DOLLHOUSE: The Target
February 22, 2009 by Kath Skerry
It’s Sunday morning and I just got around to watching Friday night’s second episode of DOLLHOUSE. Well, that’s not the whole truth. “Just got around to watching” is a little misleading. It implies that I’ve been too busy doing other things to watch. The truth is, DOLLHOUSE has been sitting on my DVR since Friday night, and although I had the time, I didn’t feel compelled to watch it until this morning. I’m not sure why. It’s not like I hated the first episode. But for some reason I chose flipping through the channels yesterday over watching the second episode. I thought perhaps my feeling of indifference was saying something about my future with the show, but after watching the second episode I don’t think that’s the case.
Last night’s episode of DOLLHOUSE worked for me. Not all of it, but most of it. I still think the weakest part of the story (and the acting) takes place within the walls of the Dollhouse itself, but the mission of the week caught my attention. Unlike last week’s “hostage negotiator” persona, I found Outdoorsy!Echo to be believable. What was asked from her wasn’t too bizarre and I could really buy that she truly became this person rather than acting as a result of a programmable imprint.
The concept of a hunter getting his rocks through the ultimate cat and mouse game was exciting and played really well with the concept of the Dollhouse. He wanted to be tested. He wanted the ultimate challenge. Echo provided to be his most interesting prey. Well, at least until she stuck that arrow in his neck.
The introduction of the “Alpha” mystery seemed a little forced. Especially for the second episode. The audience is still trying to get our head around the concept and now we have three different plot lines to deal with – Echo’s life at the Dollhouse; Paul Ballard’s mission to out the Dollhouse; and now Alpha’s murderous ways. Give us a little room to breath here Joss.
There was one to many flashbacks for my liking. Despite the well edited transitional scenes, the shift between the current story and the flashbacks didn’t work well for me. They were too abrupt. I can handle flashbacks – I mean I do watch LOST, but these were a little clunky. Perhaps if the flashback scenes were longer it would have made for fewer transitions and it would have worked better. I don’t know.
I’m having a hard time believing that no one is watching the dailies and not noticing that the weak spot is the acting at the Dollhouse. I know that “Caroline” and the other tabula rasas are supposed to be all dead behind the eyes, but the scenes with them just feel so empty. And Fran Kranz needs to pull back and tone it down. I get that Topher is supposed to be this wild spirit, the witty guy, but there is zero subtly to Kranz’s performance. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I just watched him last night in “The TV Set” (a movie I love), and he plays the part of a TV actor who overacts and ruins the show. Maybe he should give the old movie a rewatch and sees if he picks up on any tips and hints. Pull back just a little Fran. Don’t try so hard and it won’t feel so false.
Back to what was working for me. As I said the mission was strong, and I had a very strong recall of ALIAS while I was watching. Just as Sydney Bristow would go undercover and play a new part each week, Echo is asked to do the same. And when put in a particular situation she calls on her given abilities (whatever they were programmed to be that week) to help her out a jam. I’m hoping that the writers choose to give her more missions like this one where there is a hint of believability to them. The leap of faith that was asked of me as the viewer was much more palpable.
I’m glad that I enjoyed this week’s episode of DOLLHOUSE more than last week. Here’s to hoping that the ratings get better over time and we can see what this show can really do.
Did you watch? Thoughts on this second episode? What’s working and what’s not? Excited for next week?
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I really liked Friday night’s episode, much more than the first, and to me, it felt like a better starting point for this series. I like the different story lines, and how everything traces back to Echo. I also found that Topher has a bit of a Xander quality to his lines, which I found enjoyable (although I see what you mean about Kranz). After the first episode, I was indifferent as to whether I’d want to see Dollhouse last more than a few episodes, but following this second ep, as long as they continue to build on their present course, I’m totally on board and want to see it continue!
I agree with you 100% on the acting for the most part, but it is a sad truth for me that the reason Eliza’s outdoorsy girl was believable is because the Action!Girl is the only real character she seems able to play. Fortunately it seems that Caroline, whoever she was, happened to be that kind of a person. I think the rushed introduction of Alpha is very telling of the panic going on behind the scenes in the writing of the show: people are becoming desperate, wanting to try and hook people someway so by bringing up the major Big Bad (or so it would seem) and giving him tooons of backstory in episode 2 they’re trying to get viewers, sacrificing quality. I though Joss was better than this!! I guess Firefly has affected him even more than I thought 🙁
I liked this episode much better than the pilot. I am not sure we need all these story lines but I am not the show runner. Don’t you sometimes wish you could be the director or editor or whoever makes the important decisions?
I was actually intrigued by the whole Big Bad set up. I really want some sort of continuing thread to keep me interested on an ongoing basis, and the cop storyline isn’t doing that. I don’t understand why people think they should have waited to give us a reason to tune in every week. But I’m not for sure if Joss wanted to do that so soon, since this ep was originally intended to be the 8th ep or so, but executives asked him to move it up. But it obviously was rewritten enough to work as a second ep, so maybe we always meant to hear about Alpha so soon.
Also, although his name escapes me, I really like Echo’s handler. He’s the only character we can actually empathize at all with so far.
I also liked this episode better than the first, but I liked it because of the intro of Alpha and because of the bit of backstory of Echo’s handler. What is still missing for me is some background on why Agent Ballard is so hot to find the Dollhouse.
I think that if much of this episode was combined with the non-mission parts of last week’s premiere episode, plus some added background on Agent Ballard, it would have made for a completely compelling two-hour premiere. I don’t have a problem with the multiple storylines, I have a problem with the way they are being introduced.
At any rate, I’m in for a few more episodes to see if things start to really come together.
I, too, enjoyed this episode. I’m not sure I liked it *more* than the pilot, I probably enjoyed them much the same. But I have to admit that, even though I watched this episode live on Friday, I was tempted to turn the channel a few times during its run. Once the whole “cat and mouse” game began, I was hooked. And the introduction of Alpha, and the mystery surrounding the murders definitely has me wanting to watch more. I agree with Billiam, my favourite person has got to be Echo’s handler. I definitely enjoy his scenes with Echo the most.
Like you and the other posters, I enjoyed the episode. It was more fun than the pilot, but I put that down (at least partly) to the pilot’s need to set up the premise and that type of material is generally less interesting.
The part of the show that doesn’t work for me so far is the FBI plot. Ballard does nothing for me. And they should have just hung a sign around his neighbor’s neck saying “I am a Doll from the Dollhouse”. If Ballard can’t figure that out, he has no chance of solving the Dollhouse mystery – not that I particularly care.
I agree with what most people are saying, I’m hoping that the previews for next week being all about Paul Ballard we finally get some answers about why he’s looking for the dollhouse.
I’m also sort of intrigued by the security guy or whatever he is, the one who was teasing Echo at the end of the ep. I’m wondering if he’s just a jerk or if he’s going to play a larger role overall with were the story is going.
Jenn, I think he’s going to play a larger role. My theory (and I have a theory already … crap) is that he makes a bit of a hobby out of breaking the dolls. His first project was Alpha, and now he’s moved on to Echo. His response of “8 seconds” when describing the time it took for Echo’s previous handler to die had a faint note of pride and possessiveness to it, I think. Plus, as the one responsible for the background checks, he has the power to let Echo be hired out on missions like the one in this episode. And the last interaction with Echo could just be teasing, or he could be covertly checking to see if “there’s no one in there” still. And it’s probably someone from within the dollhouse who was able to provide the drug in the water, so my money is on him.
On the other hand, that may just be too obvious. I don’t know.
I really liked the epidode. I sat there and enjoyed it for the whole time. I’m wondering if they’re named after the military alphabet. Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo….and if so then Echo would only be the fifth doll that they’ve had, but they obviously have lots more than that. I really liked the flashbacks and the Alpha story line. Definitely coming back next week.
i like dollhouse this ep. was good but due to station news break i missed the ending. what happened?
I’m not one to question the great Joss, but this series should really have taken place as Echo’s duty in the Dollhouse is done and she tries to remember the person she was for the past 5 years. Maybe she’ll still leave the Dollhouse by the end of the season and it becomes a battle between Echo and Dollhouse every week. They’d attack her with an active with a wild new persona in every episode.