Oh, now this is a better episode for sure. We’re getting back story, which is good, and a better story with Echo.
The black guy who is her handler is a seriously tough guy. I’m liking his character most of anyone on the show. He’s almost the main character instead of Echo.
I agree, Boyd is the best character overall–but I also think he’s got the best acting chops so far.
The show still plays like a Saturday afternoon “B” series (like Mutant X or The Pretender), but it has potential. The writing was a little better this time, but quite honestly, I think the lines are being delivered by the wrong people. It’s easy to recognize a Whedon-inspired line, but the person delivering it–for the most part–does so like he’s reading directly from cue cards.
Eliza Dushku just ain’t much of an actor. Even the cartoonish geek acts circles around her. But yeah, Harry Lennix (Boyd Langdon) is the best.
Lenix is a very good actor and Boyd’s a quality character. This was a much better episode: there was a lot going on and it was handled well, with some good Whedonalogue (“Do you mind speaking English? I’m kinda bleeding to death here.”) and some cleverness, like the repetition of “abacadabra.” I think we’ve all seen “The Most Dangerous Game” story a million times, but they worked it into the Dollhouse world very well. As a bonus for me, a friend of mine from college had a bit part at the beginning, which was very cool.
Not so good: next week’s episode looks like crud.
It should just be called the Asshole Men Show. The mix of horrifying/titillating in 60 second increments is kind of getting to me. Sociopath cliche hunting female main character in the woods…/cut to Eliza doing tongue tricks on a Hulu commercial. Ew. Just ew. So far I’m gob-smack-disappointed in Joss on this one.
Her handler was in Serenity, yes?
And yeah, Eliza’s not much of an actress, I’m afraid. There’s just no subtlety about her. I’d rather see her blank/cold as a “doll” than retarded/“sexy” ::shudder::.
I watched part of the first episode, and I have to say I’m very disappointed. If I want to watch women prance around in skimpy clothes, there are plenty of sources for that already. But if I’m watching a Whedon project I expect some snappy dialog. What I’ve seen so far is flatter than the Jews’ matzoh from when they were escaping Egypt.
Once the action got going, this was better than last week. On the other hand, last week I was trying to get my bearings, and I didn’t really get that the guy at the beginning was renting Echo for a long weekend of “romance.” In this episode the prostitution/sex slave angle was abundantly clear, and unutterably creepy. I mean, it’s creepy enough that they’re making Actives available as sex partners. But then we’ve got the handler and geekboy monitoring every moment of the, er, interaction (unless the equipment goes on the fritz).
Agreed that the classic Joss lines were noticeable, but not in a totally good way - it served as a reminder of how poor the show is in general.
This could have been a good idea - silly and unbelievable, but so are vampires infesting California. But it would have needed better writing and a phenomenal lead actor. I’m not saying Eliza Dushku is a terrible actor, but she’s not good enough to make us believe there’s a person inhabiting each imprint. This iteration was pretty much the same as the motorcycle-riding chick (right down to disregard of safety gear), and indistinguishable from her original identity, as far as we have seen it.
Since Friday basically sucks, and since I can’t not watch Sarah Connor and her band of merry men, I will continue to give Dollhouse a chance.
But, as with so many, many shows and movies that can’t set up a goddamn chess board right and still insist that the mere appearance of a chessboard implies some level of arcane smarts for the individual sitting before it, the writing and/or production staff had better get their shit together fast or I’m going to switch over to 20/20 or whatever’s on PBS.
The creep factor for the premise is large, for sure. It’s possible to ignore during the actions sequences, no so much the rest of the time. They probably can’t leave it un-remarked upon for too long, and it makes a very uncomfortable mix with the steamy way the show is being promoted.
In terms of the show, I wondered last night if they were implying Echo used to be a handler. That might make for a very interesting twist.
What implied this? Would she have been Alpha’s handler, explaining why he didn’t kill her?
I don’t think so. To be fair, when he walked on screen the first time in the pilot, I yelled out, “Hey, he looks like Chiwetel Ejiofor!”
However, one actor from Firefly and Battlestar Galactica appeared, and it was in a scene with an another actor from Battlestar Galactica. Worlds were colliding!
Quick question, did Tahmoh Penikett and Mark Sheppard ever appear in scenes together on Battlestar Galactica?
The way she turned around the “Do you trust me?” sequence.
Possibly. Tune in to Dollhouse next week to see if the show’s quality once again declines as precipitously as it improved! 
I was hoping the client would be captured by Reed Diamond’s men and we’d learn that the “consequences” the lady boss referred to at the meeting for damaging an Active would be to be turned into one.
I couldn’t remember where I recognized the client from, but he’s The Middleman, which incidentally has just been officially canceled.
Huh. You know, this episode would have worked much better than last week’s as the pilot. It was actually fun to watch, it laid out a lot of exposition, and the bit with Echo seeing clips from her college video would have been much creepier if we didn’t know what it was.
It was better than last week, but still not that great. I don’t mind the creep factor so much, but it’s boring. I doubt I’ll watch again.
The sex-doll aspect is awfully creepy, I’ll agree. I can’t help but thinking, “If they’re having unprotected sex with every client (and they will be), they’re getting diseases left right and centre. That doesn’t seem right.” Do they charge clients per disease they give the sex-dolls?
Does anyone remember the name of that famous short story about people being ridden by aliens? This is very much like that story, except the sex-dolls aren’t supposed to remember being ridden, or that they get ridden. This show is actually quite icky. I could take a lot more icky with more of Joss’ humour and clever dialogue. This show is kinda hitting with a dull “thud” at this point.
I thought instead that what is happening is, Echo not only is imprinted via the machine, but we are also seeing that she is imprinted via external sources. We also saw her pick up the shoulder-to-the-grindstone thing.
Part of the background checking process I’d imagine.
Apparently this secret evil corporation is so powerful that they managed to resurrect the Commanche program, manufacture them, and operate them without anyone noticing.
Though, to be fair, if I were in charge of such an agency, getting my own fleet of attack helicopters would be first on my to do list.
He played Locke (the Zion defense commander) in Matrix 2 and 3.
Just saw it today. It was definitely an improvement, and the fact that the show seems to be working toward an overaching plot is making it start to click. There are questions being brought up that make it worth watching.
The big problem, I think, is the clumsiness of the concept. The Dollhouse is able to do all this and still keep itself a secret? How do they get clients then? And, really, why are the dolls worth paying so much for? What can they offer that a $2000 an hour prostitute can’t? They did some handwaving in the first episode, but it didn’t wash.
And there seem to be hundreds of people who know about it. Why hasn’t someone told the authorities?
But I’ll accept that since the mystery seems to be taking hold.