Dollhouse: "Ghost" 2/13 - Grading & Discussion

[The Borgified Corpse]

Am i the only one who got a Boston legal vibe from the set.
I think Danny crane would love it in there.

I'm thinking crossover! What if Denny Crane IS a doll?

That was essentially an episode built around proving Jeri Ryan has some kind of range as an actress. This is like an entire serious built around proving the same thing for Eliza Dushku.

Supposedly, that's where Joss Whedon got the idea in the first place. He was just having lunch with Eliza Dushku one day and she remarked on how she kept getting typecast in lots of schlock horror movies.

 

[Hyperspace05]

Well if this is just an actress vanity show, then it won't last long... Especially with Dushku.

 

[ATimson]

Apparently we're never seeing the original pilot, so either it was stupendously bad, or has absolutely nothing to do with the so as it is now.

The latter is my understanding.

 

[Mr Light]

I love Joss Whedon... and I thought this show was completely uninteresting. I'm shocked, actually. I can't believe he wrote this because it doesn't have any of his trademark humor, plot twists, etc, etc. It's just a by the numbers anthology show where the character gets erased at the end of the episode? That sounds completely uninteresting to me. And since the pilot only got 4.72 million viewers, it won't be around for long.

 

[Aragorn]

So who was naked killer guy at the end? And how exactly were they able to put someone's real memories into Echo?

I was expecting more Mission: Impossible type missions, and the stuff before the opening credits just turned out to be a hooker job, which I think there's something wrong with that.

 

[Pingfah]

I love Joss Whedon... and I thought this show was completely uninteresting. I'm shocked, actually. I can't believe he wrote this because it doesn't have any of his trademark humor, plot twists, etc, etc. It's just a by the numbers anthology show where the character gets erased at the end of the episode? That sounds completely uninteresting to me. And since the pilot only got 4.72 million viewers, it won't be around for long.

I agree, I was glad he's ditched the snappy dialogue that was the only thing I don't like about his earlier work, of which I am a big fan, but this was just like any other boring network thriller.

The presence of buffyverse actors was the only thing that was Whedon about it, it could have been made by anyone.

 

[Wicca who Wonta]

As a Joss Wheadon fan I've been waiting a long time for this. Unfortunately it seemed more like La Femme Nikita, in other settings, than a Joss Wheadon show.

The concept was badly executed and unless we get a personality that we can root for in between "engagements" it will be hard to care about the main character.

I'm really disappointed.

 

[Peak]

I think the reactions are pretty funny..

The reactions here sound pretty much the same as when Firefly was airing. I do remember being baffled by all the negativity at the time. This was before I learned that most TV-shows lives by the "the current season is crap, last season was much better"-credo.

Most funny is when people based on the pilot knows exactly how everything is going to play out, despite Whedons track record of doing the unexpected.

I still feel that this episode is the "Train Job"-episode. The one FOX demanded to try to overexplain everything for the "stupid public".

Firefly didn't begin to get good reviews until about "Ariel", if I remember correctly.

 

[Hyperspace05]

Peak,
Nonsense... Train job, although I disliked the SciFi/Western setting at the time, had interesting characters, plus that "hook" at the end. (pushing the guy into the engine)

This? Not so much.

 

[Peak]

No, I was there. Firefly was blasted every week most of it's run. I was here, and participating in those threads at that time.

I do agree, that the "hook" at the end got comments, as in "the only good/funny thing in the episode".

Fans, especially SF-fans, is judgmental in it's nature. Nothing to care about really, it's something that is built into fandom. But it's funny to see anyway. A bit predictable, but funny.

My guess is that when the mid season twist is coming, there will be a turnaround. But they will say it's "too late", and the series will be cancelled a few episodes after that.

 

[cynical dreamer]

The train Job

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Nah, Firefly hooked me from the start. Dollhouse, I'm just really not feeling. Don't try to brush it off saying that fanboys just want to bash things.

 

[Lindley]

To be fair, on its own this is a pretty decent show. It's the elevated expectations due to Joss's name being attached to it which have caused most of the negativity, I think.

 

[Peak]

I'm not saying that this episode was better than the Train Job (I was to kind to that episode when it ran really, as reviewed here once upon a time):

http://www.fireflyfans.net/reviews.asp?r=13 (it seems like the date there isn't correct anymore. That review was written the night the episode was broadcasted.)...

I do say that fandom in general are a pretty negative bunch, despite that the track record of the show runner is quite impressive. I tend to give shows at least 10 episodes before I decide if they are worth watching or not. Because I know that there's usually some time dedicated in the beginning to figure out what is working or not.

 

[Base_Delta_Zero]

Ugh. I never liked Buffy or Angel. I liked Firefly and Dr. Horrible quite a bit. I literally fell asleep about fifteen minutes in to this one and had to rewind. The whole thing is a mess. And no, the mystery of naked guy who murdered Echo's parents then watches home movies is not going to get me to watch this show again.

Doesn't help that Helo, traitor to his race, is along for the ride.

She did look great in the white dress dancing, though. Too bad she can't act.

Even at its worst, Alias was better.

 

[davejames]

Peak,
Nonsense... Train job, although I disliked the SciFi/Western setting at the time, had interesting characters, plus that "hook" at the end. (pushing the guy into the engine)

This? Not so much.

Agreed. I was turned off by the Firefly setting at first too, but I still recognized there was a lot of imagination, witty writing, and cool characters in there-- which is why I gave it another chance once the DVD came out.

With Dollhouse, I just don't see hardly ANYTHING that's worth revisiting. The setting is uninspired, and the writing and characters don't have any spark to them either.

 

[tharpdevenport]

I did have an interesting thought about one of the characters.

The agent who's trying to track down and prove there is a Dollhouse -- during his first scene where he was being chewed out, they kept cutting to flashbacks of him as a boxer. I had a major theory: what if these weren't flashbacks? What if he's a rouge, or planted Doll, who's memory -- much like Echo's will later -- has seaped back in and he's remembering who he was (a boxer; maybe he killed someone during a match and wanted to forget about it...) and also realizing memories about being a "Doll" and is trying to track down the Dollhouse and find out about himself.
I say plant for two reasons:

1. Perhaps he was put there to keep an eye out and be a first warning to the Dollhouse that they have been discovered.

or

2. Like suggested by another Whedon fan, the Dollhouse is realy the "bad guys" of the series (which we just don't know yet) and he's infiltrating the good guys.


Or maybe I'm just assuming the show will get deeper and complex later on like his other shows did.



And I imagine like the original BTVS pilot, the "Angel" promo pilot, and the BTVS animted series promo pilot, the original "Dollhouse" pilot will leak online.

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

"Train Job" is by far the weakest firefly episode, and deserved a tepid reaction.

 

[bigdaddy]

I don't think we will be getting any answers to any questions people might care about in the 13 and only 13 episodes that will be made.

 

[The Great Meech]

Hmm. Standard thriller fare with a mild sci-fi twist. Writing more on the show is difficult, because there is little more to write about, unless I missed an ocean of subtlety to pick apart.

Dushku in a business suit was hot, though.