Video: IT'S NOT YOU, IT'S ME

I don't usually post short films, but wanted to draw your attention to Matt Spicer's black-comedy It's Not You, It's Me. This 9-minute short stars Gillian Jacobs (Community) and Fran Kranz (Dollhouse) as a couple whose relationship's going through a bad patch, culminating in a shock. Warning: contains a few gruesome scenes.

[via Film School Rejects]

Aborted Reviews: 'Being Human': S1-3, 'Caprica': 1.14 - "Blowback", 'Dexter': S4 & 'Dollhouse': S2

I write a lot of stuff I never actually post here, usually because I proof-read and don't think it's good enough. It's true! I keep all my writing on a Word document that's currently 113 pages long, mostly consisting of hazy ideas for polls, talking points, random media-related articles, some research, etc.

Sometimes there are reviews (often of TV box-sets) that I struggle to find time to write from start to finish, so end up tinkering with them over a period of weeks, sometimes months -- mostly on afternoons when there are no reviews to write for shows I watched the evening before. Unfortunately, this means that these reviews can reach a moment in time where their "moment" has passed. Or, simply, I've become bored working on them, and they remain forever unfinished. Recently I've become frustrated with this fact, and increasingly aware that such reviews are destined to sit on my laptop forever, slowly turning into relics of my own mind. So, to hell with it, why not just publish what I have, in whatever state they're in?

And that's what we have here. A handful of TV reviews (mostly aborted or unfinished box-set appraisals) of Being Human, Dexter and Dollhouse, with a latter episode of Caprica thrown in for good measure. Obviously, these aren't finished (some are just "set up" really), but I think they're of sufficient quality to be posted. I hope. I don't think I'll ever find the time and proclivity to finish them, so hope you enjoy reading what I did manage to cobble together. Maybe this will embarrass me to finish what I started more often, or not start to begin with!

But that Firefly box-set review really IS coming. Honestly. Note its absence here. Trust me...

DVD Review: BEING HUMAN – Complete Series 1-3; kitchen sink supernaturalism

It's a peculiar premise that shouldn't work as well as it does: a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost share a house together. It's the kind of concept that could be taken in different directions, tonally, but Being Human goes for character-based drama with a gentle sitcom undertone, punctuated by moments of startling horror. It's a sweet confection that should delight most people drawn to Being Human, although the show's let down by several problems underpinning its mythology.

Mitchell (Aidan Turner) is a 115-year-old vampire who led a hedonistic lifestyle with his diminutive "recruiter" Herrick (Jason Watkins) over the 20th-century, before deciding to abstain from human blood, get an inconspicuous job as a hospital porter, and live with his werewolf friend George (Russell Tovey.) The two pals move into a pink semi-detached house in Bristol, later becoming aware they're sharing it with Annie (Lenora Crichlow), their landlord's dead fiancée, and a unique support group is formed as the trio attempt to "be human" without arousing suspicion from friends and neighbours.

The premise is actually quite flawed, as the idea of overcoming your nature to fit in with mankind only works in the case of a vampire going through withdrawal symptoms -- which act as a drug addiction allegory, natch. After all, George is perfectly human for 353 days of the year, while Annie has little choice but to accept she can't be seen by normal people to achieve "social acceptance". But still, the interaction of the three characters living under one roof is the focus of the series, and fortunately the actors have an engaging rapport. Mitchell is the mandatory brooder who struggles to turn his back on his debauched past, particularly with Herrick on every corner trying to coax him back into the fold; George is the intellectual, emotional, socially-awkward guy who's tormented by his werewolf curse; and Annie's the insecure, ditzy, and impulsive one trying to understand her situation as a spirit.

Series 1 deals with storylines that are most pertinent to the show's themes and intent, as each one neatly highlights the major issues and concerns the lead characters have. Mitchell exists in a state of constant temptation from the vampires beyond the sanctuary of his new abode; George starts having a relationship with a headstrong nurse called Nina (Sinead Keenan), while trying to keep her ignorant of his hairy affliction; and Annie starts to piece together the circumstances of her death and, after realizing her fiancé murderer her, decides to exact justice from beyond the grave so she can "move on" to the next life. Each storyline cuts to the core concerns of the characters and their struggles with their very natures, and it's a synergy that Being Human never quite manages to top in later years.

By Series 2, there's more confidence in Being Human's ability to deliver compelling drama and horror, so some of the humour takes a backseat. Instead, the mythology of the show widens to encompass the presence of an organization headed up by a Dr Jaggatt and a former-priest called Kemp (Donald Sumpter) who are aware "supernaturals" exist and intend to eradicate them. Added to that, Mitchell turns preacher in trying to get the city's vampires to join him in blood abstinence; George and Nina's relationship disintegrates in the wake of George passing on his lycanthropy to her (a thin AIDS allegory), which thus pushes George into a hasty rebound with a single mother; and Annie tries to find a purpose now that she's chosen to remain earthbound.

It's a strong series, but perhaps one that alienated fans who were attracted to Being Human because of its lead character's interactions and veins of comedy. The trio tend to get lost in their own situations too much, while there's a clear sense of desperation about how to deal with Annie (who's even given a corporeal body for awhile, almost out of desperation over the constraints of a character most people can't see.) But there's enough imagination and self-belief to keep you watching, together with some genuinely gripping sequences – like the moment when George loses track of time and starts to transform into a werewolf in the middle of a primary school. A genuinely tense and visually superb sequence of mounting horror and uncertainty.

Finally, Series 3 offers minor reinvention. Mitchell, George and Nina move to Barry Island in South Wales to escape the previous year's events and, after renting a former B&B called Honolulu Heights, Mitchell manages to rescue Annie from the purgatory she was banished to the year before. From there the show takes a more inward-looking approach to its drama -- as secrets, lies and lost memories play a part in tearing the four friends apart. Guest stars play a more active role than ever, often headlining largely standalone episodes that are scheduled to break up the year's deeper story. We meet a middle-aged vampire trapped in a teenager's body, a party girl turned into a zombie, George's milquetoast father, and new semi-regulars are introduced in haggard werewolf McNair (Robson Green) and his sheltered son Tom (Michael Socha), before the return of an amnesiac Herrick lends the whole series an unpredictable edge when he becomes their lodger in the attic.

DVD Review: DEXTER: Complete Series 4 (2009)

After the misfiring third season, Dexter needed to deliver a convincing comeback in its fourth year, and found the answer to its prayers in esteemed actor John Lithgow. The series went back to its roots of having Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) contend with another serial-killer on his patch; namely The Trinity Killer (Lithgow), a fiend who's escaped detection for three decades, but has returned to Miami to end his clandestine killing spree.

Retired FBI Agent Lundy (Keith Carradine) has become a self-made Inspector Abberline to his very own Jack The Ripper, determined to catch Trinity while colleagues/friends treat his theories as bunkum. Meanwhile, new father Dexter struggles to find balance between his parental responsibilities and entrenched need to slaughter criminals. The twist to this particular tale is that Dexter comes to realize he has much to learn from Trinity; a wiser, more experienced killer, having apparently perfected the art of hiding in plain sight...

The common weakness of Dexter is that most subplots unrelated to its eponymous anti-hero play like dispensable off cuts from a formulaic cop show, and that continued to be the case here. Fortunately, season 4 finds a compelling way to involve Dexter in Trinity's life for an extensive period of time, and does a great job slowly unraveling the psychosis at the heart of season 4's villain. It has the backbone of an unraveling mystery, which takes the sting out of the more tedious subplots.

Lithgow uses his pallid features and piercing blue eyes to unnerving effect, acting a portent of what Dexter's life could become, yet he's still able to evoke sympathy when the root of his problem is eventually revealed. It's a performance that buoys the entire season, even when various leaks burst through the hull, bagging Lithgow a deserved Emmy award. More importantly, he provides Hall with someone of comparable skill to bounce off, and the season takes full advantage of these two heavyweights. A visual tableau at the tail-end of "Hello, Dexter Morgan" paints the two actors as boxers squaring up to each other in the ring. To continue the allegory: season 4 may have its weak rounds, but it ends with a chilling knockout punch.

TV Review: 'CAPRICA' 1.14 – "Blowback"

"Blowback" kicked off the final five episodes in glorious style, delivering panache and forward momentum with the key stories: Daniel Graystone (Eric Stoltz) discovered the Guatrau have been smuggling some of his Cylons off-world to fight in the Tauron civil war, so persuaded its leader to stop this illegality with the promise of quicker results with his life-changing resurrection program "Grace"; Lacey (Magda Apanowicz) was sent to Gemenon aboard an STO vessel with other young recruits, only to find herself embroiled in a violent hijacking by a group of polytheists; police Captain Duram (Brian Markinson) was pressured by his boss Gara Singh (Peter Wingfield) into revealing who his informant is working undercover at Sister Clarice's (Polly Walker) abode; and Clarice herself finally got her hands on Zoe's infinity broach, which contains a backup of the martyr's avatar software, which she hopes will form the basis of an STO "afterlife".

For once, there wasn't a single storyline that bored me here, which was a huge relief after a mid-season run of duds, which felt responsible for Syfy yanking the show off-air and deciding to cancel it. Maybe they should have waited a few weeks? Everything was very neatly handled and very entertaining, with Lacey's storyline being particularly gripping as the poor girl was forced to fight for her life before the hijackers executed her fellow "heathens" and ejected their bodies out of an airlock. The twist that the entire situation was a staged test of loyalty managed to fool me, despite being a common trick, and I enjoyed the final moments when Lacey realized those who failed the test were blithely executed by an armed Cylon. The penny seemed to drop for Lacey that she's joined a religious cult that are actually as crazy as the fake polytheists.

Blu-ray Review: DOLLHOUSE - The Complete Second Season (2009)

Joss Whedon's Dollhouse was given a last-minute reprieve by Fox after its low-rated debut season in 2008, but after being transferred to the "graveyard slot" of Friday nights, the network announced its cancellation barely four episodes into its sophomore run. Fortunately, the axe fell early enough for Whedon's team to condense their potential five-year plan into the remaining half-dozen episodes. This resulted in a rip-roaring season that, while unsurprisingly hectic and devil may care in attitude, birthed so many interesting ideas and surprises that the loyal fan-base were given a satisfactory conclusion and several of the year's most exciting hours of sci-fi drama last year...

To recap the premise, Dollhouse concerns a secret organization that has pioneered mind-altering technology, enabling them to erase and implant memories into human brains. They currently use this technology to create "dolls"; willing volunteers who sign away periods of their life for financial recompense, allowing their bodies to become the shell for various personalities that a client demands. The dolls can become the world's greatest midwife, hiking companion, prostitute, soldier, secretary, pop star, or any other occupation desired. More controversially, dolls can be given the personality and memories of actual people, living or dead (provided they've had their minds copied and stored for future use). The very idea throws up an abundance of existential questions and ideas, most of which Dollhouse explores throughout its two seasons: from "sleepers" who don't even know they're dolls, sent out into the real world to keep tabs on people trying to expose the Dollhouse, to questions of mortality if one could continually inherit a host body and transfer your consciousness to a new one when age or health becomes an issue.

"Echo" (Eliza Dushku) is our heroine, a feisty volunteer for the program's Los Angeles facility, run by the authoritarian Adelle DeWitt (Olivia Williams), who has the unique ability to retain her memories of past experiences and personalities after the obligatory "treatment" (mind erasure) that followers every assignment. In season 2, Echo's ability will prove instrumental if they're to destroy the Dollhouse from the inside-out, with the help of Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett), a former FBI Agent who attempted to rescue Echo in season 1, but is now a double-agent working for the enemy, and Echo's former "handler" Boyd (Harry Lennix), a fatherly figure who's questioned the morality of the Dollhouse from the very start.

SDCC: "Joss Whedon Experience"

Yet more videos from the San Diego Comic-Con; this one focusing entirely on Joss Whedon. A great four-part video for fans of his work.

SDCC: Visionaries - J.J Abrams & Joss Whedon

Above and below is a six-part video of the San Diego Comic-Con panel "Visionaries" with J.J Abrams (Alias, Lost, Fringe, Star Trek) and Joss Whedon (Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse). Check it out.

DOLLHOUSE 2.13 - "Epitaph Two: Return"

WRITERS: Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon & Andrew Chambliss
DIRECTOR: David Solomon
GUEST CAST: Felicia Day, Adair Tishler, Zack Ward, Nate Dushku, Maurissa Tancharoen, Christian Monzon, Brandon Dieter, Noah Harpster, Brandon Molale, Alan Tudyk & Summer Glau

[SPOILERS] It's time for Joss Whedon to put away his dolls and consign them to the attic. Dollhouse comes to a premature end after two short seasons, hobbled from the start by a bad timeslot and network insistence that they launch with a string of episodic stories. The series hit its stride once Whedon was allowed to build a serialized mythology mid-season, to quickly tackle some weighty existential themes. And, ironically, once he was given carte blanche to do whatever he pleased when the show was cancelled a few months ago, Dollhouse became one of the most enjoyable and stimulating sci-fi action shows of the past few years. Dollhouse won't be remembered as fondly as Buffy The Vampire Slayer or Angel (or even the briefer spark that was Firefly), but it was a more intelligent and mature piece of work in many ways, and at least Whedon managed to tell a complete, if heavily condensed, story...

"Epitaph Two: Return" will be unfathomable to the vast majority of viewers, as it's a sequel to "Epitaph One", which was only available to American audiences who bought the Dollhouse season 1 box-set. But, hey, I'm pretty sure Dollhouse's audience is entirely comprised of fans who are au fait with what's going on.

It's 2020 A.D (one year after the events of "Epitaph One"), where the world has become a dystopian wasteland thanks to Rossum using its remote imprinting technology to erase, amend or replace people's identities en masse against their will. A band of "Actuals" (people still have their original personalities) -- Mag (Felicia Day), Zone (Zack Ward) and Caroline (Adair Tishler) – are rescued from Rossum by the legendary Echo (Eliza Dushku) and Paul (Tahmoh Penikett), who are there to retrieve Topher (Fran Kranz), who's being forced to create a worldwide, cascading mind-wipe. The rescued are taken to the "Safe Haven" commune, where DeWitt (Olivia Williams), Priya (Dichen Lachman) and her young son T (Brandon Dieter) have been living in isolation.

They soon realize that Topher has the ability to create a reversible mind-wipe, effectively restoring everyone to their original mental states, but he needs technology only available inside the abandoned L.A Dollhouse. So, teaming up with Victor (Enver Gjokaj) and his Mad Max-ian team of "tech heads" (people who replace components of their mind with specialist skills, ad hoc), the gang decide to return to the City of Angels war zone, where the street are now stalked by mindless killers known as "Butchers", and hopefully launch a "wiping signal" into the ionosphere from DeWitt's penthouse office...

As finale's go, "Epitaph Two: Return" was entertaining, but obviously lacked the intrigue that its forbearer had because we've already visited this future world. Still, it was fun to see what had happened to various characters a decade from now, despite the fact only Priya and Victor's relationship had actually developed anywhere emotionally engaging. Once the team arrived at the Dollhouse it was a neat surprise to find that Alpha (Alan Tudyk) was already there, having evolved beyond his psychosis to become a trusted ally, but there weren't too many other big surprises. It was an episode of fun nods and moments, really – like Rossum bigwig Harding's (Noah Harpster) lifestyle being one of pure gluttony, growing obese, then simply selecting another well-toned, young body for his mind to inhabit.

The story was quite straight-forward, really, and I wasn't very convinced by Topher's sudden realisation that he could reverse all his damage. This didn't seem feasible, given what we know of the mind-imprinting process. Quite how Topher's device could restore everyone's original personalities was just one of those things you had to go along with, because otherwise there's just no feasible way to give Dollhouse a happy ending. And it was quite an upbeat ending, despite fears Joss Whedon would leave us on a real downer, although quite why Rossum can't just re-wipe everyone Topher saved is something I'm still pondering...

Topher himself became the saviour of the civilisation he'd helped destroy -- sacrificing himself by detonating the pulse while in DeWitt's office -- and it's worth reiterating the fact that Topher's character went from annoying, dislikeable geek in season 1 to a very fun, spirited, and appealing individual in season 2 – having grown a conscience over his actions and, briefly, found love with soulmate Bennett (Summer Glau, who made a cameo in an instructional video.) Topher actually became my favourite character on the show this year, so I was pleased to see him earn redemption here.

I was a little puzzled that Paul had been making unrequited moves on Echo over the years, because wasn't a condition of his healed brain using active architecture that Topher took away his feelings for Echo? Maybe he was still capable of developing those feelings again. I guess. It also felt a little anticlimactic to have Paul killed by a stray bullet during the mission to get to the Dollhouse, but I kind of liked how Echo decided to imprint Paul's personality into her brain during the denouement -– effectively "letting him in" in a far more personal way. It was just a shame that, frankly, the "great love story" between Paul and Echo just never really took flight during the series, which lost this scene a lot of emotional impact the writers intended. I think Penikett and Dushku are just so different (physically and as actors) that it was always difficult to see them as a couple –- especially now, because Paul's romantic story had primarily been focused on Mellie throughout season 2.

Overall, I was entertained but not especially thrilled by "Epitaph Two: Return", but it was a decent way to bring the show to an end. It was just unfortunate that Dollhouse basically had to fill nine episodes with storylines and developments that would otherwise have taken years to evolve more naturally, because recent episodes have felt slightly rushed. But, given the unfortunate behind-the-scenes problems with the network and early cancellation[*], I think Whedon and his writers did an admirable job turning Dollhouse into must-see TV for those clever enough to have sought it out (however ragged the tales became towards the end.) I hope Joss Whedon and his team get a chance to work on a similarly complex and intelligent genre series in the near-future, hopefully on cable television as rumoured.

But what did you make of this episode, and Dollhouse in general? Are you glad it ended like it did, or was this a disappointment to you?

29 JANUARY 2010: FOX, 9/8c

[*] Although I think it's worth remembering that, bad timeslot aside, Fox did renew Dollhouse for another season (despite bad ratings and poor DVD sales), they gave Whedon's team enough time to complete his story, and they aired all the remaining episodes. A better timeslot may have helped, but I think it was ultimately a clear-cut case that Dollhouse didn't appeal to many people, beyond Whedonites and sci-fi aficionados.

DOLLHOUSE 2.12 - "Hollow Men"

[SPOILERS] The penultimate episode is also the last to take place in the present day, as the series finale's primed to revisit the future dystopia of "Epitaph One". I get the feeling that if you want a happy ending to Dollhouse, it might be best to turn your television off before the coda to "Hollow Men" plays out, then avoid the conclusion in two weeks...

Here, all the main characters are united in their intention to break into Rossum's headquarters in Tucson, to find and kill the corporation's mysterious founder – unaware that their friend/colleague Boyd (Harry Lennix) is actually the target they're after, having been undercover at the L.A Dollhouse these past few years. DeWitt (Olivia Williams), Topher (Fran Kranz) and Boyd take Caroline/Echo (Eliza Dushku) with them because she can identify Rossum's CEO, but their plan hits a snag when it appears that Caroline (Echo's body's original persona), isn't gelling with the other personalities stuck inside her head, so needs to be tranquilized. Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett) and Mellie (Miracle Laurie) are also involved in the assault, tasked with destroying Rossum's servers.

Elsewhere, former-actives Anthony (Enver Gjokaj) and Priya (Dichen Lachman) decide to return to the Dollhouse to help their friends, but find the place abandoned after a violent attack by Rossum mercenaries. Discovering a note attached to the unoccupied imprinting chair in Topher's lab, Anthony takes a seat and becomes "Topher 2.0" – who helps Priya realize that Boyd's a mole, after they check footage from a secret camera Topher had installed in his office.

It's worth mentioning how well Dollhouse has managed its budget cut this season, as so many episodes have taken place in the standing sets of the Dollhouse itself, or otherwise in largely identical buildings and corridors. There hasn't been anywhere near as much on-location stuff this year, basically, but it hasn't really mattered, as the show has instead focused on its litany of "big ideas" and the characters. Much of "Hollow Men" was spent watching people creep around Rossum's HQ, or scenes with Gjokaj once again giving us a frighteningly accurate impersonation of Topher. Seriously, in some ways he does a better job than Kranz!

Attention was maintained by our anticipation that Boyd's cover was going to be blown, but also in learning exactly why he put himself undercover by Echo's side, and what his end-game is. The answers are given to us here, and while they're largely clichéd and ridiculous in the cold light of day, they're still fun and plausible enough for cursory enjoyment. Boyd's an insane megalomaniac who knows you can't put the genie back in the bottle, regarding the technology he helped create in the '90s. So, he wants to be the "destroyer" and not the "destroyed" once Topher's "remote imprinting" technology becomes weaponized and mass-produced.

It transpires that Rossum discovered Caroline has a unique biochemistry that might be capable of shrugging off imprints, so they intend to harvest her spinal fluid to create a vaccine against the imprinting process. That's actually not a very good explanation for why Caroline's been considered "special", although you do have to wonder why Boyd would hand Caroline over to DeWitt's house and put her through so many life-threatening dangers, solely to cultivate a "superego" he can nurture. I'm sure the end-result could have been achieved without such risks to Caroline's physical safety... but then I guess we'd never have a TV show. I'm prepared to let these nitpicks slide, though, but I know there are many wrinkles that have arisen because certain developments weren't planned from day one.

In some ways, I think "Hollow Men" was probably a victim of the rewriting that was done once Fox cancelled Dollhouse, as there were quite a few things that didn't make much sense, or could have done with a few more episodes to explain properly. For instance, "Saunders" (Amy Acker) made a return here as a villain, having assassinated Bennett last week, and it was revealed she's merely the latest host body for Clyde – a brain-copy of the English co-founder of Rossum, whose original psyche was exiled to the Attic. It's a twist that allows Acker to wear a man's suit and go toe-to-toe against Echo in a few fights, but Acker's performance didn't fit with what we knew of Clyde. It's inferred that "Clyde 2.0" has evolved to agree with Boyd's way of thinking, but that explanation just didn't work for me. Plus, Acker's mannerisms and voice were far removed from Adam Godley's twitchy geek we met in "The Attic", which was a pity.

But still, "Hollow Men" was very entertaining and mostly successful in its intention to be the "happy ending" we'll probably feel wistful for when "Epitaph Two: The Return" airs in a fortnight. I didn't think it was surprising or clever how Mellie was turned into a killer, with love once again proving stronger than her programming, forcing her to commit suicide rather than kill Paul -- but, the sight of Boyd being turned into a placid doll by Topher, then used as a suicide bomber to destroy Rossum's mainframe, was a fun reverse-twist on the Echo/Boyd relationship of "doll/protector" that started season 1.

Overall, there's no denying that "Hollow Men" was a fairly standard finale-styled episode, not helped by the late demand to wrap-up Dollhouse's storylines years before they were designed to. But, it was enjoyable and occasionally interesting, if a little brittle when you analyze it. For instance, now that Boyd's been killed, it makes no sense that he appeared in the flashforward episode "Epitaph One" (set 10 years in the future) – but perhaps that's a big clue that the future we saw isn't set in stone, and we were only seeing one possible outcome? I guess we'll have to wait and see how Joss Whedon's team are going to bring their show to an end, when the conclusion airs on 29 January...


15 January 2010
Fox, 9/8c

written by: Michele Fazekas, Tara Butters & Tracy Bellomo directed by: Terrence O'Hara starring: Eliza Dushku (Echo), Harry Lennix (Boyd), Fran Kranz (Topher), Olivia Williams (Adelle), Enver Gjokaj (Anthony), Dichen Lachman (Priya), Tahmoh Penikett (Ballard) & Amy Acker (Clyde)

DOLLHOUSE 2.11 - "Getting Closer"

[SPOILERS] This latter-half of Dollhouse's second season has been something of a gold rush. There have been so many great episodes that I'm beginning to wonder if I'm at fault for rating them all too highly –- but, no, it seems that knowledge of the show's imminent demise has forced Joss Whedon's writing staff to distil years worth of story arc into nine episodes, resulting in a stream of first-rate sci-fi storytelling with no fat on its bones...

As of the pre-hiatus climax, the Dollhouse staff are now united in their ambition to bring down the Rossum Corporation from the inside. To help them do this, they intend to cut the snake's head off by going after Rossum's secretive CEO, and DeWitt (Olivia Williams) realises that only Caroline has ever met the corporation's chief exec, which means her personality must be reinserted into Echo (Eliza Dushku) if they have any chance to find him. Unfortunately, Caroline's data-cartridge has been badly damaged, meaning the gang have to first kidnap techie Bennett Halverson (Summer Glau) from the Washington D.C 'house, and convince her to repair Caroline's data. But what will Caroline do if she's returned to her body, to find dozens of other personalities floating around her mind, now forming a collective "superego"? And will Bennett be willing to help her kidnappers, baring in mind the bad blood behind her and Caroline?

"Getting Closer" certainly crammed a great deal into its hour, most likely because this latter batch of episodes were rewritten to take into account the fact Dollhouse's existence is coming to an end. For that reason, I grant a certain amount of leeway in how this episode lacked a certain amount of grace, instead coming across as a wild dash at times. Writer Tim Minear kept a cool head for much of it (writing and directing this episode, that must have helped), and any deficiencies can be overlooked because it was just so enjoyable, fast-paced and revelatory.

A series of flashback to three years ago revealed exactly how Caroline first met Bennett, with the two students at Tucson technical college becoming friends because of their shared pariah status. I especially loved a later scene where Caroline effectively helped nerdy Bennett become a "different person" by dying her hair a sexier colour; a harmless example of altering a person's personality through physical change, but one which had obvious parallels to the kinds of "treatments" both will become familiar with in later life.

Caroline and Bennett eventually conspire together to gain access to the Rossum Corporation, who have recently recruited neuroscientist Bennett into their program, and plot to blow up the building in an act of anti-corporate terrorism But, during their covert mission, Caroline makes the startling discovery that Rossum are secretly experimenting on people, but after she's primed her explosives to detonate. The resulting blast traps Bennett's arm under some fallen rubble, and Caroline decides it's best to let her friend stay behind to be discovered by security (as she has an alibi to be there as an employee), although we know Bennett comes to harbour a great deal of bitterness and anger for Caroline's decision, which resulted in the loss of her arm's use. Caroline herself was captured by DeWitt (Olivia Williams) and delivered to Rossum's bigwig...

The present day storyline was contained within the Dollhouse, with everyone preparing for war against their paymasters – having kidnapped Bennett and rescued Mellie (Miracle Laurie) from the D.C branch, it's only a matter of time before their rebellion is exposed. Topher (Fran Kranz) resumed his romance with Bennett, in scenes that were so syrupy they walked a thin line between being sweet and ridiculous, but Kranz and Glau somehow made it work. I especially liked how their first kiss was amusingly spoiled by the pain from Topher's split lip. It's also worth mentioning here that, having been one of season 1's most divisive characters, Topher's become fascinatingly complex and sympathetic this season, and Kranz's faltering performances are now one of the big reasons I'll miss Dollhouse when it's over.

We also learn that Boyd (Harry Lennix) has been living with scarred Dr. Saunders (Amy Acker) since she ran away from the Dollhouse earlier this season, and the pair have apparently grown to have a romantic relationship in private. This did feel like a very rushed development in light of Dollhouse's demise (not helped by the fact Acker wasn't available for more appearances), but we'll just have to live with it. At least it explained the pair's chemistry in their scenes during "Epitaph One" in the near-future.

It was also made clear that Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett), who was recently turned into a doll rather than be left brain-dead, isn't quite the person he once was. Topher's had to erase his potent feelings towards Caroline/Echo in an effort to "rewire" his mind, so Ballard's no longer as protective and sympathetic to Echo and her situation. I'm not sure if there's going to be much relevance to this change considering we're only a few episodes away from the grand finale, though. And, truth be told, I think most of us will agree that Ballard's role on the show has been largely unnecessary and unconvincing this year.

Anyway, for all its clever explanations of the back-story between Caroline and Bennett, together with a palpable sense that everything's building to a thrilling climax, "Getting Closer" will be best-remembered for two hugely significant twists that arrive in the final act. First, having finally made a breakthrough with Bennett and kissed her in his lab, Topher's life is shattered when Dr. Saunders coolly walks into his office and shoots Bennett through the head at close quarters. The gang assume that Saunders was captured by Rossum at some point after she left, then reprogrammed to be a sleeper agent. The second twist involved the flashback to Caroline being sent to see Rossum's chief, with the "man behind the curtain" revealed to be... Boyd Langton! That was quite a shocking development -- although I was expecting a twist along similar lines the moment Caroline entered his office -- but I would never have thought affable, fatherly Boyd was the "big bad" all along...

There are plenty of huge questions this all raises, too: thinking back to season 1, does it make sense that Boyd went undercover in one of his own Dollhouse's? Why did he do this, exactly? He seems to have known from the very start that Caroline would become "special" if she were a doll (Rossum had paperwork on her way before she tried to blow-up their building), so has he been trying to create an Echo-like psyche all these years? Was Alpha his first attempt and failure? And now that Echo exists and Boyd's in the middle of an insurgency against him and his company – what will he do? Was he responsible for turning Saunders into his ally? If so, did he instruct Saunders to kill Bennett in case she fixed Caroline's corrupted data?

Overall, this antepenultimate episode was rich and absorbing, if a little unfocused and freewheeling at times. A lot can be forgiven because of the bizarre circumstances Dollhouse has found itself in, but continue to be amazed and excited by where this show has been going since episode 4 this year. It looks likely to achieve a warm place in most sci-fi fan's hearts, and if Whedon's team can give us a fitting, satisfying finish... well, I'll be annoyed Dollhouse didn't last longer, but eternally grateful the team went out fighting, with one of the strongest runs of episodes I've seen in recent years.

A few random thoughts and observations:

• Apparently, the guy playing the last doll to be given his original personality back and sent home was L.A Lakers star Rick Fox, Eliza Dushku's boyfriend. I guess it's kind of like seeing David Beckham as a doll, for anyone unfamiliar with basketball.
  
  
• In one scene, DeWitt reveals that Rossum is named after a play. Indeed it is: R.U.R (Rossum's Universal Robots), a Czech piece written in 1921 credited with giving us the word "robot". Rossum itself alludes to the Czech word "rozum", meaning "reason", "wisdom", "intellect" or "common sense". The "artificial people" in the play were actually biological beings, so there are similarities to the "actives" of Joss Whedon's universe.
  

8 January 2009
Fox, 9/8c

written & directed by: Tim Minear starring: Eliza Dushku (Echo), Harry Lennix (Boyd), Fran Kranz (Topher), Olivia Williams (Adelle), Enver Gjokaj (Victor), Dichen Lachman (Sierra), Liza Lapira (Ivy), Tahmoh Penikett (Ballard), Summer Glau (Bennett), Amy Acker (Saunders), Reed Diamond (Mr. Dominic), Miracle Laurie (Madeleine), Jay Malone (Young Man) & Philip Casnoff (Clive Ambrose)

DOLLHOUSE 2.9 & 2.10 - "Stop-Loss" & "The Attic"

[SPOILERS] Another duad of episodes that told a two-part story, which helped this double-bill transmission pass by much more smoothly. Once again, I'm extremely impressed by how Dollhouse has chosen to meet its premature cancellation, with a string of episodes that have been developing and improving with a razor-sharp precision since it came back from hiatus.

Love appears to be the best spanner to throw into the Rossum Corporation's infernal machine; first through renegade Alpha's obsession with Echo (Eliza Dushku) and now with Victor (Enver Gjokaj) and Sierra's (Dichen Lachman) childlike adoration. "Stop-Loss" was another great episode from the show, which appears to be surfing a wave of quality I'm hoping won't be cut short by a wipe-out...

Victor's contract as a doll expires, so his true identity of traumatized Gulf War vet Anthony Ceccoli is reinstated by Topher (Fran Kranz) and he's returned home with a plausible alibi for his five-year absence, sans the stress disorder that assumedly compelled him to signup as an active. However, it appears that Rossum aren't so willing to let Victor return to a normal life, as it's revealed they have a secret army comprised of former-actives who agree to be part of project "Mind Whisper" – a new technology that allows every recruited member to be linked to a group consciousness, essentially creating a hive-mind militia. Once Boyd (Harry Lennix) and Topher realize Victor's been recruited by these men, Boyd goes out into the field with Echo to try and recapture him, going against the orders of DeWitt (Olivia Williams), who has sided with her sinister employers but drinking herself into a stupor most days over the guilt.

"Stop-Loss" was an exciting and interesting instalment, giving us another angle on exactly what the Dollhouse-like technology could achieve. I wasn't that convinced Anthony would agree to be a part of this project, particularly as they went about it in a rather extreme way (breaking into his home to kidnap him), and it was unfortunate that we never got to understand exactly what Rossum plan to do with their group-army, but everything else about this episode worked very well. I often criticize Dushku on this show, but she was certainly in more comfortable territory playing a macho GI Jane-type, required to demonstrate all the martial arts and gun training she's acquired since her Buffy days, so it's easy to buy into Echo when she's being a ball-breaker with a single-minded purpose.

I've also enjoyed the odd romance between Victor and Sierra since the early days of the show, so seeing this continue was the main selling point of "Stop-Loss" for me. Anthony and Priya (Sierra's true self) have a love that can transcend mind-wiping technology, so watching Echo use their bond to break the spell Anthony was under worked very nicely. I would have liked more of a spark between Gjokaj and Lachman when they were reunited, if I'm honest, but admittedly there wasn't much quiet time between them, and both were playing characters who haven't "really" been properly introduced. To them, they just have a peculiar affinity for each other, so I can let it pass.

The episode ended on a moment many critics of the show's internal logic have been calling for, too: DeWitt finally flipped once she realized Boyd went behind her back, working against Rossum with the help of Echo and Sierra, so she had her head of security arrested and all three dolls sent to the infamous "Attic". As its name suggests, it appears to be a place where the bodies of mind-erased dolls are stored in shallow containers full of blue gel, shrink-wrapped like prized toys for an indefinite period...

"The Attic" picked up the story immediately, and took some huge steps forward in terms of the show's mythology, while keeping us entertained with a Matrix-like storyline. Echo, Sierra and Vincent are now in The Attic, which is revealed to be a virtual reality platform where every active's mind is kept in a state of chemically-induced fear, essentially bringing their nightmares to vivid life. This never-ending terror can only be stopped if an active achieves brain-death through the sheer mental exhaustion.

Echo's torment is to be eternally stuck in a dream where she escapes from Attic captivity, only to watch her friends Sierra and Vincent gunned down while fleeing, before the situation resets and repeats. She also meets another resident of The Attic, former-head of security Mr. Dominic (Reed Diamond), and the pair decide to work together in an effort to escape this infernal mindscape – particularly as a muscled phantom known as "Arcane" appears to be hunting down the Attic's residents. They soon realize that every Dollhouse Attic around the world is interconnected (quite a flaw, that), so they can travel between different people's constructed nightmares (including a Japanese businessman with no legs), and eventually hook-up with Anthony/Victor (trapped in an unwinnable military campaign) and Priya/Sierra (forever having sex with Victor, before he turns into the rapist she killed in "Belonging".)

The general premise behind "The Attic" was certainly nothing new to science-fiction, so I was slightly disappointed that Joss Whedon didn't cook up something more distinctive. However, it was breathlessly entertaining, imaginatively directed, and eventually tightened into quite a revelatory package. The boogieman "Arcane" was revealed to be geeky programmer Clyde Randolph (Adam Godley), one half of Rossum's founders who was sent to The Attic back in '93 when he realized his colleagues were planning to use his technology for amoral purposes. His bespoke "nightmare" has been to run simulations into where his technology will ultimately lead humanity, and it seems that every permutation leads to the end of civilization (as seen in "Epitaph One").

Working together, the Attic prisoners devised a way to break free of their virtual world, by killing Echo (it's okay, she's "special" so she can take it) so that she'd awaken in the real-world and be able to break everyone else out when they likewise flatline. There was even a very nice redemptive twist involving Olivia, when it was revealed that she actually sent Echo to The Attic on purpose so she could uncover the truth about Rossum's plans and mount a breakout. A minor subplot also had Topher installing "active architecture" onto the healthy areas of Ballard's scarred brain, effectively turning him into a doll imprinted with his own personality.

Overall, both episodes were another double-whammy for a show that's really kicked things up several gears in December. Another hiatus is upon us until mid-January, but we'll return with a final batch of episodes where the entire Dollhouse staff are now allied to takedown the Rossum Corporation. Will the dystopia of "Epitaph One" come to pass, inescapably? Or will Joss Whedon allow things to end on a triumphant note? I somehow doubt it. You can't "un-invent" technology like this – you can only hope to control it.


17 December 2009
Fox, 8/7c

written by: Andrew Chambliss (2.9) & Maurissa Tancharoen & Jed Whedon (2.10) directed by: Félix Enríquez Alcalá (2.9) & John Cassaday (2.10) starring: Eliza Dushku (Echo), Harry Lennix (Boyd Langton), Fran Kranz (Topher Brink), Olivia Williams (Adelle DeWitt), Enver Gjokaj (Victor/Anthony Ceccoli), Dichen Lachman (Sierra/Priya Tsetsang), Liza Lapira (Ivy), Michael King (Hagan) / Tahmoh Penikett (Ballard), Reed Diamond (Laurence Dominic), Adam Godley (Clyde Randolph), Tzi Ma (Matsu), Billy Snow (Restored Active), Keir Thirus (Myers) & Vincent Ventresca (Nolan Kinnard)

DOLLHOUSE 2.7 & 2.8 – "Meet Jane Doe" & "A Love Supreme"

[SPOILERS] It's interesting to me that Dollhouse has started becoming the show I imagined we'd be getting from the very start. When I first heard about Joss Whedon's idea, I imagined a scenario that would splice Joe 90 with The Pretender, but they instead went down the path of keeping Echo (Eliza Dushku) stuck in the Dollhouse being mind-wiped after every adventure. Thankfully, they've managed to spread their wings since then, as "Meet Jane Doe" finds Echo as a fugitive with a "multiple-personality disorder" she's using to help others...

We first find Echo rummaging through skips for sustenance and unable to pay for food at a convenience store, before she gets arrested with another starving woman border-hopping Mexican immigrant Galena (Ana Claudia Talancon). From there we jump forward in time three months a handy narrative device, if slightly frustrating at times to see a significant change in everybody's lives. Echo is now living with Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett), who found her in the interim and has been keeping her a secret from the Dollhouse, who believe he's likewise gone AWOL. Only Boyd (Harry Lennix) is aware of what they're both up to: training Echo to use her multiple-personalities in real world situations, so they can use her abilities to takedown the Dollhouse upon her return -- as a kind of sleeper double-agent. To do this, Echo is currently posing as a nurse and trying to free Galena from a Texan jail and its abusive staff, using her newfound ability to slot into various personalities like shuffling a deck of cards.

Over at the Dollhouse, Matthew Harding (Keith Carradine) has taken control of the L.A operative from DeWitt (Olivia Williams) because of recent events, and DeWitt is having a tough time coping with her sudden demotion and a smell of derision that hangs in the air. It doesn't help that Topher (Fran Kranz) has become Harding's eager lapdog, assisting in the development of a remote mind-wipe in the form of a gun so handlers can instantly revert actives to their tabula rasa state at the pull of a trigger. However, Topher has actually realized that the Rossum Corporation are secretly pooling each Dollhouse's minor technical breakthroughs in order to create a new, dangerous form of technology that can imprint anyone with a new personality without them even knowing about it. Yes, the first domino on the way to the dystopian paranoia of "Epitaph One" is about to fall, people...

"Meet Jane Doe" could easily have been a boring standalone episode. It threatened to become just that to begin with, when it felt like we'd be getting an hour of Echo being an immigrant's guardian angel, but thankfully writers Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon and Andrew Chambliss managed to surround that nucleus with a few compelling ideas and Echo's mission was made more interesting than expected. I love the idea of Echo being a fugitive from the Dollhouse, and this episode existed to have each character on the show pick a side: Echo or Rossum. Boyd and Ballard have joined forces to use Echo's unique ability to retain a core "collective personality" to their own advantage, as they assumedly have a plan to destroy the Dollhouse from the inside. Topher is sitting conflicted in the middle; having deduced what Rossum are up to, he (rather confusingly) took it upon himself to create the remote imprinting technology their paymasters covet. And, after sharing his schematic and fears with DeWitt, he's shocked when she decided to steal his plans and deliver them to Harding as a means to earn her job back. And it worked.


"A Love Supreme" was a more fan-pleasing episode, as it heralded the return of supervillain Alpha (Alan Tudyk), who is again causing problems for the Dollhouse by jealously murdering Echo's former clients who used her for romantic engagements. The fact that Alpha's psychosis finds purpose in his love for Echo (who shares his ability to maintain multiple-personalities, with no side-effects beyond headaches), is one of the show's better ideas. A twisted, unrequited romance between a serial-killer and someone he hopes will become the Bonnie to his Clyde. It's also true that Echo's more interesting as an super-heroine recently, trying to keep her ability a secret from DeWitt -- although this episode eventually exposes her true nature to all.

Also intriguing to see the show admitting that Echo's original identity, Caroline, is a largely unsympathetic and boring character, so now it seems that Echo is happy to fight for her own existence. But I have to wonder if certain developments this year are happening quicker because the writers adjusted timings in the face of the poor ratings. I wouldn't be surprised if it was originally intended to let Echo "go rogue" for much longer than one episode, for example.

A big chunk of "A Love Supreme" involved Boyd and Ballard working together to capture Alpha before he kills again, eventually focusing on his final intended victim -- billionaire entrepreneur Joel Mynor (Patton Oswalt) from season 1's pivotal episode "Man On The Street", who annually meets Echo as an imprint of his dead wife. With Joel taken into custody for his own protection, the episode shifted inside the confines of the Dollhouse as Alpha again managed to evade the supposedly improved security. Interestingly, it turned out Alpha has had Echo and Ballard under surveillance these past few months, and has come to believe that Ballard's the only true competition he has for Echo's heart. So, having caused a building-wide distraction using a self-made doohickey that sends every active into combat mode, Alpha tortures Ballard in Topher's imprinting chair and, after accidentally causing his brain-death, decides to upload Ballard's Id into his own mushrooming brain.

It's remarkable how the quality has skyrocketed since Dollhouse came back from hiatus, with a run of episodes that have proven to be challenging, exciting and entertaining. "A Love Supreme" was a strong episode, although I still don't think Alpha's character is anywhere near as exciting as he deserves to be. As a Swiss Army Knife of personas, he should be a deliriously unhinged and frighteningly complex mix of good and bad characters -- but he's instead the archetypal serial-killer in love with the closest thing he has to a soul mate. While I rather like that angle, I just don't get the sense that Alpha's got dozens of personalities buzzing around inside his head at all times. Tudyk's clearly having fun channeling Heath Ledger's Joker this time (the suit, the knife fetish, the bombs), but Alpha hasn't unnerved me ever since his identity was revealed last season. Sorry, it's just that I can imagine a truly insane and multifaceted monster, and Alpha's just too focused and stereotypical.

I'm also having trouble believing that DeWitt, who admits she knows Boyd and Ballard are part of a "cabal" working against her, doesn't just fire them! Or why the Dollhouse building's security continues to have more holes than a pair of fishnets. Still, there was an exciting turn of events in having Ballard stuck in a vegetative state after his face-off with Alpha, who has literally stolen his mind. That sets up a lot of existential possibilities and compelling drama for Echo as she'll inevitably have to rescue Ballard from Alpha's headspace to reunite body and mind.

Overall, this was another fine double-bill of episodes that pushed us further down the path towards the horrendous future glimpsed in "Epitaph One". There are only a handful of episodes left to air now until the end of January, so it will be very interesting to see how Joss Whedon's team manage to wrap-up the show with a note of finality that doesn't feel too rushed or awkward.


11 December 2009
Fox, 8/7c

written by: Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon & Andrew Chambliss (2.7) & Jenny DeArmitt (2.8) directed by: Dwight Little (2.7) & David Straiton (2.8) starring: Eliza Dushku (Echo), Harry Lennix (Boyd Langton), Fran Kranz (Topher Brink), Olivia Williams (Adelle DeWitt), Tahmoh Penikett (Ballard), Keith Carradine (Matthew Harding), Ana Claudia Talancon (Galena), Philip Casnoff (Clive Ambrose), Brett Claywell (Matt), Jonathan Del Arco (Mr. Caviezel), Kevin Linehan (Deputy Merrick), Glenn Morshower (Sheriff Rand), David Lee Smith (Clay Corman) / Patton Oswalt (Joel Myner) & Alan Tudyk (Alpha)

DOLLHOUSE 2.5 & 2.6 – "The Public Eye" & "The Left Hand"

"You just woke up a lot of people... and they all think you're a bitch."

-- Echo (Eliza Dushku)

[SPOILERS] Back after a month's break, Dollhouse begins the first of a two-month run of double-bills before it's wiped from existence. What makes its demise particularly cruel is that Joss Whedon's troubled series is capable of giving us memorable, fascinating and engrossing science-fiction, and "The Public Eye"/"The Left Hand" were this season's best examples yet...

Focusing on the subplot of Senator Daniel Perrin's (Alexis Denisof) desire to expose the existence of the fabled, unethical "Dollhouse" to the world, this episode revealed that Perrin has former-active Madeleine (Miracle Laurie) on-side, and she's willing to go public about her existential slaveholders. A press conference is called that points the finger at the Rossum Corporation, with executive Matthew Harding (Keith Carradine) holding DeWitt (Olivia Williams) accountable, as it was her decision to release Madeleine early over an "internal matter".

However, the plot thickens and practically coagulates when DeWitt theorizes that Perrin's idyllic wife Cindy (Stacey Scowley) is herself a doll (the clue's in the name?) and has been installed by Rossum as a sleeper agent, possibly to be activated and murder Perrin if he pries any deeper into their company's affairs. But, shortly after Topher (Fran Kranz) creates a handheld "disruptor"* to K.O dolls in a 15 foot radius in order to capture Cindy, and Echo (Eliza Dushku) is sent in to distract Perrin as an imprinted call girl called Bree**, events conspire to reveal that Cindy's actually a "handler" from Washington D.C's Dollhouse and it's her husband who's the active –- or, rather, someone with political pedigree whose dropout personality was augmented...

I personally adore episodes of Dollhouse that keep you on your toes and pull the rug out from under you. "The Public Eye" was very much that kind of episode, with a sequence of surprises and twists that worked very well. The script by Andrew Chambliss was involving and developed at an intelligent pace, and I was happy to be swept along without stopping to second-guess too many of the shocks in store. It was fascinating to realize that Rossum have political plans beyond anything the L.A Dollhouse are aware of, and by involving a sense of inter-'house rivalry, the writers have created some fresh wrinkles for the show to explore.

In the final 10 minutes we were introduced to the D.C branch's version of wunderkind Topher, Bennett Halverson (Summer Glau) – a prissy-looking bluestocking who dresses like a schoolgirl from the '70s, and appears to be respected far more than her L.A counterpart. But there are signs she's just as twisted as Topher (if not more so), as her mask of tranquillity occasionally dropped and she quietly babbled to herself. Even more interestingly, when malfunctioning rogues Perrin and Echo end up in her lab after being captured by Cindy, it became clear that Bennett knows Echo's de facto personality Caroline, but there's clearly no love lost when she uses her imprinting chair to torture Echo before disabling the room's security camera...

"The Left Hand" concluded the storyline in fine style, as DeWitt and Topher head to the Washington D.C Dollhouse to retrieve their errant active Echo. This entire episode was awash with counterparts, doubles and soulmates, as DeWitt met with her D.C equivalent Howard Lipman (Ray Wise) and Topher fell in love with the quirky genius of Bennett -- and vice versa. We were also given the sublime comedy antics of Topher having imprinted Victor (Enver Gjokaj) with his own personality to keep the L.A Dollhouse running smoothly in his physical absence. I've championed Gjokaj's skills many times before on this show, but he was truly magnificent in this episode, giving an eerily accurate impersonation of Fran Kranz's gesticulatins and wavering vocals.

A lot of time was dedicated to the geek-love between Topher and Bennett, which was sweet and often amusing, but at times felt like padding because the episode didn't have enough material to go the distance. Still, Glau and Kranz really clicked playing opposite sides of the same coin, and it was refreshing to see Topher in a more sympathetic and genuinely amusing role. Bennett herself proved to be quite a complex and captivating personality, as she alternated between making goo-goo eyes at Topher and mind-frying Echo/Caroline as punishment for the time Caroline left her trapped under building rubble –- resulting in her now useless left arm. She even delivered a strange form of vengeance by giving Caroline her memory of the ordeal she suffered.

Right now it hasn't been explained how Bennett and Caroline came to be best friends, nor what the flashbacks to Caroline having apparently helped destroy a lab are all about, but hopefully those gaps in our knowledge will be filled soon. Are we meant to assume that Caroline and Bennett were both eco-terrorists once, and their meeting again is just a big coincidence, or is there more to Caroline's pre-doll life than we've been led to believe?

The guts of the episode concerned the escape of Perrin and Echo from the D.C Dollhouse, helped by an unknown sympathizer who imprinted Perrin with enough information so he could evade their security -– which is typically lapse of the Rossum Corporation (they need to put some funding into that whole area, pronto.) With Perrin and Echo on the run as fugitives and ridding each other of the trackers implanted in their necks, it was up to Topher and Bennett to think of a way to upgrade the "disruptor" to function over vast distances on selected targets.

While on the run, Perrin had to deal with the knowledge he's a patchwork man -– a George W. Bush-type turned John F. Kennedy by the nebulous Rossum Corporation, to threaten their company's credibility very publically before absolving them of any malpractice during a Senate hearing alongside star witness Madeleine. But can Perrin fight against his constructed psyche and use the political nous he's been given to bring them down once and for all?

Overall, as the Dollhouse's first foray into the world of a political thriller, "The Public Eye" and "The Left Hand" were a near-perfect double-whammy that gave us fresh angles on the idea of mind-fiddling, and packed in plenty of big surpises and memorable backstabbings. It also broadended the scope of the series by involving politics and by giving us a D.C branch of the Dollhouse run by people who are arguably more insidious than those of the L.A division. By giving us more overt villains, is this a sign that the L.A staff are going to grow enlightened about their immoral technology and spearhead an in-house rebellion against their paymasters?

The two-parter concluded with Perrin unable to defeat his "programming" and claiming that it's the Rossum Corporation who are the victims of a conglomerate that have killed his wife in a car-bomb attack, and he throws out all question of their offences by claiming to have evidence that proves Madeleine's a mentally-unstable former psychiatric patient. Elsewhere, Echo goes off-the-grid and is seen wandering the streets of Washington D.C all alone, so it will be interesting to see how the series develops from this gamechanging halfway point. Will we be given more of a Fugitive-style storyline, for awhile at least? Can Eliza Dushku carry the show in her Echo persona, without the gimmick of fresh identities and skimpy clothes every week? However things progress, these episodes were so great that the imminence of Dollhouse's end is all the more bitter.


4 December 2009
Fox, 9/8c

written by: Andrew Chambliss (2.5) & Tracy Bellomo (2.6) directed by: David Solomon (2.5) & Wendy Stanzler (2.6) starring: Eliza Dushku (Echo), Harry Lennix (Boyd Langton), Fran Kranz (Topher Brink), Olivia Williams (Adelle DeWitt), Keith Carradine (Matthew Harding), Alexis Denisof (Senator Daniel Perrin), Nelson Franklin (Burt Styne), Summer Glau (Bennett Halverson), Miracle Laurie (Madeleine Costley), Stacey Scowley (Cindy Perrin), Maurissa Tancharoen (Kilo), Brandon Merrell (Male Active) / Nelson Franklin (Burt Styne), Chris Gann (DC), Matt Riedy (Senator), Ray Wise (Howard Lipman) & Selena Johnson (News Reporter)

* Fun trivia to note that Topher's guinea pig to test the disruptor was a new doll we've never seen before called Kilo, who was actually played by Dollhouse staff writer Maurissa Tancharoen.

** Adding credence to my belief Dushku's only really convincing when playing hookers and bimbos, and even the writers know this.

Dollhouse: "Epitaph Two - The Return"

A quick reminder that Dollhouse returns to Fox this Friday @8pm, for the first of its weekly double-bills airing throughout December and late-January. After that, Joss Whedon's troubled sci-fi drama is unfortunately over with. Anyway, it's just been revealed that the series finale (written by Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon and Andrew Chambliss) will be entitled "Epitaph Two: The Return" and is effectively a sequel to the near-mystical "thirteenth episode" of season 1, "Epitaph One" (which never aired in the US, but was instead a DVD-exclusive extra.) The series finale will star Felicia Day's character from "Epitaph One" and will assumedly revisit the same dystopian future.

In case you were wondering, I will be resuming my reviews of Dollhouse at the US pace now. Considering the fact there's going to be two episodes released every week, this will probably mean shorter reviews. Need another reason to tune in this week? Summer Glau makes her Dollhouse debut (see photo above).

The Dollhouse closes for business

Its cards were marked when the abysmal ratings for season 2 came in, but now Fox have made it 100% official: Joss Whedon's troubled sci-fi drama Dollhouse has been axed. Fox will resume broadcasting the rest of the season in double-bills every Friday -- 4-18 December (ep5-10) and 8-22 January (ep11-13). I just hope the writers heeded the omens and have written a definitive series finale in time, don't you?

DOLLHOUSE 2.4 - "Belonging"

[SPOILERS] The final episode before an enforced hiatus, after which the rest of season 2 will be "burned off" in double-bills during December (before the axe surely drops), "Belonging" was a strong episode that again provided ammunition for my belief Dollhouse should have been built around Dichen Lachman...

In season 1's "Needs" we were teased about how Sierra (Lachman) became an "active", and here we're given her full backstory courtesy of writers Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon. It turns out she was bohemian artist Priya Tsetsang, a woman in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend Dr. Kinnard (Vincent Ventresca), a psychiatrist who provides subjects for the Rossum Corporation's Dollhouse project, who eventually turned Priya into a paranoid schitzophrenic by injecting her with antipsychotics, before handing her over to the Dollhouse.

Topher (Fran Kranz) received Sierra as another of his "play things", curing her mental illness using the imprinting technology, then turning her into one of their L.A actives. In the present, Topher and DeWitt (Olivia Williams) realize the horrific circumstances behind Sierra's admission to the Dollhouse after she starts painting black shapes (signifying "the bad man") while in her tabula rasa state, and try to go against the Rossum Corporation's desire to give Sierra/Priya back to Kinnard permanently, fearing he'll resume his abuse.

This was a marvelously emotional story with more fine performances from Lachman, who got to play three versions of Priya and ensured each was identifiable and not a rehash of characters she's already played on the show. Compare and contrast with Eliza Dushku, whjo mainly relies on changing her outfit. Enver Gjokaj also provided nice support, as Victor and Sierra continued their sweet love story, which is somehow powerful enough to transcend the fact each are regularly erased of their identities.

There was also some great work from Kranz, who is certainly a contentious character because he's ultimately a creepy, amoral geek being used as comic relief -- who begs to be punched everytime he opens his mout. But this episode did a good job of showing us a new facet to him. Indeed, together with the excellent Topher/Saunders scene in "Vows", his character's suddenly becoming a fascinating, twisted condundrum. Here, Topher debvelops a conscience over Sierra's treatment and takes matters into his own hands by imprinting her with a combustible personality before handing her back to Kinnard -- basically ensuring she's better-equipped to defend herself. Indeed, Priya kills Kinnard after he attacks her, and Topher arrives to help and is surprised when Boyd (Harry Lennix) lends a hand in covering up his mess. And has there been a more troubling sight in recent sci-fi than Boyd making Topher dismember Kinnard's dead body in a bath tub and dissolve him with acid?

The only thing denying a higher rating for this episode was the fact its storyline had more holes than a colander. Mainly, I just didn't accept the reason Priya became a doll, as surely after Topher fixed her schitzophrenia she would be sane enough to decide not to become a doll. So why wasn't Priya just returned to Kinnard after her brain repair? Most of the actives are willing subjects because they cant' escape something in the real world (grief, debt), but Priya could very easily have left Kinnard, so it didn't make much sense that the Dollhouse kept her. Indeed, Priya herself actually gets to return to her body and is filled in on what's been going on this past year, and she decides to go back to being Sierra? Why? It wasn't clear to me.

The only subplot involved Boyd realizing Echo (Dushku) is retaining memories, after he finds a book in her sleeping chamber (although he missed the fact she has scrawled notes on the underside of her chamber's lid). Boyd's always been a strange character, as he's partly disgusted by the Dollhouse's operations but also a willing and key cog in the machine. Here it becomes clear that he'll be happy when this place fails, as he tells Echo he realizes her memory wipes are no longer fully effective and, in the final scene, leaves her a keycard to access the facility's entrances as a bookmark in the novel she's reading. It's nice to feel that Boyd and Ballard are both sewing the seeds of the Dollhouse's destruction from the inside, even if this once again makes DeWitt look stupid for employing them.

Overall, it's unfortunate there were so many plot-holes in this episode, as the core of the story was very enjoyable and there were some fantastic performances from Lachman and Kranz in particular. I always enjoy Dollhouse when it's tackling big emotions and asking compelling moral questions of its characters, so this was a perfect episode for that. A shame it didn't hang together that well in the cold light of day, or that they once again wasted a great guest-star (Dexter's Keith Carradine as Rossum exec Matthew Harding), but "Belonging" was still a very good episode with plenty to recommend.


3 November 2009
The Sci-Fi Channel, 10pm

written by: Maurissa Tancharoen & Jed Whedon directed by: Jonathan Frakes starring: Eliza Dushku (Echo), Harry Lennix (Boyd Langton), Fran Kranz (Topher Brink), Enver Gjokaj (Victor), Dichen Lachman (Sierra/Priya Tsetsang), Olivia Williams (Adelle DeWitt), Vincent Ventresca (Nolan Kinnard), Carlease Burke (Pam), Clyde Kusatsu (Dr. Makido), Keith Carradine (Matthew Harding), Andrea Walker (Rich Woman), Alan Pietruszewski (Handler), Natalie Graziano (Attendant) & Sean Solan (Soldier)