So, Dollhouse...

[helle_d]

A list of slightly incoherent and disordered things that are in my brain after watching the first twelve episodes of Dollhouse.



Ai, just as I was finishing this, frith_in_thorns told me that I had missed out an episode; because the third disc finished with Omega I assumed it was the last of the series! So I haven't actually seen the finale yet. Sorry! (DON'TSPOILME) So here are my thoughts up to Episode 12!

• DollhouseDollhouseDollhouse! I liked watching Season 1 a lot; it fit nicely into the slot in my mind where I watch television without engaging too much brain power or empathy. (That sounds a terribly back-handed compliment, but it isn’t meant to be! I _like_ not having to engage myself fully with something, it makes it harder to commit to)
• Things I liked: ADELE ADELE ADELE, evil queen of my heart.  C’mon, my susceptibility to charming an evil ladies (Um. In fiction. If that wasn’t clear.) is LARGE, but Adele also has a particular awesomeness all of her own.
• The Monster of the Week episodes - I actually thought that was a fairly neat way to play with the different possibilities of the Dollhouse, I could have happily watched a slower-building series of that, with more examination of Echo’s mental state and difference from the other Dolls. Because I _liked_ watching Echo be interesting, and the ways her different personas solved problems. In a way, I would have liked that to go further - I was half disappointed with the way her blind Imprint in the cult episode took charge; her approach was very similar to Echo’s other Imprints and it would have been nice to see her acting differently. Though of course in that crisis situation, nothing less than a very assertive command style would have carried the day, so I guess it had to be like that?
• I still find Topher the least sympathetic and most morally horrific of the main Dollhouse staff, even though objectively none of them _are_ any better than him, except possibly Dr Saunders, post-finale, since she has never had a choice in aligning herself with the Dollhouse. But Adele is so clear-sighted, and Boyd is loyal and smart and brave, so I give them more latitude for Fucked-Up Shit. Don’t get me wrong, I like _watching_ Topher, but I am rooting for him least of all of them. (I do admire his commitment to junk food though!)
• All of the interactions between him and Adele in ‘Echoes’ were, however, glorious.

DeWitt: Are you making any progress?

Topher: I'm working! What are you doing, besides ... being ...

DeWitt: Being what?

Topher: Wait a minute.

DeWitt: Sarcastic? Unfeeling? British?

Topher: It's an animal.

DeWitt: Where?

Topher: No! The word!

DeWitt: Still you have to admit I am very British. I don't say hard ... 'Rs'

Topher: You know what I like? Brown Sauce? What's it made of? Science doesn't know!

DeWitt: It's made of brown.

Topher: Brown...mined from the earth by the hard scrabble brown miners of north Brownderton!

DeWitt: Oh my god, I find lentils completely incomprehensible.

• Like many of the concepts, I loved the idea of the Alpha plot, but, once we finally met him in ‘Omega’, I would have liked him to be .... more formidable? You can hardly blame him for the Crazy, with all of that going through his head, but it would have been more awesome to see him as a competent and highly-functional crazed killer, rather than just a scary mess.
• Ep04, ‘Grey Hour’ was my very favourite I think, for the diversity of things it got to show. Yay heists! And yay Echo! Ep07 comes a close second, for the Caroline backstory and the Everyone on Drugs. And all the episodes! I genuinely did enjoy them all, particularly the later ones, very much. Only slight except might be ‘The Target’; I did like the Boyd/Echo moments a lot but girl-gets-chased-by-killer is not my favourite plot in the world.
• Dr Saunders/Whiskey, why hello you suddenly incredibly interesting character! Let’s talk more!
• Sierra still doesn’t engage me much, but she’s growing on me. Oh, heartbreaking backstory of heartbreaking, I do however want to hug her a lot.
• I adore all and any Adelle/Echo-or-Caroline interactions with burning passion. I love how fascinated Adelle is with her protégée

Quotes:

• Boyd: We're pimps and killers, but in a philanthropic way.

• Boyd: Eternal life. DeWitt: Nice adjective. Excellent noun. Is there more?

• Paul: So this is it. This is where you steal their souls. Topher: Yeah, and then we put them in a glass jar next to our fireflies. Why is there a tall, morally judgmental man in my imprint room besides him? [Boyd]

• Whiskey/ Dr Saunders: But why did you decide it was so important for me to hate you?

• Topher And of course it doesn't tell you anything. It doesn't tell me anything, and I'm smarter than everyone in this room! (points at Adelle) But less scary.

• Dominic: (about the Actives) Don't think of them as children, think of them as pets.
  Dr Saunders: Is that supposed to be funny?
  Dominic: If your child starts talking for the first time, you feel proud. If your dog does, you freak the hell out.