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Dollhouse: "Briar Rose" (1x11)

How do you rate it?


  • Total voters
    65
Dominic's reaction was realistic for someone waking up in another body with all memories intact. I wonder what the Whiskey reference was about (beyond being the phonetic letter/doll name and not the drink).
Victor!Dominic said it to Saunders.
She is Whiskey!
 
Even though I knew Tudik was Alpha, I never told my wife about it. She had the most surprised reaction I've ever seen her have to a TV show - "Oh no! Wash can't be Alpha!" :lol:

I think Tudik, considering I've only seen him as a happy-go-lucky type before, was awesomely scarey as alpha!

My only quibble: I'm not sure exacly how much Ballard has found out about Dolls, but I was a little confused how he knew how that doll would react when he told him to "come with me."
 
That was awesome. I didn't find it draggy at all, though the presentation felt a bit more like an episode of Battlestar Galactica than Firefly (which I guess makes sense given that Jane Espenson wrote it) --
You know, she wrote an episode of Firefly too.

I liked the episode but didn't love it. Felt kind of familiar and expected.
 
Fuck me!! I was sooo into the episode it never dawned on me that Tudyk's character might be Alpha until they revealed himself as such. usually spot that stuff a mile away but they distracted me enough not to even think about it cause I was enjoying this episode so damn much.

Damn good episode. Before this episode I would be mildly annoyed if this got shut down but I would understand the decision. After this I'll be pissed off if it does cause I know there has to be some great followup to this reveal.
 
Dominic's reaction was realistic for someone waking up in another body with all memories intact. I wonder what the Whiskey reference was about (beyond being the phonetic letter/doll name and not the drink).
Victor!Dominic said it to Saunders.
She is Whiskey!
Someone on another message board suggested that Alpha only cuts dolls - that way they won't be used on future engagements. It would certainly explain Dominic's Whiskey comment, as well as his "bullshit" when she said she always wanted to be a doctor.
 
^He cut the person he was impersonating.
That might've been simply to draw the right eyes to the murder. He also didn't kill Victor (and possibly Whiskey)...just made him undesirable as a doll.
 
Someone on another message board suggested that Alpha only cuts dolls -
He killed all the dolls who were in the shower with Echo in the Flashbacks back in Target. So I wouldn't be to sure about the "no killing dolls" thing.
 
haha i can still remember Tudyk as the pirate guy from Dodgeball, so seeing him as a cold blooded slasher happy, rogue doll at the end seemed kind of funny to me. although i think this show works best when it revolves around the main story arc.
so with that said if it does get picked up for a season 2 i hope this show can evolve into more of a serialized show with the occasional smattering of standalones, Whedon's season 1's are always a little rocky, but who knows where this show would be if it gets the chance to stretch its wings. jeez, imagine what firefly would be like if it was still on, going on what? season 5 or 6 by now? im sure it would have been pretty epic. a 2 hour movie like Serenity, didn't quite do it justice in my opinion.
 
His turn into Alpha really surprised me. I have not been observant of the show closely, and he had me convinced he was just Stoner Walsh-type. Then WHAM!

It just makes me think Britain has much better ideas with limited run series. Joss just let Fox beat his series like cheap whores.

wait!

FOX is the Dollhouse!

God help us all.
 
It's not clear to me that Ballard completely understands how blank the Actives are when they're not programmed, though he clearly thinks they're impaired in some way. Does he understand that Caroline doesn't current "exist" and can't be restored outside the Dollhouse?

BTW, I thought the actor who plays "Victor" did a fantastic impersonation of the actor who played Dominic. :lol:

One starts to wonder what would become of the various characters if a second season happens...for example, if Victor is no longer usable as a Active outside the Dollhouse because of his scars, do they program him to be one of the staff in the way that some folks are suggesting that Saunders has been? How does DeWitt feel about working with him?
 
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Some more scattered thoughts:

I hadn't realized Espenson wrote a Firefly episode... I'll have to rewatch that one now...

Part of me hops it's not Victor, because I like what they've done with him. I didn't even realize he was the mob guy from early in the show, either. But now that he's scarred, that makes some sense, I suppose.

One thing I'm interested to see (backfire?) is DeWitt's desire to put anyone who learns anything about the dollhouse in the chair. It seems to me that this could become problematic (maybe even with Ballard himself).

I also can foresee him joining forces with the dollhouse for some reason... something that hasn't been revealed to us yet, but may come out of what we supposedly learn next week.

One thing that I'm worried about with that, though, is that the main story arc may shift, much as it did with Prison Break (I stopped watching after a few eps of season 2, because it just didn't feel the same) and I hope that doesn't happen with Dollhouse...
 
Excellent.

It really chaps my ass that FOX is probably going to cancel this. Because it's really becoming excellent. Tudyk as squirrelly guy was good TV. Tudyk as Alpha near the end is some of the best shit I've seen all year on any show. And I watch Lost.

Watching Paul on this show is such a bummer. He's written well enough and Penikett's not playing him as Helo anymore so it's okay on those fronts. He just gets screwed in every single episode. I feel bad for the guy. Alpha steps into a long line of people that have lead Paul down the garden path, and to top it all off Whedon's probably sick enough to put his ass in the Attic.

The fight between Paul and Boyd was cool too. It was weird to see a fight on TV where you're kind of rooting for everyone and no one in equal measure.

And that stuff with Alpha... wow. The coolest part was Tudyk's performance, but the other little nugget I almost missed is that Dr. Saunders is likely Whiskey, an active. "Did you always want to be a doctor?"

I'm bummed that next week is probably the end of Dollhouse-proper forever :(
 
I think that it's possible that Echo's next "evolution," which may be forced by her confrontations with her "selves" next week, might put Ballard into some kind of uneasy alliance with the Dollhouse. This is annoying and creepy, so I hope that it's something like that. :lol:
 
Excellent, bu it really seems like they're headed for a series finale rather than just a season finale. I hope I'm wrong. The show is getting better.

Question: It appears that Alpha killed the original Dollhouse architect guy and took his place as part of a plan, but how would Ballard have fit in the way he did? Was Alpha simply waiting for Ballard to force him to take Ballard to the Dollhouse? If so, why? Alpha knew the location and could have attacked at any time. Did he need Ballard's help? Just seems like weird coincidence, or did I miss something?

I also agree with all the cudos tossed at Tudyk's performance. One of the reasons the intuitive, but unspoiled, didn't see the big reveal coming was partially because of how well Tudyk sold his character as stoner architectural genius eccentric guy,

The Sleeping Beauty analogy was well done. Subtle but not too obscure.
 
Well, there's been the question of who "inside" the Dollhouse has been contacting Ballard by reprogramming Melly, among other things. Alpha seems like he'd be capable of that.
 
Question: It appears that Alpha killed the original Dollhouse architect guy and took his place as part of a plan, but how would Ballard have fit in the way he did? Was Alpha simply waiting for Ballard to force him to take Ballard to the Dollhouse? If so, why? Alpha knew the location and could have attacked at any time. Did he need Ballard's help? Just seems like weird coincidence, or did I miss something?
I think he was basically just using Ballard to do some of the work for him (finding Echo, taking out any guards) and then as a distraction while he reprogrammed Echo and escaped.
 
That was an excellent episode and obviously the best episode so far. All the plot lines came to fruition and there's lots of action and tension. Unfortunately I read weeks ago that Wash was Alpha so that shocking reveal was wasted on me. It was wonderful having Alan Tudyk on the show, he was excellent at both roles. Love that guy.
 
Well, I like others here was spoiled that Tudyk was Alpha. That being said, this episode was still excellent. This show has finally broken through and finally actualized it's potential to become a great, intelligently written show.

Of course, it's an intelligently written show which is aired on Fox which means it will be canceled, of course. Still, it's been nice while it lasted. Here's hoping it beats the odds and manages to get a second season. (and hopefully 3-5 more beyond that.......or is that expecting to much? ;) )
 
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