A while back, I mentioned how much I was looking forward to watching Dollhouse. So we are about half-way through the first season (it's a short first season, only 13 episodes) and I am not regretting spending my time on this show.Dollhouse received a lot of mixed feedback in the media. I've heard people complaining about it being hard to connect to, and unfeminist. And I've heard people praise it for going into new territory.
There were two episodes in the series that particularly stood out for me so far. The first was episode 3 that starts out feeling a little cliche, but ends up being very much worth it because of the twist at the very end. It was completely unexpected and opened a lot of possibilities.
The second episode, that was even better, is the latest aired episode, "Man on the Street". There are a number of plot lines going on there and the drama gets pretty intricate in a true Whedon fashion. We get to see the first interaction between Paul Ballard and Echo, we see Mellie in a completely new light, Boyd's character is developed, and we learn a whole lot about Dollhouse politics.
In addition, the episode intermittently shows excerpts of a documentary capturing different reactions to the idea of Dollhouse. The documentary format strongly reminded me of Ted Chiang's short story Liking What You See: A Documentary which does something similar. I haven't seen this done successfully very often, but it works for both Chiang and Whedon quite well.
All in all, the show is shaping up and I am very much looking forward to watching the rest of the season.
I'm glad you are enjoying it. I have friends who really like it and ones who really hate it. Seems to have that kind of mixed effect on people. I hope for your sake and for the sake of my friends who like it that they actually give it a fair chance and don't cut it short.
ReplyDeleteI hope so too. I also find that people have similar reactions to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There are people who love it and those who think it's completely silly. I sure hope this can grow into something as long-lived.
ReplyDeleteJust don't get your hopes set too high. I have a friend who has been following the ratings and they are worse than abysmal and it sounds like Josh Whedon has begun to grumble about things the studio did to change the show, etc. All that adds up to it needing a real miracle to continue. It is a shame, tv shows rarely get a really good chance anymore.
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