Dollhouse 1x02 thoughts
As may be guessed from the fact that I couldn't be bothered to watch the second episode until Monday night, the pilot did not impress me very much. That said, this episode was a big improvement.
I think my major problem with the show is that I just don't care about the Client Of The Week. I find the whole background story of the Dollhouse, its Dolls and the way it operates much more fascinating. Unlike early Buffy, I find the various storylines take me away from what I want to see and learn more about. Some of this distaste may be due to my disliking of the major premise, but I suspect from things set up in this episode that we may not have this status quo as long as we think we will.
So no surprises then when I tell you that I loved all the flashback scenes this week. Alpha's breakout, the deaths of what I assume to be B, C and D (Baker, Charlie, Delta?) and the mystery of why Echo survived. Still want back story on just what Echo's handler did to end up with the House, but loved his first day in the office and the bonding procedure between him and Echo. Really nice to hear that Alpha had a composite event, which opens up the door to solving one of my main problems with the concept : that Echo is too Tasbula Rasa, and needed a regular set of personalities for us to learn to recognize. Hopefully that problem can be side-stepped by Echo and her inevictable composite event.
Of course, the whole Doll concept leaves us open to hidden Dolls already being shown in the story. Certainly Victor the Russian mobster seems obvious and possibly what the Dollhouse boss refered to when she said Agent Ballard was being taken care of. Though I strongly suspect Ballard's too-good-to-be-true neighbour is to good to be true and Mellie is also a Doll. The other main suspect I have to be a hidden Doll is the Doctor; we never saw her before Alpha's rampage and her scars do resemble the knife marks on the other attacked Dolls. If the Doctor hadn't survived the attack but had information the Dollhouse needed, I can can see them somehow copying the Doc's brain into a Doll to keep them around. Last possibility might be that the lady in charge could be using a Doll to run the place, while staying in the shadows.
I think my major problem with the show is that I just don't care about the Client Of The Week. I find the whole background story of the Dollhouse, its Dolls and the way it operates much more fascinating. Unlike early Buffy, I find the various storylines take me away from what I want to see and learn more about. Some of this distaste may be due to my disliking of the major premise, but I suspect from things set up in this episode that we may not have this status quo as long as we think we will.
So no surprises then when I tell you that I loved all the flashback scenes this week. Alpha's breakout, the deaths of what I assume to be B, C and D (Baker, Charlie, Delta?) and the mystery of why Echo survived. Still want back story on just what Echo's handler did to end up with the House, but loved his first day in the office and the bonding procedure between him and Echo. Really nice to hear that Alpha had a composite event, which opens up the door to solving one of my main problems with the concept : that Echo is too Tasbula Rasa, and needed a regular set of personalities for us to learn to recognize. Hopefully that problem can be side-stepped by Echo and her inevictable composite event.
Of course, the whole Doll concept leaves us open to hidden Dolls already being shown in the story. Certainly Victor the Russian mobster seems obvious and possibly what the Dollhouse boss refered to when she said Agent Ballard was being taken care of. Though I strongly suspect Ballard's too-good-to-be-true neighbour is to good to be true and Mellie is also a Doll. The other main suspect I have to be a hidden Doll is the Doctor; we never saw her before Alpha's rampage and her scars do resemble the knife marks on the other attacked Dolls. If the Doctor hadn't survived the attack but had information the Dollhouse needed, I can can see them somehow copying the Doc's brain into a Doll to keep them around. Last possibility might be that the lady in charge could be using a Doll to run the place, while staying in the shadows.