Dollhouse

[Recoil]

I think I was able to sum up my feelings on what this show is missing and describe it so it makes sense. First off, I wasn't really expecting it to be like Buffy/Angel/Firefly with quirky dialogue and humor. I enjoy lots of other shows that don't have that just fine. It just feels like it is missing something...

As best as I can describe it, this show itself feels to me like the "dolls" are when they are in their "Blank Slate" mode at the Dollhouse. Plain, sterile, but nothing under the surface. No Soul. Like the show still hasn't found itself.

While it may be interesting for the characters themselves to be this way, for the entire show to have that feeling to me doesnt seem right. I'm sure its not intentional or what they were going after, but Im just using that to describe my feeling about it in the terms of the show itself.

[vacantlook]

I think a lot of the episodes so far have been a bit more stand-alone than they could've been, and this whole word floating around on the net that Joss says the show gets significantly better starting around episode 6 makes me think the stand-alonishness of these early episodes are out of network influence.

[KoshFan]

I'm very intrigued by all that's going on, too.

As always with Whedon shows, it's the relationships that are really coming through. Paul and Mellie (Helo and Neighbor Girl) make a pretty good couple -- although things moved much faster there than I thought they would! Sierra and Victor are very cute. Saunders and Boyd are starting to seem like protective parental partners, especially in the last shot of them standing close together watching Sierra and Victor. And, in a twist I'd like to see played out, the top security guy seems kind of sweet on Boss Lady, to me.

[vacantlook]

Originally Posted by KoshFan

...although things moved much faster there than I thought they would!

I think he took the leap from just friendly neighbors to sex friends because of his conversation with that guy that had hired Echo so he could pretend she was his wife. Had he been left to move at his own pace, the relationship would've progressed a bit slower, probably, but that guy was all like, "who do you have if you're not obsessing over Echo" (paraphrased), and that triggered him to move faster.

Sierra and Victor are very cute.

Victor is cute.

[Jade Jaguar]

Originally Posted by vacantlook

I think he took the leap from just friendly neighbors to sex friends because of his conversation with that guy that had hired Echo so he could pretend she was his wife. Had he been left to move at his own pace, the relationship would've progressed a bit slower, probably, but that guy was all like, "who do you have if you're not obsessing over Echo" (paraphrased), and that triggered him to move faster.

True. That was pretty obvious.

So, what is the REAL goal of all the "Doll Houses?" About the only thing I can imagine is total world domination, probably programming political leaders?

[KoshFan]

Jade, I expect from where they stand, they do dominate the world. They've got ties with bigwigs and fat cats the world over, they're rolling in dough, they have assassins and sleeper agents on command... and nobody argues with them because nobody knows they exist, except the "right people." They're extremely powerful and extremely behind the throne.

[Jade Jaguar]

Originally Posted by KoshFan

Jade, I expect from where they stand, they do dominate the world. They've got ties with bigwigs and fat cats the world over, they're rolling in dough, they have assassins and sleeper agents on command... and nobody argues with them because nobody knows they exist, except the "right people." They're extremely powerful and extremely behind the throne.

Well, I would call that a lot of strong influence, but not directly calling all the shots themselves. Could be they want more overt control. And, obviously someone, or more likely some ones know they exist, and are trying to thwart, or at least learn, their plans.

[Cell]

Originally Posted by KoshFan

Saunders and Boyd are starting to seem like protective parental partners

I'd really like my protective parental figures to allow me to go out and be used as a hooker with no memory of it all the time, to be raped, beaten up and abused. That's what I want from my parental figures. Seriously though, that is one of my main problems with the show. Outside of Ballard there isn't a sympathetic character on the show. The doc and Boyd are just as despicable as the people running the dollhouse, they enable the situation, that's not sympathetic, that's even worse than the people in power because they could walk away but instead they continue to receive their paycheck and talk about wanting to do good while the doc makes sure the girls are healthy enough to go be hookers and Boyd makes sure to be there for back-up in case someone decides to get too rough with hooker Echo. Essentially Boyd is Echo's pimp and the doc is his helpful doctor friend, both pretty horrendous. Unless of course Boyd ends up being a plant and the doc is a doll herself, in that case there is actual sympathy to be had.

All that said, I did like this last week's episode, outside if the ridiculousness of Ballard using a nerve punch in a fight in 2009. You can't make sure to show a guy practicing muay Thai in one episode and have him be an FBI agent and then use a nerve punch, that's just ludicrous. Noitb a single person who practices muay Thai and has taken the hand to hand combat courses of the FBI would use something as patently useless as a nerve punch. Still, it's a minor point of what I thought was a really good episode.

[KoshFan]

Originally Posted by Cell

Seriously though, that is one of my main problems with the show. Outside of Ballard there isn't a sympathetic character on the show. The doc and Boyd are just as despicable as the people running the dollhouse, they enable the situation

I think that's the point, actually. We haven't seen any real good guys except Echo herself -- and who knows why Caroline was in so much trouble? Ballard's the theoretical moral force but his motives are very suspect, considering his fixation on Echo. Mellie's a good person -- except she's also a Doll, and therefore she's not necessarily good, she's just built that way.

But we're also not seeing a lot of totally evil people, either -- Adelle obviously cares for the Dolls even as she uses them, and Dominic the Security Jerk might very well be such an ass towards Echo out of concern for Adelle. Hearn (the handler who was raping Sierra) was probably the worst person we've seen on the show so far. Even the clients are mostly understandable. First client wanted his daughter back, third client wanted his charge protected, fourth was trying to recover stolen property to give it as a gift to the rightful owners... yeah, they're all taking part in an ugly business, no excuses. But they aren't pure evil. Even "Most Dangerous Game" guy may well have been doing it all to help Echo recover herself.

No white, not much black, mostly gray.

[Jade Jaguar]

Originally Posted by KoshFan

No white, not much black, mostly gray.

Charcoal gray... at best.