Figuring Out the Dollhouse

Warning: Some speculation about Dollhouse ahead. I’ve been avoiding most spoilers (I know, that’s so unlike me), so you should be pretty safe here, but I felt a warning was the responsible thing to do.

We’re three weeks into the latest Whedonverse product and I’m reading quite a few negative, or at least less enthused than they expected, reviews from viewers. Me? I’m still interested and watching with no intention of stopping. In fact, as I was working out my thoughts on why much of what others criticize doesn’t bother me (weak acting, weak storylines, too many storylines), it all started to sound familiar. Then it hit me: this is eerily reminiscent of how Moonlight started out! Those first couple of episodes were pretty shaky as everyone found their footing and the story started to stabilize. Moonlight also experienced significant behind-the-scenes turmoil, going through several showrunners and even replacing all but Alex O’Loughlin from the pilot presentation to the premiere. Dollhouse also experienced shakeups as rewrites were requested and new scenes were shot to better suit the network’s needs. Will Dollhouse find its footing? Moonlight did around episode four, and from there it just got better and better – until CBS killed it. Even True Blood was almost laughable the first couple of episodes, but went on to produce a stellar first season. I have faith. In the meantime, I wanted to highlight a few things of interest to me as we move into the meat of the first season.

The A-story in this week’s episode wasn’t great, but it’s been so long since I watched The Bodyguard that I completely missed the connection that so many other viewers seem to have made. It did cross my mind that this was our “musical” episode of Dollhouse (the songs were written by Jed Whedon), and the “Disney factory” statement was a good one if lost a bit amid some melodramatics. Props to Eliza for a fine a capella performance as well. Still, that part of the episode wasn’t all that compelling for me.

I’m more hooked on the idea that the Dollhouse is playing Agent Ballard by sending various Actives into his path to feed him false information. Or lasagna. We now know Victor is an Active and was responsible for the “tip” that landed Agent Ballard in the hospital with a gunshot wound. But what about the woman who lives across the hall? She’s so singularly devoted to him that I can’t help but think she’s been planted by DeWitt & Co. to keep an eye on Ballard. Or maybe I’m just paranoid.

I’m also intrigued by that tiny head shake Echo gave Sierra at the end of the episode. The theme of this episode was friendship, and it looks like Echo and Sierra are being encouraged to be friends within the Dollhouse. However, Echo’s awareness that something was amiss, that she and Sierra were being scrutinized, and as a result she didn’t want to display their closeness speaks of a stronger bond than even DeWitt, Topher, etc. realize. For me it begs the question: was Echo really working the hostage situation to save Rayna, or to save Sierra? And if it was to save Sierra, then does that mean that what happens between assignments is affecting Echo during assignments? We saw in the first episode that she had a meltdown when something triggered her memory of Sierra’s wipe. Now this. The plot thickens.

And of course we have the Alpha storyline and the leak of who has been cast as our uber-villain. The Slpha threat still doesn’t feel urgent, but I’m sure it will escalate as we move forward. And I cannot wait to see how it plays out.

How about you? Are you still watching?