is the rating in the demo, not the total rating, but the total rating is low). They’re in the middle of filming episode 7. I don’t think it’s absolute that hte show will get to 13, let alone film the back nine. Which is a shame.
Amp – At the moment I find the engagement scenes (generally, not always), perfectly watchable but not that interesting, and I never rewatch them.
Thee problem isn’t that the engagement plots involve almost entirely new characters, it’s that they involve entirely one-off charactersthat only interact with characters that are also one-off. Shows that do have mostly new characters each week (say X-files) have core characters who interact with the new characters and each other – so there’s always an ongoing relationship (Mulder and Scully interact with each other and the people surrounding the case. But even when Ballard interacts with imprinted Echo, it’s just him and about him, it’s not about developing any relationships between people). I don’t watch TV for such very stand alone plot lines (having said that I am always complaining that they should have included the Sierra/November bounty hunter scenes at the expense of anything involving Alpha, so my position may not be quite absolute).
Radfem: Those are my favourite actors and characters too. Although I also think Olivia Williams and Fran Kranz are amazing and I like Echo and Eliza Dushku lots more than most.
See I find Boyd as annoying as Ballard. I liked Boyd in the first couple of episodes. But since then all he’s done is been hypocritical and self-righteous, and punched people. Although if he put that punching to good use and punched Ballard I might change my mind.
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I liked this episode a lot, too… but has anyone else become tired of how it seems that the only thing that triggers epiphanies for Echo seems to be when men beat her up?