Dollhouse #8 - This show is getting great

[RangerWickett]

Sorry for the spoilers in the title. What did everyone think?

[sblock]I'm glad they had that final scene with Ballard. Otherwise, the episode would have felt like a wash. As is, though, it's kinda awesome that Caroline outmaneuvered the villains.[/sblock]

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

[sblock]I'm glad they had that final scene with Ballard. Otherwise, the episode would have felt like a wash. As is, though, it's kinda awesome that Caroline outmaneuvered the villains.[/sblock]

[sblock]Outmaneuvered, maybe, but I'm more thinking that whoever had been programming the messages in her might also had programmed her to "go off plan" in this episode--digging up Ballard's files and calling him about it--during her mass-rescue attempt.[/sblock]

 

[Krug]

Pretty good episode; it is kinda hitting its stride.

 

[Jamdin]

I'm really loving the show now even though I had my doubts when it first started.

 

[LightPhoenix]

I finally got the chance to watch the episode, and as it seems I am so often with this show, I'm of two minds about it.

On the one hand, I thought the four escaping was pretty cool. Furthermore, I liked how they were driven towards closure. The implication was that despite what Adele might think, simply wiping away the memories isn't what the actives needed. I also liked how the doctor is the only one to really get that. It probably would have been easy for Topher to remove the memories of her attack, and some sort of surgery to remove the scars. She chose to face that head on though. I would have liked to get a little more information on Viktor though. The clothing room was great, especially Viktor's rack... however I would have liked a little more payoff from seeing that and realizing they probably were sent out basically as unknowing prostitutes. That's probably a little too touchy at any time for basic cable though, let alone the FCC.

I'm still keeping my money on Topher being the mole. He's conveniently late to a meeting where all the senior staff are - easy to do something then. He tells Echo pretty much everything about the operation, knowing she's been recovering memories.

On the other hand, I absolutely loathe these kinds of tease stories. I was hoping we'd finally get the ball rolling on these people becoming aware. Instead, the whole thing was a set-up and the reset button hit at the end, hard. Heck, based on the episode, we've actually taken a step back from where we were, since they've lost what growth they've had. It's hard to care about characters whose characterization is a chain being jerked around. You can't have character growth if you hit the reset button. That's what made shows like BSG and B5 (at many, but not all, times) good stories - the lack of resets. I liken it to the difference between a river and a pond; one is moving and dynamic, and the other one is static and boring. A leaf in the pond might be pretty to look at, but eventually it gets boring. A leaf in the river is always moving and tumbling and much more entertaining.

Sorry, a bit of a tangent there. I really hate resets. I hate when anything happens that renders character growth moot. Anyway...

Arc-wise, the episode would be a near total loss were it not for Echo calling Ballard... which, how did they not detect? For that matter, how did they not detect Ballard's surveilance going dead? Have they totally given up on him, despite the fact that supposedly he was a huge threat? I mean, he found Caroline in the last episode. It made no sense. They walk this thin line with his character - sometimes he's considered a threat, but sometimes he's not. It ends up hurting the character and the story, especially since it's hard to see him as anything other than the major protagonist. I know the story is about the actives and Echo especially, but they need a strong protagonist, they have a protagonist in Ballard - let him be one!

So in summary, while it was a pretty decent story, the big reset and the inconsistencies in Ballard's B-story were very frustrating, and brought an episode that I think would have been good to decent at best.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

One thing bothered be as a network administrator. Where were the battery backups on the important servers and computers? I know, dramatic effect, but still.

 

[Sir Brennen]

On the other hand, I absolutely loathe these kinds of tease stories. I was hoping we'd finally get the ball rolling on these people becoming aware. Instead, the whole thing was a set-up and the reset button hit at the end, hard. Heck, based on the episode, we've actually taken a step back from where we were, since they've lost what growth they've had. It's hard to care about characters whose characterization is a chain being jerked around. You can't have character growth if you hit the reset button. That's what made shows like BSG and B5 (at many, but not all, times) good stories - the lack of resets. I liken it to the difference between a river and a pond; one is moving and dynamic, and the other one is static and boring. A leaf in the pond might be pretty to look at, but eventually it gets boring. A leaf in the river is always moving and tumbling and much more entertaining.

Sorry, a bit of a tangent there. I really hate resets. I hate when anything happens that renders character growth moot. Anyway...

Except, I don't think things were rendered moot. We got to see some of the things driving the characters to act even when their memories are suppressed. Some backstory was given, which adds to character development (which isn't necessarily the same thing as character growth, but still important.) The idea that this is who they are, even with their minds wiped. Sure, the dolls were returned to their black state at the end of the episode, but I don't think that in anyway rendered their experience pointless.

That's the thing about Dollhouse... in a way it's a examining the idea of the "Reset" in genre storytelling. The whole premise is about "resetting", which, if you loathe, I don't know why you're watching. The people running the Dollhouse think they can just "reset" the dolls after each mission, but it's becoming more apparent that this isn't true.

That's the other tricky thing with the premise of the show... how do you become emotionally invested in characters that are never actually themselves. How can you have character growth when growth depends upon learning from, or at least reacting to, your experiences, and memory of their experiences is what the main character is deprived of. Whedon himself noted that it's kind of a crazy thing to do for a TV series.

So to keep the show from just being a metaphysical treatise of the nature of identity, there is a assumption that there is a core to the person which cannot be erased, that's present whether the doll is in the blank state or overwritten while out on assignment. That core personality is being affected by its experiences, and thats where you're going to see some of the character growth as well as conflict.

Plus, in only the eighth episode of the first season, did you really expect the Dollhouse the show is named for to have all its actives walk out and leave for good?

Edit: for the record, I think the spy is Ivy, the assistant Topher keeps behaving condescendingly to.