The Dollhouse

So we are coming into episode 3 for most of the new TV season and one show is breaking my heart: Dollhouse. Now I am a professed Whedonite, Whedonist, Whendofile whatever you want to label me. I loved Buffy, I got friends and family to watch it, I then got them hooked on Angel all because Joss was doing something new for old horror. But every since Firefly something has been off with Mr. Whedon. He stories don’t have the punch, the surprise, the new way of viewing an old story. For example in the 1st season of Buffy when he took the theme of the Invisible Man and spun it around the girl becomes invisible because she is ignored and not only did the government know this happened they took them and turned them into assassins! Yes I realize it’s a very brief summary but those who know, know what I am talking about and if not click here.

Then he was just producing and giving advice but Buffy was still solid, he went off to do Angel and got that on the right track as well. So he was able to walk away from either show leaving it in the hands of some solid writers and a cast that worked well together. And I think that’s the key, the cast worked well together. There was a sense that they liked each other regardless of the plot line. Now whether that was true or not who knows, who cares it made the show enjoyable and is probably why when the leads from both series went off to a BIG movie career it pretty much became a tiny movie career. David Boreanaz having learned his lesson is back on Bones (fantastic show by the way and you should be watching it) and Sarah Michelle Gellar is…well… married to Freddie “I couldn’t act like I was in pain even if you shot me in the face” Prinze Jr. WTF happen there!?

Anyway…let’s address that, the actors that is, not Sarah’s poor choice in movie rolls and men. So far none of the characters make me care about them or the situation they are in. I don’t think to myself “Hmm I wonder how they will handle X this time.” At the end of the episode she gets wiped and things go back to base 1.

Now Eliza Dushku is hot and a solid foil or sidekick but as a lead actress, well she just doesn’t have the chops to pull it off. She isn’t a bad actress but as a lead she just doesn’t give it any punch, especially now since she is aware of what’s happening to her. But is this really her fault. I mean how can you care about a character that is always changing and getting put back to square one. Even now with her remembering things she still talks like a blow-up doll would if they could talk: “I still feel it, we feel everything.” A line that should have been dripping with emotion really driving home the ramifications of doing what they do in the Dollhouse was delivered like dead fish to market. Now maybe she was directed to do that who knows but that made me actually say “Oh come on!” Watch a few reruns of Tru Calling and I think you can see my point. But is this the fault of the actors?

Joss has only written 4 or 5 of the episodes himself and he directed those and was the producer. Perhaps he hasn’t set the right tone for the series yet so his writers just don’t know how or where to push the show. Maybe and here I think there is more than a little truth; Joss can’t do more than 2 things at once! Buffy or Angel were solid shows when he wasn’t writing them but when he took the time to write an episode and direct it those shows were the best thing on TV. So perhaps he needs to just focus on writing and directing for Dollhouse. After all who else knows better how the scenes should look and feel than the guy that wrote it.

So we are moving into episode 3 of the second season on Friday. I hope Joss pulls it together and delivers some emotional bang or gives me something I can latch onto, because right now it just seems like they are airing episodes so they can put out The Complete Dollhouse Season 1&2 on DVD.