Dollhouse – Haunted
This episode was in some ways a step back. It’s a mystery-of-the-week much like the first few episodes. And while it does a little bit to push the larger arc, it’s really more about characterization than anything else. So to some extent it was a disappointment, particularly after some very strong episodes in the past few weeks.
That said, there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with an episode that doesn’t directly push the arc. All arc all the time can very quickly get to be too much. It’s a very rare show that can survive such a pace without veering wildly off track or completely losing a sense of pace (season three of Babylon-5 perhaps being the only real example of true success). And as far as it goes, there was some good stuff here to expand on the characters we’re slowly getting to know.
The haphazardness of the opening episodes was frustrating because we had no reason to care about the people involved. Now that things have taken some shape, it’s interesting to see how a mystery-of-the-week plot can reveal new things about the characters and the situation. I like the peeks into Adele’s past. I really enjoyed seeing Boyd struggling with his new role (in a place he appears to increasingly feel skeptical about).
Still…I can’t help but regret episodes like this. The reason: I’m pretty convinced this show is going to get canceled. And while I’d love to see the slower-paced stuff if I felt confident they’d get a couple years to tell the story, if that’s not going to be the case, I’d really like to get more into the heart of the thing.
Some random thoughts on the episode:
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I have a friend (the one who got me into Joss in the first place) who has speculated that Eliza Dushku is the Rob Lowe of Dollhouse. And further has wondered whether they realize that this is the case.
In case the reference isn’t clear, Rob Lowe was supposed to be the “star” of The West Wing in the initial plans. But it quickly became clear that the show was good because of the ensemble – and had little or nothing to do with Lowe in particular. I feel like the same thing is true here. Episodes which lean too heavily on Dushku can only be so good.
Her acting abilities are growing on me a little bit. I felt like her portrayal in this episode had more going for it than some of her other ones. But still, she simply isn’t good enough to carry the idea of the show on her back. It seems like they all (including Dushku herself) understand how good the “secondary” folks are – and aren’t going to get all possessive about her “star” status. At least, I hope so.
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Topher. I think he is, by far, the most divisive thing about this show. There are people who love him. There are people who think he is horrible. And there are people who are simply bored by him. I’m torn.
But this episode may have been the turning point for me. I haven’t been convinced that there was a lot of depth in his character. He seems to be more of a caricature than a real person. But the more I think about it, the more I think there’s actually a lot going on with him – it’s just well-disguised. Now, I realize that I’m treading into the fanboy world of the “Joss is a genius and if you don’t understand it, it’s because you don’t get what he’s doing” defense. But hear me out.
I think Topher is Joss himself. Not in a clear, literal sense. But Topher is a representation of the things that Joss – and all of us who are like him – fear about ourselves. Smart, maybe too smart, clever but awkward, with a deep sense of discomfort at a world that sometimes feels far too easy and other times feel absolutely impossible. The massive geek who never found a friend to be equally geeky with.
I think it’s telling that we’re seeing more and more of the staff of the Dollhouse making use of the dolls to fill their own needs. I think it’s even more telling that what Topher needs more than anything is basically a carbon-copy of himself.
There’s something sweet about this episode. But there’s also something deeply troubling. It suggests that people like Topher aren’t just misunderstood outcasts. Instead, they really don’t fit. They can seem lovable and goofy in their moments, but ultimately they inhabit a very different universe from ‘normal’ folks. And it might be the case that there simply is no easy way across that divide.
I think I said in reviewing an earlier episode that Topher is a darker variation on Xander. I think that’s becoming more and more clear. He’s the comic relief in the same sort of way. He’s the character most likely to sound like a Joss-character (full of quips and quick comebacks). And yet, he’s deeply disturbed. And it’s not clear that there’s a way out.
We’re not meant to think of him as a bad guy, and yet…he may be more scary than the cynical and manipulative people in charge of the dollhouse. I appreciate that idea. Combine that with the good work they’re doing in revealing the ‘good guy’ of Ballard to be perhaps more deeply disturbed and dangerous than of the the ‘bad guys’ and you’ve got at least the possibility of some interesting layers. Speaking of which…
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Ballard and Mellie. I think we can put for rest once and for all the idea that Ballard is the White Knight, full of charm and good intentions, coming to the rescue of the pure and innocent.
He is one seriously messed up dude right now. He’s clearly fixated on Echo/Caroline, is continuing the charade with Mellie, and is discovering some deep dark pits in his soul that are entirely to be expected in people who fancy themselves Noble Heroes, but which he never expected to have to actually face.
Sure, you can put some blame on the people manipulating him, but he’s a willing participant at this point – and he knows it, too.
* * *
I found the actual main plot to be mildly suspenseful, but honestly I can’t really bring myself to remember many of the details.
* * *
Finally, I’d like to write something about whether the attitude they have toward selfhood – that it exists in purely material terms, and that it can be captured and deposited in a computer databank ready for immediate retrieval at any point. But…I’m still not sure how I feel about it.
I may wait until the show is over before I really make up my mind. To some extent it depends on how much they’re committed to exploring it. One the one hand, it could be a Star Trek style pseudo-science that exists solely to enable the show to exist. If so, then it’s lame but probably not worth wasting a lot of time on. We just have to suspend our disbelief and try not to ask too many questions that are going to be impossible to answer. On the other hand, they may actually be trying to do something with this. In which case, I’m going to want to see where they take things before speculating too much.
All that I’ll say now is that there is a LOT that they could do if they want. And I don’t mean the hackneyed stuff that’s been done a million times about ‘where the soul is.’ I mean deeper questions about who we’re referencing when we think about subjects, about concepts of rights and responsibilities. About the significance of embodiment to consciousness and identity. About the possibility that the dollhouse is deeply troublesome not just because it enslaves ‘real’ people – but also because it enslaves countless other people that it literally creates, uses for a few days, and then disembodies and stores in a dark room somewhere.
If consciousness is just the way that we account for the the capacity to see ourselves as beings, then what makes a ‘constructed’ personality any less of a ‘person’ than one that develops ‘naturally’?
That’s a question that I hope Alpha is going to force us to start asking.
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Source Tags and Codes – And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead
(see my post a week or so ago for other stuff from them)
I don’t know what in this world is trying to save me
But I can feel its hand and it’s guiding me in sign
From lives I’ve tried to lead
To the one that I received
Each painted sign along the road
Will melt away in source tags and in code