Watch What We Say: Dollhouse
By Jason Lee
March 19, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com
This week on Watch What We Say: An active, a rogue active and a dollhouse.
Hush. Once more with feeling. Surprise. For any typical human being, these words may seem like no more than typical instructions given by a teacher in a drama class. But for the lucky among us that can count ourselves as fans of the brilliant TV writer / producer Joss Whedon, these words mean much more: they represent some of the greatest episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer ever. Indeed, I might even dare to go so far as to say that they represent some of the best hours of television ever to have hit the airwaves. And I could list more. The Body. What's My Line. The Gift.
Alas, this Shangri-La was not to last. After spending five years on The WB, Buffy migrated to what was then UPN and, most fans will agree, fell short of matching the incomprehensibly high bar that it had set for itself.
Joss' other shows suffered a similar fate. Spin-off Angel, while a ratings success for The WB, never attracted the same sort of critical or popular acclaim that Buffy had. Firefly found neither critical success nor ratings success and eventually morphed into a feature film that under-preformed for Universal Pictures.
So accepting this scenario, what's a widely-recognized-TV-genius to do?
Answer: return to your roots. Revisit themes of girl-empowerment. Investigate once more what it means to shoulder the burden of a destiny that was not of your own picking. Dwell again on the paradox of having astonishing abilities but not the authority on how to exercise them. See what it's like to live as a single, lonely person.
And thus, we have Dollhouse, which airs Fridays at 9:00 pm on Fox.
Set in a duplicitous, power-hungry world where the most sacred, valuable thing is anything "real" or "authentic," Dollhouse follows the actions of a shadowy organization wielding an impressive array of amnesia-inflicted "Actives" that can be imprinted with any personalities or memories at any given time. Say you need a hostage negotiator. This organization can imprint their Active with the real memories and real skills of the best hostage negotiator for your given situation. Say you want a girl who'll serve as a back-up singer for your popstar but will also intuitively protect the singer no matter what (in essence, a hidden bodyguard). Yeah, they can do that, too.
As unsustainable as this premise sounds, Whedon has been able to produce a remarkably engaging, suspenseful and even surprising set of episodes so far. He's woven a richly-textured fabric that skillfully places fans just on the outskirts of ever fully knowing what's going on.
At the center of things we have Echo, an Active with a mysterious past who's inexplicably been able to adapt to her assignments in a more resourceful way than should be possible. We have two other Actives that seem to instinctively respond to Echo and to each other. We have a nosy FBI agent who's determined to find out the secrets behind the Dollhouse. Most intriguingly, we have a rogue Active who's broken free of the Dollhouse and seems fixated on Echo. These storylines have combined in such a way as to literally make my jaw drop on several occasions so far.
The visual look of the show is stunning. The writing (though for the most part, missing the trademark wit and humor of Joss Whedon) is penetrating and strong. Generally, the acting is phenomenal with a solid performance by Eliza Dushku as Echo and some standout work by Dichen Lachman as a fellow Active (Sierra), Amy Acker as a hard-boiled doctor and Olivia Williams as the woman in charge.
Best of all, the story is INTERESTING. There has not been a single episode in which I was indifferent to the outcome. I actually cared about these characters and their fate. I also appreciated that the mid-episode twists were both un-anticipatable and jarring.
I know that my view represents neither the opinion of the public at large nor the collective attitude of the Whedonites (who have largely turned their noses up "Dollhouse," muttering amongst themselves, "I've seen better"). I think you'd be hard pressed to find another online TV writer out there that admires this show the way I do.
But let's consider the following: Joss Whedon and his merry band of writers have given us a complex world that delves deeply into questions of identity and real-self. They've constructed plots and story arcs that push their characters to the limits and allow the drama to organically unfold from there. They've established rules and they're playing by them.
And you know what? Echo kicks a lot of ass.
Count me on board for the rest of Season 1.
Watch What We Say rating: Three-and-a-Half TiVos
Watch What We Say: Rating System
Four TiVos: This is television content raised to the level of a transcendent art form. Not only should you TiVo this program for yourself, you should keep it on your TiVo for future generations to watch and savor.
Three TiVos: This is a very good show with a regular spot in my TiVo rotation. I watch every week and will often invite my friends over to share the enjoyable experience.
Two TiVos: I'll TiVo this show if I need something to watch while I'm folding laundry or dusting furniture.
One TiVo: I actively dislike this show and never allow it to take up space in my TiVo. Often times, I'll gripe about the show's producers, ridicule the actors and lambaste the network for keeping it on the air.
Zero TiVos: If this show is on, I unplug my TiVo for fear that the show is accidentally recorded and my entire home entertainment system gets contaminated with this malignant, diseased trash.