In this week’s episode of Dollhouse, Miss DeWitt places the personality of her dead friend into Echo. Said dead friend (Margaret) then decides to spend very little time with our favorite stony Brit and instead goes home to solve her own murder.
Anyone who has ever seen any episode of television or movie wherein a person who is rich and spoiled and a bit of an ass gets to view her or his life as an outsider (or a ghost or similar) knew exactly what was bound to happen here. Her children, whom she doted on, hate her! Her gestures of symbolic affection piss people right off! She was not universally loved by those she loved in a cold, distant, and annoying way. How sad for Maggie.
This is like a really bad A Christmas Carol production done by 5th graders.
The main plot resolves itself about how one would expect. I will point out that, once again, Eliza Dushku does not wow me with her acting prowess. There was one particularly eyeroll-worthy moment when Margaret’s son says that he knew his mother was in Echo’s body because of the way she did all the little things his mother did in the house and the way she moved. You know what would have been nice? Actually seeing that instead of having someone tell us. Because that would have been impressive.
The B plot in this episode involved Topher imprinting Sierra with the personality of his best friend. Whether this best friend was once a real person (the theme of the episode seems to indicate this is the case) or a composite best friend he created himself, we’re not told (I don’t think… don’t make me watch again!). The two of them spend the episode nerding it up and gaming throughout the house. This is kind of cute and all, but as a friend of mine commented, “the show [wants] me to sympathize with Topher, which is a goal I find disgusting.”
I’ve been on to this from the beginning. Topher is meant to be cute and likable! Didn’t you know? I probably would have picked up on this, anyway, but I had some advance warning. At NY Comicon Joss Whedon said that we’d recognize a bit of him in Topher, the guy who puts together characters and stories. Awwww.
Just remember that, kids: Joss Whedon’s Gary Stu in this show is Topher.
That just says volumes, doesn’t it?
And here I was thinking it’s almost glaringly obvious that the show *doesn’t* want me to sympathize with Topher.
“then, there’s Topher, the programmer, who is responsible for constructing the artificial personalities and implanting them in the dolls, who is a dorky blonde guy just like Whedon and who speaks in distinctly Whedonian cadences and lines, and who we are encouraged to dislike more than almost anyone else in the series. What you hear, when you hear Topher speaking about how difficult it is to construct a believable personality, how all of his creations have to be full and nuanced and have reasons for how they behave, how achievement is fueled by lack and he gave her asthma because that made her a more complete person and blah blah blah, is noted feminist auteur Joss Whedon reflecting, very consciously and very obviously, on his life’s work – hiring gorgeous women and making them into who he wants them to be – and saying that sometimes, he feels kind of icky about it. It’s a beautiful thing: brave, and self-questioning, and radical in a way that entertainment by dudes – even entertainment by dudes who identify as feminist – very rarely is, and in a way I trust more than I’m used to trusting my entertainment, and in a way that I’ve come to expect from the show as a whole.”
http://tigerbeatdown.blogspot.com/2009/04/dollhouse-joss-whedon-and-strange-and.html
I don’t buy that, actually. I mean, I might maybe buy that’s what he was trying to do if he said that’s what he was doing, but even then I would be like: “You fail, dude!” and I would laugh.
I think this is because I don’t buy into Joss’ feminism as much as others. YMMV
Another thing that belies the idea that we’re NOT supposed to like Topher is the utter, unabashed geekiness of him and his “friend” in this episode. If that entire subplot wasn’t meant to make my nerdy heart go pitter patter (he thinks that explosions with sound in space is wrong, too! what a catch!) but instead make me go “Oh how disgusting and vile is this person!” then it was written.. um… badly.
This show is for nerds! And we know that not only because of all the sexy women running around in various states of undress, but also because Joss keeps slipping in blatant nerd fantasies. Patton Oswald hooking up with some hot nurse who loved him BEFORE he had tons of money? hahahahahahahahahaha.
You’re not the only critic who’s bashing this show and I won’t deny that your criticisms are valid. I still enjoy watching it.
I didn’t think too much of Buffy or Angel, but Firefly and Dollhouse are great. It’s not just a matter of beautiful young women in various states of undress, though that certainly doesn’t hurt. It’s beautiful young women who kick ass in a graceful and elegant manner.
My personal Whedon favorite would be Summer Glau as River Thames, but the young women of dollhouse have their moments, as well. I even like the stony Grit and the stonier the better.
I don’t imagine that opinion will sit to well in these parts, but different strokes for different folks.
That was supposed to be Brit; she’s not the only one who’s stoned.
Hey Glenn, I am with ya. There are shows I like that others bash and i totally see their point. Knight Rider comes to mind.
Yeah, I probably would have bashed Knight Rider when it came out. Now that we have cars that can give you directions and park themselves, it doesn’t seem quite so far-fetched.
You know, I think the women on the show are attractive, but I don’t think they’re unrealistically beautiful. They’re pretty down to earth. And there are men in the Dollhouse as well engaged in the exact same sorts of storylines. That entire vein of criticism (that implies misogyny)is an argument against the shows premise and isn’t useful when judging the individual stories of each episode. The premise of the show was designed to expose societies evils. It was MEANT to be misogynistic.
I wouldn’t read a romance novel the same way I’d read literary fiction, and if I couldn’t make it passed the premise of such a work I wouldn’t bother criticizing it. I’d just reject it based on the fact that the premise of such a genre isn’t interesting to me.
The Dollhouse is a creepy, cheesy sci-fi show. I like it for what it is, and if you dislike it for what it is, then every single beat of every episode is just going to annoy the hell out of you.
Now on the issue of whether or not the last episode was suspenseful or not? Meh. I’d be OFFENDED if the story threw me for too big of a loop. I’m almost sure that that prospect would prompt the criticism that “the story wandered around in search of itself” or some such other nonsense.
If we had seen the son recognizing his mother, then that would probably have played into the “predictable storyline” criticism as well.
Thank you for your time, and I’ll leave you with a song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS37ZSYOwTA
I think it *was* supposed to make your heart go pitter-patter, but I thought the point of that was to show that evil people do not exactly tattoo it on their foreheads. Like an “even rapists get lonely” kind of thing, or “even geek you thought was adorable can totally be a rapist.” You know, like having one cute fact about you doesn’t redeem a lifetime of exploitation — it’s all over every other ep that Topher is moral-less.
Whereas that creepy shit with Paul that triggered the FUCK out of me was I guess supposed to show that anyone can be a rapist. Or at least, any dude. Which is absolutely bleak and something I may believe, but not something I necessarily want to believe.
Frank, I adore any comment that ends with “I’ll leave you with a song”.
Nina, I think there’s a line between making a point that evil people are people, too, and the show going “look how cute and likable these evil people are! awww,” which is what I feel this show is doing. I can see the show doing it, and every time I want to smack show around for doing so. I think the intent you see and the intent I see are different (thought the overall outcome is basically the same). One vein of intent is probably more defensible than the other, but I’m unwilling to give this show the benefit of the doubt.
it’s strange how little i’m caring about Dollhouse right now. I’m still watching it (I’m a dork, what else am I doing at 9 on a friday?) but it’s odd the WAY that i’m not caring. I don’t really want to get into the myriad potential issues with the premise and the characters. Mostly, I’ve just been annoyed at how many twists have come out so fast. I kind of lost interest after Mellie was November. I mean, that’s the kind of reveal you save till at least season 2! I’ve been annoyed at the pacing more than anything else
I thought last week’s episode was pretty disappointing. I can suspend disbelief enough to believe that people can be programmed with various skills and personality types, but how are the personality and memories of a dead person supposed to be transferred to someone else? Not buying it. And was anyone else bothered that Margaret seemed completely unperturbed by her discovery that her own son assassinated her?
The entire episode, IMO, focused on the idea that “evil isn’t obvious.” Because, you know, a houseful of bitter, unhappy, possible murderers makes that thematic element just the tiniest bit Blatantly Obvious. I would think that Topher being a second exemple of the main theme would be obvious, then, as well, as it’s SOP for Whedon to reinforce each show’s theme with an appropriate subplot.
And for the record, I thought Topher was supposed to be sad, not cute, in this ep. I thought the imprinted “friend” was actually Topher’s own personality – because even when he reaches out, the self-centered git can’t find pleasure with anyone but himself.
“he main plot resolves itself about how one would expect. I will point out that, once again, Eliza Dushku does not wow me with her acting prowess. There was one particularly eyeroll-worthy moment when Margaret’s son says that he knew his mother was in Echo’s body because of the way she did all the little things his mother did in the house and the way she moved. You know what would have been nice? Actually seeing that instead of having someone tell us. Because that would have been impressive.”
Well, we *did* see her checking herself out in Maggie-her’s mirror, and putting on Maggie’s perfume. On the other hand, how *could* we see “how maggie walked”? Maggie did not have a distinctive walk that we know of; it was hardly the sort of thing we, as non-kin, could see.
I’ve grown increasingly less impressed with your movie reviews. You’ve been trying just so darn hard to be provocative that you skip way past actually having a foundation for your criticisms.
Well, we *did* see her checking herself out in Maggie-her’s mirror, and putting on Maggie’s perfume.
yes, we did, but it didn’t really signify anything to the audience. Also, there are ways in which that scene could have worked for me — perhaps by allowing Margaret more than half a second’s screen time in the beginning so that we could get a sense of her before Echo had a go. Or even seeing Echo be really different, not just the usual performance Eliza gives.
I’m sorry you think I’m saying things only to be provocative, but I’ll kindly ask that you allow that i truly do feel this way and am not just in it for the snark. I did not see Eliza give me anything in this episode to merit the comment made by the son. I have not yet seen her do anything spectacular in Dollhouse though she’s said that this is a dream role because it allows her to play so many different people.
For an example of someone who is doing it really well, I point to the actor who plays Victor, especially in episode 11.