(Not So) Deep Dollhouse Thoughts

[giandujakiss]

1. I appear to be the only person on the internet who was not spoiled for the reveal of Alan Tudyk as Alpha.

2. Tudyk just transformed from Wash into Hannibal Lecter before our eyes. It was awesome.

3. It has become a kind of fun game for me to count the number of times per episode that a character almost uses the word "rape," and then backs away. I counted three separate missed opportunities in Briar Rose - Ballard's confrontation with Boyd, Ballard's scene with Boyd and Adele, and Alpha's scene with Dr. Saunders.

4. So, previously I assumed that there was another person inside the Dollhouse who was programming the dolls to communicate with Ballard. I guess we know that would have to be Dr. Saunders, now, right?

5. Yes, Enver Gjokaj as Dominic was eerie. And watching that scene, I can't help but feel we came very close to the core of what interests Joss about this premise - one that was squarely focused on the idea of identities and consciousness being transported around different bodies. When Victor/Dominic said something like, "I'm in the attic, aren't I?" it was one of the spookiest moments on the series.

6. For a second time, Topher commits mind-rape-by-proxy for the greater good, and this is portrayed as a heroic thing. Which makes me think that one of the things about Dollhouse that's interesting and could work for me if only it wasn't for the pesky gender issues getting in the way is that the only person on the show who actually condemns the activities of the Dollhouse, who is actually interested in stopping it, is gradually going insane and is depicted as more and more irrational. That is, there's really only one character who looks at all this and goes, "That's not right!," and he seems really kind of crazy. (butterfly says that he chose Echo over November because he forms an (illusory) emotional connection with the "real" girl; Alpha connected him with Caroline, but he doesn't know November's true identity.) And ordinarily, I'd applaud a series for fucking with our sense of right and wrong that way, for drawing the viewer into a crazy-mixed-up-morally-perverse world, making the viewer complicit in it. Except I can't really do that when the fantasy world reinscribes existing oppression and inequalities in the, you know, real world. It's no feat to reinforce an audience's existing prejudices.

ETA: 7. Am I wrong that Alpha only slashes the faces of dolls? Assuming that Saunders is a doll - maybe she was retired from going on missions after her face was slashed? - do we have any evidence that Alpha has slashed the faces of any non-dolls?

Comments

[kore]

I appear to be the only person on the internet who was not spoiled for the reveal of Alan Tudyk as Alpha.

I was unspoiled for that as well! Mainly because I do not, um, follow the show. But everything I've heard about AT's performance makes me want to watch this ep, plus someone said composite?-Echo-at-the-end is Faithy, which, uhm, well (I'M THERE).

[giandujakiss]

His performance is great. Eliza is sort of Faithy at the end but really, she and Tudyk reminded me more of Spike and Dru, actually. But yeah, it was definitely her best performance for an alternative personality - one of the weaknesses of the show is that she's not a strong enough actress to carry off the different identities. It also seems like if that's what you're in to, you'll want to watch next week as well.

[kore]

really, she and Tudyk reminded me more of Spike and Dru, actually.

I also heard that! Which totally makes me more interested, because I loved Spike-n-Dru.

It also seems like if that's what you're in to, you'll want to watch next week as well.

This feels kinda like when T and I watched 'Firefly' in real time as it was aired by the network (and let me tell you, THAT was a suck experience) -- it was either confusing, disappointing or boring with occasional flashes RIGHT up until about the last 3 eps in the original fucked-up order, at which point after watching "Objects in Space" I was wailing "But wait NO this could be AWESOME!" (I subsequently became much more affectionate toward the series seeing it all in the RIGHT order.) I doubt Dollhouse is going to provoke the same reaction, but....God, Whedon, why did you have to go back to FOX? sigh.

Did you see hazelk's post? The Dollhouse deals in fantasy. It makes it real. It spins strings of zeros and ones on a computer chip into living breathing girls and boys. It makes people out of things and fatally blurs the line separating the two. It’s not about abduction or rape or trafficking or human experimentation. It’s about objectification from which all the other badness flows. It’s about making stories into people and people into stories. But stories have a life of their own and these storytellers have been careless. They’ve left a door to the id unlocked and now the monsters are free.

Holy crap. I'd watch that show.

[giandujakiss]

I did see her comment - that's interesting, because up until now I'd assumed that Alpha was less the product of programming gone bad and more the product of the person showing through, and that he wants to expose the dollhouse and take revenge for what was done to him. It certainly would be a more interesting story if he was instead more of a "Monster from the Id" kind of thing.

[cofax7]

1&2: I was unspoiled! It was great, wasn't it?

4: I suspect you are correct. I don't know who else it could be, although I retain some hope that Boyd is involved somehow. The long game would involve continuing to use Echo, which is why he couldn't let Ballard take her away.

6: Yes, indeed re: Topher. You don't need to spend half a million dollars programming a volunteer to help a kid, and wouldn't those resources be better used by spreading them around the community of abused children, anyway?

7: Oh, good catch. If we accept the supposition that Saunders is Whiskey using the memories of the previous Saunders (and does she even know that?), then yeah, it looks like Alpha's going after only dolls. Clearly it's not entirely rational, but it might be in order to remove their utility as dolls? Dunno.

[giandujakiss]

6. God yes. The problem with the premise of Dollhouse is they really can't come up with good reasons for anyone to hire a doll that isn't sexual - wouldn't the real thing be better? And I really hate that the Dollhouse's philanthropy tends to include programming Echo with memories of sexual abuse. But I've pretty much made my views on this topic clear :-).

7. Well, I can't say I'll sob fat tears if the show is canceled, but I do hope that we find the anwers to these sorts of questions before it ends.

[cofax7]

7. Yeah. I suspect we may have to wait until the DVD release, though, and the mystical 13th episode, which Joss made. (Think "Sleeping in Light" or "Restless").