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Eliza Dusku and Matt Keeslar in DOLLHOUSE - Season 1 - "The Target"
Television:
TV Review: DOLLHOUSE - SEASON 1 - 'The Target'
The Joss Whedon created series picks up some steam in its second episode, but it's still struggling to find a balance especially with such a bland lead character
Grade: B-Stars: Eliza Dushku, Tahmoh Penikett, Olivia Williams, Fran Kranz, Harry J. Lennix, Enver Gjokaj, Dichen Lachman
Writer(s): Steven S. DeKnight
Director: Steven S. DeKnight
Release Date: February 20, 2009
By CARL CORTEZ, Contributing Editor
Published 2/21/2009
Despite the rocky start with DOLLHOUSE, I have to say I have total faith in Joss Whedon as a writer and creator of challenging and groundbreaking new series. His voice is unique and the worlds he creates can often times be all-immersive.
That said, DOLLHOUSE has been rough-going from the get-go and it's obvious the powers-that-be (not Wolfram and Hart mind you) have diluted his magic touch. They’ve constantly asked for changes upon changes to the show’s format leading up to last week’s gutted and awkward debut and this week’s second episode, which in some ways is a sort of second pilot episode, sort of implies the show is getting back on track.
While things have gotten better, it’s clear there’s still a long road ahead before the show finds solid footing (but if anyone is going to figure it out, it's Whedon). The most immediate problem has to do with its lead character Echo (Eliza Dushku). She’s a real person, who has allowed her mind to be erased by a company that implants other people’s memories in her so she can be whatever a client wants her to be. Is it a pleasure doll, a lawyer, a scientist, an ass-kicker? It changes every week, but that interesting conceit is also the show’s biggest flaw. Without any real character traits of her own, she becomes a supporting player in her own series and as “The Target” proves, the show itself almost understands that dilemma, resulting in the heart and main soul of the series falling to Echo’s handler Boyd Langdon (Harry Lennix).
It’s through Langdon’s eyes, we see what the Dollhouse is sort-of about – flashbacking to when he became part of the company, and his initial detached relationship with Echo, to his now full trusting of her. Lennix is one of the best things in the show – and one of the few detached elements (because after all, just about every Dollhouse employee is pretty cold and methodical in this “product” they’re offering to the elite general public who are willing to pay top dollar for what are essentially human toys).
In a riff on THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, Echo is whored out to an outdoorsman (the exceptional Matt Keeslar from the vastly under-rated THE MIDDLEMAN TV series) who turns out to be a maniacal hunter. He wants Echo all alone in the woods, so he can hunt her down and test her own survival skills. During this time, Echo starts to break down and see former versions of herself. Is her previous “imprints” seeping into her current lie, or is her previous life reaching to the top for survival?
Add to that, the revelation there’s a rogue “Doll” named Alpha running around carving people up (and perhaps involved in this little test of Echo), and you have a huge mythology already being set into motion.
This mythology also includes an F.B.I. agent Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett) trying to uncover the secrets of the Dollhouse, and the Dollhouse’s chief of security Laurence Dominic (Reed Diamond) who feels Echo should be destroyed, since she’s obviously the target of Alpha’s obsession. Incidentally, Alpha spared her in his (or is it her?) escape from the facility that resulted in a full-on Doll bloodbath.
While writer-director Steven S. DeKnight gets to the bottom of some of the DOLLHOUSE’s initial plot defaults, he also enhances what the show needs to be and that is a mythology driven series.
So much time was devoted in interviews Whedon and the network gave about how the series was going to be primarily standalone episodes, with mythology sprinkled throughout. Yet, the second episode in, and there’s already a “Previously on DOLLHOUSE” that was so wrong and will make absolutely no sense whatsoever to a viewer who missed last week, that they would have been better off not having that teaser at all. “The Target” itself did a great job of explaining what’s going on without it.
It’s a shame, the standalone mandate was given, because ultimately, mythology-driven stories are what Whedon does best. Take the car keys away from him and tell him to drive the vehicle without it, and you force him to sit in the driveway for an hour, trying to get the car to move.
So where does that leave DOLLHOUSE? Well, for one, this episode definitely improves upon the concept. And it’s clear, Langdon is the audience’s entree into the series and not Echo. All the other mumbo jumbo is actually rather superfluous until, of course, at some point (we hope) Echo wakes up partially and realizes who she is and has no need to be imprinted anymore. When that happens and she can use all the abilities from all the lives she’s lived under the Dollhouse roof (and also introduce the audience to her OWN personality), then the show can truly live up to its vast potential.
Until then, we’ll have to see if the lessons learned here are applied to next week’s episode. I'm in. Let's hope others are just as patient and feel the same way.
CLICK HERE FOR iF'S INTERVIEW WITH ELIZA DUSKU
CLICK HERE FOR iF'S INTERVIEW WITH HARRY LENNIX
Reader Comments
KM from ATL sez....
I miss Joss's humor. I miss the clever & funny all of his other shows were peppered with. I enjoy the character of Topher, but he sounds exactly like Warren from Buffy. I'm worried the show won't make it to a season 2, simply because it's missing everything I expect from Joss. All of it! So sad, but will keep watching with hopes of improvement.
2/27/2009 1:33:54 PM
Buffy from Sac sez....
Eliza Dushku is not cute or a good actress. She is definitely not Jennifer Garner and Dollhouse is definitely not Alias. She should stick to doing B horror movies.
2/25/2009 3:09:10 PM
Shar from california sez....
I had planned on giving Dollhouse 6 episodes to catch my interest, but it turns out that 2 is my limit.
This show is too twisted, brutal, cruel and ugly for me. There is only one moral character, Ballard, but he won’t shut down the Dollhouse for at least 5 years, it’s clear.
The ex-cop (Boyd) is a man without a conscience (as are all the people who work in the Dollhouse). He repeatedly delivers a slave, a helpless child, to her rapist. And he doesn’t blow the whistle by calling in the FBI and police. Echo’s handler is a sleazy jerk who hired himself out to be an enslaved prostitute’s bodyguard.....and he’s the most humane character within the Dollhouse.
I guess Joss is proud to be making a show as sick as Dexter.
I won’t be watching anymore. As a Firefly fan, I was really looking forward to this before it began, but it’s not for me.
2/24/2009 4:00:49 PM
steve from new jersey sez....
I thought the second episode was a great improvement over the frankenstein pilot. I don't really care so much about the dollhouse itself as about the action that takes place during the missions. Ms Dushku does great with action which is really about 80% of the show. The target plot and reversal at the end really was very exciting, grip the edge of your seat fun. I truly enjoyed this second episode.
2/23/2009 1:14:14 PM
Chloe from Cincinnati sez....
The show is not bad, it's just not exceptional, and I think that is what is expected from something with Joss Whedon, Tim Minear and Kelly Manners involved with it. I don't know if it's the network or what, but I miss the cleverness and wit that defines the best of what Whedon and Company can do.
2/22/2009 12:20:12 PM
treasure from denver sez....
To me the waekest part of he show is Eliza's acting. Instead of crating a new character she's Faith as often as not. I wonder if in seeing her performance Joss didn't deliberately alter his plans to allow stronger better actors take over the heavy lifting on the show and indeed plan for Eliza to become a supporting character in her own show.
2/21/2009 6:56:24 PM
E.J. from Mississippi sez....
I, too, find Eliza Dushku bland. That's a good word. Not bad, but bland. She is the same in all roles: Buffy, Angel, Tru Calling and now Dollhouse. The concept is interesting if implausible but it threatens to be the same story every week, simply in a new setting. And I miss the usual Joss Whedon humor. If I have time, I will watch online, but this won't be must-see Friday night TV for me.
2/21/2009 5:05:16 PM
BillHedrick from Minnesota sez....
OK, this was more like it. Dollhouse is deifnitely finding it's legs. The Target does a wonderful job of setting forth the issues we need to discover. who is Alpha? There is also intimations of another organization that opposes Doll House. Echo's personality must of necessity be mutable, but if the show gets a chance to grow, she definitely will grow as a person. This show is definitely not Buffy, it is what it is and has a real chance to break some new ground.
2/21/2009 11:25:25 AM
Austin Storm from Moscow, ID sez....
Interesting take, I enjoyed this review. BUT there's a huuuge typo in the first paragraph. "world's" should be "worlds"
2/21/2009 10:29:26 AM
Fuck Bad Matt from Chi-town sez....
Bad Matt, you are obviously fucked in the head. You are like that little child that has to post negative shit on the internet, and you probably haven't even watched the show.
2/21/2009 10:10:08 AM
Kara from Oregon sez....
You're wrong -- Dollhouse rules. Get a life! Give the show a chance. I could not stand the show being replaced by another hour of Don't Forget the Lyrics or are you Smarter than a fourth grader. Or maybe that's exactly the kind of show your pea-brained mind can tolerate!
2/21/2009 9:47:23 AM
Bad Matt from San Francisco sez....
Can someone PLEASE stop this show ... aggggg. Why are you justifying it with this obviously slanted review. The show sucks. Just admit and it accept it. It won't get better. And it won't bring Buffy back on the air.
2/21/2009 9:36:51 AM
