In a sea of otherwise fairly lackluster (and sadly scant, so far) mid-season replacements, Dollhouse finally premiered on Friday. In spite of actual and rumored productions problems, it's arguably the most anticipated new series of the new year. Or maybe that's only if you're a Joss Whedon fan... it's so hard to tell...
At any rate, for those of you unfamiliar with the concept, here's the brief premise:
ECHO (Eliza Dushku) is an "Active," a member of a highly illegal and underground group of individuals who have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas. Hired by the wealthy, powerful and connected, the Actives don't just perform their hired roles, they wholly become -- with mind, personality and physiology -- whomever the client wants or needs them to be. Whether imprinted to be a lover, an assassin, a corporate negotiator or a best friend, the Actives know no other life than the specific engagements they are in at that time.
Confined between missions to a secret facility known as the "Dollhouse," Echo and the other Actives including SIERRA (Dichen Lachman), are assigned engagements by ADELLE DEWITT (Olivia Williams), one of the Dollhouse leaders. After each scenario, Echo, always under the watchful eye of her handler, BOYD LANGTON (Harry Lennix), returns to the mysterious Dollhouse where her thoughts, feelings, experiences and knowledge are erased by TOPHER BRINK (Fran Kranz), the Dollhouse's genius programmer.
So with all that in mind, here goes my review of the Dollhouse pilot.
First off, I could definitely see where the evil Fox network had put their sticky fingers into the mix. Having seen promotional materials for the show prior to the original pilot being scrapped, it's rather apparent that the show was overhauled top-to-bottom. That's not to say that's necessarily a bad thing, but there were parts of the pilot that felt a lot more like moronic network execs than like Joss. Such instances weren't oppressive or constant, but at times they felt a bit heavy-handed and disingenuous for a Whedon production.
My main quibble was with the over-the-top, gratuitous, let's-get 20-something-males-to-watch opening sequences. The first 10 minutes had an excessively long (and totally unnecessary) motorcycle chase followed by an excessively long (and totally unnecessary) dance party replete with lots of pretty people in skimpy clothes. Now, I have nothing against motorcycle chases or scantily clad dancers, but it just didn't feel like Joss had much of anything to do with it. Joss has a tremendous knack for calling attention to such conventions and turning them on their ear, usually in hilarious ways. I appreciated it later in the episode when Echo (Dushku) is supposed to be some badass negotiator and her handler (watcher?) asks if the glasses are supposed to make her look smart. Not the most successful instance, but the closest this particul
ar pilot had to offer.
Anyway, aside from the opening sequences, there were several other instances during which it felt like an tribute to Dushku's figure (which is impressive, to be sure, but largely irrelevant (unless of course you are one of the aforementioned 20 something males)). I could practically hear the suits at Fox drumming up ways to attract adolescent male viewers and after a lot of serious thought, they somehow came up with half-naked chicks. Wow! Fox suits, you're brilliant! Groundbreaking! I can't believe you cracked their code! Yeah, not so much. Such conventions are routinely employed, you know, to make show cooler and hipper and sexier and whatnot, but that's not generally Joss' style. Not that his other shows don't have attractive people in often skimpy outfits (oh, Cordelia), but it's never felt so patent before. I'll chock it up to the excessive length of such sequences, which I have to assume was influenced by the fact that there were shorter commercial breaks (which means the pilot was really more like 53 minutes long instead of 43--I imagine that's difficult to adjust to after so many years in the biz).
Aside from the network suits having any say in anything at all, the pilot was pretty solid. I'd say good, not spectacular. The basic concept has a lot of promise, although I do worry about the week to week elements. To an extent, all of Whedon's projects can be considered procedurals (with a monster of the week instead of a crime or mystery of the week), but I'm fearful the procedural elements of Dollhouse might not resonate with me as well as with past shows. I enjoy procedural elements of a show, but I'm generally more invested in the overall story arc. I'm thinking I'll connect much more with Dollhouse's overarching mythos than what crazy adventure Echo goes on next. Until I see a few more episodes, this will be hard to judge, but even just with the pilot, I was a lot more concerned with what was happening in the b-plot and establishing scenes than with the girl who was kidnapped.
Speaking of the overarching storyline, I think it's going to be excellent. Echo, as with all the other actives or "dolls," has her memory completely wiped after each assignment. She has no memory of h
er old life before becoming an active or of her past assignments... until now. Echo is starting to remember things and the fallout from such memories would be catastrophic to her employer and emotionally jarring to herself. Along her journey to remembering the past is Tahmoh Penikett (who, from here on out, will be called Helo, because really, who wants to try to say his real name?) who plays an FBI type guy who is investigating reports that actives even exist or that there is such thing as the Dollhouse. I'm very excited to see his interactions with Echo and see how her regained memories affect how they relate to one another. Helo wasn't central to the pilot, but I expect he'll be pivotal in episodes to come.
Although the dynamic between Echo and Helo have tremendous promise, I'm already a bit concerned about Echo's interactions with the other actives. From the initial promotional materials, I wasn't expecting the dolls to be so vacant after their memories had been wiped. They really are kind of doll-like, which is I guess is kind of the point, but I think ties the writers hands in terms of Echo having any kind of real social dynamic. I was expecting the actives to remember their assignments week-to-week but remember nothing of their old lives. I can see where the company programming the dolls wouldn't allow for such loose ends, but it seemed like the most logical way to have the other dolls play a more sustantive role in show. I think I just need to shift my focus. I was expecting to focus on the dolls, but it seems more apt that I focus on the scientists and the FBI. Once Echo starts to regain more and more of her memory, I think I'll find her more engaging as a character, but just having seen the pilot, it was hard to invest in someone who doesn't have any consistent personality traits to endear her to the viewer. While I'm concerned that the roles of the other dolls won't be what I initially had in mind, I'm still very intrigued and hopeful that the dynamics among the characters will start to gel as the show gets further along.
I'm also intrigued to learn more about the faux science behind it all. At this point, I'm not sure I'm sold, but I'm willing to go with it until they have more of a chance to flesh things out. In the pilot, Echo is programmed with a hostage negotiator. Well, apparently she was programmed with a real negotiator because her fake personality recognized one of the people behind the kidnapping... Yeah, I'm not so sure about all that... Where are they getting these personalities from? If they're such a super-secret organization, how are they accessing so many different skills and abilities without anyone knowing about them? Are they kidnapping/tricking/paying people for their memories and then erasing them? I'm a little sketchy on the details so far, but I'm willing to stick with it till they explain the operation better.
Anyway, aside from the fanciful concept and storyline, I must say the most startling thing to get used to was the tone. Whedon's productions are generally have a lot more humor and levity than Dollhouse. I don't mind a more serious tone, but this was bordering on dour. In his other projects, even during the darkest storylines, there was always a snarky wit about them. Dollhouse is much more dro
ll in its current incarnation, and that seems to be a departure from what the original version of the pilot had in mind. I didn't mind the tone, but it was really a far cry from what I would expect from Joss. It didn't have any of the "Oh, Joss" moments that I so adore. In spite of this, I really enjoyed the pilot quite a lot, and given it's non-Jossiness, that's kind of surprising.
In short, I'm not totally in love with it yet, but based on the pilot alone, I definitely think I'll get there. I have it on good authority that the next couple of episodes are considerably better than the pilot and that the show really hits its stride around episode 7 (where most shows find their stride, in my experience). Although the pilot had its faults, overall it was very successful and presented a premise that can be built upon for a long time to come (assuming Fox doesn't axe the show next week). I'm hopeful for a more Joss-like tone in the future, but if not, I'll still be sticking with it. It's good enough without the usual tone that I'll be coming back for more.
Overall, I give the pilot a B-, which is a far better grade than most other pilots I've seen this year. And if reports that it gets even better are true, I expect a grade A series very soon.
Assuming Fox doesn't cancel it next week... sorry to be redundant, but there's precedent.
Stupid network.
Anyway, episode 2 is on tonight, and they'll all be airing on Hulu, so I'd strongly reommend checking it out.
At any rate, for those of you unfamiliar with the concept, here's the brief premise:
ECHO (Eliza Dushku) is an "Active," a member of a highly illegal and underground group of individuals who have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas. Hired by the wealthy, powerful and connected, the Actives don't just perform their hired roles, they wholly become -- with mind, personality and physiology -- whomever the client wants or needs them to be. Whether imprinted to be a lover, an assassin, a corporate negotiator or a best friend, the Actives know no other life than the specific engagements they are in at that time.
Confined between missions to a secret facility known as the "Dollhouse," Echo and the other Actives including SIERRA (Dichen Lachman), are assigned engagements by ADELLE DEWITT (Olivia Williams), one of the Dollhouse leaders. After each scenario, Echo, always under the watchful eye of her handler, BOYD LANGTON (Harry Lennix), returns to the mysterious Dollhouse where her thoughts, feelings, experiences and knowledge are erased by TOPHER BRINK (Fran Kranz), the Dollhouse's genius programmer.
So with all that in mind, here goes my review of the Dollhouse pilot.
First off, I could definitely see where the evil Fox network had put their sticky fingers into the mix. Having seen promotional materials for the show prior to the original pilot being scrapped, it's rather apparent that the show was overhauled top-to-bottom. That's not to say that's necessarily a bad thing, but there were parts of the pilot that felt a lot more like moronic network execs than like Joss. Such instances weren't oppressive or constant, but at times they felt a bit heavy-handed and disingenuous for a Whedon production.
My main quibble was with the over-the-top, gratuitous, let's-get 20-something-males-to-watch opening sequences. The first 10 minutes had an excessively long (and totally unnecessary) motorcycle chase followed by an excessively long (and totally unnecessary) dance party replete with lots of pretty people in skimpy clothes. Now, I have nothing against motorcycle chases or scantily clad dancers, but it just didn't feel like Joss had much of anything to do with it. Joss has a tremendous knack for calling attention to such conventions and turning them on their ear, usually in hilarious ways. I appreciated it later in the episode when Echo (Dushku) is supposed to be some badass negotiator and her handler (watcher?) asks if the glasses are supposed to make her look smart. Not the most successful instance, but the closest this particul
ar pilot had to offer.Anyway, aside from the opening sequences, there were several other instances during which it felt like an tribute to Dushku's figure (which is impressive, to be sure, but largely irrelevant (unless of course you are one of the aforementioned 20 something males)). I could practically hear the suits at Fox drumming up ways to attract adolescent male viewers and after a lot of serious thought, they somehow came up with half-naked chicks. Wow! Fox suits, you're brilliant! Groundbreaking! I can't believe you cracked their code! Yeah, not so much. Such conventions are routinely employed, you know, to make show cooler and hipper and sexier and whatnot, but that's not generally Joss' style. Not that his other shows don't have attractive people in often skimpy outfits (oh, Cordelia), but it's never felt so patent before. I'll chock it up to the excessive length of such sequences, which I have to assume was influenced by the fact that there were shorter commercial breaks (which means the pilot was really more like 53 minutes long instead of 43--I imagine that's difficult to adjust to after so many years in the biz).
Aside from the network suits having any say in anything at all, the pilot was pretty solid. I'd say good, not spectacular. The basic concept has a lot of promise, although I do worry about the week to week elements. To an extent, all of Whedon's projects can be considered procedurals (with a monster of the week instead of a crime or mystery of the week), but I'm fearful the procedural elements of Dollhouse might not resonate with me as well as with past shows. I enjoy procedural elements of a show, but I'm generally more invested in the overall story arc. I'm thinking I'll connect much more with Dollhouse's overarching mythos than what crazy adventure Echo goes on next. Until I see a few more episodes, this will be hard to judge, but even just with the pilot, I was a lot more concerned with what was happening in the b-plot and establishing scenes than with the girl who was kidnapped.
Speaking of the overarching storyline, I think it's going to be excellent. Echo, as with all the other actives or "dolls," has her memory completely wiped after each assignment. She has no memory of h
er old life before becoming an active or of her past assignments... until now. Echo is starting to remember things and the fallout from such memories would be catastrophic to her employer and emotionally jarring to herself. Along her journey to remembering the past is Tahmoh Penikett (who, from here on out, will be called Helo, because really, who wants to try to say his real name?) who plays an FBI type guy who is investigating reports that actives even exist or that there is such thing as the Dollhouse. I'm very excited to see his interactions with Echo and see how her regained memories affect how they relate to one another. Helo wasn't central to the pilot, but I expect he'll be pivotal in episodes to come.Although the dynamic between Echo and Helo have tremendous promise, I'm already a bit concerned about Echo's interactions with the other actives. From the initial promotional materials, I wasn't expecting the dolls to be so vacant after their memories had been wiped. They really are kind of doll-like, which is I guess is kind of the point, but I think ties the writers hands in terms of Echo having any kind of real social dynamic. I was expecting the actives to remember their assignments week-to-week but remember nothing of their old lives. I can see where the company programming the dolls wouldn't allow for such loose ends, but it seemed like the most logical way to have the other dolls play a more sustantive role in show. I think I just need to shift my focus. I was expecting to focus on the dolls, but it seems more apt that I focus on the scientists and the FBI. Once Echo starts to regain more and more of her memory, I think I'll find her more engaging as a character, but just having seen the pilot, it was hard to invest in someone who doesn't have any consistent personality traits to endear her to the viewer. While I'm concerned that the roles of the other dolls won't be what I initially had in mind, I'm still very intrigued and hopeful that the dynamics among the characters will start to gel as the show gets further along.
I'm also intrigued to learn more about the faux science behind it all. At this point, I'm not sure I'm sold, but I'm willing to go with it until they have more of a chance to flesh things out. In the pilot, Echo is programmed with a hostage negotiator. Well, apparently she was programmed with a real negotiator because her fake personality recognized one of the people behind the kidnapping... Yeah, I'm not so sure about all that... Where are they getting these personalities from? If they're such a super-secret organization, how are they accessing so many different skills and abilities without anyone knowing about them? Are they kidnapping/tricking/paying people for their memories and then erasing them? I'm a little sketchy on the details so far, but I'm willing to stick with it till they explain the operation better.
Anyway, aside from the fanciful concept and storyline, I must say the most startling thing to get used to was the tone. Whedon's productions are generally have a lot more humor and levity than Dollhouse. I don't mind a more serious tone, but this was bordering on dour. In his other projects, even during the darkest storylines, there was always a snarky wit about them. Dollhouse is much more dro
ll in its current incarnation, and that seems to be a departure from what the original version of the pilot had in mind. I didn't mind the tone, but it was really a far cry from what I would expect from Joss. It didn't have any of the "Oh, Joss" moments that I so adore. In spite of this, I really enjoyed the pilot quite a lot, and given it's non-Jossiness, that's kind of surprising.In short, I'm not totally in love with it yet, but based on the pilot alone, I definitely think I'll get there. I have it on good authority that the next couple of episodes are considerably better than the pilot and that the show really hits its stride around episode 7 (where most shows find their stride, in my experience). Although the pilot had its faults, overall it was very successful and presented a premise that can be built upon for a long time to come (assuming Fox doesn't axe the show next week). I'm hopeful for a more Joss-like tone in the future, but if not, I'll still be sticking with it. It's good enough without the usual tone that I'll be coming back for more.
Overall, I give the pilot a B-, which is a far better grade than most other pilots I've seen this year. And if reports that it gets even better are true, I expect a grade A series very soon.
Assuming Fox doesn't cancel it next week... sorry to be redundant, but there's precedent.
Stupid network.
Anyway, episode 2 is on tonight, and they'll all be airing on Hulu, so I'd strongly reommend checking it out.
4 comments:
Okay, so I'm glad you spent so much time on Dollhouse cause I've been excited for this one. Once again I feel Whedon has made a mistake in coupling his work with a pop-culture network like Fox (The sad story that was Firefly still resonates strong for us brown coats) but like you I think it has a lot of promise! The underlying story looks much more interesting but the week-to-week looks like it could be more along my ally. The pilot reminded me a lot of Alias in certain ways. I hope the "engagements" are similar with her being thrown into strange situations with awesome outfits. As for Fox's need to bring in the 20 something guys... all they had to do was show more of Helo sweating it up in his boxing shorts and they have this 20 something hooked! lol
I'm hesitant to get invested in this show, but like you said, I'm willing to give it a shot just to find out some more. Last week's episode seemed a little heavy-handed, and you called it when you said that the "Joss"ness was missing...the snarky, sharp-edged wit that makes it more than just following the procedural drama of the week. Then again, I watched it at 1:00 in the morning...so I could have missed some stuff.
Also, I was PISSED that I got home last night and went to watch the show on my TiVo, only to find out that the tribute to Larry H. Miller trumped it on Fox's programming! I will definitely be Hulu-ing it today, but come on! Was LHM really THAT important that he needs to take over my Friday night show?!
Oh, Josh. We're absolutely on the same page about Helo. I have a few theories why that scene of him being reprimanded by those two guys was interspersed with shots of him boxing, but ultimately, I didn't really care. ;) Well played, Dollhouse. Well played.
And Annie, as you know, I was totally pissed about the Larry H. Miller debacle. Other than jumping for joy, I couldn't care less that that idiotic bigot died. How dare they pre-empt Dollhouse for such a thing!? I'm still irked... But, god bless Hulu.
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