Dollhouse...

[fajrdrako]

I watched the first episode of Dollhouse this evening.

And you know what? I liked it better than I ever expected to, for a variety of reasons. It may be no more than a bit of experimental television; I can't quite tell how entertaining it will be, long-term. It needs to be a lot tighter than it appears right now. But it gets extra bonus points for being extremely intelligent, which I never expected.

Random observations about Dollhouse:

1. I watch TV almost exclusively because I want to see the stories of the protagonists. With ensemble shows like Heroes I tend to bond with one or two characters (Peter, Claude, Mr. Bennett, Claire) and share their point of view - whether the story is told that way or not. So I generally have trouble when a show doesn't cleave to one person's story. Maybe this is why Lost lost me. This is why I don't watch shows like The Outer Limits.
   
   So here we don't really have a protagonist. We have a variety of significant characters, none of them tight viewpoints - or not for long. The central figure, Echo, is herself a variety of personalities.
   
   So all the while I was watching I felt as if I was careening around on roller skates with rockets in them, out of control, looking at one thing, then another, being kept off guard, being tossed around from one story to another. I don't like that kind of storytelling. I like a smooth flow, a tight viewpoint, compact plot structure.
   
   And yet: though the story was all over the place, theme and writing were tight. Whedon pulled off the impossible, and he did it by the skin of his teeth, and I suspect it was as much by accident as anything. But by gum, he did it. I'm impressed.
   
   I have my doubts about whether a story about a woman with no central personality will be interesting, but it's original - that's rare on television - and Whedon has caught my attention.
   
   
2. Eliza Dushku did better than I expected. I feel a little grudging in saying this; as if I'm holding her to standards I wouldn't hold other actresses to, to compensate for her lack of acting power as Faith. Maybe that's fair. She still isn't a strong actor, but he was natural and convincing. And though I didn't like her looks at all when she played Faith, as Echo (and Echo's various personalities) she was sometimes beautiful and sometimes not. That's a sign of having a handle on her material. No, I didn't see much depth or motive power, but I begin to believe that might be capable of such if the script warranted it.
   
   Besides. Dimples. I am a sucker for dimples.
   
   
3. Interesting science fiction premise, that personalities can be assembled and reassembled like jigsaw puzzles. I'm not sure it was convincing at all, but I'm not sure it had to be. It's the premise; take it or leave it.
   
   If it could be done, I think most people would agree it shouldn't be done. So the whole pretense that Dollhouse was "benevolent" was a sham from the beginning. And so it should be.
   
   The best thing, the brilliant thing, was the hint at the implication that memories of the dead can be used to affect the living.
   
   
4. I loved the use of tag lines.
   • "Nothing is what it appears to be." Obviously a metaphor for the whole show.
     
   • "Actions have consequences." When it was first said, I almost groaned at the platitude. When it was next said, I felt a bit of a thrill: Whedon knew exactly what he was doing with the line, and we weren't ever supposed to read it as a simple unambiguous statement.
     
   • "You can't fight a ghost." Well used in plot #2. At first we think the ghost is the villain, the child-abusing kidnapper who haunts his victims memories. Then we learn that the ghost is Ellie - quite literally; the core personality is dead. But on yet another level, the ghost is Echo, who thinks she is the real Ellie, or the real Echo, or someone else she is not.
   
   
5. A lot of it, especially at first, was just plain confusing. There were too many characters, usually not closely enough connected with each other. Some appear and disappear, some are significant - another thing to keep us guessing, keep us off guard, keep us confused. A lot more questions than answers. Some were irrelevant, take 'em on faith, we'll learn what we need to know. Others were less irrelevant. I wanted to know how self-aware Echo is. When she's being massaged or cossetted or bamboozled in her state between personalities, how much does she know about where she is and why she's there? Does she have a sense that she is a voluntary part of a humanitarian project? Does she have a sense of purpose? Or is she just drifting?
   
   
6. Tahmoh Penikett seems a little wasted as the FBI man, who seemed rather too much like a similar character I recall from Terminator, with maybe a dash of Fox Mulder thrown in. I hope his role is developed, though I'm not sure how it can be: he can't very well interact with the Dollhouse people unless and until he discovers them.
   
   
7. Naked guy at the end was scary.
   
   
8. Love it that they mentioned Edward James Olmos. Nice reference.
   
   
9. I felt I was noticing Whedon "types" over an over, in vaguely undefined ways. Sometimes Dushku moved or sounded like River in Firefly. Laurence Dominic reminded me of Seth Green as Oz. Topher Brink reminded me of Dick Casablancas in Veronica Mars, with a more sinister edge. Everyone reminded me of someone.
   
   
10. Adelle DeWitt had that nice combination of scary and reassuring that was no necessary for the role. The Director in Once a Thief crossed with Yvonne Hartman in Doctor Who. What makes her tick? I imagine we'll learn more as it goes on.
    
    
11. I think I fell in love with Sierra on sight. Played by Dichen Lachman. Swoon.
    
    
12. I really liked the little girl, Davina. And Dr. Claire Saunders, though I couldn't decide whether I thought she was a good guy or a bad guy.
    
    
13. If Dollhouse is so secret, how do they find the millionnaires who make up their clientele? I thought it was interesting that Dollhouse was such a capitalist installation.
    
    
14. Why does Whedon think the show is sexy? To me, it seemed a little on the clinical, sexless side.

So I look forward to seeing it again next week.

Comments

[lilithlotr.livejournal.com]

I didn't mind it, but I didn't bond, either. Of course, I'm very distracted after a bad day and trying to catch up on everything. Strangely enough, I seem to be the opposite of you on Whedon in general - I mostly don't like the parts that you do.

I don't mind Eliza - sort of met her at Comic Con before her last series - and I loved her as Faith on Buffy. But I really wish they'd stop marketing her body on this one

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I seem to be the opposite of you on Whedon in general - I mostly don't like the parts that you do.

Interesting! Do you like Faith more than Buffy? How do you feel about Spike?

[lilithlotr.livejournal.com]

I liked Spike - certainly a TON more than I liked Angel (I really, really disliked Angel). I was always more into him with.. I forget her name, Juliet Landau's character - than I was with Buffy. But then I liked the whole show much less without Oz...

And I never got into Firefly (or Serenity, obviously).

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I liked Spike - certainly a TON more than I liked Angel (I really, really disliked Angel).

I pretty much can't stand David Boreanaz, and I came to rather like Angel because of the writing of the character, but that's a tribute to the writers, not the actor.

I liked the whole show much less without Oz...

I agree with you there! Loved him.

But I did adore Firefly. More (so far) than Buffy. Didn't much like Serenity (the movie - I loved the episodes of that name).

[abrakadabrah.livejournal.com]

Whedon pulled off the impossible, and he did it by the skin of his teeth, and I suspect it was as much by accident as anything.

With that writing crew - LOL!

Clearly you still haven't seen enough Whedon/Mutant Enemy.
The one thing the show is not going to be is unlayered and hinting at
tremendous complexity.

I also thought there were interesting echoes of Rebecca from The Inside with the Ellie Personality.

Why does Whedon think the show is sexy? To me, it seemed a little on the clinical, sexless side.

Maybe he's seen more than one episode!

I hope his role is developed, though I'm not sure how it can be

Fortunately the writers have a plan!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Clearly you still haven't seen enough Whedon/Mutant Enemy.

So far - three seasons of Buffy and a bit, all of Firefly, a bevvy of comics. I still don't have the faith in Whedon and co. that the rest of you do, though when they impress me, they impress me very much indeed.

Yes, I kept thinking of Rebecca, especially with the kidnapping plot. Even some of Eliza Dushku's facial expressions and mannerisms were like Rebecca's. (I forget the actress's name, which is a pity.)

Maybe he's seen more than one episode!

Yeah, maybe he has!

[abrakadabrah.livejournal.com]

I still don't have the faith in Whedon and co. that the rest of you do,

[veg] It's not like we haven't told you a million times that the parts of BTVS and Angel that are absolutely guaranteed to knock your socks off for some reason you keep on putting off watching.

Why is that, I wonder...?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I am - have been - trying to catch up on commenting, so it's the comments that have been deferred, rather than the actual watching, though I haven't seen a new episode in a while.

Maybe I should put my Dollhouse comments on the list. Have people been talking about it?

[abrakadabrah.livejournal.com]

Maybe I should put my Dollhouse comments on the list. Have people been talking about it?

Yep.

It's originally a Whedon list. So that's not surprising.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'll post.

[duncanmac.livejournal.com]

I read the ref'd article in Wikipedia. It's an interesting premise, though the ethical implications of that kind of tampering with the human mind makes my skin crawl. :-(

I might add that I have also encountered a few SF authors with similar views on human personality and reincarnation. In particular, Chris Dolley's view of alternate Earths in his recent book Resonance (http://lirico.ca/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=RA345868X1971.23297&profile=lirico-eng&uri=link=3100006~!1982220~!3100001~!3100002&aspect=subtab101&menu=search&ri=1&source=~!horizon&term=Resonance+%2F&index=ALLTIT2) also raises similar themes about human personality. I have yet to read his book _Shift_, but it apparently takes a similar view.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

the ethical implications of that kind of tampering with the human mind makes my skin crawl

That might be the point of the show. It's hard to tell from the first episode what the ultimate viewpoint will be, but that's my guess. Ethical considerations are raised, primarily by the FBI man.

[duncanmac.livejournal.com]

I am also reminded of the old show All in the Family, which was also an attempt to give bigotry, racism and misogyny a bad name. If so, that attempt backfired. :-(

I sincerely hope that this attempt to ethicism does not backfire as well. After the *previous* US government's rogue behavior ... oh dear.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

You mean that parodying bigotry, racism and misogyny has a way of perpetuating it all the same? Yes.

I'm not sure Dollhouse is an attempt at ethicism either. I think it's supposed to be an entertaining story, and it will rise or fall on that basis. It isn't didactic. It does, or will, have a moral point of view... we've yet to see what that will be.

I think that a lot of television excuses bad manners, violence, antifeminism (not the same as misgyny) and other traits. But that isn't a bad thing, necessarily. I don't want my fiction or my TV viewing to be sanitized or pc. I want to see something thought-proviking and sometimes unsettling.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

he was sometimes beautiful and sometimes not. That's a sign of having a handle on her material

Echo is the sort of role that actors would drool to have, because it lets them show off so much in so short a time. Eliza is rising to that occasion quite nicely.

Other than that, however, my negative opinion is over at my LJ.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Eliza is rising to that occasion quite nicely.

If I was to be really honest: I think other actesses could do it better. But I didn't think she would be able to do it at all, and she is succeeding - all the more so that it's clearly part of the plot that the transformations are incomplete and unreliable.

I'll go read your comments.

[xinef.livejournal.com]

Out last night so recorded it. Watched tonight. Too early to pass judgment, but we did leave it to record next week. I'll give it a few episodes and see. I'm not sold, but I'm not turned off.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I'm not sold, but I'm not turned off.

Yes. That's a fair assessment. There's nothing about the characters or the story that grabbed me and held me, but I did think it would be worth investing another hour of time with episode 2 - there aren't a lot of shows I feel that way about.

So it has hope.

[raissad.livejournal.com]

Don't get too attached the ratings were bad:
tvbythenumbers.com

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Figures!

I don't feel attached, but it was interesting to watch. I don't have high expectations.