dollhouse finale
So...has the cancellation been confirmed yet, or is it still up in the air? Because that was a DAMN good episode, and I totally want to see how a second season would play out -- but at the same time, unlike with Firefly, I at least feel a good sense of closure here, if this is where it ends.
Random thoughts:
- I could watch Alan Tudyk as Alpha, in all his myriad personas, all fucking day. Dear GOD I love me some Tudyk. Also, as a follow-up to last week, ARMS, ngk.
- Nice acknowledgment of the sketchiness of the entire show's premise by Echo/Omega. I get the sense that the show is very self-aware of its own flaws, and that's what it's exploring. This has become a very meta show, and I kind of love that. It's all, look, we've got some incredibly skeevy gender/sex/societal issues, and we can't solve them, so let's explore the ramifications of that. Which is a bit like brain!porn for those of us so academically inclined.
- ...and back on a completely superficial note, OMG what will happen to Victor now that he's all unpretty?
- LOVE Saunders as Whiskey. I almost missed the reveal of that in the last episode until someone else's review pointed it out, and I love the way it played out. "I know who I am." Oh, man, that could provide so much interesting fodder for a second season.
- Also love that Topher programmed her hatred of him into the Saunders imprint. He's kind of annoying on the surface, but I think there are a lot of unexplored layers to that character that we're starting to see glimpses of -- his moral ambiguity, the love of the technical aspects of his job combined with repressed abject disgust at what, in reality, he's doing to these people. There's a lot of self-loathing there, and probably justified. His last moments with Echo in this episode really got to me. I'm not sure if the actor himself is good enough to pull it off, but I'd be interested in seeing him try, at least.
- BALLARD SAVED MELLIE/NOVEMBER/MADELINE. I totally called that about two seconds before it was revealed, and I'm SO glad. He owed her big time.
- So now Ballard, like Langton, is working for the Dollhouse. I like watching those two together. I'd be very interested to see where this takes Ballard in the second season.
- And of course Alpha gets away. Thank god. You don't kill off a character like Alpha. He's far too interesting.
- I like Omega -- which is pretty much the first good thing I've ever been able to say about Eliza Dushku. More Omega, please, and less Caroline.
- Not nearly enough Victor in this episode. The one major flaw, in my opinion. Well, that, and the climax sort of fizzled once Alpha started inexplicably running away. But I'll let it pass, given how much I enjoyed just about everything else.
So! That turned out to be a pretty damn interesting series, despite the crapness of the first five episodes. I would love for it to be renewed, because I think it has potential for greatness, now that it's found its footing. (Much like many TV series - X-Files comes most prominently to mind - you NEED more than one season to really find a show's voice.) But if, as expected, it gets the axe, I'm relatively satisfied with where it left us. We'll see.
One thing, though: Enver Gjokaj's acting career has been totally MADE by this show. Even if Dollhouse is cancelled, I get the feeling he's going to be snapped up by another show DAMN fast. He's attractive, he's appealing, and he can act rings around everyone else. He's going to be the next big TV star to watch, I think (hope).