That was Nifty.<\/p>\n
So nifty that, for the first time, my review involved a stop watch. Be warned, I\u2019m getting even geekier as time progresses.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s so frustrating that just as the show is getting even more mindblowingly awesome Fox is messing it around. For those of you who missed the fan panic (and fans can panic): last week Fox announced they would be airing Omega the season finale of dollhouse, which is episode 12, in May.<\/p>\n
However anyone who is even minorly obsessed with the show knows that there were 13 episodes, and the 13th episode is called Epitaph One (and it\u2019s Joss Whedon there\u2019s a lot of obsession for dorks). This led to high confusion about whether the show was cancelled, and Fox decided not to comment, fuelling the panicking tendency. It turns out it\u2019s not cancelled but Fox the production company and Fox the TV network are in arguments about what makes 13 episodes of Dollhouse. The TV network are counting the unaired pilot as an episode, but the production company are, so the production company made 13 and the TV network are only airing 12. The two arms of Fox are still in negotiations for a possible season 2 and nothing has been announced.<\/p>\n
Joss had been sounding very dismal about the possibility of renewal, but apparently when Fox heard these dismal noises they contacted him and told him that the show wasn\u2019t cancelled yet and another season was possible.<\/p>\n
So I\u2019m still looking for people with Nielsen boxes who accept (very small) bribes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I think that was the best teaser I\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n
I loved this episode from the first few seconds when they showed Echo and Sierra wondering around together. What I wanted most from this episode was to see that the dolls were still friends, and that Dr Saunders evil plan hadn\u2019t worked in the way she thought it would. So I was far more entranced by Echo and Sierra\u2019s conversation than the fact that someone was being shot up in the chair (except when I was wondering who the \u2018her\u2019 could be and was scared it might be Mellie).<\/p>\n
Twelve hours earlier we seem to be in Fox bait territory, with Eliza Dushku as a dominatrix. It\u2019s only as you watch the episode that you realise that S&M Barbie has a purpose \u2013 because the themes for this episode is trust and pain (and I loved the idea that Handlers have preferences about imprints, and how annoying some imprints might be). In a more normally structured episode, this may seem a little bit pedestrian. But because the episode was so fractured I think it was really important to make sure we knew what this episode was about.<\/p>\n
The teaser grounds the characters far more subtley than it reveals the theme. Over a 6 or so minute sequence we see where each of our major characters are and where they\u2019re going (or where they want people to think they are, and where they want people to think they\u2019re going). Not in an obvious way, mostly we\u2019re just distracted by the hilarious dialogue (and the idea of bonsai people creating bonsai trees). You think the teaser can\u2019t get any better when Topher loses an argument to Echo.<\/p>\n
And then Echo asks to be imprinted, and those of us who are so inclined let out squeals of geeker joy.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not going to concentrate too much on the structure of the episode (I have seven other things on my \u2018must cover in my review\u2019 list. Although now I think of it that can be regrouped into three headings, which greatly increases my chance of ever actually publishing this), but I think from the strong grounding in the teaser to the continual layering of tension, this episode was very well structured. Unlike Echoes, where the varying tone made the episode feel incoherent, this episode\u2019s thematic unity meant that I didn\u2019t care whether I was in a romance or an espionage thriller.<\/p>\n
Our first foray into trust and pain, with an emphasis on the pain came with November telling Paul that she, and therefore Mellie, was a doll. That was brutal – Joss certainly knows how to bring the pain. Poor Mellie \u2013 she doesn\u2019t know that she\u2019s a doll.<\/p>\n
And as for Paul \u2013 I\u2019m surprised his brain didn\u2019t explode from the horror. I have previously been unconvinced by Tahmoh Penikett, but I\u2019m far more interested in deranged Paul Ballard than I was FBI Paul Ballard. I also think he did an extremely good job, particularly at the end. ((This is a bit of a tangent, and possibly an over-reading, but I really appreciated that they showed Paul Ballard notice as soon as Mellie zoned out. You don\u2019t often see such an explicit example of checking in, and being aware of your partner in sexual situations. I thought it was great that a show which is so much about sexual violence and non-consent, also explored some ways to ensure that sex is consensual))<\/p>\n
But the situation at the end of that scene is the most twisted thing I have ever seen on television. It\u2019s heartbreaking for both of them.<\/p>\n
I loved this episode structure, except when I\u2019m watching the scenes between them, because I do not want to wait a week to find out what happens next. ((My other, slightly larger complaint is that Sierra\u2019s mission had no purpose, except to show that shoes can always get more ridiculous. \u2018You were making fun of our shoes before – take these impratical high heels with zips.\u2019 At this stage they\u2019re taunting those of us who are sceptical about the footwear choices of the female characters. I\u2019ve decided that Topher loads \u201cstrange affection for and agility in high heels\u201d into every female imprint, whether she\u2019s an NSA impersonator, CDC Doctor, or Dominatrix)) At the end of the episode it looked like Paul had a choice between death, rejecting someone who is in love with him and who he clearly cares about, and sleeping with someone he knows is a doll, an action which he has described (and I agree) as the act of a sexual predator.<\/p>\n
I think that\u2019s all I\u2019ll say for this episode, I\u2019ve got enough to say about this episode without speculating what happened next. Clearly this is a crucial moment for Paul\u2019s character and I\u2019ll have much to say about it next week.<\/p>\n
But poor Mellie\u2026<\/p>\n
The other major exploration of trust and pain was Adele and Dominic, and this episode was a series of revelations for the both of them. I\u2019d always seen them as having a weird kind of sexual tension, expressed by his concern for her position, and her occasional willingness to let him use the lift. I didn\u2019t think they\u2019d get together, but I thought the under-currents were pretty clear. ((I was surprised that the people I was watching with disagreed. They were much more about the potential for Boyd and Dr Saunders to have scowly babies. I thought that had pretty much been destroyed by the end of Needs, but I do think Topher has a thing for Dr Saunders)) Which only makes the scenes in this episode, and Adelle\u2019s character, sharper.<\/p>\n
But before we could even explore Adele and Dominic, we got Adele and Roger (Enver Gojkaj is brilliant enough that I\u2019ll pretend not to notice the accent). Adelle as Miss Lonely Hearts was an awesome plot twist (one that I was unfortunately spoiled for, but I can imagine was great to experience), and also a real character moment, revealing as it did the depth of Adele\u2019s capacity and need for delusion. Because there is not difference between her and Hearn (Sierra\u2019s rapist handler), but it\u2019s becoming increasingly clear how much she needs her vision of the dollhouse to be true. ((I thought it was a very effective way to answer questions like \u2018Why would the love of someone who had been imprinted to love you matter?\u2019 After the scenes between Roger and Adelle I have very little doubts about why.))<\/p>\n
Olivia Williams portrayal of Adelle only got more captivating and terrifying as Laurence\u2019s portrayal as revealed. \u201cDid you think I would show you rage or mercy\u201d is chilling in a way I did not know was possible. Adele as a character is both convincing and incomprehensible – the writing and acting are both superlative.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t just Adelle and Dominic, after this episode every worker we\u2019ve met in the dollhouse seems to have unfathomable problems that have only been touched on. ((Except for Topher who, appropriately enough, went the other way and spent this episode acting like a human being who has cares about people. Not just the scene with Boyd, but he looked genuinely concerned about Ivy.)) Boyd is just getting deeper and deeper in it, and sardonic comments about pimps and assassins can\u2019t hide that.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve no idea what Dr Saunders\u2019 story is, but at this stage she must be in the running for the most damaged character on the show. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s what Alpha did, although that may be part of what\u2019s going on. The way she talked about the outside world to Boyd at the end of \u2018Needs\u2019 makes it clear that she\u2019s got a bigger reason not to leave the building than she wants to serve the actives. I wonder if she\u2019s a ex-doll (if such things exist) who couldn\u2019t handle the thought of going back into the world. I can\u2019t wait to see more of her story.<\/p>\n
When Echo held Dominic out the window and asserted \u201cI\u2019m not broken\u201d I believed her. Clearly compared to the non-actives in the dollhouse she\u2019s getting it together. While I loved the teaser, I was worried when she first got in the chair and asked to be imprinted. It made me very uncomfortable \u2013 as if they were showing her asking to be used. As the episode progressed it became clear that she was choosing Topher in his fight with Dominic. Actually there are many reasons why you might not want to help Topher, but siding with him over Dominic makes perfect sense.<\/p>\n
Last week\u2019s episode was brilliant, but I was scared that there would be too much of a reset. I was so reassured that we saw the relationships between the dolls continue, and that having her Needs fulfilled seems to have only increased Echo\u2019s self awareness.<\/p>\n
I think I\u2019ve covered everything important I\u2019ve got to say about the characters and themes of this episode \u2013 now it\u2019s time to get out the stopwatch.<\/p>\n
When I first watched Dollhouse I thought the chronology went like this:
\nVictor imprinted with Roger
\nEcho wiped of Dominatrix
\nNovember imprinted with Mellie
\nTopher finds Chip in chair
\nSierra imprinted with Sydney Bristow<\/p>\n
But I rewatched the episode and I don\u2019t think this chronology works (although it is what we\u2019re led to believe happened. We see the time frame around when the chip was found in two different scenes \u2013 once in the teaser, and again in November\u2019s imprint. These scenes are from different perspectives but they both show Echo waving at Mellie.<\/p>\n
In the teaser, Topher rushes down the stairs, chip in hand, to warn Boyd. From the time he enters screen to the time Echo waves at Mellie is 1:18 seconds. But from the beginning of the scene where November is imprinted with Mellie to Echo waving at her is only 38 seconds. Topher is not in that scene at all, and November is being imprinted by Ivy. So the order must have been:
\nVictor imprinted with Roger
\nEcho wiped of Dominatrix
\nTopher finds chip in chair
\nNovember imprinted with Mellie
\nSierra imprinted with Sydney Bristow<\/p>\n
The chip cannot have been in the chair when November was being imprinted, as Topher already had the chip. Therefore the NSA chip is not the way that dolls were loaded with parameters to give messages to Paul, and Laurence was not responsible for those messages. There is definitely another mole and another method of changing the imprints.<\/p>\n
Unless the writers are less obsessed about this stuff than I am, which is a distinct possibility (they forgot that Paul Ballard wasn\u2019t supposed to know where Mellie had gone, and had him mentioning her mother\u2019s). But until I hear otherwise I\u2019m going to use my stopwatch confirmed theory of evidence that there\u2019s a second mole.<\/p>\n
Although, I still think the messages might not come from a mole. At first I thought that November telling Ballard that Echo was a doll was a sure sign that the dollhouse wasn\u2019t behind the messages that were being sent to Ballard. But the more I think about it the more possible it seems. If their goal is to break him, what better way than to create a situation where he feels he has to sleep with someone he knows is a doll.<\/p>\n
This week\u2019s dollhouse has been pre-empted with a re-run of Prison Break. Which means we’re going to have to wait even longer for more Victor\/Sierra (the only thing missing from this episode). I\u2019m going to clearly suffer major withdrawl symptoms. But rest assured that I\u2019m not going to stop a little thing like no new dollhouse episodes stop me writing about the Dollhouse. I\u2019ve wanted to write more about Dollhouse\u2019s portrayal of race, where most of my thoughts span more than one episode. I may also finish some other pieces I\u2019ve got in my head. Never under-estimate my obsession.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
That was Nifty. So nifty that, for the first time, my review involved a stop watch. Be warned, I\u2019m getting even geekier as time progresses. It\u2019s so frustrating that just as the show is getting even more mindblowingly awesome Fox … Continue reading