Musings on Dollhouse
Let me just say for the record that the Leverage DVD commentaries have completely spoiled me for listening to anyone else. That being said, I could only tolerate about five minutes of commentary on the epilogue episode because it was so painful to listen to. How about talking about...oh, I don't know....WHAT'S ACTUALLY HAPPENING ON SCREEN? I have no interest in the fact that you two dopes are married. You're lame and your commentary is completely uninteresting.
I watched the epilogue episode first. Talk about creepy. I've always been a fan of apocolypse stories, and Joss' vision of the future when Dollhouse technology goes drastically awry was disturbing. What I found so fascinating was Topher in that episode particularly in comparison with his blythe "I'm just the programmer doing fun things with science" in the unaired pilot. I loved the Joss pushed him right off the edge of insanity - completely broken. And...Adel being the one, the only one, who can care for him. Sad.
I loved the hints of Boyd and Dr. Saunders. I loved the return of Mr. Dominic and the hints of what happened to him/his body after being sent to the attic. His loathing and bitterness. Love the hints of Victor/Sierra, and sad that it went wrong.
Then I watched the original pilot. Many of the scenes were reused later in the series. I can see why they changed things - so much of the Paul Ballard arc is rammed straight through that first episode - from the reveal of Victor as a doll, to his injury. The change with November as the neighbor enabled them to draw that out over a few episodes.
What I really liked, and what was missing in the beginning of the series as it aired, was the discussion (with Boyd as the "conscience" of the group) of how the dolls were used. Words like "sex" and "hooker" and "whore" were actually out there with characters saying it wasn't right - which was one of the big fandom objections right off the bat. I'm guessing TPTB felt it was too harsh to start that way, but I'm not sure how doling it out made it any better.
I loved the idea, also presented in the unaired pilot, that Dr. Saunders encouraged the use of Actives to do altruistic missions. Those assignments made them stronger physically and cognitively. They never really address "pro bono" altruistic engagements in the regular series that I remember - I think that's a shame. It was a fascinating concept and could've served to counterbalance the negative.
I found it very interesting that the actress who played the drug-addict girl in the pilot played the girl Alpha was going to use to give Caroline a new body in the aired finale. She was the youngest child on Growing Pains around the time of Leonardo DiCaprio - what's her name? I guess they liked her enough to bring her back.
I really wish the commentary on the future-finale was better. I would've liked to know so much more!
On a completely unrelated note, it makes me giddy that Dean Devlin's favorite scene in season 1 of Leverage is Chris & Aldis with the car bomb in The 12 Step Job. It's my favorite too!