So the season premiere of Dollhouse...
... didn't really feel like any kind of premiere. Just, like, another normal episode but with more time elapsed since the last one. I'm not sure whether that's good or bad, it was just... unexpected. Then, the premiere last season didn't feel like one, either, so maybe that's a theme Joss is purposely going for.
I actually was just thinking about Adelle/Victor for the past couple days, so that little bit with her touching his face was nice (also YAY that he isn't going to stay scarred. I knew he wouldn't and it's nice to be proven right). Hopefully we'll see more of them - I loved finally seeing her personality behind the badass boss lady persona and it's nice to be reminded it's still hiding out in there somewhere.
Oh, and speaking of Adelle: eww the short hair! Okay, that sounds more superficial than I really mean. Yes, I think her longer hair from last season was prettier, but I think it was significant to her characterization, too. Sure, we see plenty of powerful female figures (of which she is certainly one) with shorter, manageable hairstyles or a simple bun or French twist. And often that image is enough for most people to know even before she opens her mouth to speak or takes any kind of action that this is a woman who takes her job seriously and is good at it. Don't mess with her, man. But Adelle was different; every episode her hair wasn't just done, but styled. Done up or down in waves, it was always classy, as was she. It hinted at the "softer" side of her personality that we saw during her engagement with Victor and had a humanizing effect on a character who would otherwise have been just another cardboard cutout. And the short hair now seems to diminish her to just that. Like all she is now is, "insert Strong Female here." It makes her seem like a whole different person: one too harassed by her job to have enough time to herself to do her hair, or one who doesn't want to look too feminine and thus "weak," or one who just can't be bothered, and none of those describe Adelle as I came to know her over the last season.
Also Ballard has gone completely off the deep end. I mean, he was always a little off to me, but at least he had a purpose and drive (however self-righteous and heavy-handed it might be), and now I really have no idea what's going on with him. What the heck was he even doing there if he wasn't (nor had any intention to become) Echo's handler? Why in the world would they let him use Echo for his own personal vendetta like that?
Oh, much love for Topher addressing him as "frenemy," though. Like that's his name or title. lol
Another big change from last season is, of course, Whiskey/Claire. That's something I never got. In last season's finale, I was confused about how she came to remember what had happened with Alpha, but was willing to go with it and looking forward to everyone else finding out that she remembers, and how they would deal with it, and I thought it would be spun out for longer and give the show a much-needed departure from Echo-focus. But apparently no one really reacted or did anything about it, everything is status quo, except she's going crazy with it and no one is doing anything about that, either. That seems like pretty sloppy writing, to me, and I know Joss is better than that, so I'm going to hold out for a bit more and wait for him to reveal his Master Plan. 'Cause it's Joss and I know he must have one.
One thing that hasn't changed from last season is the... I'll go ahead and say it ('cause it's my blog and I'll bitch if I want to) excessive focus on Echo. How have the powers that be not heard fandom clamoring for more of EVERYONE ELSE? The new opening credits seem even more Echo-centric, if that's possible. ...On second thought, no, maybe they're not. I had heard there was a new opening and got all hopeful so my perception is probably clouded by my disappointment. Is it a contractual thing or something? Since Eliza was involved in the show's creation, is she somehow "entitled" to a certain (high) percentage of the screen time? I know, I bitched about this last season, so I'll try not to too much this time (I would like not to have a reason to, of course). Maybe Joss is going for the slow approach, if you will. Keep it simple, keep it familiar, don't throw too many characters out at once and scare off the newbs. Huh, sounds like the beginning of last season. Again, maybe it's a theme?
Yeah, that's a lot of excuses and assumptions and willful optimism. Probably not what Joss was wanting his audience to take away tonight. I guess I was just expecting the second season to come in with a bang, you know? "TA DA, we're back!" and be a nice treat for the fans who've been chomping at the bit all these months. Not that Jamie Bamber in a tux wasn't a very nice treat indeed. UNF But anyway. I thought they would have fixed the little niggles from the first season and make the show as a whole that much better, especially since (it seemed) it came so close to not being renewed at all. And this premiere felt... merely more of the same.
So I think the fans will keep watching ('cause it's Joss and everything could change like *that*), and I'll keep watching, because I still think it's a fascinating premise with gobs of potential, but I don't think that anyone who wasn't already a fan will have been drawn in by tonight's episode.
EDIT: Oh, and in browsing through the episode discussion post on dollhouse_tv, I remembered exactly why the Echo/Eliza-centricism bothers me so much. One of the commenters there said, "I rarely feel like I'm watching completely different identities. She doesn't vary her mannerisms, the way she delivers lines or timing, her style of humor, and overall presence enough to make the assignments convincing as contrasting, individual personalities." There was a girl in my high school drama club who was a one-trick pony like this. Granted, she was good at it, so for the audience members and acting judges who only saw her once or a few times, I'm sure she seemed great (and was lauded accordingly). But to those of us who spent four whole years with her and therefore couldn't help but notice that every role she assumed was THE SAME CHARACTER, it was more than a little annoying to see her constantly praised. Especially since that meant none of us (girls, that is; boys were judged separately) ever stood a _chance_ of getting one of the acting awards. Until our senior year, when she went over time on her monologues by seven seconds and was disqualified - I now know exactly what schadenfreude feels like, heh. My dad commented during intermission that every female student in the room was suddenly looking much more hopeful.
So, it could just be me transferring an ancient grudge, but looking at the fandom it would seem I'm not the only one who's bothered, so maybe not. It makes me wonder if Enver, who was president of said drama club his senior year, our junior, is also reminded of her. But since he wasn't directly competing against her, and he even did his senior-year duet with her and took friggin' Ultimate Gold at Lenaea (huge drama festival at CSU Sacramento) for it, perhaps his memories of her aren't as negative as mine. ;)
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I actually was just thinking about Adelle/Victor for the past couple days, so that little bit with her touching his face was nice (also YAY that he isn't going to stay scarred. I knew he wouldn't and it's nice to be proven right). Hopefully we'll see more of them - I loved finally seeing her personality behind the badass boss lady persona and it's nice to be reminded it's still hiding out in there somewhere.
Oh, and speaking of Adelle: eww the short hair! Okay, that sounds more superficial than I really mean. Yes, I think her longer hair from last season was prettier, but I think it was significant to her characterization, too. Sure, we see plenty of powerful female figures (of which she is certainly one) with shorter, manageable hairstyles or a simple bun or French twist. And often that image is enough for most people to know even before she opens her mouth to speak or takes any kind of action that this is a woman who takes her job seriously and is good at it. Don't mess with her, man. But Adelle was different; every episode her hair wasn't just done, but styled. Done up or down in waves, it was always classy, as was she. It hinted at the "softer" side of her personality that we saw during her engagement with Victor and had a humanizing effect on a character who would otherwise have been just another cardboard cutout. And the short hair now seems to diminish her to just that. Like all she is now is, "insert Strong Female here." It makes her seem like a whole different person: one too harassed by her job to have enough time to herself to do her hair, or one who doesn't want to look too feminine and thus "weak," or one who just can't be bothered, and none of those describe Adelle as I came to know her over the last season.
Also Ballard has gone completely off the deep end. I mean, he was always a little off to me, but at least he had a purpose and drive (however self-righteous and heavy-handed it might be), and now I really have no idea what's going on with him. What the heck was he even doing there if he wasn't (nor had any intention to become) Echo's handler? Why in the world would they let him use Echo for his own personal vendetta like that?
Oh, much love for Topher addressing him as "frenemy," though. Like that's his name or title. lol
Another big change from last season is, of course, Whiskey/Claire. That's something I never got. In last season's finale, I was confused about how she came to remember what had happened with Alpha, but was willing to go with it and looking forward to everyone else finding out that she remembers, and how they would deal with it, and I thought it would be spun out for longer and give the show a much-needed departure from Echo-focus. But apparently no one really reacted or did anything about it, everything is status quo, except she's going crazy with it and no one is doing anything about that, either. That seems like pretty sloppy writing, to me, and I know Joss is better than that, so I'm going to hold out for a bit more and wait for him to reveal his Master Plan. 'Cause it's Joss and I know he must have one.
One thing that hasn't changed from last season is the... I'll go ahead and say it ('cause it's my blog and I'll bitch if I want to) excessive focus on Echo. How have the powers that be not heard fandom clamoring for more of EVERYONE ELSE? The new opening credits seem even more Echo-centric, if that's possible. ...On second thought, no, maybe they're not. I had heard there was a new opening and got all hopeful so my perception is probably clouded by my disappointment. Is it a contractual thing or something? Since Eliza was involved in the show's creation, is she somehow "entitled" to a certain (high) percentage of the screen time? I know, I bitched about this last season, so I'll try not to too much this time (I would like not to have a reason to, of course). Maybe Joss is going for the slow approach, if you will. Keep it simple, keep it familiar, don't throw too many characters out at once and scare off the newbs. Huh, sounds like the beginning of last season. Again, maybe it's a theme?
Yeah, that's a lot of excuses and assumptions and willful optimism. Probably not what Joss was wanting his audience to take away tonight. I guess I was just expecting the second season to come in with a bang, you know? "TA DA, we're back!" and be a nice treat for the fans who've been chomping at the bit all these months. Not that Jamie Bamber in a tux wasn't a very nice treat indeed. UNF But anyway. I thought they would have fixed the little niggles from the first season and make the show as a whole that much better, especially since (it seemed) it came so close to not being renewed at all. And this premiere felt... merely more of the same.
So I think the fans will keep watching ('cause it's Joss and everything could change like *that*), and I'll keep watching, because I still think it's a fascinating premise with gobs of potential, but I don't think that anyone who wasn't already a fan will have been drawn in by tonight's episode.
EDIT: Oh, and in browsing through the episode discussion post on dollhouse_tv, I remembered exactly why the Echo/Eliza-centricism bothers me so much. One of the commenters there said, "I rarely feel like I'm watching completely different identities. She doesn't vary her mannerisms, the way she delivers lines or timing, her style of humor, and overall presence enough to make the assignments convincing as contrasting, individual personalities." There was a girl in my high school drama club who was a one-trick pony like this. Granted, she was good at it, so for the audience members and acting judges who only saw her once or a few times, I'm sure she seemed great (and was lauded accordingly). But to those of us who spent four whole years with her and therefore couldn't help but notice that every role she assumed was THE SAME CHARACTER, it was more than a little annoying to see her constantly praised. Especially since that meant none of us (girls, that is; boys were judged separately) ever stood a _chance_ of getting one of the acting awards. Until our senior year, when she went over time on her monologues by seven seconds and was disqualified - I now know exactly what schadenfreude feels like, heh. My dad commented during intermission that every female student in the room was suddenly looking much more hopeful.
So, it could just be me transferring an ancient grudge, but looking at the fandom it would seem I'm not the only one who's bothered, so maybe not. It makes me wonder if Enver, who was president of said drama club his senior year, our junior, is also reminded of her. But since he wasn't directly competing against her, and he even did his senior-year duet with her and took friggin' Ultimate Gold at Lenaea (huge drama festival at CSU Sacramento) for it, perhaps his memories of her aren't as negative as mine. ;)
"Vows" on Hulu and Fox