A Broken Doll

On this entry I will be discussing a series that I initially loved and defended, only to have my view skewed a bit when the final episode aired.


Yes, boys and girls today we will be talking about Dollhouse.


For the record, this is the first time I have watched something by Joss Whedon. Ok, so I watched the Serenity movie, but half of it confused me as it seemed to meld an origin story with the already standing mythology of the cancelled show. So I came into the story starry eyed hoping for the best, and wound sorely disappointed. No, it wasn't that the show was overly terrible far from it. But it did have its share of problems, coupled with an insulting, shitty ending that made reevaluate what I thought of the series.


So I decided that I will use this post to list 10 reasons why Dollhouse failed as a series in no particular order. For those who care these will have HEAVY SPOILERS. For those who have watched the show, or who don't care, read on to analyze the recent sci-fi misfire.



1. Joss Whedon did not tell the FOX network to go fuck themselves.


Ok, I imagine working in Hollywood, one must be a little diplomatic in order to get anything done. However, Joss should of known better and played hardball with the Fox network. He should said, "Look, you screwed with my last show, and it got cancelled. Yet, I have a cult following. My fans bought the DVD's. I made Serenity. This is not my first barbecue guys. I know how to do a show. Let me do my job. Or I will find someone who will."


But Whedon let FOX put their hand in the cookie jar, and let them screw with the format from the beginning making it start as a case of the week sci fi show when it needed to be about the mythology first. Dollhouse found its footing in episode six but for many it was too late.


2. Not explaining shit.


Whedon can use, "We were being cancelled and I had to rush things" excuse all he wants but I call bullshit. Explaining shit is his job. Explain things that you allude to but not answer. Is Whiskey dead? How and why did Alpha turn good? Is Dominic out of the Attic? Why did Boyd really do what he did? A simple line of dialogue might come off as lazy, but it is better than nothing for sure.


3. Wasting good guest talent.


Alan Tudyk is a creepy fucker. Plain and simple. Though primarily a comedic actor, anyone who watched him here as Alpha or his too brief role on V as a sleeper agent know he is a menacing guy. So it is a shame he didn't do jack all in his final appearance. The last time before the finale, we saw Alpha still psychotic, killing Echo's "lovers" and causing the Dollhouse to become a zombie kill fest. That is the Alpha we love. Then in Epitaph One we heard he is good. Then in Epitaph Two we see him good. But don't know why. And he is a zen garden pussy. And he leaves, given fuck all to do.


Then there is the case of Whiskey/Dr. Claire Saunders, who was a regular in season one and recurring guest in season two. A doctor who becomes self aware of her doll status, she is one of the sympathetic, tragic characters of the series, who becomes focal to a shocking twist. Her last appearance? She isn't even herself, she has been imprinted with a Rossum CEO. Then she's gone. And later dead. Maybe. It's not explained.


Then the great Keith Carradine. He's a Rossum executive who shows up. And acts suave and heartless. And that's it.


Dollhouse had a bevy of talent, regular cast and guests alike. But most of the time did nothing with it.


4. A lacking protagonist.


Echo wasn't interesting. Period. The people she played? Varied. But her growth to self aware state took too long, and the final product was nothing short of a zombie. We couldn't care about her plight. Her arc in the beginning was about getting her true self back. Then she abandoned that. Because of course she in her "normal" state is so interesting.


5. Killing all the interesting characters.


Many thought Paul Ballard as obsessive. I disagreed. I saw him as a crusading bad ass who was the only moral compass the show seem to have. I thought though he got in a little too deep, his heart was in the right place and he tried to do the right thing. He had great romantic chemistry with his neighbor Mellie/November, and his fight against an substantial enemy reminded me of David versus Goliath. That is why his afterthought death in Epitaph Two was a serious kick in the nuts. He didn't even go out a hero's death, sacrificing himself for the group. He just died. He deserved better.


Boyd Langton was the other moral compass of the show. He worked for the dollhouse but objected to what they did, and went beyond the call of duty to protect his charges. His reveal to be one of the founders of Rossum was good, but their was not enough explanation to why he did what he did. His death was awesome, but like Paul and our final victim, a hole was left in the show that was noticeable.


Ahh yes, Mellie/November/Madaline. Another tragic figure. A young woman in grief over the death of her daughter. Became involved with Paul as Mellie. Released to the real world as Madaline because Paul traded his freedom for hers. Re enslaved. Back to Mellie. Then kills herself to save Paul. Mellie's death was another slap to the face as the great irony was though she was fake, she was more "real" than most of the characters. Like many others, she deserved to walk into the sunset. With Paul at her side.


Which brings me to my next point.


6. Replacing a relationship with chemistry with one that has ZERO.


Mellie/Paul worked. Period. They had zippy banter, looked good together, and genuinely cared for each other. Then Whedon pulled a double dick move extraordinaire by making Echo fall for Paul. Then bringing Mellie back and making it look like Paul and her would be together. Then kill her off to usher in the flat line known as Paul/Echo.


Echo had one great scene after Paul's death, but it lacked weight since one could not care about their relationship. Whedon had great potential with Mellie/Paul and their scenes where my favorites of the show. But he torpedoed it for one of action/sci-fi's greatest cliche's; hooking up the lead protagonists. For a guy who claims to buck the trends, he sure fucked up here.


7. Making the remaining characters in the last episodes shells of their former selves.


Adelle Dewitt, the stone cold/yet tragically sad leader of the LA dollhouse has moved from snarky comments to be earth mother to a group of actuals.


Victor/Anthony is now a tech head reject of Mad Max land.


Sierra is now a single mom with a grudge.


Echo is still not sympathetic etc.


Some may disagree with me. But most of the changes they made in the last 60 minutes of the show ruined the entire series for me.


8. An Insulting ending.


Ok, so all the characters I care about are dead. Ok. Then the rest suck. Ok, still there. Then Alpha is a emasculated hippie. Resolve straining. The world is reset with Topher sacrificing himself. Cool explosion. Then Echo implants Paul's mind into her own so they can be together forever.

I think I am going to be sick.


This is what we end on? The epitome of an unhealthy relationship that borders on psychosis on Echo's part. I cannot believe I spent 26 episodes following this zombie chick if this was going to be the end result. Fuck that.


9. Not giving characters sympathetic characteristics quickly enough.


I am going to use the character of Topher as the focal point of this. Most reviewers and fans found him annoying. But most missed the point that his ego and his quirks were a front for a young, conflicted, lonely guy. We finally saw that in "Haunted", when he uses Sierra on his birthday to have a friend, or in one of the best episodes of the series "Belonging" when he realizes he was used as a pawn to enslave Sierra to the Dollhouse. But this kind of sympathy should of been planted in the beginning, bit by bit in order to make him likable. But instead he came off to many as a dick. At least he went out a hero. Props my man, props.


10. Squandering a good idea with studio interference and myopia.


The idea of Dollhouse is intriguing and had many avenues it could of went down. But it never seemed to do that. FOX is partly to blame for this, but a majority boiled the series down to stories of horny rich guys wanting to fuck programmed hotties. Their was little about more deviant dealings of the show, about the idea of slavery and loss of identity. It was always their but not their in the way it should be. Then their was the Rossum corporation, whose bright idea for fucking with the world order is to wiping the identities of the world's population clean at its whim. For what reason you ask? From what I could gather immortality. And being a bunch of douche bags. That part was done well and the most frightening aspect of the show. As a professor puts it in "Man on the street"


"Forget morality, imagine it's true alright? Imagine this technology being used. Now imagine it being used on you. Everything you believe, gone. Everything you love, strangers, maybe enemies. Every part of you that makes you more than a walking cluster of neurons dissolved- as someone else's whim. If that technology exists, it will be used, it'll be abused, it'll be global. And we will be over. As a species, we will cease to matter. I don't know, maybe we should."


Dollhouse was a show I did like and was one of the few to defend it. But after some deep thought I have to agree with what most was said and realize that the show was ok, but only in bits and pieces, rather than a whole series.


I could go on what I did like but my hands hurt from all the type. And besides this is a what went wrong post anyway. While an interesting experiment, Dollhouse failed primarily due to the push pull between studio interference and Whedon mythology bullshit.

Until next time, fly high and fly well.