Dollhouse on the Bench

Nov 18, 2009 by Kelly    No Comments    Posted under: Whedon Watch

Season 1 cover, © 2009 Twentieth Century Fox

So Fox amazed us all by deciding to pick-up Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse in the first place, let alone renewing it for a second season after rumors that it would get dropped. But in true Fox style (they’re the ones who originally canceled Family Guy, if you don’t remember) they’ve benched the show during November sweeps, and Summer Glau (Firefly series, Serenity), who was promised a guest spot two weeks after the episode about Sierra’s entrance to the Dollhouse, was put off until December 4th (8pm). The fate of Dollhouse is unclear after the purchased 13 episodes air. It’s rumored there may not be any more.

Fox is also the network that canceled Firefly after one season, a show that has become so popular through its DVD sales and rabid fans that it was even made into a fairly popular movie two years after the show was canceled. That doesn’t happen. But that’s just how poorly Fox selects its shows. The fans of Firefly are even more dedicated than Buffy fans, which is scary. (If you’ve never given into the Buffy fad, I am truly sad for you and recommend Netflixing the whole thing right now. But I will warn you that it’s highly addictive so make sure you have some extra time. Sure, during season one you may think “Yeah, right” as it was extremely low-budget during that time, but I challenge you to watch any two episodes of season two and then stop. Yeah, you’ll watch the whole thing, especially as James Marsters gets more and more screen time which isn’t a coincidence. The Spike character has become more iconic than Buffy herself. I won’t be surprised if you also notice that season seven isn’t stellar though. During that time Joss was also working on Firefly and Angel simultaneously, and it shows.)

But I digress. Dollhouse is about an underground organization consisting of people who have signed a five-year contract (for reasons mostly unknown) to be implanted with different personalities and put into situations on command of the highest bidder. This can lead to situations varying from prostitution to museum heists. At the end of each “engagement” their memory is “wiped,” and after their contract is up they have been promised a pleasant awakening with no memory of their time there. It’s basically a fancy version of jail that resembles a health spa. Personality-less versions of the actives, darkly nicknamed Dolls, get to spend all day swimming, painting, pruning bonsai trees, performing yoga and receiving massages. And yes, there are co-ed showers. Sounds like an absolute fantasy to me as oppose to working 40-hour weeks (except for the icky prostitution part).

The main character, or Doll, Echo is played by Eliza Dushku who is most famous for her role as Faith on Buffy. I must admit that Faith is one of my least favorite Buffy characters of all time, and Dushku, though occasionally charming, is regarded by me to be a pretty weak actress. Though I do have to admit that just being on this show has improved her, her ability to serve as a leading lady has not yet been proven—at least not to me—though there have been some performances from this series that have made me wonder if she is at least on her way.

That being said, I still really like the show as it is often well written (There have been a few holes but Whedon has made an effort this season to fill them, like for instance, that they can afford to implant people’s brains with personalities but they can’t afford plastic surgery for Dr. Saunders’s face which was mutilated by Alpha? I’m glad they finally addressed that.) and the other actors and characters make it worthwhile. For instance, the actor who plays Alpha (also a Whedon favorite, but I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t gotten that far in season one), Dichen Lachman who plays Sierra, Olivia Williams (Rushmore) who plays the cold yet warm DeWitt, Enver Gjokaj who plays Victor, Harry Lennix who plays Boyd, Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica) as Agent Ballard and Amy Acker who plays Dr. Saunders (who’s most famous for her hot super-nerd role of Fred on Angel but also played an excellent villain in Alias) are all incredible. Sierra should’ve been the leading lady, in my opinion, because her acting is effortless and convincing in every situation thus far, and I suspect that may have been the plan at one point, but she is an unknown and obviously the show needed a star to sell it to executives. Fran Kranz who plays Topher is also doing a phenomenal job of portraying a comical, morally bankrupt “sociopath in a sweater vest.”

This is certainly a show to check out while it lasts, and I do hope that it does indeed last another season and suspect it will. They said it wouldn’t make it past 13 episodes last season and look how far it’s already gotten… For more information see the Dollhouse Wiki.

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