4 replies to this topic

[Plasmic Fury]

SEASON 2 REVIEWS

Discuss the new season of Dollhouse here and read my reviews .

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here we are - the next season of Dollhouse. After a lackluster season with some hidden gems mixed between I’m hoping that Joss has found a way to keep this show interesting. After watching “Vows” I’m struggling with what is supposed to make Dollhouse fun. It’s clearly not the exploitation of Eliza’s body or the mysterious decisions Paul Ballard seems to make.

For nearly half the episode I was bored to tears. Even with an awesome guest star like Jamie Bamber it was hard to get into the events portrayed in this episode. Echo always seems to be struggling with who she is and watching her confusingly malfunction on screen doesn’t captivate me. Eliza seems to be lacking the punch I’m expecting from her. Near the end of the episode the climax did not feel worth the wait.

Luckily this episode wasn’t all in vain; there were some great scenes with Amy Acker. After the events of the season finale it’s interesting to watch her and the decisions she makes. These types of scenes prove that (most) of the cast has the talent to keep the tone serious. Unfortunately for Dollhouse some of the directions these characters are going in don’t seem to hold my attention. I already feel like something big needs to happen – something that really changes the way things run. As of right now things just seem to slow, more events need to happen.

Even Jamie can't save this episode

The main story’s focus this week wasn’t bad, but until the very end it remained seemly dull. It got to the point that when it was just Echo on the screen I instantly tuned out. Even though Jamie played his character well the events that transpired seemed far too familiar and boring. The writers of the show need to give Echo more ‘umph’. At least the ending of this episode leaves some interesting changes that I already expected from the beginning. This is a good thing though because I wanted to see Paul become Echo’s handler. When those two work together in the show they both get more interesting.

Now that Dollhouse is back it would be great if they could bring out some fresh and interesting material. Even though the show has a good pitch and a decent cast, they need to remember it all comes down to the writing. There should be twists and turns that want us to come back to Dollhouse, not shy away from it. The show seems to have started off plain and dull; unable to keep my interest. Let’s hope they can fine tune the characters and stories to improve on this.

Dollhouse Season 2, Episode 1 - "Vows"
6.5/10 - Passable
( ? ) Click here for ratings guide

Edited by Plasmic Fury, 10 October 2009 - 01:35 PM.

[raw_genesis]

Oh shit, I didn't even know it was out yet... Better get my DL on!

Even Jamie can't save this episode

Blasphemy!

[Plasmic Fury]

What kind of episode do we have here? Was it necessary to have such a blatantly weird beginning? Having the Dollhouse as a prostitution hub is one thing, but echo breast feeding? I mean she’s not even the biological mother. Why do they need to waste precious screen time on that?

This episode, like many others prove that Dollhouse does not actually have the ability to keep an interesting continual story throughout episodes. We are on square one, repeating the steps of previous episodes. We see echo in a character and then watch her battle it out, but correct me if I’m wrong, wasn’t the whole story arc supposed to have her mind change? I thought she was supposed to become self aware. Now I know that changes are happening with her brain, but a lot of it is being explained through other ways. For example in this episode, the mother’s love was so great that it jolted her memory into remembering it. I think it would be more interesting if she actually remembered her previous counters regardless.

Imagine Dollhouse where Echo could simply slow play the system and “pretend” to not know anything but secretly learn new things each time using it to her advantage to take down the dollhouse. I don’t know about you guys, but that’s what I was expecting on day one. Not some small story arc’s that will be meaningless after the episode is done and Echo’s brain is wiped. Because truthfully most of the events that took place in this episode will never really be seen or mentioned again.

"Can't wait to go home and do laundry!"

Although saying that nothing is carrying over is not true because they do have some interesting story arc’s happening around Melle and the new guy played by Alexis Denisof. This episode is building up what I think to be interesting season finale material. Let’s just hope that this story arc will have some good pacing.Lets not remind ourselves of Paul Ballard’s investigation taking nearly 6 episodes to really get any solid progression.

“Instinct” ends up feeling quite mild. Interestingly enough it was more intriguing to me than last episode. Eliza seemed to be acting a lot better in this episode. For once her acting was played well and proves that she can play more than just the “tough girl”. Near the end of the episode seeing her come back and malfunction was sort of expected although the resolution to her madness seemed lacking. Paul talks to her on the bench at the very end of the episode, but it seems weird that he’s just talking to her blank state. Will Echo even remember what he is telling her?

Ultimately this episode of Dollhouse fails to break out of the typical episode cycle. This is a bad thing because not much of Dollhouse is interesting and major changes are going to need to happen to make people come back and watch it. Some things are being setup, but nothing with Echo, which is disappointing because the show is focused around her. The next episode will hopefully put to use all the characters in the show instead of using them for filler like sierras character. I have faith in Joss, I know there is a way that this show can redeem itself, but until that happens Dollhouse is going to feel more and more like a waste of time.

Dollhouse Season 2, Episode 2 - "Instinct"
6.0/10 - Passable
( ? ) Click here for ratings guide

[Rob`]

Did anyone else think Topher seriously considering telekenisis was just a bit ridiculous?

Edited by Rob`, 09 October 2009 - 05:43 PM.

[Plasmic Fury]

Watching “Belle Chose” reminded me much of training your puppy not to pee inside the house. You get home from work seeing the usual puddle of piss on the ground, but as time goes on your pup will surprise you by whining at the back door to be taken out. Much the same could be said about this particular episode of Dollhouse.

The episode starts off by leaving the viewer quite uncomfortable watching a mentally twisted man play a game of indoor golf with his captured female victims. After accidentally killing one of his playmates, he goes in search of his next prey. Unfortunately on his venture he gets struck by a car. After the opening credits much of the same events I’ve come to expect from Dollhouse emerge. Echo is sent on – for what seems like – the thousandth romantic engagement. Coming to this point in the episode I felt like it was going to be another typical mediocre disappointment. It didn’t help that they made echo some slutty pretentious party girl either. Her screen time was getting on my nerves.

Luckily for a good chunk of the episode they do not focus on her. Michael Hogan guest stars as an uncle to the deranged serial killer. Thinking that he can get to the bottom of his nephew, he steals him from the Dollhouse’s grasp. It is to be noted that this nephew is imprinted inside Victor’s body as this episode gets more interesting in the later half. The nephew manages to escape from his uncle and roams around LA (in victor’s body) looking for his next victim. Due to the recent surgery to repair Victors face no GPS tracking was put inside him.

You want to put it where?

Topher is forced to try a remote wipe on victor’s brain in order to stop the serial killer but accidently ends up transferring consciousness into Echo (and vice versa) while she’s on her romantic engagement. This is where I felt this episode redeemed itself from the sheer failure it was heading itself into. I honestly couldn’t take another minute watching echo on her romantic engagement. There was nothing concrete or interesting in that part of the story until she turns into the serial killer.

Watching Echo play this serial killer was fun to watch, yet (as always with this season of Dollhouse) the twists fail to deliver some really memorable or interesting moments on screen. There’s been nothing in the past few episodes or this one that blows you away, nothing to make you crave the next episode coming. The ending climax is weak as magically the Dollhouse get their systems back up in time to find echo before she is brutally mashed in with a cricket hammer. Another unsettling moment comes at the very end when we see Echo examining the body of the serial killer and then saying a quote from that man. What really bothers me about this scene is that there is a very good chance it will actually mean nothing for the next episode. It’s almost like they’re trying to make it seem like she’s going to evolve but (as always) we see no changes in the following episode, it’s frustrating to say the least.

Another week of Dollhouse and I’m still not sure why this show should stay on the air. While this episode had the ability to redeem an awful beginning and had an awesome guest star like Michael Hogan it still doesn’t have the flow of excitement and anticipation we should expect from Joss Whedon series. They should seriously try to break away from the sex appeal antics for a while and focus on a more solid and engrossing storyline. I think more action couldn’t hurt, and as I’ve mentioned before some game changing twists would be nice. Dollhouse is constantly getting bad ratings and it’s not becoming hard to see why.

Dollhouse Season 2, Episode 3 - "Belle Chose"
7.0/10 - Enjoyable
( ? ) Click here for ratings guide

Edited by Plasmic Fury, 10 October 2009 - 01:29 PM.