The End Is The Beginning: Arturo vs. Dollhouse: Epitaph One!

For the most ballyhooed episode that hasn't been part of Dollhouse's brief run, J. Whedon cued up his favorite song: One Girl To Save The World.

HERE THERE BE SPOILERS

Disconnected from virtually the entire season that preceded it, "Epitaph One" is based around a simple premise: everything's gone to hell, and the Dollhouse is the reason. At least, the body-swapping tech it's been using is: as we learn in imprinted flashbacks, what began as a plaything to give people "what they need," as deWitt continues to believe has morphed into a mass commodity. And even Adelle and Topher are horrified by the implications.

As we learn from the team of refugees who stumble into the 'House, what ends up developing is a war between "Actuals" and body-hoppers. "Kids with matches," one character sums up. "Burned the whole house down." (Browncoats will appreciate the implication of "the signal" in this reality, in a cruelly ironic sense.)

We get glimpses of the rest of the L.A. Actives and regulars throughout the episode, as well as an extended visit from Whiskey, in both her Dr. Saunders persona and her "natural" state, which gives us a chance to see Amy Acker look her most otherworldly since playing Illyria a few years back. If what happens from there is to be taken as canon, then Whiskey gets the best character arc of the whole episode, with a small heartbreak as culmination.

And, of course, there's Caroline/Echo. She's referred to as both during the course of the episode, as we learn that her relationship with Agent Helo evolves after Ballard joins the 'House staff. And, again, if what happens here is what's meant to happen in Season 2 and beyond, then Echo might hold the key to salvaging what's left of the world she now inhabits - though perhaps not in the fashion you'd expect.

Reportedly, "Epitaph One" was an effort by Whedon to not only give Fox a 13th episode for overseas distribution, but show them he could make a taut, capable thriller with a smaller budget - and, in this case, the effort was successful. The group of refugees, led by Felicia Day, were developed just enough for viewers to care about them, which made us experience their discoveries alongside them. And the glimpses into the nightmare scenario that ultimately undoes the 'House, and the world around it, are jolting enough to make regular viewers care about the journey even more, now that we know the show's coming back - even if it's still in a Friday night time slot.

Podcast tonight!

(x-posted from the Hour 42 blog!)

Lots to talk about for @ThePeterPixie and myself tonight, including:

-- The newest Avenger and his connection to Trek
-- The new lease on life for Dollhouse
-- The craptastic Smallville finale
-- A travel tip for you comics folks who can't make SDCC
-- And an announcement for next week's show!

All this plus your comments and questions at 646.716.4799 LIVE at 11pm est (8pm pst) tonight on HOUR 42!

BREAKING: Dollhouse reportedly renewed!

Props to @FuryOfSolace and @The_Orphan for the tip: slight report here. This will surely be updated throughout the weekend.

Update: @feliciaday linked to this story from THR.com also reporting the news, saying the move will be formally announced Monday.

Examining The Body: Arturo v. Dollhouse 1.12!

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

I can only imagine "Omega" was difficult to write, because it certainly became difficult to watch at times. And not for the right reasons.

As much as "Briar Rose" seemed to propel the series further into the deeper, darker themes Dollhouse delivered on at its' best, the season (series?) finale seemed to mostly backtrack.

The worst offender, unfortunately, was Alpha. While the idea of 48 different personalities getting dumped into -- and apparently mixed with -- that of a "born" killer, it was off-putting to see that his spokes-personality seemed, at times, to be a one-off Buffy villain. And that's not exactly a bad thing; that type of character, striking the cartoonish "HUZZAH!" pose as Wendy is being turned "into" Caroline, is just out of place in this world.

The scenes between Wendy/Caroline and the multi-booted Echo herself played out well, even if Echo's "ascension" into the more fully-realized version of her heroic "authentic" self was, unfortunately, telegraphed the moment Alpha dubbed her Omega. For a genius, he should've known that naming her something like Olivia might have had better implications for his plan to work. And the "climactic" chase and escape scene in the power plant just fell flat and felt rushed; the wedge just falls into Ballard's hands and Alpha walks off-stage without even a "Until next time!"? Ugh.

As has tended to be the case, though, the "B" plot in this episode outshone the main event. This time, the reveal behind Whiskey/Dr. Saunders wasn't just handled efficiently -- seriously, less than 5 lines before confirmation -- but the character's journey from No. 1 Doll (and Alpha's first target) to her bitter reprisal of a defenseless Victor to her apparent self-acceptance was packed with emotional shrapnel. And there's still the question: why would Topher program her to hate him?

The rest of the ensemble was handled inconsistently, perhaps due to time constraints. Toph and DeWitt were on point, but the budding bromance between Boyd and HeloBallard was undercut by Ballard apparently taking the lead thanks to Super-Detective-Fu Skills. There didn't seem to be any questions or conclusions coming from him that Boyd, a former cop himself, wouldn't have arrived to, based on his actions earlier in the series. And Ballard's deal to offer himself as a 'House "contractor," though based on a nice gesture, has one major hole: what leverage could he possibly have on DeWitt to make her accept his terms? Dude outright told Agent Badger the truth and got blown off. Unless Badger is revealed as another "sleeper" Doll, there was nothing stopping Paul from taking the scoop to somebody more sympathetic.

Meanwhile, Sierra and November ... did nothing. They got prepped for Super Hot Girl Bounty Hunter Action! - and then we never saw them again. Well, at least we didn't see them again; thanks to Ballard, November is allowed to return to her civilian self, Madeline. Still, as underwhelming as the pursuit of Alpha turned out, you'd think that having a couple more shooters on the ground couldn't have made things any worse.

Even if the series weren't seemingly on the chopping block, grabbing a season-low share of viewers for its' finale can't help Dollhouse's chances at getting a second season. You can thank Star Trek for those ratings, methinks. So unless the super-duper DVD set (which will reportedly contain both the unaired pilot and the much-discussed "Epitaph One" epilogue) sells like crazy at SDCC this year, this might have been Joss' last stand on traditional television: certainly flawed, occasionally brilliant, but always reaching for some greater meaning. Joss' own Doll -- built for us.

Quick Thoughts on Dollhouse

Dammit, now that was Prime Whedon Stuff right there. "Briar Rose," written by TEH JOSS and Jane Espenson, gave us a cliffhanger on par with anything we'd seen the Mutant Enemy team do before. Anything.

And most of the credit here, without spoiling it, should go to Alan Tudyk, who knocked his role out of the park. This is the kind of ass-kicking Heroes just can't deliver any more. Suddenly I'm more hopeful next week's episode is only a season finale.

TV Notes, happy and sad

* RIP, Andy Hallett.

* Dollhouse: Not as epic as last week's ep -- how could it be? -- but definitely a much stronger show as an ensemble piece rather than Echo's Weekly Adventures. Curious to see, however, that they might pull the trigger on an "awakening" so early in the run.

* Family Guy: All the hype over the TNG cast's appearance went up in smoke as soon as Peter said, "it's another Meg episode." Not as much because it was Meg as because the creative team seems to give less of a damn about her than even Peter. Too much dreck, not enough Trek.

* Better Off Ted: Glad to see Lem & Phil get their own episode so soon, and the bits of continuity -- Phil's recurring symptoms, the trickiness of the Office Affair clause -- are appreciated this early in the run. Will we get a backstory for Veronica?


Lastly, a look at Mr. Hallett as many of us probably remember him best.

Quick Thoughts On Dollhouse 1.6

I TAKE IT ALL BACK, JOSS, I TAKE IT BACK.

Well, that was as good as advertised, wasn't it?

* Thank goodness, no Plot o' The Week, aside from Patton Oswalt staring down Helo.
* Helo needs a partner, or another ally. Not only because he's "suspended," but because him shaking off a tazer, knocking off four or five security guys and still holding his own against a combat-imprinted Echo got ridiculous. I don't suppose the Slayers are guys in this version of L.A.?
* Solid outing for Ms. DeWitt -- "There are three flowers in a vase" and Mellie's "waking up" made me sit straight up. Well friggin' played. Was Echo's message to Ballard also an idea of hers, or was it legit?
* The "news segments," unless they have some sort of payoff later in the year, will just be an annoyance.
* Next week's ep also looks solid -- I mean, even Dominic might get a moment to shine, going by the preview.

Image courtesy of Watching DollHouse.

Quick Thoughts on Dollhouse 1.5

* Another uneven episode; the show just can't generate an all-killer ep yet.
* However, the explanation behind Evil Agency Guy's dislike of Echo was welcome, even if it was overdue. But a better way to establish that would have been for Echo to manifest traits of her past implants during this week's assignment, rather than just randomly generating Kick-Ass Girl traits.
* The whole Man-Reaction thing also made sense, but you'd think Topher or somebody would have thought about that before putting all these young hottie Dolls (seriously, no full-figured Actives?) in co-ed showers.
* Starting with next week's episode, supposedly, TEH JOSS finally got to write "in his own voice." If that's true, and we start getting to the meat of things, that might be enough to boost the show not only creatively, but ratings-wise. As of this past Friday, the show looks to be holding steady, but one can never be too sure with Fox.

FURTHER thoughts on Dollhouse

The more I thought about her tonight, the more something about the 'pop diva' character bugged me.

Not her being demanding with her dancers, disillusioned with fame (that is, up until she revealed she wanted her stalker to kill her). No, the worst bit was this: her manager -- her older male manager -- SLAPPED HER ACROSS THE DAMN FACE and got away with it. Neither Echo nor Rayna hit him back, and we never learn if he faced any repercussions. Um, that's beyond "thought-provoking sci-fi" -- that's just disturbing.


Image courtesy of Watching Dollhouse

Quick Thoughts on Dollhouse 1.3

SPOILERISH STUFF AHEAD:

* Much of the bad in this episode, especially the scenes involving the would-be-tortured pop starlet. I got the concept, but the character was off.
* Fortunately, more of the good. I'm digging both the evolution of Boyd as our POV character and the in-character attention to Echo's emerging ability to think "outside the pieces [Dollhouse] gives her."
* The Echo/Sierra friendship -- and their apparent recognition that they should lie about it -- hints toward something bigger for the remaining Dolls. Was this why Alpha spared Echo?
* The reveal of the "newest" Doll was done pretty well, both in story (it confirms a statement by DeWitt) and in execution. Made for a nice plot beat to liven up the middle of the episode.

What can I say? I'm still kinda hopeful.

Monday Notes

Been pressed for time and fighting sinus failure the past couple of days, so I'm woefully behind on stuff, but I expect to have Dollhouse thoughts up soon ... or I may just skip it until the sixth episode, which is allegedly the new "This is when it gets good" marker.

Meanwhile, I'm happy to note that the podcast I host with Peter Pixie is coming along pretty well. Yesterday we got into a good discussion about Superman and DC's jerking around with not only his origin, but his future, as well as the upcoming Green Lantern movie (with tip of the hat to my unnamed source on said flick.) We're really finding our groove and we've started attracting some steady listeners, so I invite you all to check out last week's episode and join us Sunday at 8pm PST, as we become the 1,000,000th fanboys to give our take on Watchmen, and possibly only the 750,000th to discuss the new Wonder Woman animated flick.




In the meantime, here's a little NSFW goodness from our friends at ONN and the mighty Scott Keith. If you don't mind a little strong language, I think many of us can relate to this story. Or maybe we can because of the strong language.



Sony Releases New Stupid Piece Of Shit That Doesn't Fucking Work

Quick thoughts on Dollhouse 1.2

No time for a full rant today, but:

* No surprise, the strength of the episode came from the moments between Echo and Boyd. I liked getting the timeline of events heading into 4.1
* The relationship between Boyd and Topher might become a key, as well. Getting so many reminders that They Are Not Friends leads me to believe that's going to change.
* Between the flashbacks she suffered in the midst of "The Target" and her breakdown in "Ghost," could Echo be considered "faulty" by the 'House? After all, they don't want another Alpha on their hands ...
* I'll be interested to see why, exactly, Echo was spared in Alpha's rampage
* The final monologue by Evil Agency Guy struck me as gratuitous at first -- unless we learn that he and Caroline had a pre-Echo history. Then I recalled the earlier implication that Alpha was behind the faux client who tried to kill Echo. What if Evil Agency Guy had actually set up the hit?

Lastly, I wanted to recommend this look at Joss Whedon's history with using (appropriating?) Asian motifs in both the 'House and Firefly, over at The R. Very interesting read.

Great Expectations: TIC v. Dollhouse 1.1!

WARNING: SPOILER-ISH STUFF AHEAD.

There's still traces of Buffy in Dollhouse, but, thankfully, it's not Buffy goes And so far, it's not bad.

Our girl Faith, of course, is front-and-center as Echo, complete with Watcher handler; there's Fred(!) as a kindly hot/medical type; there's even a creepy variant on the Xander/Andrew type, in charge of mindwiping Echo and the other "Actives" after their latest mission – or, as boss lady Adelle likes to call them, "engagements." But so far, there's little sense of "quirk," and the only Big Damn Hero in the cast, Agent Paul, is, as far as his bosses are concerned, chasing a trafficking ring that doesn't exist.

And that, right now, is the first big angle: will Paul the Fed crack the case and catch the 'House before Echo stumbles onto the truth for herself? If him doing so means the former Caroline has to face the music for whatever Dark Secret she's hiding, do we root for him?

As the pilot, "Ghost," kicked off, we're not told how long Caroline has been Echo, or why she felt forced to sign on with the agency. But, in the midst of her latest assignment, Echo not only walked into another Active's initiation, but was ambushed by the memories of her latest persona, a hostage negotiator, when she ran into the man who kidnapped and (it's heavily inferred) abused her years ago.

Instead of taking her own revenge, though -- which would have been the Buffy resolution -- Echo, in this new persona, instead stands up to the guy and simply finishes her job. It's somebody else who does the shooting. A small change, perhaps, but a very telling one, and one I'm interested to see develop over the course of however many episodes it gets.

"Ghost" was allegedly the victim of Fox's ham-handedness – even creator/geek deity Joss Whedon said to wait it out 'til Ep 2 before rendering judgement. But, sure enough, Whedonites' opinions are already split between "WORST. EPISODE. EVER" and "OMGTEHJOSS!" Between trying to keep the show from getting canceled, of course.

No reason to worry just yet, though; not only did "Ghost" did well enough in the ratings to keep the show safe for now, but, as a pilot, it fulfilled its' own engagement – set up the rules of the game, introduce the antagonists (besides Paul, a former Active has apparently gone off the reservation, in a bad way) and establish Echo as the one to change the game. I'm not willing to write it off just yet.