Dollhouse 111: Briar Rose
May. 3rd, 2009 10:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ishtar79 -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.
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no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 07:49 am (UTC)Do we have any evidence that Alpha has slashed any non-dolls? He might only slash dolls - which woudl explain Saunders.
There was the dead guy in Target - was he a doll? Don't remember.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 07:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 08:00 am (UTC)It could be Alpha's way of freeing the dolls - slashed face means no more missions.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 08:05 am (UTC)I like that theory.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 08:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 02:30 pm (UTC)*sigh*
I really do hate fandom. As you can guess, I WAS spoiled about Alpha's identity (I tried really hard not to be, I avoided every spoiler thread everywhere... and then was very casually spoiled at facebook! grrr argh). So when I watched on Friday night I kept thinking, oh I wish I didn't know, this would be funnier if I didn't know (like waiting for a bomb to go off).... but the slashing of Victor was still beyond shocking! YIKES!
I loved that they made Paul Ballard so dark in this episode (well maybe they just made him a dick, but whatever), it meant when he fought Boyd we can see two good men who both think they are in the right, when really they are both in the wrong, and they are beating the crap out of each other!
Oh and I loved that it was Alan Tudyk's character who was afraid of stairs without a back to them, but it was Paul who was (literally) brought down by them! Jane Espenson really knows how to set them up and knock them down!
Didn't you think the Alpha/Echo pairing looked a little like Spike & Dru? But then I've never seen 'Natural Born Killers' - man I can't wait for next week! I think I actually love this show more than Firefly!
no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 04:11 pm (UTC)I don't know, maybe they actually are that obsessively geeky. It's fandom.
Sorry you were spoiled, and on FACEBOOK of all places! People suck. :(
I loved that they made Paul Ballard so dark in this episode (well maybe they just made him a dick, but whatever),
Oh, I think they've covered the dark part with his rape of November (he no longer had the excuse of not knowing she was a doll). There are no heroes in this show-I kind of love that.
Jane Espenson wrote this? No wonder it rocked.
Didn't you think the Alpha/Echo pairing looked a little like Spike & Dru? But then I've never seen 'Natural Born Killers' - man I can't wait for next week! I think I actually love this show more than Firefly!
Hm, I see where you're coming from with Spike/Dru, but Echo's new imprint is waaaaay too overtly sexual for Dru. It is very Natural Born Killers (great movie, see it if you get the chance).
I might love it more than Firefly too. As much as I adored Firefly, the camp element was fairly high, so it didn't speak to me as viscerally as this.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 04:35 pm (UTC)But in Dollhouse he has given us some VERY ambiguous characters who do such a patchwork of really good and really terrible things that it is hard to know how to react to them (I actually love them all). We can see the good heroic aspects of Boyd and Paul Ballard, but their own desire to be good people doesn't prevent Boyd from being a pimp and Paul from being a rapist. This is very dark stuff, and I really respect that! lol
Actually Joss was lucky to have ever gotten this show made at all, it is not the kind of thing that most people want to watch on TV... but the critical acclaim should help Eliza's career and I don't think this will hurt Joss'... I hope not. You can see I'm trying to get myself to accept it's cancelation. *sigh*