Purgatorium Sancti Jossii
Watching yesterday's episode of Dollhouse, "Belonging", I kept thinking:
- the actors are great but Enver is fabulous. How cute Victor is!!!!
- where's Tahmoh? Do handlers get a day off when their dolls don't have any engagement?
- if Joss Whedon is not God, he is really an unconscious Catholic! Well, sort of.
Because now we know that, no matter how paradise-like the place may look and how painful the engagement may turn, the dollhouse is neither Heaven nor Hell, it's just a Purgatory. Yes, after the palimpsest on Chaucer's tales, now the show plays on Dante's territory. Once and again, it's all about the journey.
Adelle stated it last night. The people who belonged to the Dollhouse- who were "chosen"- had their morals compromised in one way or another(which makes you wonder about Boyd's past), something we could already have guessed from Paul's journey. The actives and the Dollhouse staff were in the same boat, so to speak. There was no chance, they are all there for a reason.
Sierra's storyline told in "Belonging" was quite touching and horrible because Pryia was a bird, or an angel, a "free spirit", and she wasn't supposed to be in the dollhouse, she didn't belong there, she didn't choose to go there...until Topher gave her the apple woke her up and then she sinned in the worst way, and had no longer choice than to atone for her crime, being brain-washed back into Sierra's skin...The once "freen spirit" has been boxed up again.
T
opher's storyline turns out to be quite interesting too. According to Adelle, he was chosen because he had no morals at all; in a way he didn't realy belong to the Dollhouse either, or at least not the way the other did, he was God's fool and tool, a little demon whose devislish skills were necessary to create the perfect illusion.
In the XIIth Century the notion of a place called "Purgatorium" slowly came out, even though it didn't become a Catholic dogma before the Council of Trente. One of the first uses of the word "purgatorium" occured in letters between benedictine monks but the term spread out with Henry of Saltrey's book, Purgatorium Sancti Patricii, a story that told the journey of an Irish knight named Owen. His quest(actually a pilgrimage) turns out to be an ordeal to save human souls. St Patrick asked God to open a path towards the Beyond in order to convert the Irish people, who at the time were refusing to believe in Heaven and Hell. The ordeal consisted in going down to the Purgatory during the night, undergoing pains and temptations made up by demons in order to get a foretaste of Hell (after all "did I fall asleep?" is the ritual question the dolls ask, and Pryia said that her time as a doll was a "nightmare" which is what Purgatory is in Saltrey's story, abad dream that is supposed to convert people).
Basically that purgatory was a place for torture(and what else is Topher's chair?) and temptations (like Mrs Lonely Heart aka Adelle's indiscretion...), filled with tormented people, but wherein the pain was downplayed compared to "real Hell" and wherein the journey-goer was also told that there's a way out (the kingdom of heaven) provided he/she had faith in Jesus, so he/she would be impressed and scared and, at dawn, he/she would go back to the world to live a sinless life.
Because it wasn't about possible punishment, the purpose of the place was also, and above all, to show that there was hope, that even the tormented people in there knew that they would go out, that a kingdom of heaven was waiting for them, which made things somewhat bearable. Those dead were even seen praying for the salvation of the living...which makes me think of Paul Ballard of course and how he did pray the powers That Be, or made a deal, for Madeline's sake. In Saltrey's story, Owen makes his way back through the Purgatory, after he's been showed the gate of Heaven, encountering no trouble, and goes out of the well on Station Island. From there he lives a pious life.
I don't think that Joss has ever been interesting in telling the story of one living a pious life, and his versions of Hell have always been plot devices more than anythting else, but he keeps telling stories of people struggling their way through a lot, possibly redeeming themselves in the process, no matter how low they once sunk or the bad things they might have done. He likes making up purgatories for his characters.
Angel was the first obvious example. Angel was a vampire cursed with a soul, so he was bearing his own private purgatory inside of him; the soul of a dead man being tormented and tempted which feels like Hell, except that it isn't Hell. Angel was supposed to suffer, alone in his basement apartment, to purge his numerous sins; no heaven for him...no happiness, but one moment of happiness("Innocence") would lead him to "real Hell" eventually("Becoming Part II"). No wonder Liam was Irish! On Ats Angel's journey was even more Purgatory-like, there were new temptations, new pains, and there was the Shanshu prophecy, that hope that even the tormented dead could cling to.
So the Purgatory, invented in the Middle Ages, has always been both a sort of "preview from Hell" and a path of redemption, a place of pain and a place of cleansing. In Dante's Divine Comedy, the Purgatory is a Mount that leads to Heaven, which isn't a bad metaphor either. If you ever climb mountains you know how tough and purgative it can be! On Ats Angel's location was higher than on BTVS, whether it was his hotel or Wolfram&Hart building.
It's interesting to see that the Dollhouse mixes the metaphors, it's both underground and connected to a high building. Those who think they are in charge, who think they have power, live upstairs while the dolls sleep underground, in coffin-like beds. They are all in purgatory though. The "real Hell" might be the attic that, of course, we'll never see.
On BTVS Spike's storyline was the epitome of the redemption journey, from Scourge of Europe to slayer of Slayers to gallant knight (making promise to a lady)to tormented lover to soul-winner to hero; Sunnydale with its Slayer, its Initiative, its chip, its Glorificus goddess and its First evil, was his little purgatory. All the characters actually tasted the same medicine at one moment or another, but Spike's journey was the most flamboyant. Funnily enough it ended in a pit...before it continued on Ats.
It's less epic and poetic on Dollhouse, but Topher is becoming a new example of the redemption road. Thanks to "Epitath" we know he will lose his mind in the process which recalls Spike's madness at the beginning of BTVS season 7. Topher had no morals to begin with but has been growing a conscience since a little while. He keeps making mistakes though and has to face the consequences of his actions. Sometimes the purgatory is paved with good intentions. He meant to help Pryia both times, at least the second time for sure. Spike already knew about consequences in season 6 (he warned Willow about it), so I think that Spike was ahead in terms of moral development. Once upon a time he used to be sweet William and something has stuck, and perhaps he learnt an essential lesson, during his first vampire hours, when he turned his mother.
So "belonging" was moving but has also depth, and I really liked the parallel between Pryia, the fallen angel, and Topher the reformed sociopath. It seems that while she's sinking, he's going the opposite road. They first "met" in a mental institution, as she was a patient, but he is the one who will become insane eventually. Now they have reached a meeting point in which they are both in the purgatory. As Pryia said, once sane again she killed a man which brought her back to the dollhouse. The forces of Fate were at work.
By the way a certain state of insanity that goes with crazy talk is a recurring motive in Joss work (Drusilla of course, but also River Tam in Firefly/Serenity, Buffy in "Normal Again", Spike in season 7) and always seems to be a cathartic experience, an ordeal, or connected to something pure or enlightening. Is losing one's mind a form of salvation in the Jossverse, or at least a redeeming feature? Here I can't help thinking of Jesus' word about the simple-minded and the kingdom of heaven.
Anyway Topher was heartbreaking in "Belonging". I also loved Boyd, how cold-blooded and professional he was, something between a fierce archangel and a demon with hellish tools. His character is becoming more and more intriguing. Adelle was more ambiguous than ever, in her relationship with Topher, and above all in the last scene when she was on the phone with Boyd. By the way I loved how Adelle's touching Topher's shoulder foreshadowed the way she would care of his broken self in the future.
Dichen was perfect in the episode telling the tragic destiny of Pryia, especially in the scene when she sat down in Topher's chair, still Pryia and still crying, closed her eyes...and held her head up very few seconds later as Sierra, her cheek still wet but her expression so pain-less and doll-like. Great performance there. The complete transformation added in contrast to the anguish on Topher's face. More than ever he seemed to realise what he was doing. She was on the chair but he was the one undergoing torture there. Like in Saltrey's tale, purgatory was painful but was not the same as hell because there was hope, something Pryia guessed when she saw Victor and recognized him as the man whom she loved. And Topher strengthened that hope saying that it was real, a true love this time(unless the fantasy love he had built for Nolan, and that she had felt as an Active), something pure and genuine; Topher assured her that she did love this Victor guy and he loved her back.
Enver shone in every little scene he was, either as the Italian guy whom Pryia met ( "After my treatment, I'll find you" he prophetically said) or as sweet concerned Victor picking up the colours that Sierra didn't like ("there are in my shirt" is a line that nobody else could deliver that way!) or as playful Victor in the shower suddenly having a flashback from his military past. I can't wait to see the Victor-centric episode that will focus on his background story.
The guest-stars were good. Keith Carradine's character gave me the chills. I can't believe we're going to wait until December now. Grrrrr...I want more! And I don't want Dollhouse to end too soon.
So yes I think that there's a Catholic in Joss Whedon, or rather I think that Joss Whedon is part Catholic part Greek, for he also knows how purgative a tragedy is supposed to be, according to Aristotle. The tale must purge the audience from its passion. He gives us what we need. Perhaps he's a bit more Catholic than he is Greek, for in spite of the pain, the horrible things and the grey material, there's always hope, purity and love in his work. It was the ending message of Serenity, and it was the ending message of the episode with the last picture showing Victor and Sierra sleeping together, like the promise of a possible Earthly paradise.
I also believe that Joss keeps giving to himself the same medicine he makes us undergo; he entered his own tv Purgatory by dealing with Fox again, instead of taking the shiny road of the cable network. Perhaps it's bearable because there's hope still in the Internet, where the Paradise(and the awards if Dr Horrible is any indication) might lie.
- the actors are great but Enver is fabulous. How cute Victor is!!!!
- where's Tahmoh? Do handlers get a day off when their dolls don't have any engagement?
- if Joss Whedon is not God, he is really an unconscious Catholic! Well, sort of.
Because now we know that, no matter how paradise-like the place may look and how painful the engagement may turn, the dollhouse is neither Heaven nor Hell, it's just a Purgatory. Yes, after the palimpsest on Chaucer's tales, now the show plays on Dante's territory. Once and again, it's all about the journey.
Adelle stated it last night. The people who belonged to the Dollhouse- who were "chosen"- had their morals compromised in one way or another(which makes you wonder about Boyd's past), something we could already have guessed from Paul's journey. The actives and the Dollhouse staff were in the same boat, so to speak. There was no chance, they are all there for a reason.
Sierra's storyline told in "Belonging" was quite touching and horrible because Pryia was a bird, or an angel, a "free spirit", and she wasn't supposed to be in the dollhouse, she didn't belong there, she didn't choose to go there...until Topher gave her the apple woke her up and then she sinned in the worst way, and had no longer choice than to atone for her crime, being brain-washed back into Sierra's skin...The once "freen spirit" has been boxed up again.
T
opher's storyline turns out to be quite interesting too. According to Adelle, he was chosen because he had no morals at all; in a way he didn't realy belong to the Dollhouse either, or at least not the way the other did, he was God's fool and tool, a little demon whose devislish skills were necessary to create the perfect illusion.
In the XIIth Century the notion of a place called "Purgatorium" slowly came out, even though it didn't become a Catholic dogma before the Council of Trente. One of the first uses of the word "purgatorium" occured in letters between benedictine monks but the term spread out with Henry of Saltrey's book, Purgatorium Sancti Patricii, a story that told the journey of an Irish knight named Owen. His quest(actually a pilgrimage) turns out to be an ordeal to save human souls. St Patrick asked God to open a path towards the Beyond in order to convert the Irish people, who at the time were refusing to believe in Heaven and Hell. The ordeal consisted in going down to the Purgatory during the night, undergoing pains and temptations made up by demons in order to get a foretaste of Hell (after all "did I fall asleep?" is the ritual question the dolls ask, and Pryia said that her time as a doll was a "nightmare" which is what Purgatory is in Saltrey's story, abad dream that is supposed to convert people).
Basically that purgatory was a place for torture(and what else is Topher's chair?) and temptations (like Mrs Lonely Heart aka Adelle's indiscretion...), filled with tormented people, but wherein the pain was downplayed compared to "real Hell" and wherein the journey-goer was also told that there's a way out (the kingdom of heaven) provided he/she had faith in Jesus, so he/she would be impressed and scared and, at dawn, he/she would go back to the world to live a sinless life.
Because it wasn't about possible punishment, the purpose of the place was also, and above all, to show that there was hope, that even the tormented people in there knew that they would go out, that a kingdom of heaven was waiting for them, which made things somewhat bearable. Those dead were even seen praying for the salvation of the living...which makes me think of Paul Ballard of course and how he did pray the powers That Be, or made a deal, for Madeline's sake. In Saltrey's story, Owen makes his way back through the Purgatory, after he's been showed the gate of Heaven, encountering no trouble, and goes out of the well on Station Island. From there he lives a pious life.
I don't think that Joss has ever been interesting in telling the story of one living a pious life, and his versions of Hell have always been plot devices more than anythting else, but he keeps telling stories of people struggling their way through a lot, possibly redeeming themselves in the process, no matter how low they once sunk or the bad things they might have done. He likes making up purgatories for his characters.
Angel was the first obvious example. Angel was a vampire cursed with a soul, so he was bearing his own private purgatory inside of him; the soul of a dead man being tormented and tempted which feels like Hell, except that it isn't Hell. Angel was supposed to suffer, alone in his basement apartment, to purge his numerous sins; no heaven for him...no happiness, but one moment of happiness("Innocence") would lead him to "real Hell" eventually("Becoming Part II"). No wonder Liam was Irish! On Ats Angel's journey was even more Purgatory-like, there were new temptations, new pains, and there was the Shanshu prophecy, that hope that even the tormented dead could cling to.
So the Purgatory, invented in the Middle Ages, has always been both a sort of "preview from Hell" and a path of redemption, a place of pain and a place of cleansing. In Dante's Divine Comedy, the Purgatory is a Mount that leads to Heaven, which isn't a bad metaphor either. If you ever climb mountains you know how tough and purgative it can be! On Ats Angel's location was higher than on BTVS, whether it was his hotel or Wolfram&Hart building.
It's interesting to see that the Dollhouse mixes the metaphors, it's both underground and connected to a high building. Those who think they are in charge, who think they have power, live upstairs while the dolls sleep underground, in coffin-like beds. They are all in purgatory though. The "real Hell" might be the attic that, of course, we'll never see.
On BTVS Spike's storyline was the epitome of the redemption journey, from Scourge of Europe to slayer of Slayers to gallant knight (making promise to a lady)to tormented lover to soul-winner to hero; Sunnydale with its Slayer, its Initiative, its chip, its Glorificus goddess and its First evil, was his little purgatory. All the characters actually tasted the same medicine at one moment or another, but Spike's journey was the most flamboyant. Funnily enough it ended in a pit...before it continued on Ats.
It's less epic and poetic on Dollhouse, but Topher is becoming a new example of the redemption road. Thanks to "Epitath" we know he will lose his mind in the process which recalls Spike's madness at the beginning of BTVS season 7. Topher had no morals to begin with but has been growing a conscience since a little while. He keeps making mistakes though and has to face the consequences of his actions. Sometimes the purgatory is paved with good intentions. He meant to help Pryia both times, at least the second time for sure. Spike already knew about consequences in season 6 (he warned Willow about it), so I think that Spike was ahead in terms of moral development. Once upon a time he used to be sweet William and something has stuck, and perhaps he learnt an essential lesson, during his first vampire hours, when he turned his mother.
So "belonging" was moving but has also depth, and I really liked the parallel between Pryia, the fallen angel, and Topher the reformed sociopath. It seems that while she's sinking, he's going the opposite road. They first "met" in a mental institution, as she was a patient, but he is the one who will become insane eventually. Now they have reached a meeting point in which they are both in the purgatory. As Pryia said, once sane again she killed a man which brought her back to the dollhouse. The forces of Fate were at work.
By the way a certain state of insanity that goes with crazy talk is a recurring motive in Joss work (Drusilla of course, but also River Tam in Firefly/Serenity, Buffy in "Normal Again", Spike in season 7) and always seems to be a cathartic experience, an ordeal, or connected to something pure or enlightening. Is losing one's mind a form of salvation in the Jossverse, or at least a redeeming feature? Here I can't help thinking of Jesus' word about the simple-minded and the kingdom of heaven.
Anyway Topher was heartbreaking in "Belonging". I also loved Boyd, how cold-blooded and professional he was, something between a fierce archangel and a demon with hellish tools. His character is becoming more and more intriguing. Adelle was more ambiguous than ever, in her relationship with Topher, and above all in the last scene when she was on the phone with Boyd. By the way I loved how Adelle's touching Topher's shoulder foreshadowed the way she would care of his broken self in the future.
Dichen was perfect in the episode telling the tragic destiny of Pryia, especially in the scene when she sat down in Topher's chair, still Pryia and still crying, closed her eyes...and held her head up very few seconds later as Sierra, her cheek still wet but her expression so pain-less and doll-like. Great performance there. The complete transformation added in contrast to the anguish on Topher's face. More than ever he seemed to realise what he was doing. She was on the chair but he was the one undergoing torture there. Like in Saltrey's tale, purgatory was painful but was not the same as hell because there was hope, something Pryia guessed when she saw Victor and recognized him as the man whom she loved. And Topher strengthened that hope saying that it was real, a true love this time(unless the fantasy love he had built for Nolan, and that she had felt as an Active), something pure and genuine; Topher assured her that she did love this Victor guy and he loved her back.
Enver shone in every little scene he was, either as the Italian guy whom Pryia met ( "After my treatment, I'll find you" he prophetically said) or as sweet concerned Victor picking up the colours that Sierra didn't like ("there are in my shirt" is a line that nobody else could deliver that way!) or as playful Victor in the shower suddenly having a flashback from his military past. I can't wait to see the Victor-centric episode that will focus on his background story.
The guest-stars were good. Keith Carradine's character gave me the chills. I can't believe we're going to wait until December now. Grrrrr...I want more! And I don't want Dollhouse to end too soon.
So yes I think that there's a Catholic in Joss Whedon, or rather I think that Joss Whedon is part Catholic part Greek, for he also knows how purgative a tragedy is supposed to be, according to Aristotle. The tale must purge the audience from its passion. He gives us what we need. Perhaps he's a bit more Catholic than he is Greek, for in spite of the pain, the horrible things and the grey material, there's always hope, purity and love in his work. It was the ending message of Serenity, and it was the ending message of the episode with the last picture showing Victor and Sierra sleeping together, like the promise of a possible Earthly paradise.
I also believe that Joss keeps giving to himself the same medicine he makes us undergo; he entered his own tv Purgatory by dealing with Fox again, instead of taking the shiny road of the cable network. Perhaps it's bearable because there's hope still in the Internet, where the Paradise(and the awards if Dr Horrible is any indication) might lie.