Dollhouse season 1 eps 8-12
Oct. 10th, 2009 11:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightGuess you can tell when I get serious about something, when I go to the trouble of uploading an icon? I've now watched eps 8-12 of Dollhouse season 1, and have to admit, I loved them, so it's probably just as well I booked my seat on the hell bus many years ago.
Before watching the eps, I'd spent the afternoon wrestling with my Darla fic. Have now finished the third draft and the situation is as follows:
* I think the POV character is now unpleasant enough, or almost
* The end is still so c**p I am still very reluctant to subject my beta to it
* I'm still not sure what I'm trying to say about Darla in this story, and until I work it out, the end is likely to remain c**p. Aargh!
Spoilers for Dollhouse eps 8-12 behind cut, and please don't spoiler me for ep 13 or season 2.
Bit of a mixed bag, but an awful lot more good than bad, and even the least good of the 4 episodes - Haunted - had the brilliant Topher/Sierra geek buddies scenes. Probably not a coincidence that the weakest of the final episodes was the one that required Eliza to be least Faith-like. I didn't think she was terribly good (though not awful, I've seen worse) but she was way better in the other three episodes. Having said which, the Echo segment of ep 8 (the one with the Dolls Are Revolting training exercise) was the least interesting story of the four (except - predictably - when Echo got into a fight with the female handler. A way, way more realistic looking fight, I might add, than any she's had with male characters). I love Victor and Sierra together, though am not clear if the fact they reached a 'resolution' means that Victor is no longer in love with Sierra.
Ep 9 (A Spy in the House of Love) was probably the best of the four. In fact, I thought it was brilliant - probably the best of the season - from the way it was structured, to what it revealed about the characters, especially Ms DeWitt - to Sierra's turn as a super spy to the twist reveal of the mole in the Dollhouse, to the horror of what happened to him. I'm getting really nervous about when we finally see the Attic, because it's bound to happen, isn't it? In fact, the only thing wrong with this episode was Victor's Brit accent, which was so nearly right but not quite and instead kept tipping over into unconscious parody. Pity.
The last two episodes were terrific too, though 11 was better than 12, I thought - both for Enver Gjokai's star turn as Mr Dominic, the reveal about 'Dr Saunders' and pretty much every scene that Alan Tudyk was in. Have to agree with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
2maggie2, though, it's a pity that in the end Alpha turned out to be just a boring serial killer.
Unless of course that was another imprint and not the real Alpha. Which is rather what I'm hoping will turn out to be the case with Caroline, because Echo-without-Caroline is actually more interesting than what we've seen of the original. Plus, of course, there was all that deep stuff about slavery and free will and identity etc, which I'm too tired to think about properly now.
Shall watch Epitaph One tomorrow and cross my fingers that we'll get the 13 commissioned episodes of season 2 even if that's it.
Before I go, a couple of Jossverse firsts for me in this series.
1) I ended up liking Topher (I think it was the geek bonding scenes with Sierra that did it), which surprised me, because I don't usually like the characters I suspect Joss of semi-identifying with (and you could make an obvious argument that he, as a writer, has the same control over his characters' lives and personalities as Topher does over the dolls', but with the same restrictions of the PTBs - in Joss's case Fox - being able to step in whenever they want and tell him to do it their way).
2) There were scenes in the last two episodes I couldn't even watch, due to face slashing and eye gouging. That never happened to me in Joss's work before.
But Eliza beating up men? That'll never get old. Also, have just realised, we still don't know who was sending Agent Ballard the mysterious messages via doll, do we? Or did they say and I missed it?
Before watching the eps, I'd spent the afternoon wrestling with my Darla fic. Have now finished the third draft and the situation is as follows:
* I think the POV character is now unpleasant enough, or almost
* The end is still so c**p I am still very reluctant to subject my beta to it
* I'm still not sure what I'm trying to say about Darla in this story, and until I work it out, the end is likely to remain c**p. Aargh!
Spoilers for Dollhouse eps 8-12 behind cut, and please don't spoiler me for ep 13 or season 2.
Bit of a mixed bag, but an awful lot more good than bad, and even the least good of the 4 episodes - Haunted - had the brilliant Topher/Sierra geek buddies scenes. Probably not a coincidence that the weakest of the final episodes was the one that required Eliza to be least Faith-like. I didn't think she was terribly good (though not awful, I've seen worse) but she was way better in the other three episodes. Having said which, the Echo segment of ep 8 (the one with the Dolls Are Revolting training exercise) was the least interesting story of the four (except - predictably - when Echo got into a fight with the female handler. A way, way more realistic looking fight, I might add, than any she's had with male characters). I love Victor and Sierra together, though am not clear if the fact they reached a 'resolution' means that Victor is no longer in love with Sierra.
Ep 9 (A Spy in the House of Love) was probably the best of the four. In fact, I thought it was brilliant - probably the best of the season - from the way it was structured, to what it revealed about the characters, especially Ms DeWitt - to Sierra's turn as a super spy to the twist reveal of the mole in the Dollhouse, to the horror of what happened to him. I'm getting really nervous about when we finally see the Attic, because it's bound to happen, isn't it? In fact, the only thing wrong with this episode was Victor's Brit accent, which was so nearly right but not quite and instead kept tipping over into unconscious parody. Pity.
The last two episodes were terrific too, though 11 was better than 12, I thought - both for Enver Gjokai's star turn as Mr Dominic, the reveal about 'Dr Saunders' and pretty much every scene that Alan Tudyk was in. Have to agree with
2maggie2, though, it's a pity that in the end Alpha turned out to be just a boring serial killer. Unless of course that was another imprint and not the real Alpha. Which is rather what I'm hoping will turn out to be the case with Caroline, because Echo-without-Caroline is actually more interesting than what we've seen of the original. Plus, of course, there was all that deep stuff about slavery and free will and identity etc, which I'm too tired to think about properly now.
Shall watch Epitaph One tomorrow and cross my fingers that we'll get the 13 commissioned episodes of season 2 even if that's it.
Before I go, a couple of Jossverse firsts for me in this series.
1) I ended up liking Topher (I think it was the geek bonding scenes with Sierra that did it), which surprised me, because I don't usually like the characters I suspect Joss of semi-identifying with (and you could make an obvious argument that he, as a writer, has the same control over his characters' lives and personalities as Topher does over the dolls', but with the same restrictions of the PTBs - in Joss's case Fox - being able to step in whenever they want and tell him to do it their way).
2) There were scenes in the last two episodes I couldn't even watch, due to face slashing and eye gouging. That never happened to me in Joss's work before.
But Eliza beating up men? That'll never get old. Also, have just realised, we still don't know who was sending Agent Ballard the mysterious messages via doll, do we? Or did they say and I missed it?
no subject
Date: 2009-10-11 12:56 am (UTC)I have strong reservations about the series in general - particularly about Dushku as the lead - but regardless of how long it lasts or doesn't last and what does or doesn't do, I'll still have my love of "Spy in the House of Love." It ranks up there with Joss's best, IMO. Fascinating character explorations, intriguing structure... the whole thing is just amazing.
Also agree that "Alpha" was better than "Omega," and I, too, was disappointed in Alpha himself. He was much more fun being carrot-man than he was as just wacko serial killer.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-11 04:26 pm (UTC)Yes, I completely agree with you, likewise Man in the Street. Haven't got such a buzz out of anything Jossian since AtS ended.
He was much more fun being carrot-man than he was as just wacko serial killer.
Yes, totally. Re: Eliza, I do think there's something to be said for having a central character the others revolve around who is herself fairly immutable (though I know she's not supposed to be). In a way, it gives the other, more interesting characters something steady to bounce off. And as long as she goes on having enormous fights with nasty men and pounding the crap out of them on a regular basis, I'm prepared to forgive Eliza quite a lot.
Yep. Going to hell, that's for sure.