I was, of course, there to see the premiere of Joss Whedon's new TV show last night, Dollhouse. It's hard for me to say if I had any kind of reasonable expectations for it. The truth is, I didn't think Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel was fantastic right out of the gate; it was unlucky, short-lived Firefly that held that distinction. (And Dr. Horrible, which was in its brief 40 minutes similarly awesome.)
Dollhouse was, in that frame of mind, a return to form. The first episode didn't blow me away. I did enjoy it, and I certainly see potential in the show. But it didn't immediately grab me or thrill me. (Though again, it's hard for me to say if it was reasonable for me to expect that.)
The persona adopted by Echo for the bulk of this first episode was not much of a stretch for Eliza Dushku. Yes, she had some moments of vulnerability, and she wasn't a "butt kicking" type. Nevertheless, she was a very strong personality and self-assured most of the time -- not entirely different from Faith (on Buffy) ot Tru (on Tru Calling). I'm not asking for her them to do something too wild on the first run out, though I do think the show will be more interesting when we see more situations where Eliza Dushku is playing characters more outside her usual "wheel house."
Also, given that Echo's persona will be different every week (or even multiple times in the same week), I think the good character material in this show will ultimately come from the rest of the cast -- the people who work in the Dollhouse, and the FBI agent trying to expose it. Again, it's unfair to judge too harshly from just one episode, but I do want to see those characters developed more soon. (In Firefly, many of the Serenity crew were already starting to pop in just that first hour.)
Basically, I felt like Dollhouse was a fairly fun and entertaining hour of television, but it didn't have any of the crackling characters or snappy bursts of dialogue that I've come to expect from something with Joss Whedon's name on it. Given the chance, I think it could get there.
Will it have the chance?
1 comment:
I thought there was a good drama moment when Echo's Handler convinced the Boss Lady (okay so I don't recall the names...) to help the kidnapped girl instead of covering up the scene.
the Treatment Guy got a lot of the morality dialogue, I saw that as an interesting character. (his lines did not seem "forced" as sometimes Whedon-character-monologues can be.)
your right that it's going to be wierd that Echo won't get any character development, only the people around her. what an interesting challenge for JW, I'm confident he's up to the task.
put a few scenes like the dance at the beginning into every episode (i.e. skimpy outfits) and they'll get the rating they need to continue...
the mole
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