The Positively Positive

Miracle Laurie and Tahmoh Penikett in Dollhouse season 2, episode 12 “The Hollow Men”. Image from www.daemonstv.com

Positively Positive Review – Dollhouse: The Hollow Men

I often tell people that one of my biggest pet peeves is being able to predict what is going to happen next when watching tv or movies. It’s one of the reasons I’m a huge spoiler-phobe. I mean if I already know what’s going to happen, what is the point in watching, right?

When I watched this week’s episode of Dollhouse, I was so confused I barely knew what the heck was going on for most of it. Rather than being upset by this, I loved it. I just had to trust in Joss Whedon and let myself be taken along for the ride, and what a ride it was. Throughout the episode I had no idea who was in which body, who was pretending to be someone else and who was going to die.

Now THAT is some great television…..at least for me.

It breaks my heart to know that this show is coming to an end though I do feel a little responsible. After all, I didn’t immediately warm to the show and even missed some episodes from season 1. A problem I am remedying this week by renting it so that I can see them all before the finale. I almost didn’t even bother to write this review but after finishing the episode, I just had to sit down and talk about it. There is something about Joss’s shows that do that to me. From Buffy to Angel to Firefly, all of them made me think. Dollhouse is no different.

The other thing I just had to say after watching last night’s episode is that Enver Gjokaj is a freaking amazing, mind-blowingly awesome, acting genius. While all of the actors of this show have been fantastic, especially those playing dolls snapping in and out of different characters, Enver takes my breath away. Watching him become Topher again and nailing everything about the man, from his mannerisms to his absolute spot-on voice, I could barely tell his performance apart from Fran Kranz’ original.

Overall another episode that makes me nearly weep with the idea that this show is ending much too soon.

More Dollhouse….
Dollhouse, season 2, episode 3 “Belle Chose”
Dollhouse, season 2, episode 4 “Belonging”
Dollhouse, season 2, episode 8 “A Love Supreme”

Alan Tudyk in Dollhouse, season 2, episode 8 “A Love Supreme”. Image from www.daemonstv.com

You know, ever since I heard that Dollhouse was going to be cancelled, I told myself I wasn’t going to do any more reviews. In fact, I wasn’t even sure if I was going to watch it. After all, why get myself excited over a show that soon enough won’t exist?

Well as you can see, I’ve decided to do both. Once again, I simply can’t help it. I started this blog so that I could talk about the things I love about good tv shows out there, and Dollhouse is still one of those shows.

Not only is this show good, but in the past few weeks it’s gotten phenomenal. Just my luck that I’m beginning to love a show more and more, now that its head is firmly placed on the chopping block.

Oh well, I’m a fan of Joss Whedon. Getting my heart broken is part of the territory, right?

Fox is now showing two eps every week, I’m sure so that they can get it off their roster faster. Sigh. I’m only going to talk about the last one though. The one that had me literally squealing in delight, laughing hysterically and nearly in tears? Yeah, that’s the one.

It’s not just the return of Alpha that’s making this show so good. Though I’ll admit, as a huge Alan Tudyk fan, that is a big part of it. But it’s also the fact that Echo is more than just a mere “doll” now. She’s gained the ability to pick and choose her personas at will, whenever one suits her needs. Plus she and Ballard didn’t sleep together and just like Alpha, I totally knew that meant he loved her and she him.

So now we have the characters all going in new directions and poof! here’s Alpha to screw it all up royally. Implanting himself with Ballard (and causing his “brain death” in the process) is the latest trick up his sleeve.

I can’t wait until next week, when we get another two hours to see what happens next and how Echo is going to fix it……because she has to fix it, right???

More Dollhouse….
Dollhouse, season 2, episode 3 “Belle Chose”
Dollhouse, season 2, episode 4 “Belonging”

Creation’s Salute Firefly/Serenity Convention 2009

Dichen Lachman and Enver Gjokaj in Dollhouse, season 2, episode 4 “Belonging”. Image from www.daemonstv.com

When I first started doing this blog I had this naive thought that sometimes the hardest thing would be to find positive things to say about every show. As it turns out, the hardest thing about Dollhouse is finding too many good things.

If I were to talk about every moment that I liked in last Friday’s episode “Belonging”, I’d be here all day and this blog post would be a mile long. So I’ll just have to settle for giving a brief overview.

This week’s episode carried the main story arc of the series along while still feeling like a stand alone episode. I think that someone who’s never seen the show before could have still watched it and got a lot out of it. The entire of story of how “Sierra” came to the Dollhouse was shocking. Not that we didn’t already know (from last season) a little about the man who requested her nearly every week. No, I was actually surprised to find out that no one else in the Dollhouse seemed to know that he was, in essence, a rapist.

When Echo brings the painting to Topher, I thought that while he may not realize what had been going on, surely those above him did. So when Adelle brought the bastard into her office and told him off, I cheered.

Topher’s journey through the episode as he struggles with being forced to send Sierra back to the “bad man” was great to watch. This is the first time we’ve really seen what kind of person he is and I am beginning to like his character more and more.

The final scenes were a masterpiece as Sierra is sent back and Topher (apparently) suffers with what he’s been forced to do. The music in the background was so sad, going perfectly with the moment.

In the end Sierra gets her revenge, Topher is able to redeem himself (if only slightly) and all is put back to “normal” as Sierra meets up with her true love, Victor. Behind it all we see that Boyd has discovered Echo’s secret and rather than hindering, has decided to help.

Overall a very good episode, giving us a lot of background info on a few of the characters who have been mostly in the background up to this point.

More Dollhouse…

Dollhouse, season 2, episode 3 “Belle Chose”

Eliza Dushku and Tahmoh Penikett in Dollhouse, season 2, episode 3 “Belle Chose”. Image from www.daemonstv.com

Dollhouse is really starting to grow on me this season. While it’s true that I missed most of last season due to a lack of DVR, it’s also true that what few episodes I did catch, I couldn’t follow. I’m happy to say that I’m having no such trouble this season.

What first attracted me to this show was that it was created by Joss Whedon and stars Eliza Dushku. I have loved Joss’s work since Firefly and after going back to watch all of Buffy and Angel, I fell in love with Eliza as well. The past couple episodes have made me fall for both of them all over again.

While last season suffered (at least for me) from delving too much into its own mythology, this season has been simply concentrating on individual storylines and the characters. From that we’re getting the great dialogue I’ve always loved from Joss’s work and great performances from not only Eliza, but the rest of the cast.

This episode had some creepy, scary moments as well as some hilariously funny ones. The sicko psycho drugging the women to make them all stand around like his person doll collection gave me chills. Then the character of “Kiki” travelling from Echo to a spectacular turn in Victor, had me laughing. Enver Gjokaj was amazing, really making me believe that he was a young female college student.

Overall this show seems to be getting better and better each week, making me very excited to watch what comes next.