Having collided with studio heads before on two separate occasions, which led to the axing of his much-adored TV shows, Angel and Firefly, Joss Whedon’s latest small screen outing, Dollhouse, arrived pre-packed with predictions of cancellation. Sure enough, studio interference led to a shaky start for Dollhouse, and while (amazingly) the show has obtained a second season, Season 1 gets off to a shaky start and never quite recovers (there’s been talk of major changes for Season 2 to make it work better) .
Echo (Eliza Dushku) is a specially programmed individual known as a ‘doll’. Having had her former personality and memory wiped clean by a top secret organization, Echo now resides at the ‘Dollhouse’, an underground facility where her and other ‘Actives’ await special ‘engagements’. The ‘engagements’, or missions, see Echo and co. being programmed with the relevant personality before taking the role of a party escort, a hostage negotiator, a backing singer, or any other role that the client desires. Once their assignment is complete, the doll’s mind is wiped clean and they are put into holding until the next job. However, Echo is slowly beginning to become aware of her former self, and there are those on the outside who are intent on bringing down the controversial Dollhouse organisation.
Having had to pander to Fox with action-orientated episodes featuring a scantily clad Dushku, the first five episodes of the show are pretty standard ‘engagement of the week’ fare, which sees Eliza’s character getting into all kinds of scrapes before everything is tied up at the end of each episode. From the first episode’s opening motorbike race to the weak characterisation and flat dialogue, ‘Dollhouse’, initially, is distinctly un-Whedon-like in its execution, though with episode six, ‘The Man On The Street’ (one of the rare episodes actually penned by Whedon), something seems to click. The thing is, this episode was pretty much supposed to be the pilot, which would have been a strong start for the show if, as Whedon’s commentary explains, Fox hadn’t demanded a bunch of “little pilots that didn’t venture deep enough”.
A tricky start then for the potentially brilliant Dollhouse, but not all of the show’s problems can be blamed on the suits at Fox. Even when the show steps up a gear or two halfway through, it still flounders, stumbles and hits a number of dud notes along the way. ‘Echoes’, the episode that directly follows the excellent ‘The Man On The Street’, is a misfire instalment that quickly sees the show slipping back down to mediocrity, while the subsequent episodes lack the wit and sophistication of earlier Whedon projects. The introduction of Firefly’s Alan Tudyk, some sparkly dialogue and a few intriguing ideas contribute to a number of late-season highlights, but ultimately, it feels like it’s too little too late.
The casting of Eliza Dushku (who also produces) doesn’t really help matters, and while her aggressive and feisty routine worked beautifully as a supporting player in Buffy, the girl lacks the acting chops to pull off such a complex role as Echo, which demands an array of vastly different ‘personalities’ that Dushku can’t pull off.
Again, it’s a shame that Whedon, a former master of great characterisation, has put such an uninspiring and uninteresting bunch of characters into the mix, with the show boasting too many characters that are either dull and bland (such as Ballard), annoying (Brink) or simply underused (Langton).
No, Dollhouse isn’t great. In fact, this is second-rate sci-fi for the most part, and considering the ongoing bombardment of high quality sci-fi oriented shows, it takes something pretty darn special to stand out from the crowd, and Dollhouse just doesn’t have it, at least not yet.
The DVD piles on the extra features with a few commentaries (Joss’ sole contribution on ‘The Man On The Street’ is the most interesting and informative) and the inclusions of an un-aired pilot (better than the official one) and the future-set, originally unaired 13th episode, ‘Epitaph One’, which sees the show taking a darker direction, suggest interesting things for the future of Dollhouse.
Overall Verdict: A shaky work in progress, but who knows what the future holds for Whedon’s latest.
Special Features:
Audio Commentary With Joss Whedon And Eliza Dushku On ‘Ghost’
Audio Commentary With Joss Whedon On ‘Man On The Street’
Audio Commentary With Jed Whedon And Maurissa Tancharoen On ‘Epitaph One’
Unaired ‘Echo’ Pilot
Deleted Scenes
‘Making Dollhouse’ Featurette
‘Coming Home’ Featurette
‘Finding Echo’ Featurette
‘Designing The Perfect Dollhouse’ Featurette
‘A Private Engagement’ Featurette
Reviewer: Lee Griffiths
