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For recovering Browncoats: Dollhouse: Season One

Running entertainment web sites for as long as we have, BOP has heard it all by now. We've been accused of being in the tank for Joss Whedon, particularly when we named Serenity as the best film of 2005 because, well, it was the best movie of that year.

If we go back even further, our previous iteration of the Web site received quite the email scolding from many passionate Whedonites when we criticized the body of the first season of Angel for being rote. At the time, our stated evaluation was that the show had a distinct feel of being made up as it went along. My shiny box set of the complete series on DVD has a quote from the show's creator that says as much. Angel had numerous issues at the start caused by problems differentiating itself from its originator, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That would have been difficult enough, but there were unfortunately also personal problems involving one of the original four cast members, Glenn Quinn, that led to his character's being written off the show quickly followed by his tragic death from a heroin overdose.

By the season finale of season one, however, a course of action had been determined that placed Angel squarely on a course for greatness. The resurrection of Darla, the vampire who sired Angel, followed by the second season's arrival of inscrutable, insane Drusilla gave the show exactly what it needed to succeed. To their credit, the show-runners of Angel recognized the issues and adapted. I think you see where I'm going with this.

When the announcement was made that Whedon's latest creation, Dollhouse, had been picked up, the mood at BOP was celebratory. When the pilot aired...less so. It's difficult to pinpoint exactly why Dollhouse wasn't a mind-blowing experience from the start. I'm inclined to believe the rumors that Fox just couldn't help themselves with regards to those dreaded network notes and meddling. Whatever the case may be, I didn't particularly care for any of the first five episodes of the show. I get no enjoyment from typing that as I think Whedon is one of the most gifted entertainers of our generation, but it's true. The sixth episode, Man on the Street, was the first time I thought "Okay, that's more like it." And even that feeling was temporary. On the whole, I consider Dollhouse's first season to have more bad episodes than good ones.

Why then am I recommending it? The second season of Angel was one of the best ever. You could have enjoyed it without seeing the first season, but that's because many of the ideas in the first season were discarded. This is not the case with Dollhouse. The show has been renewed for a second season, something that makes fans of Firefly such as me feel renewed rage over the incompetence of previous Fox execs. If you want to start watching it, this situation is much different from Angel. You will need the baseline created by the first season to keep up. The tone of this show is very much in line with a USA Network program called La Femme Nikita, one where a female operative was forced to work for a shadowy group whose ethical alignment is an unknown. It's important to have all the pertinent information available about this nebulous group before moving on to phase two of the show. If Dollhouse does follow the pattern of Angel, the next few seasons offer spectacular potential. In fact, the final season of Angel is among the finest in the history of network television, maybe THE finest. Dollhouse is like a pro prospect. Its upside is huge, but that doesn't mean it will ever be a big time player. Watch season one and draw your own conclusion about whether this will happen.

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