Saturday, February 14

Dollhouse Episode One Review

When I first heard Eliza Dushku (the only woman I lusted for, Faith the Vampire Slayer is my favorite) was teaming up with Joss Whedon, who hasn't been on television since 2004, I was worried. Worried that television network execs would stiffle the brilliant Whedon once again and cancel the show. Re-shooting the pilot and having it on dead-slot Friday with the walking dead show "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" were not good signs. Even during the two shows on the premiere night, they had Whedonian women Summer Glau (River from "Firefly") and Eliza Dushku host the night and promise to be 'strong' and 'sexy' women and that Friday would be 'date night.' Felt very transparent and cheesy. The show itself had multiple commercial breaks that either lasted 60 or 90 seconds with Eliza nude in the bumpers.

The show itself, I felt like I wanted more when it was over. The show was worth the re-shoots, even though there is Whedonian dialouge, especially when it comes to the character of Topher (Fran Kranz) but it slowly starts to feel like a completely different universe. Topher might seem like a geek but there is always more than meets the eye in the Whedon universe, he seems creepy and evil to me, even by the first episode. According to Joss, he made the decision to do the re-shoots because he was imnersing himself in the world, which he always does and decided to serve more of a template. "Dollhouse" is about a secret underground organization that takes people they call "Actives" and erase all their personality and imprint them with a new one depending on a case on case basis for their cilents, such as a negotiator, bounty hunter, sexy date, etc. This show is to meant to show Eliza's talents as an actress but some are concerned if the audience will tune in every week to see a new character but I don't think that will be a problem.

Amy Adams (Fred on "Angel") is also in the show, in a much more serious role and different voice tone than Fred Burkle but seeing her with Eliza still felt like Faith and Fred. Of course, this show has to have a male romantic interest for Echo and it is the form of dectective Paul Ballard (Battlestar Galacta's Tahmoh Penikett), who is a hopeless hero whose bosses don't believe about the Dollhouse but he won't give up. And Echo has a father-figure who cares about him like Boyd Langdon (Harry Lennix from "24"). On VH1's "Best Week Ever," Joss Whedon came on with Eliza Dushku and were pushed to spill spoilers for "Dollhouse" and did reveal that, "Buffy and Angel crossover with the Terminator." And then said something else impossible. It was hiliarious. The host then got 're-programmed.'