Gareth Williams: The Outsider

As I sit down to write this, it occurs to me that I may well have written more blogs about Dollhouse than any one other subject. For a show I still haven’t completely fallen in love with, that’s no mean feat. By the end of its first season, I was cautiously optimistic about the future direction of the show, though there were several key problems I had over the course of that season that were still in place by the end. Nevertheless the season ended on a high (in the UK at least) with the apparently game-changing season finale “Epitaph One”, by far the best episode of the show up to that point. It’s a shame then that that episode was never aired in its home country - it might have helped spark some much-needed interest in a struggling show. With all that being said, Dollhouse began its second season last week on Sci-Fi here in Britain, so the question is: Has it improved?

Dollhouse 2.01: “Vows”

Written and directed by Joss Whedon himself, I had high hopes for this episode. In particular I was hoping that, even if it did not pick on the story of “Epitaph One”, it would at least maintain the quality of that episode. It’s sad to report then that the episode felt a little disjointed. It bore none of the boldness of the Season 1 finale, and came across as a rather pedestrian hour of television. There was some set-up for the season going forward but that seemed to come at the expense of any excitement.

Things got off to a bad start right at the opening titles. They managed to tone down the fetish-cosplay aspect of the Season 1 titles, but the ‘dominatrix outfit’ outfit from the first season has now made it into the montage. It immediately reminded me of one of the main issues I have the show - mainly that for a show so steeped in murky topics like prostitution, human trafficking, and objectification, it takes somewhat remarkable liberties with its lead actress. I’m never quite sure if maybe I’m missing something at times, but it always feels to me like the show is trying to have its cake and eat it too: frowning (if not outright condemning) the objectification of human beings for the gratification of others on the one hand, whilst objectifying the star on a near-weekly basis on the other. Was it really necessary, for example, to have Eliza Dushku strip down to her skivvies barely 20 minutes into the episode?

See, I’m torn. If the show was 45 minutes a week of - the admittedly gorgeous - Eliza Dushku in various sexy situations, I’d probably still watch (though I now feel slightly seedy for admitting that) but this is a show with loftier ambitions than that. Are we supposed to be turned on by that scene? Angered by it? Creeped out by it? Maybe the show is aiming for that kind of ambiguity, but if that’s the case, I’m not convinced it’s having the desired effect. It’s more irritating than anything else. The scene as it aired in this episode played like a romantic scene purely to lull the viewer into the episode’s conceit and I’m sure that could have been accomplished without the ‘titillation’ aspect. I mean, Ballard doing push-ups while Echo gets her end away? Very subtle.

To be fair, that’s really only a small part of this episode. Whilst I understand the need to have something a bit more action-oriented in a season opener, the more compelling things in this episode for me were happening back in the Dollhouse itself. Whisky’s storyline was gripping stuff, her scene with Topher playing brilliantly. As much as I dislike Topher, actor Fran Kranz was very good here, showing some depth beneath the very-punchable-git facade. And what can I say about Amy Acker? She was phenomenal. Phenomenal. Losing her is a big blow to this programme, not just because of her performance but also because her character was arguably the most interesting one.

It was great fun to see Alexis Denisof back in the Whedonverse too. I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to hearing him with his natural accent, though. Speaking of which, even though I’d heard Jamie Bamber’s normal accent before, it seemed more out of place on a US show. Actually he reminded me a few times of James Callis as Baltar on Battlestar Galactica. Weird. Still, he was very good here, turning on the inner bad guy quickly. It wasn’t enough to really hook me into the storyline. The old problem of Dushku’s plot being the least interesting of a given episode has already surfaced and that can’t be a good thing.

Dollhouse 2.02: “Instinct”

After warming (ever-so-slightly) to him last episode, Topher was immediately back to being an insufferable prick here. Goody. And, I’m sorry, but the whole central idea of this episode just seemed… well, silly to me. Hearing Topher talk about the possibilities of Dollhouse-tech just made me think of “Epitaph One” and how much I wish we could carry on that story. But the idea that someone would pay for someone to be jiggered-with so they could love and feed his baby? It’s absurd. I can suspend my disbelief with the very best of them, but I just couldn’t buy into this AT ALL. I’d love to know exactly how much this particular service would go for on the Dollhouse payment plan. (This reminds me: why is the Dollhouse always so busy when it’s so secret?) Oh, and another thing. This episode hinges on the paranoia Echo feels about the danger to ‘her’ baby, a paranoia ignited due to her spying her handler’s black van outside the window. Now, if Dollhouse-tech can wipe a person’s mind and now, apparently, alter body chemistry, wouldn’t it make sense to programme them to ignore their handler’s van whilst on assignment until they’re finished? It’s the little things sometimes, you know?

Thankfully, for all the nonsense in this episode, it also contains one of Dushku’s better performances to date. She gets some flak whenever she does anything that strays from her perceived comfort zone of badass/sexy/intense (or Faith, as we Buffy fans might call it), but I thought she acquitted herself well here. It’s a shame that the inherent artificiality of the scenario drains any dramatic tension - you never really believe there’s any jeopardy. Plus, it’s very, very silly.

It was also surprising to see Miracle Laurie (great name, by the way!) back so soon. The idea that former Actives still need to come in for mysterious ‘diagnostics’ walked a fine line between sensible and suspicious - exactly the right tone. And I can’t be the only one who found Madeline (a.k.a. November, a.k.a. Mellie) just a little ‘Stepford Wife-y’, can I? It’s too early to tell if that was intentional or not, but it worked nonetheless.

The ongoing arc was bubbling away nicely in the background. Did Alpha send that file to Senator Wesley? (I know that’s not his character’s name, but that’s how I think of him, dammit!) Or was it Madeline? Ballard? Dr. Saunders? I like that there’s questions to keep us coming back for the next epsiode; it’s one of the things sorely absent from the first half of Season 1.

Finally, we get a sense that Echo is finally becoming a character viewers can get behind. It’s nice to see her memories exposing the inherent cruelty of the Dollhouse.

All in all, another decent episode where the main storyline was largely forgettable, but the story arc-building in the background was just intriguing enough to sustain interest. One thing, though: Why is nobody at the ‘house concerned that a key member of staff, Dr. Saunders - an Active no less, has seemingly done a runner?