So, Dollhouse.
When it opened, I couldn't help but think, "If I didn't know the premise going into this I would have been lost for quite a while. Granted, I think the general audience was supposed to think that (what turns out to be her) first character was her - and then have the shock of seeing her get into the chair and being wiped clean.
It picked up at the point they weren't trying to be sneaky and surprising in that way. There were issues the other way in the anvil department. There's the dropped of the heart necklace as she has her adrenaline junkie persona wiped. Need I say more? Then the juxtaposition of Tahmoh Penikett's character, Paul Ballard, getting his ass metaphorically chewed out while literally being pummeled in the boxing ring. It seemed very overdone for it's purpose, until the end where the two scenes diverged - in the office Paul appears to have accepted the limits he's been given, but then we see in the boxing scene that after her appears to have been KO'ed, he get's up and takes out his opponent. And I suppose if we're going to have premiere 'short hand', Tahmoh with his shirt off is not a bad way to go...
And they we got the laying of pipe about how these dolls aren't Mary Sues - that there's the bad with the good of imprinting these dolls. This is when Harry Lennix's character, Boyd Langdon (who is Echo's handler), quizzes Fran Kranz's character, Topher Brink, about Echo's glasses as Ellen. She really views the world in a near-sighted way, she has asthma, etc., because the memories with which she's implanted are amalgamation of real people's memories. So while she's a skilled negotiator, she also remembers another woman's memory of having been abducted as a child, sexually assaulted, and left for dead.
Topher, the geek scientist has edges that make him unlikable in a good way. He doesn't feel guilt about what they do. He's snarky with an edge of mean when talking with other real people, but to the dolls he is gentle in the way one is with children or pets - they'll do about anything you want if you use the right tone. The switching on and off of that adds to the creep factor.
Boyd as Echo's handler was the most sympathetic right after Echo. He's clearly conflicted about what is done to the dolls. He's the type of person who can't help but want to save an innocent child, who is protective of Echo... except he'll let her go for her treatments, knowing she's losing herself again.
Olivia Williams' character, Adelle DeWitt (the one in charge of the Dollhouse business) really reminded me of Gwendolyn Post, the Watcher gone bad. I half expected it to be the same actress. (It wasn't, but I still think I should make up Jossverse bingo cards for Dollhouse - be the first to connect five actors from previous Whedon projects who are now in Dollhouse...)
So far so good with Eliza playing various people - herself, the adrenaline junkie, the doll, and the negotiator. Her empty, innocent, nearly flat-affect doll persona is disturbing, as it should be. The end was an unusual juxtaposition of emotion as a viewer. Normally, there is something deeply satisfying about a character facing her worst fear (in this case her abductor and assaulter) and coming out the other side, of something that was broken, healing, and believing she'll be stronger going forward. In this situation, the original holder of the memories had since committed suicide and Echo's wiped clean. So instead of being satisfying, it's unsettling.
I agree with the other reviews I've seen that the dialogue doesn't have the snap or the humor one expects from a Joss project. The funniest moment in the premiere was Paul telling the mobster to wash his hands... and his shoes after holding a gun to his head while the mobster's at the urinal.
As has also been said, it's very Nikita-esque with a side of The Pretender. Which isn't a bad thing, but it's not it's own thing yet either.
It picked up at the point they weren't trying to be sneaky and surprising in that way. There were issues the other way in the anvil department. There's the dropped of the heart necklace as she has her adrenaline junkie persona wiped. Need I say more? Then the juxtaposition of Tahmoh Penikett's character, Paul Ballard, getting his ass metaphorically chewed out while literally being pummeled in the boxing ring. It seemed very overdone for it's purpose, until the end where the two scenes diverged - in the office Paul appears to have accepted the limits he's been given, but then we see in the boxing scene that after her appears to have been KO'ed, he get's up and takes out his opponent. And I suppose if we're going to have premiere 'short hand', Tahmoh with his shirt off is not a bad way to go...
And they we got the laying of pipe about how these dolls aren't Mary Sues - that there's the bad with the good of imprinting these dolls. This is when Harry Lennix's character, Boyd Langdon (who is Echo's handler), quizzes Fran Kranz's character, Topher Brink, about Echo's glasses as Ellen. She really views the world in a near-sighted way, she has asthma, etc., because the memories with which she's implanted are amalgamation of real people's memories. So while she's a skilled negotiator, she also remembers another woman's memory of having been abducted as a child, sexually assaulted, and left for dead.
Topher, the geek scientist has edges that make him unlikable in a good way. He doesn't feel guilt about what they do. He's snarky with an edge of mean when talking with other real people, but to the dolls he is gentle in the way one is with children or pets - they'll do about anything you want if you use the right tone. The switching on and off of that adds to the creep factor.
Boyd as Echo's handler was the most sympathetic right after Echo. He's clearly conflicted about what is done to the dolls. He's the type of person who can't help but want to save an innocent child, who is protective of Echo... except he'll let her go for her treatments, knowing she's losing herself again.
Olivia Williams' character, Adelle DeWitt (the one in charge of the Dollhouse business) really reminded me of Gwendolyn Post, the Watcher gone bad. I half expected it to be the same actress. (It wasn't, but I still think I should make up Jossverse bingo cards for Dollhouse - be the first to connect five actors from previous Whedon projects who are now in Dollhouse...)
So far so good with Eliza playing various people - herself, the adrenaline junkie, the doll, and the negotiator. Her empty, innocent, nearly flat-affect doll persona is disturbing, as it should be. The end was an unusual juxtaposition of emotion as a viewer. Normally, there is something deeply satisfying about a character facing her worst fear (in this case her abductor and assaulter) and coming out the other side, of something that was broken, healing, and believing she'll be stronger going forward. In this situation, the original holder of the memories had since committed suicide and Echo's wiped clean. So instead of being satisfying, it's unsettling.
I agree with the other reviews I've seen that the dialogue doesn't have the snap or the humor one expects from a Joss project. The funniest moment in the premiere was Paul telling the mobster to wash his hands... and his shoes after holding a gun to his head while the mobster's at the urinal.
As has also been said, it's very Nikita-esque with a side of The Pretender. Which isn't a bad thing, but it's not it's own thing yet either.