Gareth Williams: The Outsider

Chuck 2.07: Chuck vs. the Fat Lady

Oh dear. Chuck has been on something of a roll the past few weeks, but that came to a grinding halt with this episode. I said last week that I hoped Jill didn’t turn out to be a spy/traitor/villain of some kind, and wouldn’t you know? That’s exactly what happened. If that wasn’t already a too-obvious-by-far revelation, the fact that this episode signposted it from so early just eradicated any tension that might have existed. The dramatic possibilities hinted towards at the end of last week’s episode (with Sarah spying on Chuck apparently without his knowledge) were thrown away before the opening credits - what a wasted opportunity!

Thankfully, there’s always Adam Baldwin to throw in some of his trademark one-liners. He can get more mileage out of one word (in this case, “Choirboy.”) than most actors manage with a page of dialogue. And even though sub-par Chuck has some funny moments, it’s not enough to save this episode from being way too predictable and, frankly, a little boring. Even the Buy More scenes this week were more irritating than they were funny.

Hopefully, things will be back on track next week, because this has been a great season up to now.

Dollhouse 1.10: Haunted

OK, maybe there’s something in the water this week. Much like Chuck, Dollhouse has also had a good run of form recently, and that too falters with this episode. The idea that the Dollhouse can provide a kind of life after death is a very intriguing idea, but you sense the writers didn’t quite know how to address it fully, because other than some token Boyd musings on the subject, it’s brushed aside in favour of an unbelievably dull storyline for Echo.

Part of the problem is that the sub-plots of the episode were considerably more interesting/entertaining. Ballard’s realisation that he is now a client of the Dollhouse himself adds some much-welcome weight to his character and to his relationship with Mellie/November. And Topher’s birthday celebration (such as it is) where he basically loads up one of the Actives as a playmate was oddly charming and poignant - and this is coming from someone who hasn’t liked the character so far. Both stories just showed up the Echo plot for the soap opera-level family drama nonsense it was.

Dichen Lachman also showed she is every bit the equal of Eliza Dushku in the acting stakes, if not better. It’s part of the problem at the heart of Dollhouse. When Dushku was Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she had the effect of making every episode she wasn’t in seem dull by comparison. On her new show, however, almost the opposite is true. She plays the least interesting character, is given the least interesting storylines, and because of that is frequently upstaged by her co-stars. Dushku is a much better actress than she appears here, and deserves better.

True Blood 1.01: Strange Love

I never watched Six Feet Under, so I come to this show only on the strength of good reviews, and with no expectations. Overall, I was suitably impressed. There were some teething problems (hey, it’s the first episode after all) but the humour was strong throughout, and the characters were pretty well-defined from the outset. More than that, though, it’s the world itself which is most intriguing, and certainly on the strength of this episode I’ll be tuning in again next week.