Dollhouse Promo

I really appreciate their candidness, and could agree, or at least understand, most of the opinions stated in the article.  Right about now, though, I am praying that Janna doesn’t work for Fox.

This show is very difficult.  Joss has always tackled some pretty dense and touchy theological and philosophical issues, but with Dollhouse he gets to explore some particularly juicy ones: emancipation, logical consequences, personal identity, societal identity, social responsibility, money outstripping justice, science outstripping morality, rape (?), the amount that someone is willing to subsume him/herself to save another, slavery/indentured servitude, bachelor cooking, etc.  As you can see, some of this stuff is pretty morally questionable, and some of it is downright reprehensible, but please remember that this was intended. Its a pretty extreme metaphor, but its a metaphor none the less.

***I am seriously trying to give my opinion on character development for the most part, so there shouldn’t be any spoilers, but just in case there are, I am putting them below the break.  Oh! And they’re NOT for the finale, because I haven’t seen it.***

Echo/Caroline (Dushku) really did phone in some of those early episodes – or, to be fair, it could have been the direction – and I nearly left the series.  Then I remember how BAD the first season of Buffy (full disclosure – I watched it on DVD) was, and I just settled for doing my homework during the episodes. I forgive her, though, as episode 6 (and beyond) were truly worth waiting for.

Some of  the other main actors were just riding on their looks as well – Sierra (Lachman) is particularly binary (1 = squint on, 0 = squint off) until she smiles, and shows off that wicked sense of humor. Look for that around the fifth episode.  Paul Ballard (Penikett) just bullys his way through all the scenery until he gets what he thinks he wants, then he just looks shocked. I started feeling sorry for him at some point; he’s so pitifully used, for a being with a soul.

Meanwhile, the background characters were beginning to glow….

Miracle Laurie

Like Mellie (Laurie) – have you ever seen such a luminous smile in your life? That actress is truly aptly named Miracle, and has gone a LONG way to selling me on this series. I really appreciate the fact that she is not a “stick with boobs” as I heard somebody call other actresses when discussing her (I wish that I could remember who said that!!).Trust me, this actress oversells her longing looks a bit, but she has the potential to hone her craft into something remarkable.

Like Laurence Dominic (Diamond) and Topher Brink (Kranz) – could you be any smarmier, and still walk in sunlight? Seriously! I’ve never seen such blatant narcissists since…well, since Dr. Horrible, Angel, Firefly, BtVS…I’m sensing a trend here, Joss.  Just who are you writing?  And how does Dominic – who’s not even a big bad – manage to be so evil still?

Like Victor (Gjokaj) – I really thought you were boring, as you either gave this goofy made mob idiot face, or this flat aspect that made you look like you’d gotten caught in the headlights. When did you become the hidden talent of the show? You’re playing with accents, and you sell yourself physically to the myriad of roles that you’ve played.  Bravo, sir.

There are those that I just love; like Boyd Langton (Lennix), who looks like he would be the family friend that you call uncle, Dr. Saunders (Aker – once again sporting a lab coat, which made me a little misty eyed), trying so hard to disappear in the Dollhouse, and Ivy (Lapira), hanging around in the hopes that Topher will throw her some scraps.  Then there are those that I hate, like Adelle DeWitt (Williams), who’s a spoiled, self-righteous, hypocritical, and ruthless woman.  And yet, she’s played with this unexpected and subtle sorrow and desperation, sort of softly and never for very long.

Finally, there’s Alpha. I was not spoiled, and I won’t spoil anyone else.  I will say that I was taken by surprise so much that I didn’t know whether to throw up or burst into tears.  The casual and abrupt violence of your grand entrance literally brought me out of my seat…

…and made me fall in love with Joss all over again…

WARNING: below this link, there are minor spoilers for season 6….

1. Kiefer Sutherland keeps getting hotter as he keeps getting older
2. Bashir is a terrorist?????????
3. The Palmers are intent on world domination. You think I’m joking.
4. Jack Bauer should be contractually obligated to climb low walls in every episode. In tight blue jeans. Please please please….
5. Chloe needs Lexapro or Lithium or something else that starts with a “L” that cures Loghorrea
6. You could hide a suitcase nuke in Walid’s chin…and perhaps half of LA
7. No. More. Mountain. Lions. Ever.
8. I wonder what Faith thinks of her boytoy becoming president?
9. Obviously, CTU needs to screen their employees and put their ex-employees under full surveillance at all times. If Nina Meyers shows up again, I’m throwing this TV out the window never watching this show again writing a strongly worded letter to Fox Studios (which I swore that I would never watch again after Firefly, please don’t tell my fellow Browncoats).
10. The writers of this show must really really really hate LA. And they don’t seem too fond of San Antonio or Baltimore either.

Why am I just watching season 6, you ask? First, my Dad was kind enough to lend it to me (freeing up 7 slots on my Netflix queue). Secondly, well…let’s just say that I would rather wait for months or years for the next season, than to stress out through commercials, or wait a week for the next episode. I have enough problems going to bed instead of watching this straight through – I should admit that I pretty much did watch the first season straight through, and it nearly killed me.

Also, I just saw some news on season 7 today here. Apparently, Fox is considering either holding season 7 until this time next year, or breaking it up into two 14 episode mini-seasons.