Dollhouse: Second Chance

Last night, I missed the second season premiere of Dollhouse (I doubt I'll be catching many when they first air because it's on Friday nights... fuck you FOX), but I had an interesting exchange with a friend of mine, who is also a Dollhouse fan. She asked me if my girlfriend and myself were going to an after-party, but I told her that we couldn't because we had to get up early this morning. I said that it wasn't a matter of what we wanted, and my friend responded that it was about what we needed. She didn't even realize the show started up again last night. Fortunately, unlike Firefly, Dollhouse has gotten a second season and second chance to show us that Joss Whedon is a master storyteller.

Although I was unsure of the merits of this series after that back-up singer episode, every episode from "Man on the Street" through the unaired "Epitaph One" thoroughly entertained me and made me want to see what happened next immediately after viewing. "Epitaph One" made me want FOX to commission a companion show that takes place in the post-apocalyptic future after the imprinting technology got out of control. Although that isn't going to happen, Whedon has said that we will see more of that time period. Originally, a scene from 2019 was going to open the second season, but it was cut for time (episodes are no longer 50 minutes; FOX got rid of its "Remote-Free TV" campaign).

However, the episode did a lot to set up the new directions the show is going in. First off, Ballard's deal with DeWitt is rather strange; although we're still not clear on the specifics, he is acting as a kind of in-house client who uses Echo to take down criminals. Why DeWitt is allowing this is unclear, but Ballard proved his loyalty to Caroline/Echo, and he eventually became Echo's new handler. But this was after Echo was fundamentally altered. Although Topher thought he undid Alpha's composite event (all of Echo's personalities were simultaneously uploaded into her mind), the treatment didn't hold, and now Echo is now a different version of Alpha. Her composite personality has not caused her to go crazy the way Alpha's drove him insane. She has made it her mission to help the Dolls regain their true personalities, and Ballard is all too happy to help.

My favorite parts of the episode involved Topher and Dr. Saunders/Whiskey. The knowledge that you are not who you think you are, that you are not real and are only temporarily occupying someone else's body, cannot be good for the psyche. Dr. Saunders is trying to make sense of who she is and what she can do, and it doesn't help that her slight contempt for the Dollhouse, which maker her want to return her body to whoever owns it, is being overtaken by her sense of self-preservation. How can you ask someone to willingly give up their life (over the hiatus I wondered what would happen if someone accidentally triggered her by asking about a treatment, but when Topher made such a comment, it didn't seem to have any effect on her)? What makes matters even worse for her is that DeWitt has spent big bucks on facial reconstruction surgery for Victor to heal the scars Alpha gave him. As of now (though as we know, not forever) Whiskey still has her scars, and even though she was the most popular Active, DeWitt loves Victor (or at least one of his imprints). Knowing that the surgery is available, but that you aren't getting it while someone less qualified gets it right away may not be as jarring as knowing you are a doll, but it can't help the situation.

So she has resorted to playing cruel pranks on Topher; not only did she learn she isn't real, she learned that the man she loathed was responsible for everything about herself (her line about being designed by a sociopath in a sweater vest was pretty great). This culminated in an incredible scene between the two (about 1/3 of the incredibleness extends from the fact that Amy Acker was in a nightie the whole time) in which she got into his bed to see if he would sleep with her. The result was both an incredible conversation about free will and an illuminating look into Topher's character. Topher explained why he gave her some of the character traits he did, but explained that it was her own mind that used such traits to form opinions. He didn't make her hate him, she came to that conclusion on his own. And for all of Topher's arrogance and amorality, he showed that he does care about the Dolls and wants to do everything possible to keep them safe, even if it means working closely with someone who won't get along with him every day. Dr. Saunders finally left the Dollhouse, going against Topher's programming intended to keep here there, in an effort to show herself she had free will and to defy Topher and DeWitt. Quick side note: last year, I noticed that we never saw DeWitt, Boyd, Saunders, or Topher at their homes (unless that place in "A Spy in the House of Love" was DeWitt's home), and I wondered how much freedom people who work are the Dollhouse are given by the Rossum Corporation. It probably can't be too much, based on the sensitive nature of their work, but why would anyone want to be subject to such restriction? Even if they were paid all the money they could possibly want, there would be no way to derive any pleasure from it. I bring this up because we see Topher's makeshift bedroom inside a server room, and I have to wonder, is that where he lives, or is that his sanctuary during his long hours?

Finally, I am really excited to have Alexis Denisof become a recurring character on the show. He is playing a U.S. Senator (and therefore using his real voice, which is a bit of a change from the British accent Whedon fans are used to hearing; on that note, Jamie Bamber of Battlestar Galactica got to use his actual speaking voice, which has a British accent, in the episode) with a bone to pick with the Rossum Corporation. Ain't It Cool News referred to him as being either the Big Bad (something familiar to Buffy fans) or the Big Good of the season. I find that observation both funny and astute, because we cannot forget that at the end of the day, the non-Doll characters we follow every week are not working in humanity's best interest, no matter how they justify what they do. As we saw in "Epitaph One," the Dollhouse tech will lead to very bad things, and even if DeWitt and Topher don't believe everything the higher-ups in Rossum do (DeWitt seems to draw the line at permanent, rather than temporary, slavery), they are certainly helping the problem right now.

Up next: More TV...

Glee: On The Rise

Three episodes of Glee have aired since the pilot premiered back in May. I was certainly excited about the show coming back because I loved the pilot so much; it kind of reminds me of the Battlestar Galactica miniseries pilot in that it seemed almost cinematic in its scope (although the Glee pilot certainly wasn't feature-length). However, with a 4-month interval, I definitely felt some withdrawal and doubts. Was the pilot really that good? How could the show go on every week without some of the characters becoming caricatures? For as great as the pilot was, and it certainly was, characters like Terri, Quinn, and Puck were barely shown, and what we saw was not much more than 2-dimensional archetypes. Furthermore, aside from Rachel and Finn, we didn't really get to know any of the other members of the club, and as we learned in the second episode, the club would have to expand in order for them to qualify for regionals (which is what the season is moving toward).

So how is the show after these last few episodes? Fortunately, it remains hovering somewhere around amazing. It has definite faults, faults which should irk me much more than they do, but the great aspects of the show convince me to overlook them to a degree. So far, Terry and Puck have been developed enough for me to accept them as characters. They are still not good people (though not villainous in the way that Sue is), but some of their internal conflict is starting to show. Puck even joined the Glee Club tonight. As for Terry, it is amazing to watch the lengths she will go to in order to keep Will loving her. Her perspective of the world is warped beyond belief, but in her mind, she is doing everything she can to keep her husband. Quinn still has to prove herself as a worthy character, but I have faith that the writers will give her some redeeming qualities and/or conflict to make her someone worth watching.

The show also continues to display a subversive sense of humor. The series points out the folly of blindly following the perceived status quo and turning a blind eye to alternative ways of living or expressing oneself. Quinn is the leader of the Celibacy Club, and the viewpoints expressed in those meetings are extremely ass-backwards, yet most people present take them as fact. On tonight's episode, Kurt showed the football team that they could improve their performance by dancing (it could loosen them up). Yet no one other than Finn wanted to try it, out of fear that they would become laughing stocks (never mind that they already were due to their poor performance on the field). Ken, the coach, was onboard with the plan to get the players dancing in theory, but once he saw them in practice, he got uncomfortable with the situation. However, it worked out in the end; check out its awesomeness here:



The Glee kids act as counterweights to the status quo views. Rachel pointed out the fallacies that the Celibacy kids believed and Kurt isn't afraid (to a degree, anyway) to fully express who he is, even though he knows that people won't accept him and will pick on him. But they are by no means perfect. Rachel is arrogant and self-centered, while Kurt is egotistic. With any luck, Tina, Artie, and Mercedes will get fleshed out in coming weeks, and we will learn their strengths and flaws.

And that's as good a place as any to start discussing the show's failings. The cast is large, and not everyone gets enough screentime. I'd be more forgiving about this if other shows hadn't proved that it was possible to devote enough time to everyone in large casts to fully develop (nearly) every character (LOST, Galactica, Deadwood). Along those same lines, the plotlines can be a bit choppy. Every character has a life outside of Glee Club, and although the show tries to sufficiently cover everyone, people and plots get lost. A plotline will be introduced at the beginning of an episode, won't be discussed until two acts later, and then sometimes even resolves at the end of the episode before the show has time to fully develop the story. For example, Mercede's sudden infatuation with Kurt was over and done with before there was enough time to derive significant dramatic tension (read: pain), and Will's a capella group disbanded for little or no reason.

Still, even if I didn't like the show, I'd probably still TiVo it just to fast forward to the musical numbers. The "Don't Stop Believin'" routine from the pilot is still my favorite, but so far, every big number has been superb. Their renditions of the songs are fantastic, and I find myself loving songs that I don't like when sung by the original artist. You have no idea how absolutely psyched I am for the "Somebody To Love" routine that we have been promised since the preview at the end of the pilot.

Glee still is far from perfect, but it is definitely worth watching.

Up next: Probably back to the Dollhouse...

The Legend of Neil: Half-Way Through Season 2

We are about halfway through the second "season" of The Legend of Neil, and while it is still hilarious, it seems to me to be somewhat different than last year. Most of the humor is still based on The Legend of Zelda, but to me, the episodes are less about pointing out the cliches and foibles of Hyrule, but to applying Zelda to the real world, other webseries cliches, and pop culture. The third episode was a musical and the fourth episode both referenced Cheers and made fun of American drinking culture. Both of these episodes were absolutely hilarious, and I am in no way upset about the humor of the series, but it just seems different.

I think the episode that was closest in spirit to the first season was the second episode, which made fun of the strange gambling games in the Zelda games (sadly, that was also my least favorite episode). The episode saw Link/Neil attempting to earn money by playing a shady game with little skill involved. Many of such games within the Zelda series involve some skill, but are also based on blind luck. The episode also brought real-world cliches (crooked street gambling) into the world and gave a Hylian spin on them. The episode was certainly funny, but it was not as good as the other stuff this year.

I still love this series, but it seems like most of the super-Zelda-specific material was used up in Season 1. The series still uses Zelda as a backdrop and source of humor, but it has greatly expanded its scope. This is probably a good thing because how long could they keep having Link/Neil going through Levels before it got repetitive?

Remember, you can check out The Legend of Neil here every other Monday (with 9/21 being the next release date).

Up next: Free flow...

Mad Men: Changing Ways

Sorry for the lull between posts. I am a few weeks into my second year of law school and although the classwork is easier, I am busier than I thought possible. Anyway, I meant to write a Mad Men post after the first or second episode of the current season, but better late than never. So far, the third season has reminded us that Mad Men has some of the biggest balls on TV because of both the things the show gets away with due the period nature (three words: Roger in blackface) and the things it's willing to put its characters through. The end of Season 2 was full of changes and revelations, and it looks like Season 3 isn't going to let up any time soon.

The year is 1963 and the sale of Sterling-Cooper to the British ad agency isn't going well. Some of the mannerisms of British representatives clashes with certain people in the office, notably Joan, who finds John Hooker, the male "assistant" of the British leader, impossible to deal with. But even worse, the home office inexplicably denies S-C the opportunity to work with the committee building the new Madison Square Garden, an account that would earn the agency millions of dollars. Instead, they sign with a trust fund baby who wants to make jai alai the next American pasttime (he wants to create an organization like the MLB, with an acronym like AJAA, which Don hilariously pointed out that many Americans would "have trouble with that "J").

In more personal stories, I'm guessing that certain people's lives are going to get pretty shaken up. Peggy is asserting herself more at the office; she's sporting a new haircut and objecting to the way the guys portray women and women's needs in ads. Roger is basically estranged from his daughter, who is getting married, because of his new wife (Jane, Don's manipulative secretary from last year) and his relationship with Don is deteriorating as well. Sally Draper is beginning to snap; her grandfather, who paid her a lot of attention and encouraged her, recently died, and she was none too pleased with the way her parents are dealing with his death (at least, the way she perceives them to be taking it). Her grandfather gave her support when Don was barely around and Betty snapped at her. I'm waiting for Betty to tell her to "Go watch TV" and have it finally be too much for the young woman. Finally, based on events in the season premiere, I'd be willing to guess that this is the year Don and Sal's secrets are revealed to the rest of the characters. The premiere opened with the introduction of Don's mother (in a flashback), a prostitute who likely gave Don his birthname of Dick based on a threat she made to Don's father. This was either to tell us that we'd be learning a bit more about Don this year, that his secrets would be revealed, or to give us insight into something that happened later in the episode (probably a mixture of all three). While on a business trip later that episode, Don caught Sal in the middle of a homosexual act. But instead of despising him or ratting him out, Don has (so far) kept his secret. Is it because Don is unusually progressive for his time (aspects of what we've seen of him so far offer competing answers to that question), or is it because he knows what it's like to live a lie?

Finally, this season will bring with it monumental world events that will shape the characters' lives in ways they can't imagine yet. In the most recent episode, Thích Quảng Đức, the Buddhist monk who protested the maltreatment of Buddhists in Vietnam by setting himself on fire, became an international news story, but no one yet knows the significance of this. And, come November (in the show's timeline), an event in Dallas will bring America to its knees.

So far, this season is shaping up to be another amazing year.

Up next: Neil in Hyrule...