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Dollhouse 111: Briar Rose
-EVIL WASH! Oh wow, I want to draw hearts around Alan Tudyk’s name. I somehow managed to stay unspoiled for the big reveal, and boy was it ever worth it. I feel bad for the people who watched this spoiled, as they’ve missed out on the fun of concocting increasingly unlikely Alpha theories (my latest was that the secret message he sent Dominic would actually act as a remote imprint download of his personality into Victor’s body) and then having them blown spectacularly out of the water.
-As much as I enjoyed AT as a medicinal carrot (heh) loving dork, I remember thinking it’s a shame he ended up typecast into another funny geek role-and THEN!!!
-Holy shit, AT’s ripped. When did he get so fit? Apparently he described himself as having a “Ned Flanders body” (not visibly muscular when wearing clothes) which a)LMAO, so accurate and b) +1 for gratuitous Simpsons reference. Also, the fact that I suddenly found him hot as he went from awkward normal guy to scary-ass psycho is somewhat troubling.
-Man oh man, Ballard’s lost the fucking plot. There’s pretty much nothing he did in this one that I didn’t have issues with (even his excellent point about the absurdity of the concept of consensual slavery was somewhat overshadowed by me wanting to slap his sanctimonious hypocritical ass), and even when I intellectually understood his reasoning, such as with the choice to leave Mellie, I couldn’t stop thinking “Douche” throughout.
-Echo’s flashes: possibly the worst timing ever. I was torn between being squicked as hell about her line about trusting Boyd (because they made her trust him) and considering the fact that, given that she focused on the memory of him helping her in episode 2 and has technically been imprinted to a new (invisible and always absent) handler, it might actually be a sign of her overcoming her programming. Either way, given that Boyd stood for the Dollhouse, in the context of that scene, he’s the wrong choice. Not that Ballard is exactly the ‘right’ choice either-this episode brought home more than anything that his desire to ‘save’ Caroline is selfish, obsessive, and very poorly thought-out.
I giggled when she grabbed his foot though.
-About the storybook theme-as soon as I saw it, I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, feeling fairly certain that it would twist into something completely different, and so it did: the twisting of the cliché at the end? Genius.
-I completely missed it when watching the episode, but apparently Dominictor called the doctor “Whiskey” (as in, part of the NATO alphabet). So Saunders is a doll? Not particularly surprised.
-Speaking of which, the actor playing Victor rocked the hell out of his scenes playing Dominic. I got excited about the prospect of Dominic’s return, and though we didn’t get to see the actor, what we got was actually better. The very idea of waking up in someone else’s body is terrifying, and the actor completely sold me on the scene.
-Oh, my poor Victor! This definitely wasn’t his day.
-I’m glad Sierra was away from the Dollhouse while the shit hit the fan. I’m especially sensitive to this particular doll being victimized, considering everything.
-Wait, Victor got slashed and Saunders threatened with further disfigurement, and all Topher got was tasered? I call bullshit.
-Adelle owned her scenes too-between her casual discussion of death threats and threatening to doll-up Ballard (and honestly, it’ll be an easy brain wipe-not much content to remove, after all), she exuded menace. I prefer my villains *owning* their evil as opposed to trying to find justifications (BOYD).
-The opening scene with the traumatized girl was an interesting exploration of how an inherently evil technology can actually do something positive-I have no problem with the further murking of the moral concepts.
-Next week looks set to be amazing. My love for this show may have reached Buffy heights-or at least Firefly. Damn it, and I tried to prevent that attachment-I’m setting myself up for major heartbreak.
-As much as I enjoyed AT as a medicinal carrot (heh) loving dork, I remember thinking it’s a shame he ended up typecast into another funny geek role-and THEN!!!
-Holy shit, AT’s ripped. When did he get so fit? Apparently he described himself as having a “Ned Flanders body” (not visibly muscular when wearing clothes) which a)LMAO, so accurate and b) +1 for gratuitous Simpsons reference. Also, the fact that I suddenly found him hot as he went from awkward normal guy to scary-ass psycho is somewhat troubling.
-Man oh man, Ballard’s lost the fucking plot. There’s pretty much nothing he did in this one that I didn’t have issues with (even his excellent point about the absurdity of the concept of consensual slavery was somewhat overshadowed by me wanting to slap his sanctimonious hypocritical ass), and even when I intellectually understood his reasoning, such as with the choice to leave Mellie, I couldn’t stop thinking “Douche” throughout.
-Echo’s flashes: possibly the worst timing ever. I was torn between being squicked as hell about her line about trusting Boyd (because they made her trust him) and considering the fact that, given that she focused on the memory of him helping her in episode 2 and has technically been imprinted to a new (invisible and always absent) handler, it might actually be a sign of her overcoming her programming. Either way, given that Boyd stood for the Dollhouse, in the context of that scene, he’s the wrong choice. Not that Ballard is exactly the ‘right’ choice either-this episode brought home more than anything that his desire to ‘save’ Caroline is selfish, obsessive, and very poorly thought-out.
I giggled when she grabbed his foot though.
-About the storybook theme-as soon as I saw it, I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, feeling fairly certain that it would twist into something completely different, and so it did: the twisting of the cliché at the end? Genius.
-I completely missed it when watching the episode, but apparently Dominictor called the doctor “Whiskey” (as in, part of the NATO alphabet). So Saunders is a doll? Not particularly surprised.
-Speaking of which, the actor playing Victor rocked the hell out of his scenes playing Dominic. I got excited about the prospect of Dominic’s return, and though we didn’t get to see the actor, what we got was actually better. The very idea of waking up in someone else’s body is terrifying, and the actor completely sold me on the scene.
-Oh, my poor Victor! This definitely wasn’t his day.
-I’m glad Sierra was away from the Dollhouse while the shit hit the fan. I’m especially sensitive to this particular doll being victimized, considering everything.
-Wait, Victor got slashed and Saunders threatened with further disfigurement, and all Topher got was tasered? I call bullshit.
-Adelle owned her scenes too-between her casual discussion of death threats and threatening to doll-up Ballard (and honestly, it’ll be an easy brain wipe-not much content to remove, after all), she exuded menace. I prefer my villains *owning* their evil as opposed to trying to find justifications (BOYD).
-The opening scene with the traumatized girl was an interesting exploration of how an inherently evil technology can actually do something positive-I have no problem with the further murking of the moral concepts.
-Next week looks set to be amazing. My love for this show may have reached Buffy heights-or at least Firefly. Damn it, and I tried to prevent that attachment-I’m setting myself up for major heartbreak.
no subject
I missed Dominic calling Dr. Saunders "Whiskey" too until someone else on my flist pointed it out. I'm now convinced that Dominic was her handler before Alpha broke out. I think Dominic got promoted when the prior head of security was (probably) killed by Alpha in the breakout, and I think Whiskey was imprinted with Dr. Saunders' personality (wholesale, the way Adele did with her friend Margaret in the previous week's episode) because Saunders was also (probably) killed by Alpha in the attack. The only other option would have been to send Whiskey to the attic (since they couldn't use her on assignments any more due to the disfigurement), but if the real Saunders was killed, I could easily imagine Adele being expedient like that: imprint her personality on a doll which (a) prevents basically trashing the doll, and, (b) prevents the need to bring another new person into the Dollhouse fold in order to serve as medical officer.
ITA about being so relieved that Sierra is on assignment for all this.
I also really love Adele. I love that she believes in what she's doing even as she acknowledges that it's problematic. And I love how *ruthless* she can be. Her handling of Dominic at the end of "Spy in the House of Love" sent chills down my spine.
no subject
Well, at some point he mentioned something about Mellie's 'kill switch', meaning the way she could be activated at any time and kill him (as the message hidden within her imprint told him two episodes back). I think he even said something to that effect while standing over her pod.
Of course, I still think that's justification on his part. He doesn't know for a fact that Echo doesn't have some built-in killing subroutine or for that matter, whether it would stop her from trying to save her if it did.
I missed Dominic calling Dr. Saunders "Whiskey" too until someone else on my flist pointed it out. I'm now convinced that Dominic was her handler before Alpha broke out. I think Dominic got promoted when the prior head of security was (probably) killed by Alpha in the breakout, and I think Whiskey was imprinted with Dr. Saunders' personality (wholesale, the way Adele did with her friend Margaret in the previous week's episode) because Saunders was also (probably) killed by Alpha in the attack. The only other option would have been to send Whiskey to the attic (since they couldn't use her on assignments any more due to the disfigurement), but if the real Saunders was killed, I could easily imagine Adele being expedient like that: imprint her personality on a doll which (a) prevents basically trashing the doll, and, (b) prevents the need to bring another new person into the Dollhouse fold in order to serve as medical officer.
Oooh, I like those theories, very plausible. And Adelle totally *would*.
Adelle quite simply rocks. I can enjoy a good unapologetic villain, and have a soft spot for icy ruthless female characters.