Re: Dollhouse S1 recap thread, discussion, DVD set and unaired episode
Also, am I wrong for thinking Amy Acker looks pretty hot with those scars?
I'm not very attracted to Dr. Saunders. She's too dour & judgmental. The only time I was particularly attracted to her on this show was in the "Omega" flashbacks in which we saw her in her doll state and as that crazy criminal woman. I'm starting to suspect that I'm more attracted to the Winifred Burkle persona from
Angel than I am to Amy Acker physically. What drove this point home for me was in "Stage Fright." Sierra isn't really my type but I thought she was absolutely adorable as the nerdy Australian fan. Lets face it, a woman in the right pair of glasses is a total turn on. (SEE the Wesley/Lilah sex scene in
Angel "Supersymmetry." "Leave them on.")
Honestly, and this hurts to say it, but Eliza is kind of the weak link in this cast. She's not terrible, but I don't buy her in most of her different persona's. This was most evident for me in "Haunted", which actually suffered(IMHO) because I at no point believed that she was a 50-ish year old dead rich woman. However, this could just be bias on my end, and it could also be intentional, from a creative standpoint, that as Echo is "evolving", more of her is leaking into the imprints.
I really thought Enver Gjokaj was a highlight. I think he's the most believable selling the imprints. He was equally believable as the charming, debonair Roger; the russian mob grunt Lubov, and even Mr. Dominic! All said, I look forward to seeing more from him in the future.
Agreed that Victor sells the imprints way better. I was especially blown away by the scene from "Briar Rose" where they put Dominic in Victor's body. I mean, when you're just watching Dominic as Dominic, there's nothing overtly remarkable about his mannerisms, just a lot of minor tics that are mostly unnoticeable and individual to each of us. Yet Victor totally absorbed all of these and was unquestionably Dominic.
I'd say Eliza Dushku is better on this show than she was on
Tru Calling. (She was definately the weak link there. Harrison & Davis totally carried that show, IMO.) I thought she was pretty good in "Haunted" though. Particularly in this exchange:
"...That's why you're so Elmo."
"Emo."
"That's not a word dear."
When she said that, she was totally channeling Diana Scarwid or Jessica Walter.
If the show has a weakness, it's that I'm still not convinced this premise can be sustained as a TV series. The missions-of-the-week aren't usually that interesting and the overall mythology seems to struggle against itself. It's like Joss doesn't want to tip his hand too early but as a result is holding so much back that I'm not even getting enough of a taste to keep me interested. (However, I haven't seen "Epitaph One" yet, so that might change things.) As is, Joss Whedon's previous work on all his other shows is the only thing that has kept me from dumping this show. I'm only marginally more engaged now than I was when I first saw "Ghost."
I'm also very... confused by the ambivalent portrayal of the Dollhouse. On the one hand, I believe the earnestness & good intentions of Boyd, Topher, & DeWitt. On the other, the Dollhouse is clearly an extralegal operation, keeping Dominic in some kind of stage somewhere between life imprisonment & a death sentence without due process or even much evidence that he deserves it. (At least Kevin Kilner's character deserved what he got. He raped Sierra and he intended to rape & kill Mellie.)
