The Devil You Know...
Well, I've been behind on this series, so I ended up watching episodes 6-8 of Dollhouse tonight. And now I feel like washing myself with a wire brush and pouring some bleach on my brain :P...
Episode 6
The way this show tries to make the clients even remotely sympathetic is really disturbing! Because the guy in episode 6 seems like a nice random guy, but he's fully aware that the doll he hired is not his Rebecca, he just wants to have this fantasy of her still being alive on her death date.
And his assessment of Agent Ballard is also very good, since from what has been shown previously, his quest to find Dollhouse and Caroline does seem very personal, even though we haven't yet been shown how the two of them are connected.
Sierra and Victor. Another really disturbing factor. And even more disturbing was the revelation that it was her handler who was actually raping her. This series is so much about discomfort, since every now and then it shows how aware it is about the total wrongness of this whole setup.
Of course lovely Millie the Neighbour is a Doll. That was inevitable right from the start. But I do still find interesting the fact Ballard is still sent to look at Dollhouse, even though he is hedged at all points and fed false information as much as possible.
The ending with Echo going to the internet guy again to fulfill his dream with a substitute for the dead girlffriend - extremely disturbing!!!
Episode 7
Hmm, more and more it's shown that the memory wiping isn't complet. Especially if it's something that personally involves one of the dolls. And going with the show premise, I'm not talking about the regular rape and abuse they get involved with, but about something that involves them before they became Dolls.
Random: I really really want to stab Topher with any dull, rusty thingys that might be available. Drawing and quartering sounds pretty good as well :P. And I thought Warren was a creep...
And going back to incompletely memory wipes, Echo goes to the Rossum college because of her memories as Caroline. Even though she isn't really aware of them, she still has them. This also makes me think about what the Dolls will really remember after a while. And I start feeling sick :P...
Still, random amusement moment was when it was revealed the Victor's character outranks the Dollhouse security guy, who got affected by the crazy drug affecting the campus, while all the Dolls stayed sane.
Interestingly enough, the drug seems make the Dolls remember the stuff supressed by the memory wipe process. At last we learn a bit more about Caroline/Echo's past. Though it doesn't really tell what made her desperate enough to sign on as a Doll.
Hmm, looks like they are offering 5-year-plans to desperate people without fully disclosing what their jobs during that time would involve.
Episode 8
At first it seems like a freak thing that all the operatives in that one pod suddenly become self-aware, but then it turns out it's just a security exercise planned by Ms. De Witt.
But there are still undertones that more might be at play, since Dr. Fred tells them to beware of cameras, and there are again flashbacks to stuff they should have forgotten when they wake up.
EEWWW!! Major creepout at the fact that Sierra was actually sold to the Dollhouse because she wouldn't have sex with someone. Because after she did become a Doll, she would do it with anyone who paid enough, any way they liked. I'm just getting more and more creeped out by everything with this show.
Even the knowledge that there might be some kind of a payback in the future just doesn't make any of this easier to watch. And even with Agent Dominic or Topher getting pummelled a bit every now and then just isn't enough to make me feel any better with this show.
I've used that expression of watching a trainwreck and being unable to turn away before, but this it really is all so off-putting and disgusting that you really want to stop watching. But there is still this compelling element of mystery and wanting to know what is going on behind the scenes that makes you watch it anyway :P.
ETA: I'm pretty sure the creepiness factor of this show was made a lot stronger by me watching three episodes in a row.
Episode 6
The way this show tries to make the clients even remotely sympathetic is really disturbing! Because the guy in episode 6 seems like a nice random guy, but he's fully aware that the doll he hired is not his Rebecca, he just wants to have this fantasy of her still being alive on her death date.
And his assessment of Agent Ballard is also very good, since from what has been shown previously, his quest to find Dollhouse and Caroline does seem very personal, even though we haven't yet been shown how the two of them are connected.
Sierra and Victor. Another really disturbing factor. And even more disturbing was the revelation that it was her handler who was actually raping her. This series is so much about discomfort, since every now and then it shows how aware it is about the total wrongness of this whole setup.
Of course lovely Millie the Neighbour is a Doll. That was inevitable right from the start. But I do still find interesting the fact Ballard is still sent to look at Dollhouse, even though he is hedged at all points and fed false information as much as possible.
The ending with Echo going to the internet guy again to fulfill his dream with a substitute for the dead girlffriend - extremely disturbing!!!
Episode 7
Hmm, more and more it's shown that the memory wiping isn't complet. Especially if it's something that personally involves one of the dolls. And going with the show premise, I'm not talking about the regular rape and abuse they get involved with, but about something that involves them before they became Dolls.
Random: I really really want to stab Topher with any dull, rusty thingys that might be available. Drawing and quartering sounds pretty good as well :P. And I thought Warren was a creep...
And going back to incompletely memory wipes, Echo goes to the Rossum college because of her memories as Caroline. Even though she isn't really aware of them, she still has them. This also makes me think about what the Dolls will really remember after a while. And I start feeling sick :P...
Still, random amusement moment was when it was revealed the Victor's character outranks the Dollhouse security guy, who got affected by the crazy drug affecting the campus, while all the Dolls stayed sane.
Interestingly enough, the drug seems make the Dolls remember the stuff supressed by the memory wipe process. At last we learn a bit more about Caroline/Echo's past. Though it doesn't really tell what made her desperate enough to sign on as a Doll.
Hmm, looks like they are offering 5-year-plans to desperate people without fully disclosing what their jobs during that time would involve.
Episode 8
At first it seems like a freak thing that all the operatives in that one pod suddenly become self-aware, but then it turns out it's just a security exercise planned by Ms. De Witt.
But there are still undertones that more might be at play, since Dr. Fred tells them to beware of cameras, and there are again flashbacks to stuff they should have forgotten when they wake up.
EEWWW!! Major creepout at the fact that Sierra was actually sold to the Dollhouse because she wouldn't have sex with someone. Because after she did become a Doll, she would do it with anyone who paid enough, any way they liked. I'm just getting more and more creeped out by everything with this show.
Even the knowledge that there might be some kind of a payback in the future just doesn't make any of this easier to watch. And even with Agent Dominic or Topher getting pummelled a bit every now and then just isn't enough to make me feel any better with this show.
I've used that expression of watching a trainwreck and being unable to turn away before, but this it really is all so off-putting and disgusting that you really want to stop watching. But there is still this compelling element of mystery and wanting to know what is going on behind the scenes that makes you watch it anyway :P.
ETA: I'm pretty sure the creepiness factor of this show was made a lot stronger by me watching three episodes in a row.