not very good. I don’t even know what else to say. If it was anyone but Whedon, I wouldn’t be giving this show a second chance.
And for as much as I loved Dushku as Faith, the only sense of a real actor in the entire show was Harry Lennix. Everyone else was just being a pretty face.
That’s a shame. I caught an NPR interview with Whedon yesterday that made the show sound promising.
Evn, the word is “Don’t give up”. Apparently, at least according to most of the reviews I’ve read, it gets better as it goes along…… if Fox can resist cancelling it.
The concept is interesting, but there are some structural flaws. Like, how are we to get to know characters that have no personality by design? And the Handler/Active relationship is way too much like the Watcher/Slayer. And every imprint that Echo (Dushku) took was Cliché on Wheels. And why can’t superhero women have ANYTHING in their past other than child sexual abuse?
What I’m wondering is whether the show is going to be a classic Whedon ensemble cast show, or is it the Eliza Dushku show? I hope it’s not the latter….. although I fear it is.
Deb, I think the idea is that the personality of the Actives is going to start showing through their characters, and we’ll start to get backstory on them as the show goes along.
<<how are we to get to know characters that have no personality by design? >>
I worried about that, too. but the storytelling strategy seems to be that the cases themselves are reflection/metaphors for Echo’s background and situation, like the monsters on Buffy. What was she before but a girl looking for adventures, and what is she now but a kidnapped child? I expect they’ll give us more clues as we go along, and that Echo will become more of a person.
I like it so far. More dark and dense than usual Jossdom, and so less of the expected witty banter, but I like dark and dense. Glad they’re giving Harry Lennix an interesting role (he’s the only one with a moral conflict. That we know of so far.) And I have no doubt they’ll give Amy Acker more.
And why can’t superhero women have ANYTHING in their past other than child sexual abuse?
You probably already saw it, but if not, the same topic came up on Girls Read Comics back in September.
Personally, I appreciated the rainbow glitter.
And why can’t superhero women have ANYTHING in their past other than child sexual abuse?
But that wasn’t her background, it was the history of the implanted personality.
Right. The only possible motivation for “Eleanor” was child sexual abuse. Because she’s a super-capable woman and therefore must have a special motivation, and that’s the only thing that motivates women, dontcha know.
Evn, yes, Girls Read Comics is a favorite of mine. She’s been super-smart on the subject.
I hope the IT guy is the first main cast member to die.
I think it has potential, but I’m afraid Dushku will be the weak link in the cast.
The IT guy has no redeeming characteristics. And truly, I have no desire for him to acquire any.
From an interview with Tahmoh Penikett;
To help viewers understand “Dollhouse’s” provocative concept, the first few episodes are self-contained hours focused on Echo’s weekly adventures. But Penikett says that midway through the show’s 13-episode season, the mythology will kick into high gear.
“Halfway through the season, you’ll start seeing some of the main story lines and arcs developed in a more serious way, around the fifth episode. I think that’s when Joss and his writing team really found their feet and said, ‘OK, this is what we wanted. This is what we were aiming at and we’ve got it now,’” Penikett said.
“I can’t tell you how confidence-building it is when you experience that,” the actor added. “Because as everyone knows, we had somewhat of a tumultuous start. There was a lot of speculation, a lot of bad press, and you inevitably get caught up in it a little bit. … Once I read the fifth and sixth episode, specifically [Episode 5, the Whedon-penned] ‘Man on the Street,’ I was like, ‘This is it. This is the show.'”