Oh, *there* you are, Joss Whedon!
Mar. 30th, 2009 03:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snick_backupSo it looks my Dollhouse reviews are moving over here after all. Apologies to the folks reading both my journals, for the cross-posting.
I know the sixth episode of Dollhouse was supposed to be the one where we finally saw Whedon shining through, but I ended up feeling a bit meh about it.
The seventh episode, on the other hand, rocked my socks off. Plot plot plot! Almost too much, maybe. Backstory! Humor! Fabulous quotiness from everyone in sight!
Have I mentioned recently that I pretty much adore Topher? Topher amuses me to no end. I realize that this is supposed to be, like, a Serious Show, but he leavens the seriousness and provides the wordy exposition. (Is that a Whedon characteristic, maybe, that his nerdy expositors are also his first funny characters? I thought Giles was much funnier than anyone else in Buffy S1 - even though his humor value and Topher's are totally different.)
And Adelle is fabulous, too. And it was even more fabulous to watch them both be loopy together - hah. “Still, you have to admit, I am very British.”
"Go check."
"I am your superior."
"In every way. Go check."
Whoa, backstory. Lots and lots of backstory. I confess, I'm not prone to automatically sympathizing with hardcore activist characters like Caroline, even if I share their opinion of whatever they're an activist about. I hope I wasn't supposed to automatically sympathize. Frankly, I'm still not much interested in Caroline; all this ep really did for her was make concrete the things that'd been hinted at in the series premiere.
The fluid that broke down memory barriers was interesting, although frankly, I thought that that plot all got a bit more complicated than I wanted it to be. I was tickled pink when we realized the stuff was airborne, and that everyone was vulnerable except the actives. I really wanted Victor, Sierra, and co to save the day. (And I loved the phone conversation in which Topher was trying to tell them they were immune because they were "the government." Giggle.) I loved the idea of the actives unexpectedly being in control, even if they weren't aware of it. Eh.
But instead, they were eventually affected, too, and then the day saveage got a little muddled. And frankly, we already know that Echo's mental block is wonky; I'm not sure I need to be informed too many more times.
On the other hand, I suppose it was a sort-of interesting way of providing more backstory - for once, the character is actually having the flashbacks shown on screen. It reminded me a bit of the trick played with Spike in the subway scene at the end of "Fool For Love," when he's playing out exactly the same actions in two different time frames, and narrating the one time frame from the other time frame - except that that was much cooler and more inventive.
I have to say, I think Echo/Caroline is still the weak point in the show. Knowing more backstory isn't even helping, both because it's boring backstory (at least, I was bored - the character still has no complexity) and because it's not doing a lot to inform present-day Echo, who is, yanno, still mostly a near-vegetable waiting for an imprint.
Huh. This review is involving a lot less raving than I thought it would. Well, here: it was totally action packed and I was both riveted and giggling all the way through, and that is much more than I can say for any previous ep of the show.
I know the sixth episode of Dollhouse was supposed to be the one where we finally saw Whedon shining through, but I ended up feeling a bit meh about it.
The seventh episode, on the other hand, rocked my socks off. Plot plot plot! Almost too much, maybe. Backstory! Humor! Fabulous quotiness from everyone in sight!
Have I mentioned recently that I pretty much adore Topher? Topher amuses me to no end. I realize that this is supposed to be, like, a Serious Show, but he leavens the seriousness and provides the wordy exposition. (Is that a Whedon characteristic, maybe, that his nerdy expositors are also his first funny characters? I thought Giles was much funnier than anyone else in Buffy S1 - even though his humor value and Topher's are totally different.)
And Adelle is fabulous, too. And it was even more fabulous to watch them both be loopy together - hah. “Still, you have to admit, I am very British.”
"Go check."
"I am your superior."
"In every way. Go check."
Whoa, backstory. Lots and lots of backstory. I confess, I'm not prone to automatically sympathizing with hardcore activist characters like Caroline, even if I share their opinion of whatever they're an activist about. I hope I wasn't supposed to automatically sympathize. Frankly, I'm still not much interested in Caroline; all this ep really did for her was make concrete the things that'd been hinted at in the series premiere.
The fluid that broke down memory barriers was interesting, although frankly, I thought that that plot all got a bit more complicated than I wanted it to be. I was tickled pink when we realized the stuff was airborne, and that everyone was vulnerable except the actives. I really wanted Victor, Sierra, and co to save the day. (And I loved the phone conversation in which Topher was trying to tell them they were immune because they were "the government." Giggle.) I loved the idea of the actives unexpectedly being in control, even if they weren't aware of it. Eh.
But instead, they were eventually affected, too, and then the day saveage got a little muddled. And frankly, we already know that Echo's mental block is wonky; I'm not sure I need to be informed too many more times.
On the other hand, I suppose it was a sort-of interesting way of providing more backstory - for once, the character is actually having the flashbacks shown on screen. It reminded me a bit of the trick played with Spike in the subway scene at the end of "Fool For Love," when he's playing out exactly the same actions in two different time frames, and narrating the one time frame from the other time frame - except that that was much cooler and more inventive.
I have to say, I think Echo/Caroline is still the weak point in the show. Knowing more backstory isn't even helping, both because it's boring backstory (at least, I was bored - the character still has no complexity) and because it's not doing a lot to inform present-day Echo, who is, yanno, still mostly a near-vegetable waiting for an imprint.
Huh. This review is involving a lot less raving than I thought it would. Well, here: it was totally action packed and I was both riveted and giggling all the way through, and that is much more than I can say for any previous ep of the show.
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no subject
Date: 2009-03-31 04:27 am (UTC)Caroline also fails to grip me in any significant way. I hope she gets a bit more interesting later on.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-31 04:35 am (UTC)I'm feeling pessimistic, presently. We'll see. At this point I think Mellie/November would be more intriguing, if for no other reason then just because I have some kind of character to hang my interest on. Actually, I've got a whole post percolating about Mellie as an example of the imprints being people (or not), and what that'd mean for the universe. We'll see if I get around to actually writing it down...