favorite awesome lady arc

[pocochina]

 Spoilers for all of Dollhouse, including Epitaph era.

Comments

[ceciliaj]

In one of the most bizarre twists even of Dollhouse, which if you are reading this you know is saying something, is when “Katherine” bemoans to Roger!Victor her qualms about her job, couched in fear of social disapproval, so Victor can give her the reassurance she has had him programmed to give. It’s fairly commonly hypothesized that Adelle herself is a survivor of sexual violence, capable of rationalizing and minimizing the things she does in large part because of her massive crackdowns on the transgressors who cross what she sees as the line of consent.

That last sentence makes my heart hurt. You are so right.

[pocochina]

Dollhouse is a giver of many thought-headaches, I find.

Yeah, I mean, we all sympathize with her disgust at Hearn and Nolan, and I very much believe it's genuine, but she really does strike me as someone who's personally invested in that policing role as well, if that makes sense. It's not about just eliminating them. She's not entirely thrilled with Boyd's Captain Save-a-Ho antics in MotS, but she smothers her discomfort with it because Sierra is what's important there; she gives him that bonus so she can have been part of it. It's this very deliberately constructed (artistic both times, even; one time it's a painting, one time it "did not lack for poetry") victim-fights-back scenario which she is very invested in.

[pocochina]

ADELLE IS SUCH A BADASS. She might have the best redemption arc after Spike in the whole ME opus.

[pocochina]

Not so many as I'd like, unfortunately. It's worth a look through the archives at rossum-report for things that have been written since the show was canceled.

The comprehensive post on Adelle as an abuse survivor is here.

There's a great post on the Dollhouse as a metaphor for rape culture, written just after S1 but I think it holds up for the whole series.

And a long old review of MotS that looks at Dollhouse in the context of fairy tale tropes.

[angearia]

YES. LOVE ADELLE. GREAT META.

she has to walk up into the wipe-wave and give up her own memories and lessons learned

But of her own volition, right? The way you set this up made me wonder if Adelle got mindwiped too and that felt weird 'cause I thought Topher's wipe-wave was again about Doll architecture. Eep, I just woke up. This is no doubt a stupid ramble.

[angearia]

Also, have you read penny_lane_42's Dollhouse fic? Or, YE GODS, dollsome's DeWitt/Dominic fic?

[pocochina]

I HAVE NOT. thank you!

[angearia]

ONLY THE BEST FOR YOU THEN

[vamp_mogs]

That was great! I love Adelle so much and I think the show was worth it for just her alone. Olivia Williams is just amazing and one of the finest actors to ever grace a Whedon show.

[pocochina]

Thank you!

Olivia Williams is so talented. So talented. Just phenomenal.

[ever_neutral]

ALSJDSLFJSD;

THIS POST IS MAGNIFICENT. ADELLE DEWITT IS MAGNIFICENT. MAGNIFICENT WOMAN.

AND THEN SHE AND DOMINIC MADE EVERYTHING BETTER AND MOVED TO SICILY AND WERE ALL SNARKY AND HAPPY FOREVER WITH ONLY MINIMAL GUNPLAY THE END.

Don't make me cry.

[pocochina]

Magnificent. That is exactly what she is.

TEARS OF JOY BECAUSE THAT IS OBVIOUSLY WHAT HAPPENED.