Last week’s episode of Dollhouse was actually surprisingly good. Not only did they do a Voight-Kampff test, they also had some good dialogue (I like you, Mellie). Of course there’s always Topher Brink, who’s this show’s Xander character, minus the charisma. Or maybe just minus the people to play off of. He’s fun when he’s around Ivy, who, were I to venture a guess, might actually become pretty important later on in the show. Then again, maybe this is one of the famous fake Whedon trails, where they WANT you to think she will become important later. Which is working.
Another positive aspect of the episode was the Faith-like personality Echo got implanted with – I was waiting for her to whip out the stake any moment. Another negative aspect was the terribly acted “fake news show” stuff. Speaking of terribly acted: My gosh, Mark Sheppard, what the heck? Overdoing it much? Why does it seem both he and Tamoh Penikett both forgot how to act since Battlestar Galactica?
Anyway, truth be told, so far I’ve been fairly disappointed with Dollhouse. In the first few episodes, I kept thinking “This part should’ve been played by Sarah Michelle Gellar”. Then, I thought, where is the depth? Where is the humor? Then I read an article in Rolling Stone Magazine about how Joss Whedon doesn’t want to work for TV anymore after this, because I suppose they twisted his original ideas and dumbed the whole show down. So the only reason I keep watching, really, is because I’m waiting for Whedon’s genius to shine through again. And well, I think in this episode it has. It certainly gives me hope.
