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…so…it’s, er, not very good is it?
Look, I’m a fan of Whedon’s stuff. I love Buffy. I love Angel. I love Firefly and Serenity (even though on my first attempt to watch the pilot I bailed after ten minutes) and Dr Horrible.
But Dollhouse…
Dushku looks desperately for her ratingsI saw Whedon talking about the show at NYCC. He seemed to know that the show was going to be controversial, that it was going to get people talking. He seemed to know that he was going to be facing an uphill battle.
And you know what, the show is controversial. The Dollhouse itself is basically renting out sex slaves and wiping their memories – and let’s face it for a creator who talks a lot about women’s rights and the mistreatment of women (even though he’s also managed to piss off some feminists), it’s a tough stance to make.
But that’s not the problem with the show. The problem is that it doesn’t engage. It’s difficult to root for a character that’s virtually non-existent. Dushku’s Echo is clearly beginning to remember some of her past, but that doesn’t make up for the fact that she as a character doesn’t have much going for her. Sure, she looks good in a tank top but so what?
Of the rest of the cast, only two are actually close to being likeable – Harry Lennix’s conflicted handler and Tahmoh Penikett’s FBI agent. The problem with these two is that Lennix’s Boyd Langton is so obviously conflicted that you wonder why he signed up in the first place (although I suspect he’s a Doll himself), and that Penikett’s Paul Ballard is on the periphery of the show. I understand that’s going to change but right now, it’s distracting.
The show’s ratings didn’t start well then dropped off for the second episode; Whedon has said that Dollhouse is probably the last TV show he’ll work on and that in the future he’ll concentrate on online work (and I suspect movies).
Honestly, that may be for the best – because Dr Horrible is a hell of a lot more enjoyable than Dollhouse.
I’m going to keep watching, though. Partly because I’m a glutton for punishment and partly because I want to see Alpha Doll in action…
You know, Alpha. He’s like a leaf on the wind, you know.
I don’t know… 2 episodes. Interestingly, I’ve never, hard as I try, been able to get through more than the first two episodes of “Firefly”. I enjoyed the first “Dollhouse” a lot more than I enjoyed the “Firefly” pilot, I must say.
Which isn’t to say I don’t have the same concerns. I’m certainly ready to wait, with no trouble, for the DVD set.
I read somewhere that Dollhouse is the highest downloaded show on iTunes so it has that going for it.
I missed the pilot but enjoyed the second episode.
It seems like the goalposts for this show are moving a bit. First I read notes that “people should wait for the second episode” (and to be fair, it was better than the first). Now I’m reading notes saying, “It doesn’t really get going until the sixth episode.” Not quite sure how to take all that. But I’m giving it a shot.
I adored Buffy and Angel and Dr. Horrible, and Firefly/Serenity was as good as it gets for me re: TV/movies, but Dollhouse hasn’t been so much controversial for me as boring.
Now that they’ve gotten the hunter/prey story out of the way (the last time it was truly fresh for me was when it was done on I Spy), I wonder what other standard TV plot will be next.
I’m watching because I’m interested in seeing where Joss is taking it, not because I’m interested in any of the characters.
The second episode was better than the first, in part because it subverted the story engine the first episode claimed the show will be based on. (Rich creepy johns have their brain-wiped sex toys reprogrammed to handle delicate/shady jobs that they can't trust to their normal thugs. And on network TV, so not even any real T&A or blood. Yeah, there's a show I wanna watch for 5-7 years.)
I haven't been pushing anyone to watch this since it started, even the Buffy/Angel/Firefly DVD watchers I know.
I'd be willing to reconsider if the story flops over to Eve and some of the other dolls getting turned into agents for the government hunting down the Dollhouse (and taking other cases when there are no leads). Of course, if it does take that route, I have to ask why it hadn't reached that point by the end of the first episode.
I'm still watching, but no word of mouth from me right now.