Not finished yet, but - I’m impressed. Definitely kicking it up a notch, more like the show’s first true mythology ep than a 'Dress-up of the week" with a few subplots thrown in.
And of course, kick-ass action sequences.
Not finished yet, but - I’m impressed. Definitely kicking it up a notch, more like the show’s first true mythology ep than a 'Dress-up of the week" with a few subplots thrown in.
And of course, kick-ass action sequences.
Joss, Joss, Joss. Whether it really was network interference or all part of the plan, we were being played like violins those first few episodes, weren’t we? I’m not saying the turns of the plot were a complete surprise to anyone who’s been following the show, but I’m impressed by how logically tonight’s various storylines fit together. I’m not going to give much away for those who haven’t seen tonight’s ep yet, and frankly I’ve got to see it again to sort everything out, but this was the first time I’ve felt that the real potential of the show’s interesting premise has been achieved. Meanwhile, plenty of classic Whedon dialogue, great acting from everyone involved (the speeches by the Internet Mogul to Ballard about why he hires a doll every year, and DeWitt’s scene with the rogue handler, were particular standouts) and two of the best fight scenes I’ve ever seen. I was entertained.
And was that a Voight-Kampf machine they were using on Victor? Nice reference.
No thread yet? Have people given up on this show?
Tonight was the best episode yet. Completely different from the crap that aired before. Amazingly different actually.
I was caught off guard by a lot of what happened. The most surprising development being that the show didn’t suck.
What I like most was:
That we thought the guy in the beginning was another pervert, but he turned out not to be a complete pervert. He just wanted to see what would have happened if his wife didn’t die before he showed her the house.
Great episode, and next weeks looks good also.
Ballard’s really good at hand to hand combat. Also, I wonder who could have been the one to implant the message to Ballard to Echo.
I stopped watching in the middle of the suicidal singer episode and hadn’t seen an episode since. I was channel surfing after the NCAA and started watching this episode. I got hooked. I look forward to next week’s episode now. This was a vast improvement.
Especially since he’s still all shot up. I was actually really impressed with that fight scene though. It was impressively choreographed.
The obvious choice for the person who implanted the message is Topher’s assistant. I think that might be a red herring though.
All I can say is that Ballard was very lucky Echo didn’t get her hands on a wooden stake at the Chinese place. Eliza was in slayer mode.
I knew when Topher was called away while saving the imprint that it would turn out to be something. Still, I didn’t see it coming when it arrived.
They managed to work in some humor. I was starting to think that slavery and prostitution was just too serious a subject for Joss to have fun with. The jokes don’t come naturally like they did with the demons and the space cannibals.
“That wasn’t quiet.” was funny. ‘Rebecca’ raving about porn had me giggling in the middle of major plot developments. And the bi-curious man on the street with his SO staring at him nervously.
Answering machines have pretty much disappeared from our lives, but they live on as convenient plot devices. Though, I suppose the Dollmasters would have made sure that particular phone was set up that way just so that what happened could happen when they needed it to.
I wonder if this premise can really be used for an ongoing series. I think it might be better as a long miniseries, with a planned arc that comes to an end after the first or second season.
I don’t know because I had to go to the bathroom just after Ballard was done talking to the mogul. When I came back it was the next commercial break. So was there some shot establishing her doing something fishy or is this just guessing because she has easy access to the equipment?
No fishy shots. Easy access to equipment, demonstration of imprinting knowledge in earlier episode, frustration shown at being a gofer, actress played a double agent on NCIS.
OK. strike that last one.
I have an answering machine. A lot of my friends and family have answering machines. I didn’t see that as a “convenient plot device” at all.
I had read that this was the episode when the show gets good. Lo and behold, there were three separate threads in Cafe Society about it before it even aired in my time zone :D.
I could really see a lot more of Joss throughout the episode. Whether it was the “man on the street” interviews or the pillow talk, the dialogue had a healthy amount of that certain something that we’d only gotten a taste of in the earlier episodes.
I thought it was interesting how the Mogul’s accusations of Ballard having his own fantasy acted as a primer for the fight scene between Echo and Ballard later in the episode.
I am not convinced that anyone did anything to the imprint. I am not convinced that Echo spouting all that to Ballard wasn’t set up by Miss DeWitt as part of the efforts to divert Ballard from getting too close to the LA Dollhouse. The bit where Topher was distracted was really, really obvious and I am second-guessing Joss all over the place at this point!
I am wondering about how smart it is to leave one’s sleeper triggering phrases on an answering machine tape where anyone could play them back and go ‘huh’? Especially since Ballard is such a paranoid type. The answering machine message sounded like it was his phone, too, but I may just have been mishearing it. Whose apartment was neighbor-girl in?
I found this episode particularly disturbing and upsetting for some reason, although I am definitely hooked.
There were a couple of times during the episode when I thought people were in danger of being offed, and I cared! That’s a good sign.
Can someone please summarize for me (spoilered) what
Echo said to Ballard after their fight scene? I didn’t quite catch it.
thanks,
J.
I agree that this was the best episode yet. Mellie taking the rapist down was had the same effect on me that Mal kicking Crow in to the engine did in Firefly. Add on the fact hat we start having things to admire about the characters, and this was the best thing I’ve seen in a while. Olivia DeWitt isn’t just a corporate drone, she cares. It’s not yet clear what she cares about but she cares at least about doing the job well. I loved her line about playing a bad hand very well.
I’m going on record as thinking that DeWitt is the mole on the inside. The only question is if she’s doing it to take down the Dollhouse or if she’s using it as a shield to protect the Dollhouse. I agree that she’s the likely source of the message sent through Echo, although I’m not so sure that Topher actually built that in to the impression. She could have altered it from her office while Topher was talking to Boyd. But I admit that I may think this only because I see a lot of neat ways that it could lead the story. But even if I’m wrong, I’m now sure that I’m going to enjoy finding out.
Echo said that
there was someone on the inside but that the person on the inside didn’t know what the ultimate goal of the Dollhouse people was, and that Ballard needed to figure that out. She forced Ballard to shoot the cop so that he’d be forced out of the FBI, but to what exact purpose I don’t know. Echo said that the someone on the inside implanted the message she was giving Ballard. Oh, and she said that there were at least 20 Dollhouses. I think.
I think that was the gist.
It might be DeWitt. I was going to say it was her but I thought it was too out there. However it does make perfect sense. If she wants to take it down from the inside, she has all the access and knowledge necessary to do so. I doubt any of the lab assistants would know about there being over 20 dollhouses world wide with such high connections in government. She also has to to do it covertly or she risks exposing herself. She has a very den mother attitude towards her actives.
I thought the secret implanted message of Echo was intentionally put there by the dollhouse to throw him off the trail (especially the info about the multiple dollhouses), but then later in the episode DeWitt talks about informing the other dollhouses about the situation with Sierra, which suggest it might’ve been genuine.
Hmm. You know, I just had a thought - I think I know what the bigger goal of the Dollhouse backers is:
[SPOILER] It’s an immortality project. If you can make a perfect copy of a person’s mind, and download it into another body - well, that’s as close to immortality as makes no difference. Sure, you could quibble, and say it’s just a copy of you - but imagine being 80 and dying (or thirty and dying, for that matter), and someone offering you the chance to live again in a healthy, young, smokin’ hot body. What price wouldn’t you pay for that? What sacrifices wouldn’t you make?
As for the Dollhouse operation currently - it’s beta-testing, nothing more or less. These people want to make sure that the imprinting technology works. [/SPOILER]