dollhouse thoughts

[marguerite_26]

ugh. I very nearly turned it off after the first ten minutes. The concept of dollhouse as a 'perfect girl' whore house is repulsive and they'd better stop having Echo turning tricks in the next eps or I am gone. :/ I understand that is one facet of the services they provide, but it's coming up as the main service (nearly ever reference is dating related.)

The storyline is think would have been more solid if the guy had pretended to want a date and then treated her as a trainee and then hunted her. Fucking her first was gratuitous. Unnecessarily degrating.

The 'not a single one of them democrat' was pretty funny, though. :D

I liked the flashbacks and the details on Alpha. neat concept.

The bit at end was over-told. How could the handler guy not recognize the injuries IMMEDIATELY... lets see... where have I seen this before? *eyeroll*

BWB (brain wash boy, coined by justhuman) is pure evil. But it's hard to imagine who isn't on the show. The handler at this point is the most interesting and likable character of the show. Even beyond Echo. Echo does feel 'blank' to me.

oh, interesting note (or maybe just a mistake on their part) All Echo's previous memories that she had kept where in her 'pre-brainwashed' state or her 'empty' state. And yet she remembers 'shoulder to the grindstone'.

Final thoughts: the show still has potential. But they are skating on thin ice with the dolls for sex theme.

Comments

[beatnikspinster.livejournal.com]

they are skating on thin ice with the dolls for sex theme.

I totally agree. This episode started really slow. I actually left at minute 10 to do dishes. I'm glad I like the handler, because you're right about the blankness of Echo. Every other character is evil. Not-Helo hasn't interacted yet. There've been no scenes between actives. The handler is all that's been given. BWB is interesting in his evil, at least.

Next week looks AWFUL, a Fox-o-rama. :P

[marguerite-26.livejournal.com]

There've been no scenes between actives.

yeah, that's pretty wierd. You'd think that Echo's 'peers' would feature a larger part.

We don't get the teasers for the next eps here, so I'll take your word for it. :D

[bryoneybrynn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, i'm giving this show one more shot. I wasn't pleased with the rape/pedo theme of the first episode but that looked positively tame next to this. And yeah, the "perfect whore" bit is getting old. I can't believe this is JOSS making this show!

Also, I'm irritated that he essentially ripped the hunting theme of his own Buffy episode!

Also, I completely feel like Eliza is ripping all her acting off Sarah Michelle Geller. It's like she's CHANNELING her in a "WWSMGD" sort of way. Weird!

[marguerite-26.livejournal.com]

The hunting theme is horrid, and over done. I didn't like it when Gilligan's Island did it 40 years ago! (I don't let little M watch that episode. LOL!)

And yeah, it was very much like Help, with the drugged, now you are even weaker theme. ugh. I know he turned it around and made the 'poor fragile girl' the 'hunter' but SHIT, why do you need to strip her down to show her as strong. *is annoyed*

[aldehyde.livejournal.com]

i actually liked this episode a lot more than the pilot. thought it had a fair bit of interesting action, the cop trying to piece together more clues of dollhouse was good, and i liked seeing the flashbacks of the handler and "alpha".

i don't feel any kind of animosity against BWB [good moniker btw], in fact his comments on "deep man love" and "man friend" and everything else were amusing, whereas the boss lady bothered me. i feel like she reeks more of evil than anyone else.

the "shoulder to the grindstone" bit was definitely interesting. i wonder what kind of poison/drug was in the water to help echo start remembering her pre-doll live or things that happened during the blank slate..

[marguerite-26.livejournal.com]

I lot of people did. Both my sisters emailed be saying 'omg! soooo much better!' and then I rained on their parade. :D

I do think the structure of the ep was better. But the warning bells were ringing too loudly in my ears for me to appreciate it.

[faithwood.livejournal.com]

*sniff* The show is actually depressing me. I don't like anyone there, and the dolls are just . . . it hurts to look at them. I don't know. :(

The bit at end was over-told. How could the handler guy not recognize the injuries IMMEDIATELY... lets see... where have I seen this before? *eyeroll*

I flinched at that. *sigh*

Oh Joss, why so serious?

[marguerite-26.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping the 'painfulness' of the dolls is intentional. That we are later suprised how much they've grown on us... or something. :/


Oh Joss, why so serious?
oh! a nice spot of non-geek-stupid-comments type of comedy would be an excellent twist to this series.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_aurora_sky_/]

Aww man, I actually liked this episode a LOT more than the last one. I'd read interviews with Joss about the show and the one thing he was terrified about was turning it into a female objectification fest and be brought a couple of (in his opinion) awesome female writers to the show. I think though, realistically, that is EXACTLY the type of thing that people would pay for -- perfect sex "dolls" -- and I felt like a point was being made about hyper-sexualizing women and yaddayadda. The sex before the hunt thing WAS degrading, but I took it as it showing just how fucked up and disgusting that particular character was.

But Joss flat out said that this show will deal with all types of sexual fantasies along the way -- including gay (as in male-on-male, not just lesbian) stuff, and I'm interested to see how that's handled. And I think that "shoulder to the grindstone" bit was just to illustrate that the process isn't absolute -- I'm sure as the show goes on she'll start remembering more long-term memories. From what I read, though, the show is supposed to skew off and pick up after the third episode, so I'm keeping my faith up ;) HAHA No pun intended.

I'm giving the show the whole season. I mean, the first season of Buffy was AWFUL, but he really came into it. And am I the only one who thinks the cop is Alpha with some sort of crazy-insane multiple personality disorder from all the "treatments"?

And I'm on the fence about BWB... He's definitely The Xander, which I think is Joss writing himself in, so I don't feel like he'll always be evil >D. The lady TOTALLY is, though XD

Overall, though, I thought this ep felt a lot less forced.

[marguerite-26.livejournal.com]

I haven't read any of Joss's interviews. Very interesting to hear that he is terrified that the show will be a female objectification fest because... yeah... that exactly what it is. Though, I'll throw him a bone for having Faith kill the guys in end. :) (ooops, I mean Echo. Sheesh! ) As for the male-dolls, it doesn't make it less creepy to me. it's still abuse, exploitation, and horrific.

Now I want to see him pull the show out of it that perception. I just don't want to wait. But I will. I'm afraid of the next ep... I'll give it at least the first 7 eps, then see.

I loved the first season of Buffy. Of course I watched it AFTER season 4 and 5. :D

I see BWB as Warren. Which creeps me totally. I feel like he could sneak into the dolls shoe boxes at night and abuse them all and think nothing of it. o.O Where as the lady is all Lilah, 'I'm just making money'.

Funny how we are totally seeing things differently. *g*

Thanks for the interesting discussion.

[swmbo.livejournal.com]

:(

I really liked it, because I loved the Echo/Boyd relationship and I love the fact that it set up season-wide stuff so early.

But I can see where the sex-doll thing could be really squicky. It doesn't bother me yet, but if it becomes the dominating theme I might get a little burned out.

[marguerite-26.livejournal.com]

Echo/Boyd relationship is way awesome. Boyd is very interesting.

and don't be sad that you liked it! I'm glad you did. The episode had a much better construction and the reveals were very cool and yes, early! I just got squicked. Nothing that can't be overcome. :D