While I was watching Omega I enjoyed it quite a lot. The pacing was good, and the dialogue was great \u2013 at times it was fantastic. But at the end, with the montage and music, I felt nothing. And when writing this review I\u2019ve had very little interest in watching the episode, or even any of the individual scenes, again.<\/p>\n
For me this was a huge disappointment. I\u2019ve always thought that season finales were Joss\u2019s forte. Although I love some of the series, and season, openings they\u2019ve never been the strongest episodes. I wasn\u2019t surprised when Dollhouse started slowly. But endings, that\u2019s completely different. There are scenes from Buffy season finales that I\u2019ve watched over 100 times ((the end of Becoming II starting from the fight between Buffy and Angel and the sharing the power moment of Chosen, for those curious)) \u2013 every single Buffy finale Joss wrote would be a contender for one of my top 10 Buffy episodes. Maybe, when I finally see the thirteenth episode, my faith in Joss finales will be restored. But Omega wouldn\u2019t even be in my top 5 Dollhouse episodes.<\/p>\n
The more I\u2019ve thought about this episode, the more I\u2019ve realised the ways in which an episode of television can fail slightly, and the culmulative effects of these failings. I\u2019ll be focusing my review on the issues that I had with this episode, not because I thought it was irredeemably bad, but because I want to know how the season finale of a show I have become so engaged in in such a short time can leave me so cold.<\/p>\n
I thought there were several serious execution problems, which I\u2019ll cover first. But also that the underlying concept would have never made a season finale of the strength that I\u2019d come to expect. Even if it had been perfectly executed, this episode was never going to be a Becoming, Gift or even Not Fade Away.<\/p>\n
My first big problem with the execution surprised me. I thought the Whiskey\/Dr Saunders plot was the strongest part of this episode. But I really, really didn\u2019t like the reveal, or more importantly the sexy killing someone scene immediately after the reveal. It may seem strange, at this point in the series, to start complain about objectification. Eliza Dusku started the series in a dress that wasn\u2019t, and that hasn\u2019t changed.<\/p>\n
But, until the scene with Whiskey and Alpha, I\u2019ve felt that the camera remained neutral in these scenes. Yes Eliza Dushku in particular wore some ridiculous clothes, but the camera didn\u2019t say \u2018oh look Eliza Dushku is a dominatrix you must think that\u2019s sexy\u2019. Instead we get to choose whether we think the short pleated skirt and ugliest stockings in the world from Echoes were sexy, or whether we just spend time laughing at Matt, for being a dick. The only exceptions to that neutrality were the scene with French-Tango in Needs, where Tango\u2019s objectification is emphasised by the camera to demonstrate Echo\u2019s horror at the Dollhouse. And when Hearn tries to rape Mellie, where I felt there was a concerted effort to not eroticise that scene.<\/p>\n
When Whiskey and Alpha torture the guy I felt every choice about the directing and editing was eroticising the scene. For the first time I felt that the show was leaving no room in the scene for the fact that the dolls were unable to give meaningful consent, and was actively promoting an eroticisation of sexual violence.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s fair to call this an execution problem \u2013 but I wanted some Victor\/Sierra. The shot of them getting into the pods together at the end of this episode is the first time they\u2019ve shared a scene or a shot since the end of Needs. ((That scene of them going to the pods is cannibilized from the original pilot. So I guess I can\u2019t blame them for not including Victor and Sierra in that scene, since they\u2019d shot it months before.)) I am so invested in Victor and Sierra\u2019s relationship, and there was such an opportunity here \u2013 for her to be the one comforting him. I was really disappointed they didn\u2019t take it.<\/p>\n
A lot of my other problems were with the ending at the power station, which felt v which felt very anti-climatic. Some of these problems were less severe in the shooting script (which is available here<\/a> and is well worth a read). These cuts are pretty obvious watching the episode, with the non-appearance of bounty-hunting Sierra and November. In the shooting script, Alpha doesn\u2019t just drop Caroline because he feels like it, and the entire end sequence is less perfunctory. I think cutting the end, rather than the sexy torturing someone scene, or editing down some of the flash-backs, was a very poor one. It reduced the impact of the ending, and the episode had enough plot-holes without introducing more.<\/p>\n Plus Sierra and November are many times more awesome than Alpha.<\/p>\n I was pretty annoyed that they ended with Ballard saving the girl. ((Although a special shout-out to Adele\u2019s \u201cAlpha\u2019s a genius\u201d when explaining to Paul why Alpha could get out and he wouldn\u2019t. No, Mr-Mind-Control-? is not a genius)) In fact I felt this episode undid all the interesting things that they had been doing with his character over the last few episodes.<\/p>\n I would have been Ok if Ballard\u2019s arc for this episode had been that he came to realise that actives were people, and his attitude towards Caroline was everything Joel Myner had said it was, and this led to his changed his attitude towards Mellie. It\u2019s not where I would have gone with the character, but I wouldn\u2019t have minded if they\u2019d done it. But instead they just ended on him choosing Mellie, as a twist. In Haunted and Briar Rose, the character had gone to a dark place, but a necessary and inevitable dark place. But rather than develop that they just ignored it. It was a cheesy catch, a hand-shake with Madeline (sorry about that time I knew I was raping you) and that\u2019s it. I didn\u2019t think his reasons to start working for the Dollhouse made much sense, but their sense-that\u2019s-not-ness paled compared with his change in attitude. ((And I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if there\u2019s more going on with his decision to join the dollhouse than we know at this point. But if there\u2019s not, it\u2019s not earned at all))<\/p>\n Although that plot-line left me in a bit of a quandary, because I think it\u2019d be better from a story perspective if Madeline left, but I really love Miracle Laurie. I\u2019d be very sad if she wasn\u2019t in season two. ((la-la-la I can\u2019t hear you))<\/p>\n And Ballard wasn\u2019t even the character whose actions made the least sense in this episode. How did they get Echo back to the Dollhouse?<\/p>\n When she talked with Wendy as Caroline composite-Echo had decided that she wanted to put Caroline back. Once Ballard had caught the wedge, why didn\u2019t she go downstairs and fulfil the plan? I don\u2019t care what sort of arc Ballard was on, there is no way he wouldn\u2019t have sided with her, and given her herself back if she\u2019d wanted to. Or why didn\u2019t she walk off into the sunset? It\u2019s no good suggesting that Boyd came up to her and said \u201cDo you need a treatment?\u201d If that could work with a composite then they would have done it with Alpha. To have composite-Echo decide on what she wants to do and then just ignore it is lazy writing of the worst kind.<\/p>\n I think the only reason that this didn\u2019t hit me harder when I first watched it, is that I didn\u2019t believe the scenes between composite-Echo and Wendy-as-Caroline. I\u2019m inclined to blame this on Tim Minear, because the dialogue for Wendy-as-Caroline was terrible. Caroline, even the most pathetic, analysis-lacking, Caroline that I could imagine, does not respond to the possibility of freedom from the corporation that shot her boyfriend, held her hostage and she ran from for two years with: \u201cI did sign a contract.\u201d<\/p>\n Tim Minear is a libertarian, so it\u2019s possible that he likes to think that he\u2019d honour a contract signed under such duress (not that he would sign a contract under duress, because there\u2019s no duress when it comes to contracts, they\u2019re shiny), but Caroline is not, and so she wouldn\u2019t. ((Oh and while I\u2019m on it the \u201cespecially we now have a black president\u201d is the worst line of the entire season. The line itself was ridiculously stupid, but Caroline\u2019s response was incromprehensible. Given the likely dates of her capture by the dollhouse surely the most likely candidates for first black president would be Condeleeza Rice and Colin Powell. I would guess that Caroline\u2019s politics would fall somewhere on the \u201cShill for the Democrats to Ignore Electoral Politics, Change Happens in the Streets\u201d scale \u2013 that\u2019s not a scale that decides to live because Colin Powell might be president))<\/p>\n Neither the dialogue nor the performance convinced me I was watching Caroline. I liked the actress, but for those scenes to work, we needed to see an Enver Gjokaj as Dominic sort of performance, where there was never any doubt who we were watching. I don\u2019t know if that was the actor\u2019s choice or the director\u2019s, but we\u2019d seen enough of Caroline that Wendy could have embodied her (except when saying the stupid contract line), and it was a real problem that she didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n The reason it was such a problem, the underlying problem of the episode was Alpha. Dangerous psychopaths don\u2019t automatically have resonance, they\u2019re not automatically interesting. If you\u2019re going to make the big bad interesting you have to make the story that you\u2019re telling about the main characters, the ones we already care about. Not just stories that include the characters, but that matter to them. I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m saying this about a mutant enemy production \u2013 I know they know this. I have no idea why they thought Alpha was interesting. Why was anyone supposed to care about some psychopath? ((I decided to relegate this rant to a footnote, because I know people who read this don\u2019t necessarily want a complete history of Buffy. But the Master wasn\u2019t automatically interesting, that\u2019s why they had to make the story about prophecy, Buffy\u2019s fear of death, and the role of her friends. Angelus is interesting, because Buffy cares about him. Faith is more interesting than the Mayor, so the story in Graduation II is about everyone banding together to fight the Mayor, not about the Mayor himself. The Initiative was never interesting, and Adam sucked all the interesting from a two mile radius. That\u2019s why the finale of that season is Restless. They know this stuff. Joss has talked about it in every commentary that I\u2019ve ever listened to. How did they forget it?))<\/p>\n To make it worse, I felt that every decision they made about Alpha\u2019s character this episode made him less interesting rather than more – made this story less about anything that might resonate.<\/p>\n Alpha\u2019s obsession with Echo \u2013 that we were supposed to get the answer to this episode \u2013 appears to come down to he thinks she\u2019s pretty. ((Although there was something awesome about the scene where he kissed her and she kept talking. His sexual violence had no meaning for her, and therefore lost its power and control. This was underscored by his Handler\u2019s complicity.)) It would have been much more interesting to me if Alpha has been angry and resented the Dollhouse, and had identified with Caroline\u2019s anger and resentment (and prettiness). That would have been a starting point that had depth and potential.<\/p>\n The \u2018composite event\u2019 that I\u2019ve been wondering about all season was actually just a technical glitch, a literal technical glitch that can be reproduced, and didn\u2019t bear any necessary relation to Alpha\u2019s self-awareness, that had already been referred to. It didn\u2019t say anything about self, awareness, or the nature of what the dollhouse was doing. It\u2019s just something the chair can do.<\/p>\n Then, my ultimate disappointment \u2013 \u2018Alpha was always a psychopath\u2019. Neither compelling nor resonanant. And worse \u2013 that\u2019s what they\u2019ve got to say about people? Some men just want to cut up women \u2013 it\u2019s in their essence, they\u2019ll always want to do it and you can\u2019t stop them, even if you wipe their brain.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t understand the need for a \u2018big bad\u2019 \u2013 everything in the show that has been interesting so far has been about the evil normal people do (and the resistance normal people do). Introducing a homicidal maniac to end the season shows a lack of faith in Dollhouse\u2019s strengths.<\/p>\n I think Needs would have made a much more fitting and compelling season finale (although I think as a season finale, with no certainty of renewal, I would have needed a smidgeon of hope at the end)<\/p>\n There was one plotline that was interesting and resonated with me \u2013 and that was Dr Saunders and Whiskey. I thought that was interesting, resonant and well done. It had been very well sign-posted in the rest of the series. Hitting the balance between something that feels right, and is surprising is one of the glories of TV, but it\u2019s very hard. Dr Saunders\u2019s line: \u201cEcho wasn\u2019t always the best\u201d has a completely different meaning now. My only fear that the potential in this concept won\u2019t be fully explored in the second season ((la la la la la I can\u2019t hear you)) because Amy Acker has another job.<\/p>\n I was particularly impressed with the scene between Topher and Dr Saunders at the end. It was an interesting and powerful scene that asks so many questions, and the acting was fantastic. ((I\u2019ve always liked Fran Kranz as Topher, but I\u2019ve read a lot of negative comments, mostly I think because Topher is really annoying. I think this scene made clear that Fran Kranz is more than capable of creating the layers))<\/p>\n But I felt it didn\u2019t get much space in this, already overloaded, episode. I think it should have had an episode for itself. I understand that Dr Saunders\u2019s origin story was connected to Alpha, but that didn\u2019t seem enough reason to include it the same episode. There didn\u2019t seem to be significant thematic unity between the story of Alpha that they ended up telling and Dr Saunders\u2019s, and our, discovery that she was Whiskey.<\/p>\n More than that, I felt they weren\u2019t doing the questions they raised justice. Why do scars render Whiskey unhireable? I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a given. Even if you assume that every sexual fantasy requires beauty, and scars cannot be part of beauty (and I don\u2019t think either assumption is supportable), many of the engagements we\u2019ve seen haven\u2019t been sexual. Whiskey could have been any of Sierra\u2019s imprints, or a hostage negotiator, cult member, Taffy, the person who beat up Ballard, a NSA agent, a spy-catcher, Adelle\u2019s friend, or Susan.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t necessarily think that makes the Whiskey story line untenable. I can think of many reasons why the Dollhouse wouldn\u2019t hire out scarred Whiskey, besides there being no assignments. I don\u2019t want to theorise about what they might be here. I\u2019ve got a long post, which started out being about race and the dollhouse and has become about identity embodiedness and the dollhouse (it\u2019s that long), and I will explore these ideas more now.<\/p>\n I felt that they hinted at some of the interesting ideas about bodies that they could explore with the first scene between Dr Saunders and Victor, where he wants to know how to be his best, and she takes out her anger with him. To me, particularly given the meaninglessness of dolls idea of their best, that scene could have been the beginning of something interesting. But they didn\u2019t develop it. There\u2019s this big well they\u2019re circling round, and so many interesting ideas they could explore. But by not going far enough I felt this episode ended up normalising the idea that scars are disgusting, more than it said any of the interesting things it hinted at.<\/p>\n I know I\u2019ve made it sound like I hated the finale \u2013 and I didn\u2019t. I just didn\u2019t love it, and wanted to know why. I\u2019ve mentioned most of the aspects of this episode I liked somewhere in these rants (although I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve mentioned the scenes in the imprint room when Sierra and November were being imprinted, which were very well done). While I was watching Omega I was really engaged. But it hasn\u2019t stayed with me. I don\u2019t think it reflected what was great about previous episodes or what is interesting about the show. And the greatest dialogue and pacing in the world won\u2019t save you from that (although \u201c\u2026and I\u2019m smarter than everyone in this room \u2013 but not as scary\u201d tries pretty hard).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While I was watching Omega I enjoyed it quite a lot. The pacing was good, and the dialogue was great \u2013 at times it was fantastic. But at the end, with the montage and music, I felt nothing. And when … Continue reading