Dollhouse Season 1 recap (part 1)

Because I'm obsessed. Also because you find out new things the second time around, which is a sure sign that the show is worth investing in. Or that I am an idiot.

Episode 1
Why Echo was hired rather than a real negotiator WAS explained. The client wanted 'clockwork', and Dolls are always better than real people. Giving Echo weaknesses was explained at length, and I buy it. That IS how human beings work. Excellence always has a motive. People thinking the show is stupid just aren't getting how clever it is.

Episode 2
What is Alpha doing?

Episode 3
Shows how certain constructs of femininity fuck up men as much as they do women.

Episode 4
Better than I remember. The midwife scene, the marble scene, the painting scene, all comment on innate and learned abilities. Also, action was pumping.

Episode 5
Toph and Saunders were hilarious. Did not give the funnies enough credit.

This was a problem:

'The blind girl is looking at you in the eye, do you know what that means? It means God brought me here. He has a message for you. And that message is MOVE YOUR ASS!'

Not the sort of language you would expect from a Christian girl. A bit far, Mr. Minear.

Episode 6
First time around, did NOT understand the bit at the very end where Echo decides to finish the engagement herself. Whedon describes it as very dicey, but for me some of the ambiguity of the final scene is lost. The fact that Echo chooses to participate in someone else's fantasy suddenly makes the whole thing less problematic. It's still a warped happy ending, but I preferred it when it was just warped, and the happy ending depended on which side (Joel or Echo) you take.

Whedon is very coy about the themes of the show in his commentary. Which is fine, since the issues are sensitive, and you don't want to offend people. I do wish he was more confident about putting HIS views out there. But the episode is about NOT pontificating, so I guess it's appropriate.

He also talked about a bunch of stuff that didn't really occur to me: the contrast between the way Dushku and Oswalt look, for one. Which just goes to show that the things I read into Whedon's work may just be me making things up. Or to refine that a little: giving my answers to the questions Whedon asks. There, that sounds better.