Dollhouse 1.13 Epitaph One (DVD only)
So it's the infamous 13th episode never broadcast on television. I've heard several things about this... I think one exchange went as follows:
OTHER: I don't know if it is considered canon but I hope not because if so it is awful. You should see it so you can talk to me about it.
ASCII: if it's awful why should I pay to watch it? besides perhaps it's in cannon.
Yes to discuss why it's so awful, but ...
Makes me think of some of the really bad episodes of Angel Season 5 that I didn't need to see; I wish I could un-watch them:
http://ascii-70-85.livejournal.com/126674.html
http://ascii-70-85.livejournal.com/160826.html
OTHER: YOU HAVE TO WATCH IT FOR ME.
....right now.
ASCII: not right now,
but you make a persuasive argument.
I've also heard glanced past a blurb referring to "the Epitaph One Kool-aid"? WTF?
But then in another thing I read, said something to the effect of this could have saved the show? Assuming it still will be eventually be cancelled (predicting not hoping).
So ... 'um okay.
I'm game... even if it's crap I had to watch it. I had to see the unaired pilot. I had to see all this before next week? ... 'um okay?
Here's hoping it doesn't ruin the whole 'house for me.
--------------------------------------------------------
SPOILAR! I spoil this episode which may spoil the rest of Dollhouse? also making reference to Firefly/ particularly the Serenity movie.
--------------------------------------------------------
So I just watched Epitaph One. ‽!?‽!?¡‽?¡!?¿!¡?‽¡‽?¡¿?‽?!‽?¿!?!‽?¡!¿?!¡?!‽?‽?¿‽!¡?¿¡?¿!?¡!¿!?¿!?!?‽?¿?‽‽
It was awesome AND it ruins everything?
Epitaph One is a great episode! Maybe even the best? Though perhaps you shouldn't watch Epitaph One.
Actually in reference to my commentary previous to it, I sort of do wish I could un-watch it... though not in the same was as those really lame Angel episodes.
I could lie and tell you I didn't buy the DVD set for this, but I pretty much did.
Crazier thing though: I think it may have been worth it!
So in true Whedon fashion, perplexingly both sides were right. That would've been great, IF Dollhouse had gotten cancelled. Which was pretty much a foregone conclusion when they were making it.
For music I like often like your straight ahead driving punk rock and metal with a good beat and great riffs, as well as soft beautiful melodies, but sometimes what really gets me going is stuff I've never heard before. Things so strange and far out there I have to ask myself if I somehow ingested a foreign substance. This is what this episode is. It's like a weird trip.
Reminds me a bit of Earth 2, when they aired a future episode, it ruled.
All the other episodes after it seemed boring and lame.
Lots of shows do this. When you don't have to hold back on imagines for the sake of keeping up a cannon/mainstory line. Or keeping a static state. Also when you don't have to fill in gaps immediately you can come up with some pretty crazy stuff.
Then there's the issue in playing with time lines, if you can't do a "then the timeline was restored" or "That is only a possible future." cop out, then it locks you in. They sort of do that.. but it's kinda weak -- "this is only peoples' memories, and memories are error prone."
Assuming this is cannon, we generally know who lives and dies up to a point. Granted you usually know most cast members are going to survive, but in the absence of this there's at least a tension.
Everyone lives up to the apocalypse, so unless we're going to get right to that... then most of the character are safe. Any tension they try to build for most any particular scene could fail. blahblahblah isn't going to die, they have to be there to be all ghost-like in Season 7.
They could be clever and write around it like a prequel. The Star Wars prequels were decently good about this. I think they sort of have to write around it now. One hopes they will.
This episode is more for the at least the 5th, maybe the 7th season. Not the 13th episodes of the first! Excusable 'cause they though this was it.
Anyway we open on a post apocalyptic scene with people speaking a almost a different language. Weird slang. This is like Firefly, diving into the deep end, and trying to understand, and no explanation when someone breaks into Chinese for no apparent reason.
And there's Penny from Dr. Horrible / Jr. Slayer Vi from Season 7 of Buffy. I saw the first episode of the guild, then decided it was good and I shouldn't watch it, lest It become another habit (see Whedon).
We don't open with the regular theme, just a title screen. We run credits after the first break.
It's 2019.
I think this actually works, so often they date things like 10 years in the future and make it so strikingly different without any good cause.
Demolition Man was the worst granted that movie wasn't really meant to be taken seriously, but still what was it like 40 years and everything is insanely different. It didn't seem enough time. Star Trek in the 60's also botched this (I think we're supposed to already have had the Eugenics Wars). Firefly got it right... 500 years being fairly removed. If you unleash mind wiping technology in such a way it's going to change things I can buy into this.
Skut Farkus (I always thought it was Scott Fargus) Zack Ward (imdb), Yep. That's him.
I don't know when I caught on, but I eventually got the drift... Echo's cell phone call in 1.4 was kinda huge in this regard, and that's what's happening on some level or another. Maybe it became clearer a minute or so after he shot the radio. He didn't just do that to be violent. It was a precaution.
and into the 'house. "We all love our own voices. That's why we're here, to keep our own voices."
The camera work, weak lighting, the slang, the disorientation -- this is an episode of Firefly!
天曉得・天晓得 "tyen-shiao duh"!
Butchers who can smell you ... kinda like mindless automatons == Reavers.
Though not quite like Firefly, also Chinese influence.
Is the same thing happening in China? global?
We splice in a scene from the original pilot. At this point I roll my eyes and think is this going to be like Star Trek where they cannibalized the original pilot: The Cage, to make the episodes The Menagerie part 1 & 2. Thankfully this was not the case."It's a brothel! You mean to tell me that the tech that punk-kicked that ass of mandkind was originally designed to create more believable hookers?!?"
Topher's first day. Everytime they do these, Boyd or whoever, I can't help, but wonder if they just uploaded them two seconds before.
So there was a Dollhouse, or at least a Dollhouse -- L.A. before Topher, unless he wiped and reprogrammed himself.
We see the chair beta version. Topher is a technological revolution, imprints used to take two hours. Dominic warns about sociological/political hubris.
The chair will use 'waves' like Firefly and Google (later this year).
Girl is killed for eagerness to strip and shower... that's not right.
I of course wasn't looking for it on first viewing 'cause I didn't know it was coming the first go 'round but whoever clubed shower-girl with the flash light was short enough to out of screen. I was thinking it was more a clubbing in the back of the head, and I thought if they filmed it that way they leave the possibility open (though very unlikely) that WHISKEY did it, being the only one unaccounted for at this point.
From pre 1.01 to post 1.12, Paul is apparently ECHO's handler. She can control her imprints at will slipping in and out of them like Ω:OMEGA. Paul knows her secret. I don't know if I like this.
Reminds me of Dark Angel (as well as pretty much every other girl centric Whedonesque series): Girl is pre-destined from humble/uncertain beginnings to become a messianic figure (a.k.a. Max, Buffy, River, etc.).
Boyd is leaving, to meet up with ECHO? Saunders give Boyd supplies to treat his injury. Boyd and Saunders are apparently closer?
WHISKEY is creepy. Apparently Boyd is taking his time.
"If you point at the freakin' chair I will end you." So this is an episode of Firefly!
The 'house now offers eternal life, as described in Haunting. This crosses a line with Adelle?
Creepy that he's taking VICTOR, but perhaps even creepier that he's copied.
"This is not what we set out to do." So what did you set out to do? Again I still favor the 'Jasmine' idea, or at least as the party-line.
Choose to side with the central 'house or go it alone.
In typical Whedon fashion (is it typical?), the innocent girl is the psychopath.
WHISKEY will program herself?!?
They bring back Dominic?!?! His part kicks ass too!
and we're apocalypsing! Dominic's using the slang. So Dominic was a 'good' guy? or just happened to be on the right side? The 'tech' did slip out the hands of the Rossum corporation. {shrugs}.
How do you let it slip if you can potentially control everyone and everything? Some skepticism on this point, though humans make mistakes.
Wikipedia: Caroline is now immune to imprinting
so she can't be imprinted? or she can control them?
The person or the imprint itself i.e. is that little girl immune at the end?
Apparently VICTOR is not the Rossum CEO? Then later not, leading us to believe they did not take the deal.
100,000,000 (counting up nine digits)... so hundreds of millions of dollar to get a new body. Wonder if it's cheaper because of inflation?
Also this is a metaphor for lots of inequality gripes? In many cases legitimately so ( , though in other cases... maybe not so much).
"You don't want to end up like NOVEMBER."
"Which one?"
This is sadistic. So something bad happened to the old, new, both NOVEMBERs.
SIERRA is Priya Tsesang. VICTOR and SIERRA aren't jumping on each other for some reason they broke up or ... ?
Skut wants to give the kid a gun. Which is prudent considering, assuming she's a kid and not a psychopath.
Oh -- duh! I didn't get it first time through.
Skut knew ... I thought the gun just jammed. It was never loaded. This is why he goes on to say the thing about the father's tattoo/birth-mark.
Who was the little girl supposed to be? Anyone we know? Adelle? SIERRA? (the accent and speech sound right for SIERRA, otherwise that doesn't quite make sense).
Wikipedia: Dollhouse has isolated itself. The actives have all been given their original personalities back.
Saunders doesn't have scars. Topher's crazy because he created the atom bomb, ended the world, used the pax, and created the reavers, etc. etc.
One robo-call to a city ... god I hope we're not referencing politics. Though cool idea otherwise.
Reavers... did or didn't lay down. Idle dolls vs. killers.
Again 'Jasmine' idea -- mass hypnosis wouldn't a TV/radio/broadcast work better? {shrugs} maybe it had to be specifically phone?
Topher doesn't remember/isn't certain about what he did or didn't do. First interpretation he went crazy. But maybe he wiped himself? or somehow disabled himself with the chair.
He asks Adelle if he figured out the army-doomsday scenario? It looks like she says something, but there's no caption. Adelle and Topher's relationship is different.
Caroline/ECHO breaks through the wall. Caroline/ECHO said she's happy the Dr. is back in the house. She didn't expect to see her after they fixed her face.
Saunders explanation for this is of course ... long story.
No one's been printed there ... we have α:ALPHA to thank for that. I'm assuming indirectly. My thought is the inability to be in printed is a side-effect of being overloaded the whole Ω:OMEGA thing. Or some other technology he develops to terrorize. Or it's not a mislead?!?
Caroline/ECHO & Paul's relationship has changed?
Caroline is copying herself so that people can find their way to Zion or wherever (I write having not seen the 2nd & 3rd Matrices -- Boyd's in at least one of those isn't he? {smirk})
Caroline threatens Adelle... and possibly shoots her.
I think not. In post apocalyptic land that's bad karma unless she's actually a threat (ditto pre apocalyptic).
Caroline doesn't seem as annoying and stupid, though in the conversation with Adelle she's trying.
... and we're back to the messianic little girl (Caroline as that the kid who tried to kill the resistance members)
I didn't get it the first time? She's waiting for Boyd? That's beautifully creepy.
Wikipedia:
However, Whedon feels that perhaps she is just putting them to sleep and will clean up and continue protecting the Dollhouse as always. If this is the case, it begs the interesting possibility that all the events of the episode have happened before or will again.
This an interesting addition to the Ghost story idea.
Oh! It's also a Zombie movie?
This thing's insane! It's crazy on all sort of levels.
"Kids playing with matches, ... and they burned house down."
Wikipedia:
A large collage of photos is assembled on the wall under the words "To Remember." Photos of Whiskey, Victor, Sierra, November, and Caroline are amongst them ... This could have several meanings: to remember one's real identity, to remember the fallen,...
"I hope we find me alive." {smirk & eye-roll} You gotta love that kinda craziness.
We don't know what those pictures are, a memorial or just funsies.
... and up the ladder we go ...
what?!? what's up? more fucked-up building?
Do we have a Terminator/Matrix style hovercraft? or something?
That would fit.
I like this new series. A little crazy, a little Firefly.
As long as you've got a little Firefly in there ...
If they could jump around the timeline like they did in this one that would make the series infinitely/impossibly challenging and inaccessible to new viewers, but it could still be cool then.
I'm sort of bummed. I was hoping for a bad guy, not a fuck up.
i.e. à la 1984 / Anthem / Brave New World / Terminator / Matrix.
Not we fucked up, but people have been reorganized to serve others' purposes. Like the core planets vs. the outer rim or something.
I wanted like a totalitarian regime with ultimate control.
Not a messy chaos.
The latter leaves the suggestion of:
"No everyone has 'good' intentions. They just get confused and arrogant."
That seems to be the Whedon way of things lately.
I felt similarly about the Reavers.
I wanted them to be intentional to keep people subservient to the regime, not venturing out to explore new territory, like a faux force of nature.
Then addendums can be made to both of these. The Reavers more easily. I can't think of many people who would specifically want to destroy civilization per se. Your crazier religious fanatics. Everyone would like to reshuffle to get a better deal... some do take it to the extreme of clearing the slate first.
Does this "it's just a fuck up" idea lend credence to collectivism? We just need to get the power in the hands of good people? or those who will respect it / forcibly regulate it?
Something about the line...
"Kids playing with matches, ... and they burned house down."
At first this is a good thing.
People shouldn't mess around with other peoples' will etc.
Societal/political hubris ... government?
Back to Mal's "I aim to misbehave speech."
I still have my beef with intended vs. unintended consequences, but all in all good I guess.
But there's something that really bugs me about it.
Perhaps 'cause it's a kid saying it. It just strikes me as something of an arrogance in itself, luddite or puritanical; a reduction. Almost representing another authority? like nature or god or something ... I guess kids who play burn down houses with matches conjures ideas of a negligent parent or caretaker, who is needed to restrain the rest of us people. In such arguments it's difficult to articulate what differentiates these magical caretakers from the rest of the ignorant children.
Not asserting anything against Whedon & co. or the narrative just saying...
While I'm usually all about commentary ... I feel 'Epitaph One' tells me too much already. Gonna let that go for a while (maybe when they get cancelled).
Wikipedia:
... reminding the audience that the episode is based on memories that may or may not be accurate.
So ... loophole?
Still ... how does that work?
I guess if/when Whedon wants to mess with this he could contradict it... by some event which conflicts with this story. I would do it soon. People who saw it would know (assuming they explain about the memories thing). But we'd still be headed toward apocalypse, which is kinda a huge spoiler. Unless you somehow want to contradict that. Can you?
OTHER: I don't know if it is considered canon but I hope not because if so it is awful. You should see it so you can talk to me about it.
ASCII: if it's awful why should I pay to watch it? besides perhaps it's in cannon.
Yes to discuss why it's so awful, but ...
Makes me think of some of the really bad episodes of Angel Season 5 that I didn't need to see; I wish I could un-watch them:
http://ascii-70-85.livejournal.com/126674.html
http://ascii-70-85.livejournal.com/160826.html
OTHER: YOU HAVE TO WATCH IT FOR ME.
....right now.
ASCII: not right now,
but you make a persuasive argument.
I've also heard glanced past a blurb referring to "the Epitaph One Kool-aid"? WTF?
But then in another thing I read, said something to the effect of this could have saved the show? Assuming it still will be eventually be cancelled (predicting not hoping).
So ... 'um okay.
I'm game... even if it's crap I had to watch it. I had to see the unaired pilot. I had to see all this before next week? ... 'um okay?
Here's hoping it doesn't ruin the whole 'house for me.
--------------------------------------------------------
SPOILAR! I spoil this episode which may spoil the rest of Dollhouse? also making reference to Firefly/ particularly the Serenity movie.
--------------------------------------------------------
So I just watched Epitaph One. ‽!?‽!?¡‽?¡!?¿!¡?‽¡‽?¡¿?‽?!‽?¿!?!‽?¡!¿?!¡?!‽?‽?¿‽!¡?¿¡?¿!?¡!¿!?¿!?!?‽?¿?‽‽
It was awesome AND it ruins everything?
Epitaph One is a great episode! Maybe even the best? Though perhaps you shouldn't watch Epitaph One.
Actually in reference to my commentary previous to it, I sort of do wish I could un-watch it... though not in the same was as those really lame Angel episodes.
I could lie and tell you I didn't buy the DVD set for this, but I pretty much did.
Crazier thing though: I think it may have been worth it!
So in true Whedon fashion, perplexingly both sides were right. That would've been great, IF Dollhouse had gotten cancelled. Which was pretty much a foregone conclusion when they were making it.
For music I like often like your straight ahead driving punk rock and metal with a good beat and great riffs, as well as soft beautiful melodies, but sometimes what really gets me going is stuff I've never heard before. Things so strange and far out there I have to ask myself if I somehow ingested a foreign substance. This is what this episode is. It's like a weird trip.
Reminds me a bit of Earth 2, when they aired a future episode, it ruled.
All the other episodes after it seemed boring and lame.
Lots of shows do this. When you don't have to hold back on imagines for the sake of keeping up a cannon/mainstory line. Or keeping a static state. Also when you don't have to fill in gaps immediately you can come up with some pretty crazy stuff.
Then there's the issue in playing with time lines, if you can't do a "then the timeline was restored" or "That is only a possible future." cop out, then it locks you in. They sort of do that.. but it's kinda weak -- "this is only peoples' memories, and memories are error prone."
Assuming this is cannon, we generally know who lives and dies up to a point. Granted you usually know most cast members are going to survive, but in the absence of this there's at least a tension.
Everyone lives up to the apocalypse, so unless we're going to get right to that... then most of the character are safe. Any tension they try to build for most any particular scene could fail. blahblahblah isn't going to die, they have to be there to be all ghost-like in Season 7.
They could be clever and write around it like a prequel. The Star Wars prequels were decently good about this. I think they sort of have to write around it now. One hopes they will.
This episode is more for the at least the 5th, maybe the 7th season. Not the 13th episodes of the first! Excusable 'cause they though this was it.
Anyway we open on a post apocalyptic scene with people speaking a almost a different language. Weird slang. This is like Firefly, diving into the deep end, and trying to understand, and no explanation when someone breaks into Chinese for no apparent reason.
And there's Penny from Dr. Horrible / Jr. Slayer Vi from Season 7 of Buffy. I saw the first episode of the guild, then decided it was good and I shouldn't watch it, lest It become another habit (see Whedon).
We don't open with the regular theme, just a title screen. We run credits after the first break.
It's 2019.
I think this actually works, so often they date things like 10 years in the future and make it so strikingly different without any good cause.
Demolition Man was the worst granted that movie wasn't really meant to be taken seriously, but still what was it like 40 years and everything is insanely different. It didn't seem enough time. Star Trek in the 60's also botched this (I think we're supposed to already have had the Eugenics Wars). Firefly got it right... 500 years being fairly removed. If you unleash mind wiping technology in such a way it's going to change things I can buy into this.
Skut Farkus (I always thought it was Scott Fargus) Zack Ward (imdb), Yep. That's him.
I don't know when I caught on, but I eventually got the drift... Echo's cell phone call in 1.4 was kinda huge in this regard, and that's what's happening on some level or another. Maybe it became clearer a minute or so after he shot the radio. He didn't just do that to be violent. It was a precaution.
and into the 'house. "We all love our own voices. That's why we're here, to keep our own voices."
The camera work, weak lighting, the slang, the disorientation -- this is an episode of Firefly!
天曉得・天晓得 "tyen-shiao duh"!
Butchers who can smell you ... kinda like mindless automatons == Reavers.
Though not quite like Firefly, also Chinese influence.
Is the same thing happening in China? global?
We splice in a scene from the original pilot. At this point I roll my eyes and think is this going to be like Star Trek where they cannibalized the original pilot: The Cage, to make the episodes The Menagerie part 1 & 2. Thankfully this was not the case."It's a brothel! You mean to tell me that the tech that punk-kicked that ass of mandkind was originally designed to create more believable hookers?!?"
Topher's first day. Everytime they do these, Boyd or whoever, I can't help, but wonder if they just uploaded them two seconds before.
So there was a Dollhouse, or at least a Dollhouse -- L.A. before Topher, unless he wiped and reprogrammed himself.
We see the chair beta version. Topher is a technological revolution, imprints used to take two hours. Dominic warns about sociological/political hubris.
The chair will use 'waves' like Firefly and Google (later this year).
Girl is killed for eagerness to strip and shower... that's not right.
I of course wasn't looking for it on first viewing 'cause I didn't know it was coming the first go 'round but whoever clubed shower-girl with the flash light was short enough to out of screen. I was thinking it was more a clubbing in the back of the head, and I thought if they filmed it that way they leave the possibility open (though very unlikely) that WHISKEY did it, being the only one unaccounted for at this point.
From pre 1.01 to post 1.12, Paul is apparently ECHO's handler. She can control her imprints at will slipping in and out of them like Ω:OMEGA. Paul knows her secret. I don't know if I like this.
Reminds me of Dark Angel (as well as pretty much every other girl centric Whedonesque series): Girl is pre-destined from humble/uncertain beginnings to become a messianic figure (a.k.a. Max, Buffy, River, etc.).
Boyd is leaving, to meet up with ECHO? Saunders give Boyd supplies to treat his injury. Boyd and Saunders are apparently closer?
WHISKEY is creepy. Apparently Boyd is taking his time.
"If you point at the freakin' chair I will end you." So this is an episode of Firefly!
The 'house now offers eternal life, as described in Haunting. This crosses a line with Adelle?
Creepy that he's taking VICTOR, but perhaps even creepier that he's copied.
"This is not what we set out to do." So what did you set out to do? Again I still favor the 'Jasmine' idea, or at least as the party-line.
Choose to side with the central 'house or go it alone.
In typical Whedon fashion (is it typical?), the innocent girl is the psychopath.
WHISKEY will program herself?!?
They bring back Dominic?!?! His part kicks ass too!
and we're apocalypsing! Dominic's using the slang. So Dominic was a 'good' guy? or just happened to be on the right side? The 'tech' did slip out the hands of the Rossum corporation. {shrugs}.
How do you let it slip if you can potentially control everyone and everything? Some skepticism on this point, though humans make mistakes.
Wikipedia: Caroline is now immune to imprinting
so she can't be imprinted? or she can control them?
The person or the imprint itself i.e. is that little girl immune at the end?
Apparently VICTOR is not the Rossum CEO? Then later not, leading us to believe they did not take the deal.
100,000,000 (counting up nine digits)... so hundreds of millions of dollar to get a new body. Wonder if it's cheaper because of inflation?
Also this is a metaphor for lots of inequality gripes? In many cases legitimately so ( , though in other cases... maybe not so much).
"You don't want to end up like NOVEMBER."
"Which one?"
This is sadistic. So something bad happened to the old, new, both NOVEMBERs.
SIERRA is Priya Tsesang. VICTOR and SIERRA aren't jumping on each other for some reason they broke up or ... ?
Skut wants to give the kid a gun. Which is prudent considering, assuming she's a kid and not a psychopath.
Oh -- duh! I didn't get it first time through.
Skut knew ... I thought the gun just jammed. It was never loaded. This is why he goes on to say the thing about the father's tattoo/birth-mark.
Who was the little girl supposed to be? Anyone we know? Adelle? SIERRA? (the accent and speech sound right for SIERRA, otherwise that doesn't quite make sense).
Wikipedia: Dollhouse has isolated itself. The actives have all been given their original personalities back.
Saunders doesn't have scars. Topher's crazy because he created the atom bomb, ended the world, used the pax, and created the reavers, etc. etc.
One robo-call to a city ... god I hope we're not referencing politics. Though cool idea otherwise.
Reavers... did or didn't lay down. Idle dolls vs. killers.
Again 'Jasmine' idea -- mass hypnosis wouldn't a TV/radio/broadcast work better? {shrugs} maybe it had to be specifically phone?
Topher doesn't remember/isn't certain about what he did or didn't do. First interpretation he went crazy. But maybe he wiped himself? or somehow disabled himself with the chair.
He asks Adelle if he figured out the army-doomsday scenario? It looks like she says something, but there's no caption. Adelle and Topher's relationship is different.
Caroline/ECHO breaks through the wall. Caroline/ECHO said she's happy the Dr. is back in the house. She didn't expect to see her after they fixed her face.
Saunders explanation for this is of course ... long story.
No one's been printed there ... we have α:ALPHA to thank for that. I'm assuming indirectly. My thought is the inability to be in printed is a side-effect of being overloaded the whole Ω:OMEGA thing. Or some other technology he develops to terrorize. Or it's not a mislead?!?
Caroline/ECHO & Paul's relationship has changed?
Caroline is copying herself so that people can find their way to Zion or wherever (I write having not seen the 2nd & 3rd Matrices -- Boyd's in at least one of those isn't he? {smirk})
Caroline threatens Adelle... and possibly shoots her.
I think not. In post apocalyptic land that's bad karma unless she's actually a threat (ditto pre apocalyptic).
Caroline doesn't seem as annoying and stupid, though in the conversation with Adelle she's trying.
... and we're back to the messianic little girl (Caroline as that the kid who tried to kill the resistance members)
I didn't get it the first time? She's waiting for Boyd? That's beautifully creepy.
Wikipedia:
However, Whedon feels that perhaps she is just putting them to sleep and will clean up and continue protecting the Dollhouse as always. If this is the case, it begs the interesting possibility that all the events of the episode have happened before or will again.
This an interesting addition to the Ghost story idea.
Oh! It's also a Zombie movie?
This thing's insane! It's crazy on all sort of levels.
"Kids playing with matches, ... and they burned house down."
Wikipedia:
A large collage of photos is assembled on the wall under the words "To Remember." Photos of Whiskey, Victor, Sierra, November, and Caroline are amongst them ... This could have several meanings: to remember one's real identity, to remember the fallen,...
"I hope we find me alive." {smirk & eye-roll} You gotta love that kinda craziness.
We don't know what those pictures are, a memorial or just funsies.
... and up the ladder we go ...
what?!? what's up? more fucked-up building?
Do we have a Terminator/Matrix style hovercraft? or something?
That would fit.
I like this new series. A little crazy, a little Firefly.
As long as you've got a little Firefly in there ...
If they could jump around the timeline like they did in this one that would make the series infinitely/impossibly challenging and inaccessible to new viewers, but it could still be cool then.
I'm sort of bummed. I was hoping for a bad guy, not a fuck up.
i.e. à la 1984 / Anthem / Brave New World / Terminator / Matrix.
Not we fucked up, but people have been reorganized to serve others' purposes. Like the core planets vs. the outer rim or something.
I wanted like a totalitarian regime with ultimate control.
Not a messy chaos.
The latter leaves the suggestion of:
"No everyone has 'good' intentions. They just get confused and arrogant."
That seems to be the Whedon way of things lately.
I felt similarly about the Reavers.
I wanted them to be intentional to keep people subservient to the regime, not venturing out to explore new territory, like a faux force of nature.
Then addendums can be made to both of these. The Reavers more easily. I can't think of many people who would specifically want to destroy civilization per se. Your crazier religious fanatics. Everyone would like to reshuffle to get a better deal... some do take it to the extreme of clearing the slate first.
Does this "it's just a fuck up" idea lend credence to collectivism? We just need to get the power in the hands of good people? or those who will respect it / forcibly regulate it?
Something about the line...
"Kids playing with matches, ... and they burned house down."
At first this is a good thing.
People shouldn't mess around with other peoples' will etc.
Societal/political hubris ... government?
Back to Mal's "I aim to misbehave speech."
I still have my beef with intended vs. unintended consequences, but all in all good I guess.
But there's something that really bugs me about it.
Perhaps 'cause it's a kid saying it. It just strikes me as something of an arrogance in itself, luddite or puritanical; a reduction. Almost representing another authority? like nature or god or something ... I guess kids who play burn down houses with matches conjures ideas of a negligent parent or caretaker, who is needed to restrain the rest of us people. In such arguments it's difficult to articulate what differentiates these magical caretakers from the rest of the ignorant children.
Not asserting anything against Whedon & co. or the narrative just saying...
While I'm usually all about commentary ... I feel 'Epitaph One' tells me too much already. Gonna let that go for a while (maybe when they get cancelled).
Wikipedia:
... reminding the audience that the episode is based on memories that may or may not be accurate.
So ... loophole?
Still ... how does that work?
I guess if/when Whedon wants to mess with this he could contradict it... by some event which conflicts with this story. I would do it soon. People who saw it would know (assuming they explain about the memories thing). But we'd still be headed toward apocalypse, which is kinda a huge spoiler. Unless you somehow want to contradict that. Can you?