Let's Get to Work
Dear Fox,
I get why you cancelled Dollhouse, I do. It wasn’t financially viable, you can’t force people to watch, it was a complicated/difficult premise…we’ve been down this road before (*cough*FireflyWonderfallsDriveTheInsideAndyRichterControlstheUniverseTheTick*cough*). But please don’t confuse my understanding for forgiveness. You still suck.
Dear Joss Whedon,
If I ever have a first born, it’s totally yours. Because you sir, are a frakken genius…as is the rest of your family appearently.
In other words: Spoilers under the cut.
- There comes a moment in every Whedon show where the hero gives the big rally speech and you know these characters that you’ve grown to love are going to put their lives on the line to stop the big bad. I love these moments, they’re always big and epic and they always feel earned, whether it’s Angel telling his gang that they’re going to tear Wolfram and Hart apart from the inside out or Malcolm Reynolds’ eloquent “They believe they can make people better and I do not hold to that” speech or Buffy Summers telling a room full of young women that they’re not powerless these moments are generally mission statements. They tell us something about the show and about the characters doing the speechifying.
Tonight Adelle gave us that speech for Dollhouse. Adelle. Because she had a plan. Oh, God. I just…she had a plan. That last scene with that beautiful reveal that the gang was all there and that Adelle frakken Dewitt was about to lead them into battle to take down Rossum? Made my night. Possibly my year.
-Speaking of Adelle, I’m beginning to think she’s my favorite Whedonverse character ever. Which feels like blasphemy because Oz! Mal! Anya! But she’s so complex and layered and fucked up and she’s not a hero, but she wants to be. And Olivia Williams plays her beautifully.
You could see her coming apart in the first episode, her anger at “Roger” and her attempts to drink herself into oblivion. But then she had that moment where she just stripped down and showered with the dolls and it was like she was waking up. Just breathtaking work.
- “That woman’s going to drag us to hell.”
Oh, Topher. The strain in their relationship has been killing me. When she confronted him about Nolan I think my heart stopped for a moment. Because his face! Just…man. Also his interactions with Ivy fill me with joy. Although I’m deeply afraid that she’s going to die before this is all over.
I also loved Boyd sharing his drink with him. They really are manfriends now.
- Kudos to John Cassidy. The direction in “The Attic” was stunning. It was so eerie and moody and hit my favorite narrative sweetspot---dreams. It was all so disturbing (especially Priya’s…*shudders*) and the poor guy who was forced to eat his own legs. Sometimes I think the Whedon brain might be a scary place to be.
I was totally looking for the cheese man.
-Dominic! On a completely shallow note: Reed Diamond looked super hot with the scruff. I loved the whole Echo/Dom dynamic. I wish he had come back with them though.
-There was a lot of mythology laid down in these two episodes. The people as computers, the collective mind…I’m not sure I processed it all. Definitely need a rewatch.
-Tony! I was a little iffy about some of the stuff in the first episode, but Enver was amazing as always. Plus, Priya/Tony is so damn epic it’s not even funny at this point. I love watching them together. And Priya telling Echo that’s she’s not the only magical/special/hero doll? Awesome.
-Loved Boyd’s indignation over Adelle taking Echo away. The Boyd/Echo relationship is like a really screwed up fun house version of Giles/Buffy.
-So they took Paul’s love for Echo away from him didn’t they? Can’t say I’m sorry about that considering how much that ship squicks me.
-Hyperion reference, FTW!
-Only three episodes left. *sobs* I don’t want it to end. :(