Whose Bad Guys are the Badder Bad Guys?
Dollhouse is back and fantastic! Two back-to-back episodes that blend into each other perfectly.
2x05: The Public Eye
2x06: The Left Hand
Above the cut, I can recommend:
--The acting. Once again, our usual suspects knocked it out of the park. Enver Gjokaj as Victor is perfect and again shows his range and acting ability; Olivia Williams takes Adelle's character to new places perfectly; Franz Krantz continues to turn the morally gray Topher into someone sympathetic and likable; and finally, Summer Glau is brilliant in her guest spot.
--Not much Echo (yay), but we learn some interesting things about her anyway.
--Things get into the wider ramifications of Rossum and the Dollhouse. Politics, scandal, corruption - yeah, baby.
--They found the funny. Yes, a lot of people say Dollhouse is too grim (I like grim), but even though plot points here had some of the darkest and most serious implications for humanity, the second hour is packed full of funny.
More specific points:
--The hints that Caroline had taken her war against Rossum much further than freeing a few animals from cages was brief, but interesting.
--The idea that you can overlay partial personalities on an already existing person is fascinating, along with the idea that they've created their own perfect senator by doing so.
--These bad guys are badder than our LA bad guys: "Epitaph One" hinted that as evil as we considered Adelle in season 1, she's not actually all that evil. These episodes confirmed it. Rossum has a pet senator who's going to pass every piece of legislation they want and potentially be the next president.
--Rossum is also one step closer to the world of "Epitaph One" because it now knows how to remote wipe without even needing the phone call Alpha did. But how will they move from only affecting brains with Doll architecture to being able to affect everyone?
--Plus, Adelle stood up to one bad guy by putting his nuts in a vice - literally. And she stayed the perfect British ice queen throughout. Brilliant!
--Victor as Topher talking to Topher: it was hilarious! "Wait for yourself to call." It really showed when they were finally in the same room together. Extra funny that Topher is often the only one who laughs at Topher's jokes, yet real Topher can't stand having another Topher around being just as smart as he is.
--Bennet: Summer Glau can bring the creepy. River may have been partially insane, but she was never cruel. This is insanity with a dark side. Plus, I want to know more about her and Caroline, and I hope this means we'll see more Summer.
--Bennet and Topher and geek mating rituals. They're both geniuses with the combined social skills of a gnat, so watching them flirt is one of the funniest things I've seen in years. "Your skin is pink, like a pig." (burble) "I like pigs." But it was them having to present their technobabble ideas to their bosses that took the cake.
So much to love, which only pains knowing the show is canceled, but at least we've got these bits of brilliance. It might be canceled, but eyeballs on it at Hulu may ensure that we get to see the rest of the series broadcast.
2x05: The Public Eye
2x06: The Left Hand
Above the cut, I can recommend:
--The acting. Once again, our usual suspects knocked it out of the park. Enver Gjokaj as Victor is perfect and again shows his range and acting ability; Olivia Williams takes Adelle's character to new places perfectly; Franz Krantz continues to turn the morally gray Topher into someone sympathetic and likable; and finally, Summer Glau is brilliant in her guest spot.
--Not much Echo (yay), but we learn some interesting things about her anyway.
--Things get into the wider ramifications of Rossum and the Dollhouse. Politics, scandal, corruption - yeah, baby.
--They found the funny. Yes, a lot of people say Dollhouse is too grim (I like grim), but even though plot points here had some of the darkest and most serious implications for humanity, the second hour is packed full of funny.
More specific points:
--The hints that Caroline had taken her war against Rossum much further than freeing a few animals from cages was brief, but interesting.
--The idea that you can overlay partial personalities on an already existing person is fascinating, along with the idea that they've created their own perfect senator by doing so.
--These bad guys are badder than our LA bad guys: "Epitaph One" hinted that as evil as we considered Adelle in season 1, she's not actually all that evil. These episodes confirmed it. Rossum has a pet senator who's going to pass every piece of legislation they want and potentially be the next president.
--Rossum is also one step closer to the world of "Epitaph One" because it now knows how to remote wipe without even needing the phone call Alpha did. But how will they move from only affecting brains with Doll architecture to being able to affect everyone?
--Plus, Adelle stood up to one bad guy by putting his nuts in a vice - literally. And she stayed the perfect British ice queen throughout. Brilliant!
--Victor as Topher talking to Topher: it was hilarious! "Wait for yourself to call." It really showed when they were finally in the same room together. Extra funny that Topher is often the only one who laughs at Topher's jokes, yet real Topher can't stand having another Topher around being just as smart as he is.
--Bennet: Summer Glau can bring the creepy. River may have been partially insane, but she was never cruel. This is insanity with a dark side. Plus, I want to know more about her and Caroline, and I hope this means we'll see more Summer.
--Bennet and Topher and geek mating rituals. They're both geniuses with the combined social skills of a gnat, so watching them flirt is one of the funniest things I've seen in years. "Your skin is pink, like a pig." (burble) "I like pigs." But it was them having to present their technobabble ideas to their bosses that took the cake.
So much to love, which only pains knowing the show is canceled, but at least we've got these bits of brilliance. It might be canceled, but eyeballs on it at Hulu may ensure that we get to see the rest of the series broadcast.