Dollhouse - Belonging, S02E04

Friday's episode of Dollhouse apparently received abysmal ratings despite being one of the best episodes of the show yet. And I think I make that remark almost every week as the fan base does not seem to grow.

In fact, Fox has postponed the next 4 episodes. None will show in November, which is sweeps, but will instead continue in double-headers in December. I hope that means they will advertise the show and get viewers for those episodes, but I may have to content myself with being happy that Fox kept its promise to show the rest of season 2.

Now, let's focus on Belonging. The episode did not focus on Echo (Eliza Dushku) - for once she was a secondary character, though she continued to try to help the other dolls, namely Victor (Enver Gjokaj) and Sierra (Dichen Lachman). Her plot did still advance, as Boyd (Harry Lennox) caught on that she was far more aware than she ought to have been, and he brought her a key card, presumably to exit the building, to help when the storm hit. Echo has such a way of securing the loyalty of her escorts.

What we saw was Sierra's life before she ended up in the Dollhouse...or should I call her Pria. She was an artist, Australian, and a Dollhouse contributer, Nolan (Vincent Ventresca), was madly in love with her. She, however, felt nothing for him. He was persistent, and so she painted him a mural, which he showed off, hiring both Echo and Victor to help persuade her that he was a catch. The plan backfired; Pria felt an immediate attraction to Victor, and continued to refuse Nolan's advances.

In the present, Echo brings Topher (Fran Kranz) a painting Sierra made, telling him that Sierra does not like the bad man. Topher looks into things, and discovers that Sierra has had a repeat engagement with Nolan, a neurosurgeon, for quite some time. He digs deeper, and realizes that when Sierra first arrived at the Dollhouse, he had been convinced she was a paranoid schizophrenic, but her disconnect with reality had actually been the result of drugs. She was not supposed to be in the Dollhouse.

Topher brought the information to Adelle (Olivia Williams), who confronted Nolan. She told him he would no longer be a client, but he disagreed. He insisted that she imprint Pria with love for him and deliver her permanently. And Adelle's boss, played by non-other than Keith Carradine* (aka Frank Lundy from Dexter), insisted that she follow his instructions.

Topher could not bring himself to do it. He sent Sierra as Pria to Nolan, and she ended up killing the man who put her through hell, the man whom she had tried to confront last year when the dolls had been given the chance to resolve their issues. This was not exactly what Topher had expected, but he showed up to help her anyway. Boyd also appeared, and we learnt that while he may have been a cop before joining up with the Dollhouse, he was very good at making a person and a body disappear without raising and flags.

And so Pria returned to the Dollhouse, having committed an act that earned her a place among the dolls.

That description sounds almost hopeless, but it is not, because we learned something else. When Pria awoke, she knew she was in love. She did not remember Victor, but her feelings for him persisted. So while the dolls may be devoid of many things, they can still form real attachments. I wonder what that says about the soul. What do you think?

Dollhouse - Belle Chose, S02E03

What an incredible episode! Hopefully the slight increase in viewership from last week will at least remain constant if not continue to grow considering how fantastic this episode was. (Again, the quality is SO great, if it gets cancelled, it won't be from lack of fulfilled potential and talent).

The show began in a basement or factory, with a man adjusting mannequins. At least, at first I thought they were mannequins. It turns out they were women injected with powerful paralyzing drugs, manipulated by an insane man. When one tried to escape, he ended up killing her, and then, on the street, when he was attempting to replace the doll he called Aunt Sheila, he was hit by a car.

Next, we discover he is in a coma at the Dollhouse, and Adelle (Olivia Williams) wants Topher (Fran Kranz) to revive him for his uncle (portrayed by BSG's Michael Hogan). Uncle Brad has invested a lot of money in the Dollhouse, and Adelle is keen to give him what he wants until Topher reads his brain scan. They discover the nephew, Terry, has the brain of a serial killer - with underdeveloped empathy and the like. Suddenly, Topher (that's right, as Boyd (Harry Lennix) pointed out, Topher) as an ethical problem with reviving him, and so does Adelle.

Brad reveals that he suspects Terry has some women hidden somewhere, and he wants to wake Terry to find them. They do a brain dump, and put all of Terry straight into Victor. I'd say that Enver Gjokaj, who portrays Victor, stole the show, except that the writing is so balance and the rest of the cast so strong that, instead, he should be mentioned for a terrific performance.

Meanwhile, Paul (Tahmoh Penikett) is getting Echo (Eliza Dushku) ready for an assignment as a nubile college student who is to be seduced by her Chaucer professor. Paul is disturbed by Echo's transformation into Kiki, so much so that he is thrilled when Boyd replaces him so that he can confront Victor/Terry the serial killer. ("A serial killer? Thank God.")

Penikett and Gjokaj worked so well together during their interview. The calm and poise that Terry/Victor projected, along with the super creepy vibes, were chilling. And Paul's manipulations would have made me tell him all about the doll-like women in my basement...even though I don't actually have any.

Things get worse of course. Brad, believing Paul and Adelle's plan was not going to work, breaks Terry/Victor out of the Dollhouse. Terry makes him crash his car, and escapes on foot. And it turns out that Victor is not equipped with a GPS device. It was removed when he had his face reconstructed. (Here, we also got an acknowledgement of the existence of Dr. Saunders (Amy Acker), who is still missing). So the Dollhouse allowed an untraceable serial killer out into the world. Oops.

Echo/Kiki continues to have a much more pleasant time, now dancing with her professor.

Topher is never one to be defeated. He decides, at Adelle's insistence, to perform a remote wipe. Yes, that might leave a vulnerable Victor who knows where, but that's better than a serial killer. The wipe occurs, and the entire system at the Dollhouse goes off line. They don't know if it worked.

Turns out, it just switched Terry and Kiki. So suddenly you have Victor/Kiki, who hasn't realized she's a man, being peppy and dancing at a night club, trying to seduce all the boys, and Echo/Terry, stabbing her would-be-seducer in the neck.

Again, Gjokaj was brilliant her. I believed he was a woman. And he had so much fun dancing and shaking his ass. It was great. It got better when one of the men he had focused his attentions on got homophobic when Kiki tried to pick him up, and punched him. Well, he missed, and Victor/Kiki punched him first, very angry that the guy would punch a girl. Paul showed up, and Victor/Kiki threw himself into his arms, sobbing "Paul, Paul, why did you ever leave me?" It was beautiful! And then Paul told off everyone staring, "What are you looking at."

So Victor was fine, and Echo's GPS chip was still working, so they were able to find her and save the three women who were still imprisoned there.

I'm still not sure the exact implication of the comparison between our Dolls, Echo , Victor, etc, and the women Terry captured and used as dolls, but it was a powerful and disturbing image.

What did you think?

Dollhouse - Instinct, S02E02

This episode was intense. Very, very intense. Just proves a very important point, do not f@#* with a mother.

Echo (Eliza Dushku) was on assignment as a breast-feeding mother to a baby whose mother died giving birth to him. And she loved that little boy, feeling it on a glandular level because Topher (Fran Kranz) is just that much of a genius. Of course, when the baby's father decided the arrangement was not working out the way he'd hoped, Echo (believing herself to be his wife, Emily) overheard his intention to get rid of her and the baby.

Well, let me tell you that there is no mother in the world, even if she's formed a poor attachment, who is going to let someone murder her and her child. And Echo had not formed a poor attachment with baby Jack.

So suddenly you've got a paranoid mother thinking that everyone is out to get her and her child, and then she sees her best friend, Sierra (Dichen Lachman), being escorted into a black van that she suspects has been following her. And she runs. She gets to the cops, but when they discover that she is not in fact the mother, she is separated from the child.

The kicking and screaming. The pain she felt. It did not matter that genetically she had no connection to that baby, she was his mother in all the ways a woman can be a mother, at least in her mind. She fought and fought.

Even when Topher wiped her mind, she fought. Not remembering a single thing about Emily or Jack, Echo went to get her baby back. Thank God the father finally manned up and wanted his child. Cared about his child enough for her to see that he told her the truth and that he would care for the boy and that he had more of a right to it than she did.

And Paul (Tahmoh Penikett) promised he could get Topher to make sure she did forget the pain, as he had done for Madeleine (Miracle Laurie). And for the first time, I stopped caring about Madeleine. Because I had loved Millie and November, but Madeleine chose not to feel the pain. And Echo insisted on the pain of all those feelings because otherwise she knew she was just empty.

If they keep delivering episodes like that, then there is no excuse for trying to cancel it. Dollhouse is amazing. Do you agree?

Dollhouse, Vows (Season 2 premiere)

Fox took a big risk when it renewed Dollhouse last Spring. Despite being a huge fan of the show, I was pretty surprised that they did. I'd chalk it up to their refusal to make the same mistake twice. Cancelling Firefly just before it got its feet under it proved to have been a bad call, but renewing may have been equally bad...well financially, I mean.

This episode was perfect, exactly what we Dollhouse fans want. Echo (Eliza Dushku) was on assignment, and married an arms dealer, Martin Klar (Jamie Bamber* from BSG). Klar was not her client. He believed that he had finally me the perfect woman for him, but the entire thing was orchestrated by Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett). That's right, Paul's sort of a client now, using Echo to help bring down criminals he couldn't touch when he was an agent for the FBI. He's working with Adelle DeWitt (Olivia Williams - whose new short hair suits her very well, I must say), and Boyd Langton (Harry Lennix). Now this is where some things started to get a little odd. Boyd doesn't trust Paul, doesn't know what his intentions are, and is quite worried about exposure. Last season, he was questioning the Dollhouse, but now he's apparently fully invested.

Also weird discrepancy from last season is Boyd's relationship with Dr. Claire Saunders/Whiskey (Amy Acker). I'd always thought there was some connection there, but apparently Claire never saw it and accuses Boyd of taking interest in her out of pity now that she has discovered that she's also a doll. Joss Whedon's not one to get his story lines messed up, so I'm wondering what all this means. So things are a little messed up, but that is sort of what we expect.

If you didn't watch season 1...just ask, and I'll explain where we are, cause this episode did nothing to help you catch up. And in the time it's been off the air for the summer, it had the time to get a huge fan base...but it didn't. So new viewers, please ask so that we can all get on board and make it worth Fox's wile.

What we can expect from the rest of the season, now that we are going to get more plot lines that connect through the episodes, as opposed to the half and half mix of long term and episodic stuff we got last season, is something to do with Sen. Daniel Perrin (Alexis Denisof* from Angel). He's decided that going after the medical corporation that fronts the Dollhouse is going to be good for his career. He's probably right. And we go back to that dilemma - do we want the Dollhouse to get closed down? Also, Echo is aware of the 40 personalities she's experienced, and Victor and Sienna no longer return to complete neutral - they were holding hands by the end of the episode (oh, and Adelle paid to have Victor's face fixed...she's still totally into who she made him be when she was a client). Plus, Alpha is still out there, and Whiskey's left on a mission to find herself...except she doesn't want to lose herself either.

I'm excited and hopefully. I really want this series to last because I am a huge Joss Whedon fan. And I, like many other, was totally excited about having a big ol' Buffy/Angel/BSG party going on. Faith and Apollo got married! And man I wish Jamie Bamber had been allowed to keep his own accent in BSG; might have made up for the last season of boring Apollo... I also wish that Alexis Denisof wasn't going to be American for his stint on Dollhouse...but what can you do.

For all you actors out there, my obvious advice is get in on the Whedon universe! You'll get work if Joss likes you.

What are you thoughts on the upcoming season of Dollhouse?