Dollhouse 1.01

[lettered]

The main trouble with this show is that it takes place in The Real World.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer supposedly took place in The Real World, but very rarely. I mean, that series started by telling you it was not Real, but rather a spoof of both horror movies and highschool. I still think it had the best pre-credit bit for a pilot ever. And then there was this girl with superpowers, and vampires. And while the vampires and superpowers were already there because of the movie, that was actually a great way to start the series, rather than trying to convince us first that Buffy was a Real Girl. What happened in that show was that we slowly realized despite the show not occurring in the Real World, these were Real People.

Sunnydale was never meant to be a Real Town, and the stupidest parts of the show were when there were explanations for how Sunnydale fit in the real world, or how Sunnydale might be Real (i.e., why wasn't everyone aware that there were vampires, or that their town was on a Hellmouth). Or anything to do with the Initiative, as if national government had any place in that show whatsoever (whereas municipal government--i.e. the Mayor--made perfect sense).

Firefly, of course, was even more simply Unreal, and by its very premise had license to pick and choose Real World elements and weave it into a new world fantasy.

Dollhouse has a premise that suggests unreality, mindwipes, memory adjustment, yada yada, but it's definitely supposed to be the Real World. Now, you say, Torchwood has mindwipes yada yada, and it's not as fantastic as say, BtVS, but it works. Let me clarify by saying TW does not work for me at almost anything; I don't like the show very much. But in this respect--and I think the respect I'm talking about might be genre?--TW does fine. It does not bring Real Government into it. The government on TW is fake government; it's a fantasy government constructed by both TW and DW, and we barely ever see it (if at all. In DW we see the PM, that's it. In TW I don't think we even see that, we just see UNIT which is apparently a branch of the government [wait, is TW a branch of the government?], but anyway it's not government either). And hostage situations, child abuse, and Secret Agents on TW all have aliens. So it's all unreal, and makes it's own kind of sense. TW isn't the best example; I've had some trouble with the ideas of just how real and unreal they're meant to be, but it was the first example that came to mind. Besides, despite it's screwy logic and very wrong unadmitted date rape sequences, it does a lot better at what I'm talking about than Dollhouse has so far.

I felt like Dollhouse had these real elements it was trying to bring in. Businessmen (real businessmen, not the fake businessmen who make no sense, like David Nabbit on Angel), and kidnappings, and Helo in what appears to be some government agency or something--is he meant to be police/FBI/CIA/Secret Service/whatever (am a little confused)? Not to mention slave trade and child abuse. But then you've got this sci fi premise--which is okay to have in the real world! It is okay to have a Real World show with sci/fi fantasy elements going on, like those ones about prescient crime-solvers who see crimes happen or whatever, all those shows that aren't very good anyway.

But the thing is--it's Joss. I never went to Whedon for anything this real, and I'm not sure I trust him to pull it off, and I'm not sure I want him to, or anyway that I want to watch it. It's not that Buffy didn't have real, as I said. It was so real, it did talk about things like child abuse, and it talked about grief, and apathy, and sexuality both healthy and unhealthy, it talked about family both ugly and beautiful, it talked about all those real things. But it never expected me to take the actual premise and put it in a world that couldn't hold it.

I still don't know whether the world Whedon has created can hold his Dollhouse, but something didn't feel right, felt off to me. I have more to say about the show in general, but I think I will wait until the next ep to pass more judgment.

All that said, *chin in hands*, what did you think?

Comments

[kita0610.livejournal.com]

I think I'm gonna trust him to do right by this premise. And if he lets me down, well. Ok. But I love his storytelling, for all its flaws and faults and missteps. And I believe that he loves this story. So.

[leoin.livejournal.com]

I think you have a very good breakdown of just what bothered me. I watched about 20 minutes, then shut if off. I guess one could say I didn't really give it a chance but to be honest I wasn't all that thrilled about the idea to begin with. I love Joss - honestly, he is one of my favorite creators and getting to hear him speak at Comic Con last year was the best hour of my life. I admire his creativity and he has given me my three favorite shows.

But this? No. I don't like the premise and I think you nailed the Real World aspects on the head and why it didn't fit. Plus, I can't stand Eliza or Amy :/

[kat99999.livejournal.com]

I'm totally with you here - the one thing that concerns me about Dollhouse is the lack of anything supernatural or - as you put it, the excess of Reality. I mean, I don't really sit all that well with science and government conspiracy anyway (to be very generalist, I mean I like it when done well). But Dollhouse feels like it's trying to be very sciencey and governmenty and I'm not sure about this whole renegade FBI guy thing. I don't know, it all has very good potential to prove itself and I think perhaps everyone is hanging a little too much on the pilot.

I love Eliza, and Amy Acker, and it's nice to see them both back in the mix! I just hope this is something that Joss can pull off. He is best at drawing human emotion from inhuman situations, so maybe he'll really make it work well.

I'm looking forward to watching the second episode so that I can get more of a feel for what the show is aiming to do/be.

Did any of that make sense?

[orexisbella.livejournal.com]

I do think the show's suffering a little from excessive hype and that a lot of people seem to be giving it either the thumbs up or the thumbs down based on the pilot. I generally don't expect pilots to be all that, and usually I'll follow up with a few succeeding episodes if they vaguely interest me, even if they don't make me go OMG YAY YAY YAY.

I'm not particularly bothered by the fact that the pieces of the showverse aren't fitting together seamlessly as of yet, mostly because it's still early goings and also, as long as I have an interesting premise that I can explore and characters that I love, I will be content. (Case in point: still watching Heroes, even though plot-wise it's gone to the dogs.) I was afraid Dollhouse would be too sciencey for me, since I'm really not into scientific elements: can't read sci fi, can't watch space shows - not even Firefly, the only notable exceptions for me were Star Wars and Star Trek: Voyager. I actually fare better with universes where I don't have to get caught up in the whys and hows of their workings, so... uh... what will probably be a massive negative for most people probably won't bother me. <_<

So yeah, I liked it, but I'm one of those simpletons who is entertained by those shows that you say "aren't very good anyway", so my opinions are extremely unlikely to chime with those of viewers who look for deeper meaning. ;) I also watch American Idol! I am one of the unwashed masses, I have no taste, I will go quietly back to my corner nao. <_<

[discorevolver.livejournal.com]

I'm with orexisbella at this point. I can see what you mean, but I'm going to give it time. Maybe part of the plan is to take these seemingly incongruous pieces and find a way to connect them in a believable way.

I also don't really need a show to have everything right to enjoy it. I'm one of those people that likes what I like. If I like it, I can enjoy it despite some of it's failings. I mean, I have my limits. Seasons 2 and 3 of Dark Angel, anyone?

Right now I'm just waiting to see.

[handyhunter.livejournal.com]

Your post reminds me of something Tim Minear said a while ago about how The Inside was not any darker (or even less dark) than Angel, and yet, because it was set in the Real World, without the buffer of fantasy, it was harder to look at. It also didn't make it past a handful of episodes.

I don't know. If it weren't for Whedon's name attached to Dollhouse, I wouldn't be watching it. I'm not drawn to the premise, but I generally like the stories he tells (even/especially when he tells them over and over again), so I'm giving it a shot. I don't think the pilot was stellar, but I don't think Whedon pilots usually are, and I think there was some network interference with this one. I'll watch a few more episodes.

[seraphcelene]

I'm still out on the first episode. In a very real way it reminded me of the first season of BtVS, although without the quirky charm. But then again this is a much darker show than BtVS started as. The pilot felt very much like the set-up: here are the basics, the people you should know, and a general idea of the rules of this 'verse. It's all colored very dark very immediately, but also almost peripherally, and that has a draw of its own, but other than those elements that we will Get Into Later this reminded me of the MotW format of early Buffy. I also felt the same way about Buffy S1. It was vaguely interesting but I blew it off until Season 2 and then had to back track. In retrospect, season 1 was all about the set-up. Angel didn't require that intensity of set-up (although it does get its own period of establishment), leading out from Buffy with an already established 'verse. I get the feeling that Dollhouse, however will be different. Even Joss admitted that the show doesn't really find its legs until episode 6. That's disturbing considering how many shows have been canceled after four episodes.

Locating Dollhouse in the Real World will be problematic for all the reasons that you mention, however, I wonder how long and to what extent Dollhouse will be allowed to remain in the Real World. Joss has a habit of narrowing his storylines, creating an increasingly insular, and sometimes claustrophobic (see Angel S4) world. So even though events will occur in the World, I'm curious to see how he will insulate the narrative, what trappings of the world at large will remain.

It really is too early, I think. Although ... if this hadn't been a Mutant Enemy Production I probably wouldn't tune in next week to how it progresses. There wasn't enough in that first episode to really pique my interest. It may be that TPTB are hedging their bets on Whedon's fanbase and the attraction of Dushku as lead. That doesn't seem especially smart, but I'm willing to give the show a shot until it turns into something that I'm really not interested in. Plus it comes on right after Terminator so it's not like it's all that big a deal for me to NOT turn the channel.

[zibbycomix.livejournal.com]

Okay, so this is really random, and has nothing whatsoever to do with what you've just said. But I've just found out that the heroine of "Dollhouse" is played by Eliza Dushku, who was in "Bring it On!" And she was apparently also Faith in "Buffy," but since I never watched that show, I wouldn't know that. Anyway, all of this randomness is to tell you that I am proud of myself- I knew I recognized the actress and was trying to figure out where I knew her from. And then I realized she was in "Bring it On!" So, yeah! I love it when I figure out where I've seen a certain actor or actress.
And- Michelle Trachtenberg was Dawn?! What's up with actresses who were in family movies being in "Buffy"? ANYWAY! Yeah, sorry, I told you this would be random. =P =)

[slagartist.livejournal.com]

LADY you need to add me back :p (it's Alex, you tart!)

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