So, Dollhouse...

[helle_d]

A list of slightly incoherent and disordered things that are in my brain after watching the first twelve episodes of Dollhouse.

Comments

[littlered2]

I like your cut text a lot. Oh, Boyd. Such a darling (my epithet of choice, admittedly, for every character in things I love).

Eeee, you haven't seen the finale? It will BREAK YOU. Maybe. And there's lots of Adelle being awesome (when isn't there? NEVER).

Oh, goodness yes - Topher is so morally dubious. (They expand on that in the next season! It's pretty great. I just want to quote things at you.) TV Tropes (DON'T GO ON THERE AND SPOIL YOURSELF) described him as "adorkable" and my response was "well, yes - but also, MORALLY DUBIOUS. A lot".

My favourite moment in "Echoes" is when Topher and Adelle are trying to work out if sleeper!November is still out there and dangerous.

TOPHER: Go check.
ADELLE: I am your superior.
TOPHER: In every way. Go check.

<3

The Boyd/Echo interactions in "The Target" are lovely. He trusts her! With his life!

Poor darling Sierra. And re. Dr Saunders, I know! She is fascinating.

[helle_d]

I love that Topher/Adelle interaction. In every way. And the Boyd/Echo trust! It is lovely! I admit, I am inclining to your classification of them all as Poor Darlings.

[littlered2]

Fun game: try to think of a Joss Whedon main character who has not, at one point, been a Poor Darling. It's tricky. (You can try it out by wailing to yourself, "Poor darling Giles! Poor darling Simon! Poor darling Wesley!" and seeing it it works. It almost always does.)

[helle_d]

Captain Mal? As deeply as he has suffered, I'm having trouble fitting him into a Poor Darling slot. Inara? (Depending on whether you think she is sekritly terminally ill or not.) But otherwise I am drawing a blank ....

Oh! Oh! I've got one - how about Captain Hammer? You can't deny he's a main character. (I could also make a case for Billy; he's another one that I enjoy watching but have a hard time sympathising with.)

[littlered2]

I found out who played Alpha before watching his episodes - and then, stupidly, told Rob. So we were both spoiled for the reveal, which made me cross. Were you? (Ditto for the Dr Saunders reveal. Turns out if you go to read a Wikipedia article, they will list both of the character names for that actor. It's annoying.)

[helle_d]

Lol, I think my uselessness with matching actors to faces would have protected me from that - it meant that it took until the end of the episode for me to realise about Dr Saunders. /shame.

[littlered2]

Well, the makeup artists did put lots of scars on her. (

[teh_elb]

BUT SIERA/VICTOR

/coherant

[littlered2]

SIERRA/VICTOR! Oh, my heart.

(E - next season has some ADORABLE Sierra/Victor stuff. I mean, more adorable than already.)

[teh_elb]

NEEDS

NEEDS

(But it's true, the Siera/Victor gets even more OTP-ish in the second season.)

[littlered2]

"Needs" is adorable. But "Belonging"!

[frith_in_thorns]

WHY DID YOU NOT QUOTE ANY OF THE MEDICINAL CARROTS BITS.

Also you are not listing Victor. Sierra and Victor are adorable adorableness.

:P

[littlered2]

They really are. Oh, Sierra and Victor.

[littlered2]

I meant to say, I completely agree with you about Topher seeming the most morally horrific of the Dollhouse staff. Adelle gives the impression of knowing full well what she's doing, and having thought about the negative points, whereas Topher seems more to just think of it as cool and fun (rewriting people's brains!). Which is weird, because you'd think that would make Adelle less sympathetic, but there you go.

(What do you think about Ballard?)

[helle_d]

What do you think about Ballard?
Mainly, 'lol'. I give him points for effort, and I can respect his integrity, but he is so fail! I don't know whether he's meant to be the main protagonist apart from Echo - the narrative seems to be trying to place him in that slot - but he seems to go about things in such a stupid way, it's hard to sympathise. I think his arc coud be really engaging - a lone man fighting for justice, the 'only sane man' in a world of fools and liars - but the material he's given just doesn't live up to that potential.

And yeah, Adelle's clarity of purpose should make her the more horrific one, you would think, but it does have the opposite effect. I think her clear-eyed intelligence is the thing I love most about her.

[littlered2]

He is an idiot. I find it quite endearing, but he really is a terrible FBI agent.

There are so many things to choose from!

[helle_d]

There really, really are. I've watched the finale now, and she was GLORIOUS every moment of it.

I tried to liveblog my reactions to ep13, but for the most part I was too busy watching to bother to pause and write stuff. But for your delectation:

3mins I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON

ADELLE ADELLE ADELLE, I love the way you believe in what you do

Oh, Topher, you have suddenly earned all my hearts

Have I mentioned that I adore all and any Adelle/Caroline-Echo interactions? Because I adore them. I love how proud they both are, and how the affect each other.

“I told her if she stayed she’d lose her mind. I guess she decided that was better.” Oh, Whiskey, my heartbreak.

How brain-melting must it be for the kid you know as Iris to suddenly be Caroline? I suppose they must be used to minds and bodies being more-or-less interchangeable, but there must surely be an emotional reaction to seeing ‘little kid we try to protect’ becoming someone else entirely.