Eliza Dushku has some of the best celebrity legs in entertainment. She obviously takes good care of her pretty legs by working out and staying fit. Her legs are shapely and toned. I really like this photoset of her wearing high heels and short skirts. The one of her in laying in bed with stilettos is a particular favorite. This is some good work.

Oh Eliza Dushku. Since the early 00s, Eliza has kind of served as the knock-a-round girl of Hollywood. She was awesome in Bring It On and then after that seemed to only be offered shit roles (Tru Calling LOL) or ones she took just to pay the bills (Nickelback video LOL). It wasn’t until early this year that Eliza really came back on the scene with Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse where she played the role of lady that killed people, had sex with them, and got her memories wiped. A great role for the sexy brunette but sadly a short one as early in November it was announced that Dollhouse had been cancelled (Joss Whedon LOL) and Eliza was once again out of work. Yes I shed a tear.

Even though I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of Eliza Dushku in the future, you can’t deny that 2009 was a great year for her. Sure her show got cancelled but at least she reminded the world that she was still alive and insanely hot. Let’s face it. That’s all that really matters.

PS: She also has one of the sexiest voices ever.

is this movie overlong or is my watch just not working...?

R

Bryan Greenberg, Alan Rickman, Mary Steenburgen, Shawn Hatosy, Bill Pullman, Eliza Dushku, Danny DeVito

Sarah: I’m so sorry.  You see, the genius part of his brain is so big that it’s just swallowed up the civilized part of his brain, causing this monstrous antisocial behavior.

The son of an arrogant, Nobel Prize winning professor is kidnapped.

I guess that sentence above isn’t so much a plot summary as it is just the setup of the movie.  I’m  just afraid that if I tried getting any further into the plot, I’d be typing all day.  Plus, I’d probably give some so-called surprises away.

Though, I’m not sure anyone would really care since the movie is predictable, dull, and obnoxious.  It is WAY over edited and is buried under a lot of extremely loud music.  None of the characters are likable, the central caper is stupid, and characters behave nonsensically just for the sake of advancing the plot.  Also, a lot of little plot points are brought up but never actually explained or followed through with.  That bugged me.

Yeah, it’s not very good.  It’s just a stylistic imitation of movies like The Italian Job and The Bank Job.  Maybe if it had been named The Nobel Son Job it would have worked better.  I was ready for it to be over the whole time I was watching it, and now I’m ready for this review to be over.  So…it is.

Beware hot crazy chicks who write bad poetry.

10 – 3.3 for being predictable, dull, and implausible – 2 for a bunch of annoying characters = 4.7

Though it aired months ago, as a start to kickstarting this blog, some thoughts after what’s likely my third viewing of “Belle Chose”. Note that I’m not a studied academic and these are kind of messy, but get into thoughts I had during the episode…

Dollhouse is not shy about dealing with ideas other TV shows wouldn’t touch, and asking big questions about identity, morality, and the nature of what a person is. Here, it skewers the desires of the clients by comparing and contrasting the objectification of women by a twisted abductor and killer against that constructed by a misogynistic university professor. It also touches on plenty of other stories, showing the little details of the life of a Dollhouse handler and reminding us why, when we aren’t careful with tech, things can go very wrong.

Terry Karrins and Professor Gossen are not terribly different creatures, despite very explicit differences in their methods and motives. Both objectify women, using false figures because they cannot control women in a genuine circumstance; both believe that their desires are something acceptable to pursue; and both are definitely criticised here. Tim Minear’s script is pretty brilliant here, in that both plots work better together than apart: Gossen might seem less monstrous until we recognise the similarity to the terrifying tableau created by Terry, while Terry’s plot would seem cartoonishly bizarre if Gossen did not remind us how commonplace this view of women is, which makes only its scale something new. By placing our attention on these two parallel events, we are given a sense of how misogynists crave the destruction of female agency and power.

Gossen’s storyline is about male vs. female power. Gossen’s fantasy dictates that women have sexual power over men, but the reality of the situation is that the woman has no power: using his advantages of monetary wealth, Gossen has created ‘Kiki’ in order to teach her how to seduce him. This offers elements of greater gender constructs: Woman’s power is sexual and restricted by how much the ‘target’ desires to reciprocate. Meanwhile, man’s power is monetary and filled with societal privilege, trumps female power and is much less restricted. Female ‘power’ is not so much power at all; it is power only in that they are able to refuse men like Terry and Gossen, without guaranteeing them the attentions of a man they might prefer to seduce who is simply not interested. Female power, Gossen poses, allows a woman to “not let a man define her”, but actually define’s woman’s power as only useful in the manipulation of men.

This is reflected in Terry’s story, where this same perceived power over men is used by a misogynist as justification to destroy women’s agency and declare them ‘whores’. Terry Karrens is the perpetual stepped-upon male figure, eternally jealous of those who are gifted with the attentions of women but unable to pursue a mate of his own. Blaming them for his pain (“They pay more attention to their dates and their boyfriends… No time for Terry.”), for their power to ignore and refuse him, his only coping strategy is to create doll forms of them with real women picked up off the street. The one perceived power given to women in society, their sexuality, is threatening, and Terry is able to nullify it by remaking a ‘nice day’ with women who are little more than mannequins he can use to fulfill his desires. While Gossen’s doll-ification of Kiki is viewed as pathetic, Terry’s story is viewed as horrifying; only by placing them beside each other is the horror of both clear. And the episode lays this out in one succinct sequence, intercutting between Gossen explaining to Kiki the “power that all women have” and Terry explaining to Paul how his victims deserve their fates because they ignored him.

Beyond these elements of gender roles and misogyny, the episode allows other plots to play out. This episode gives some material to Tahmoh Pennikett’s Paul Ballard, who is just beginning to settle into his role as Echo’s handler following accepting the job in “Vows”. I’ve heard this episode was originally planned to follow the premiere, and a few small touches make this obvious. One such point: This subplot makes much more sense directly following his taking the job, and seems much more out-of-place waiting a week for “Instinct” to occur in between. Here we see the small things in Paul’s new life: the awkwardness of corralling a blank active towards a treatment (and fighting his attraction for Echo), the tedium of waiting through the makeover, rescuing an active when they get into trouble. But also the secret thrill of it, seeing the object of his affections nude, being an object of her admiration, waiting for her to be dressed up. There’s a kind of tenderness to him, in his pause before he moves on to working with Victor-as-Terry.

And we have the requisite elements showing how the Dollhouse are playing with tech they fundamentally don’t understand, between Topher causing a blackout at Dollhouse HQ and accidentally switching two imprints remotely, or the revelation that Echo is becoming able to suppress an imprint (something that would have been more powerful had this episode followed “Vows”).

All in all, though the episode wasted Michael Hogan, it gave some fun work to Pennikett, Olivia Williams and particularly the brilliant Enver Gjokaj, and dealt with themes much more complex than the average television drama. Add in some humour, a greater sense of the cast-as-team (with Adelle, Topher, Paul and Boyd all working together at different points), and it becomes a rather enjoyable piece of the story.

• Just found out Jessica Szohr (Vanessa, Gossip Girl) stars in Daughtry’s music video for “Over You.” This song meant the world to me a few years ago so I decided to look up the video on a whim and there she was!
• Kellan Lutz (George, 90210), Sophia Bush (Brooke, One Tree Hill) and Maria Menounos (Jules, One Tree Hill) are all featured on Nick News with Linda Ellerbee: Kids to the Rescue! Helping Homeless Animals, which airs Sunday night.
• MTV has an interview with Jana Kramer (Alex, One Tree Hill).
• Emmanuelle Vaugier (Nicki, One Tree Hill) has joined the cast of Human Target.
• Rick Fox (Dante, One Tree Hill) will have a cameo in Dollhouse, alongside real-life girlfriend Eliza Dushku.
• TVGuideMagazine.com has a short but cute video interview with Amanda Righetti (Hailey, The O.C.).

We didn’t even know she was dating anyone but what a fine fox he is! It would appear soon to be axed show “Dollhouse” thinks so too as Rick Fox (the fox ha!) will be featured as an active on the January 8th episode, which airs two weeks before the series’ finale with as return appearance from Summer Glau. 

If you are worrying that Eliza and her Fox’s real-life romance will ruin what remains of the series, don’t fret! Back in 2007, Fox had a recurring role on Ugly Betty as the bodyguard-love interest to Vanessa Williams’ Wilhelmina, his EX-WIFE!

We’ve heard about the Attic from the earliest Dollhouse shows – now we finally know what it’s all about. The Attic Part 2 was one of the finest Dollhouse episodes ever.

Rossum is using ‘unfit dolls’ and enemies of Rossum as human computers – their brains are all connected to power the mainframe – OUTSTANDING.

Meeting the Rossum co-founder – who has been stuck in the attic since 1993 – also neat.

But this was one episode that was also really disturbing – how about that guy stuck in the sushi bar where he had to eat his own legs??? That was repulsive.

On the other hand, the fact that Adele is now onside with bringing down Rossum is also an interesting change of events -

Dollhouse has had its ups and downs but the last four hours worth of episodes have been…well..outstanding. It is  a shame this show has been canceled, but it sure is going out with a bang isn’t it?

500  posts. Plus 2. That’s exciting. Shocking, too. Exciting and shocking. Reminds me of my last marriage.

Random notes:

1) Last night I had a dream I was watching a movie featuring Nic Cage as Benjamin Franklin and Jeff Goldblum as Albert Einstein and they were teaming up to fight vampires. It was called Science Dawn and I loved every moment of it.

When I woke up from said dream, I uttered one word: “Gangsta.”

2) Just caught up with the two latest episodes of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse via Hulu. The already canceled show will come back in January to air it’s last three remaining episodes and I’m now at the point where I can actually call it a tragedy.

I’d say that 83% of the first season was not all that great. The last two aired episodes last year were decent and the DVD only finale, “Epitaph One” was amazing, but almost like a whole other show.  The first two episodes of this season? Not that great. But then somewhere around their third episode this year, the writers must’ve realized that they were dying and they finally just started making really good TV.

The most recent episode, “The Attic” was brilliant and fun. Directed by comic book artist John Cassady (who did a gorgeous and amazing run on the X-Men with Whedon) and aping Neal Stephenson in places, it was like a whole other perfect show compared to where it was last year. I’m really looking forward to the last three episodes but there’s something heartbreaking in the idea that this show will continue to get better and better right up to the moment it dies.

3) There’s a Nick Tosches book called In The Hand Of Dante that I’ve always wanted to read and was reminded of it by glancing through the last issue of Entertainment Weekly, where it’s listed as one of “the essentials” of Johnny Depp. The fact that anyone needs to know what Johnny Depp’s essential anything is, well, it’s hilarious to me. But I’m thankful for the reminder and decided to pop online to get a copy for myself and possibly one for someone else since apparently Christmas is coming up. We still have a few weeks, right?

Anyway, they’re out of stock now on the book, and this is other suggested selections listed, the books that customers who bought that Nick Tosches book also bought:

I got a small chuckle out of that list, since those are the other “essentials” listed by Capt. Jack Sparrow in the EW article.

4) The other day this woman I work with was telling me a story about an elderly lady who was almost the victim of a home invasion. I don’t remember all the details, forgive me, but the gist of the story was that a guy kept knocking on her door, she lived out in the middle of nowhere, and the 911 operator told her to “do whatever you have to do” to protect herself, so she shot the guy with a shotgun.

Regardless of the details of whatever happened, the story terrified me. And it make ponder: If they remade Home Alone now – and that’s, what, probably just a year or two away anyway, right? – I feel like in our current crazy political climate, with all those arma ferre nutjobs out there, little Kevin McCalister would probably not use his brains or ingenuity to stop those stupid robbers but rather just go and get his parents’ gun out of the shoebox in the upstairs closet and would or kill himself and the two of them and maybe the family dog as well. And that’s just awesome.

5) Speaking of death and decay and literary aspirations and creative miasma: Counterforce actually had 500 posts. Well, 502 now. Shocking. How have the Elder Gods of the Internet not kneecapped us yet? Maybe it’s because we run so fast.

Again, sorry about disappearing on you for a few weeks there. We took a mini-vaca, I guess. There was a podcast recorded somewhere in there that probably sounded horrible, sound quality-wise, and wasn’t that thrilling, I’d imagine, content-wise. As I remember, it was a lot of talk about Dawson’s Creek, hate sex, sex with redheads, music, facebook, and… well, the rest is a blur. Rightfully so, I imagine.

Anyway, 500 posts. Here’s to 500 more! Or, at least, a few more. I feel like our posting schedule will be sporadic throughout the rest of December but there’s been some talk about a movie list from the past decade and several other interesting things. We shall see. Until then…

TOMORROW (I believe) on COUNTERFORCE: I’ll probably talk about my favorite albums from the past year, which I’m discovering was possibly even more forgetable than I realized.

And MONDAY or TUESDAY (I believe) on COUNTERFORCE: a book review.

Until then, just ask yourself this:

Welcome back friends and neighbors.  You favorite GonzoGeeks are going to give you one last dose of LinkFrogging this year/decade.  We’ll be taking the next two Fridays off for Christmas and New Years Day, but rest assured, your daily dose of links and cheesecake will return in 2010.

Speaking of cheesecake, with the movie Avatar opening today, it seemed like a great chance to serve up Sigourney Weaver.  In addition  to appearing in James Cameron’s multimillion dollar 3-D sci-fi epic, Ms. Weaver has some other serious geek cred.  She starred as Dana Barrett in the two Ghostbusters movies, she was in the Star Trek parody/homage Galaxy Quest, and, of course, she was Ripley in the Alien Quadrilogy.

Merry Christmas to all and on to the links.

1. Aye mami!
2. Darn!  Another Christmas gift scratched off  the list.
3. Snoop.  Doing work.
4. Yuletide beatings!
5. Teaser footage from Kick-Ass featuring Nic Cage, his daughter and firearms.
6. Any time Wright Thompson writes an E-Ticket story, it’s required reading.
7. Interview with Joss Whedon regarding Dollhouse and why it is hurtling toward a too-early demise.
8. I asked my team for pictures of cheesecake Santa pics.  Chris delivers!
9. The guide to convincing your friend to care about Dr. Who.
10. Our long national nightmare is over.
11. Time magazine asks Dave Grohl 10 questions.
12. I am now and have always been your muse.
13. An amateur MMA fan takes in an amateur MMA fight and reports back…amateurishly.
14. A 30 Rock Christmas montage.
15. A list of the funniest movies of the decade.
16. Two words:  Hitman Monkey.
17. This just in!  Courtney Love is an unfit mother.
18. David’s Iraq deployment blog.
19. Its not the moon, but its still impressive.
20. Alcoholic monkey stealing tourist booze.
21. This one is for my wife.
22. Wait…this wasn’t in Twilight.
23. The game of Life…2009 edition.
24. More odd nativity scenes.
25. The decade’s best and worst graphic novel adaptations.
26. Monkey hat trick.

Open Graves – Directed by Álvaro de Armiñán; Written by Bruce A. Taylor and Roderick Taylor. Starring Mike Vogel and Eliza Dushku.

Tagline: Jumanji - The Final Destination version!

If you have seen this movie, then you will know what it is all about. A group of friends decide to play a cursed board game and get killed one by one until only one remains.

This movie did have some moments there, particularly when Eliza Dushku was onscreen but the rest of this movie came up very predictable to say the least.

There was some good footage of the local scenery in some parts of the movie, that was about as far as I got enthused about Open Graves. The death scenes were predictable, and the ending scene showed us that an idiot will say the darnest things to start a never ending time-loop.

While it is worth watching just to see Eliza Dushku, that is about as far as one’s interest will span.

I don’t know about anyone else, but if a mysterious dude gave me a board game several hundreds years old the first thing I would be doing is listing it on E-Bay

Synopsis: In Spain, the American surfer Jason (Mike Vogel), his best friend and photographer Tomas Escaño (Iman Nazemzadeh) and his girlfriend Lisa (Lindsay Caroline Robba) go shopping in a fair and while the couple is negotiating with a street vendor, Jason visits a dreadful store. Jason has a friction with the handicapped owner Malek (Alex O’Dogherty) and the man in a wheelchair offers an ancient board game called Mamba from the Spanish Inquisition period for free to excuse his behavior. Meanwhile, Detective Izar (Gary Piquer) is investigating the death of a man that was skinned alive. When a heavy rain falls during a party on the beach, Jason joins Tomas, Lisa, his new acquaintance Erica Vargas (Eliza Dushku), Pablo (Boris Martinez), Miguel (Ander Pardo) and Elena (Naike Rivelli) to play the game. Erica reads the rules and explains that the winner would have his wish granted while the losers would be cursed to die the way described in the cards. Pablo is the first to lose and borrows Tomas’ car to buy some beers. Miguel, Lisa, Elena and Tomas also lose, but the players stop the game when Detective Eric arrives and informs that Pablo has just died. When Miguel, Lisa and Elena also die, Jason researches the Mamba in the Internet and finds that the pieces and board had been made of skin and bones of the witch Mamba Masamba and the cards had been written with her blood and tears. Jason decides to finish the game with Erica to undo the curse.

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Check out actress Eliza Dushku looking glamorous with her Tory Burch Studded Messenger Bag. The richly tanned leather combined with gold studded detailing is sure to add a rock hot vibe to any look.

Love it? Bid on this bag TODAY at oohilove.com. Hurry, only a few hours left!

KT offers up part 2 of Dollhouse Monday!

DOLLHOUSE:  2.08 “A Love Supreme”

I like this new, suave Alpha.  Last spring we saw him play hilariously timid and we saw his megalomania, so it was fun to see a different facet of his insanity.  It amuses me to imagine Alpha as a sort of comic book villain for the Dollhouse — the kind that comes back every once in a while, stirs up some mayhem, but always escapes to fight another day.

And I like this new, soulful Echo who banters with Topher in an almost world-weary way.  Eliza Dushku has taken some heat for not being as versatile a doll as some of her co-stars, but in this episode and “Meet Jane Doe,” I think Echo is becoming more deep.  I thought Eliza was excellent here.

Ballard and Boyd make a good team, and it’s not just the alliteration.  Boyd is the calm rock, Ballard is more excitable, and their affection for Echo provides both a bond and just enough rivalry for a little flavor.

And since Topher knows a conspiracy when he desperately tries to avoid seeing one, he badgers Ballard and Boyd into telling him the truth about Echo, which blows his mind.  Topher’s reaction to the news and to Echo herself was as though a doll had come to life… so to speak.  The question of what is Echo is a valid one at this point, and I enjoyed watching Topher wrestle with it.  And after the debacle with his blueprints in “Meet Jane Doe,” I don’t think he would have confided in Adelle about this one any time soon.

I can’t decide which amused me more:  the scene where Sierra saunters in talking about guys and dolls like she’s stepped out of a Damon Runyon story or the earlier scene in which Dr. Victor can’t keep his eyes off her even as he’s analyzing gender relations.

But all of that gets pushed to the side when Alpha begins to make himself known.  He’s got a mean jealous streak, and begins to take out all of Echo’s repeat clients — all the people who love Echo.  When Boyd and Ballard catch up to him, there seems to be only one left:  Joel Mynor from “Man on the Street.”  Thematically, Joel’s here to offer another perspective on loving an active and on love itself, but it’s also just fun to have Patton Oswalt come back and have a scene with Topher.

This time there’s no fuss about how exactly Alpha got in; he just steps out of Adelle’s bathroom and offers to show her his vacation photos.  Turns out he spent some time in Texas, too!  So that should clear up any doubts Adelle may have had about who was helping Echo.

Alpha also slips in a reference to Monty Python here, which made me laugh because Alan Tudyk has been in Spamalot (he played Lancelot for about six months in 2005) as well as in a production called An Evening Without Monty Python earlier this fall.

That’s approximately the point at which the episode decideds that there’s been enough talking and there really should be some running and fighting now.  Alpha achieves this neatly by triggering all the actives into mindless fighters, then hunts out Joel Mynor, who becomes bait for Paul Ballard.  And while I’m sure Alpha killed Echo’s clients because it suited his sick sense of humor, it becomes clear that his real target all along was Paul, who despite his obsession has worked so very hard to not fall in love with Echo.  But Paul, as we’ve known all along, is not special.  And for all his efforts, he winds up braindead in the dollhouse, his personality added to the cocktail of craziness in Alpha’s head.

Here’s my question:  If Paul’s saved to that wedge, can he be re-imprinted with himself?

But for now, Echo’s watching over Paul and Joel Mynor has taken his leave, intending to leave the Dollhouse forever and remarry.  He’s the flip side of the guy at the beginning who blew his fortune on engagements with Echo.  Adelle’s pitch is always that the Dollhouse gives you what you need, but you have to know for yourself how much you really do need.  Joel got it right, got through his grief, and is moving on; the other guy became an addict, I suppose, and didn’t know when to stop.  There’s a real pathos about loving and depending upon a person who doesn’t exist.

Director – Rob Schmidt

Cast – Eliza Dushku, Cary Elwes, Timothy Hutton, Michael Ironside, Bill Mosely, Carl Lumbly

Release Year – 2008

Reviewed by John of the Dead

I’ve seen this film displayed quite a few times at local video stores and “RedBox” locations, but was always iffy on whether I should rent it. I personally love serial killer movies, and the fact that this film is directed by a very underrated director named Rob Schmidt(who also did Wrong Turn) I figured “what the heck?” and gave it a shot. This film does give us an interesting “M.O” for the serial killer and for the most part managed to be very effective in direction and story. However as with most films, there are a few elements where this film just falls flat on it’s face.

The Alphabet Killer is based on the “true events” involving a string of murders that took place in Rochester, New York between 1971 and 1973, appropriately dubbed the “alphabet murders”. Eliza Dushku, who was also in Rob Schmidt’s film “Wrong Turn”, stars as Lt. Megan Paige, a homicide detective who is assigned to a murder of a little girl. She is unable to solve this murder aside from some very interesting clues and evidence, and after repeatedly seeing the girl’s ghost her grief eventually drives her to attempt suicide. After a few years of treatment and attending a mental illness support group she is given a clerical job within the police department as a favor from her former fiancé(whom she lost thanks to her “illness“), Captain Kenneth Shine(Cary Elwes, who was the star of “Saw”). When another murder takes place that matches the same M.O as the murder several years prior, Megan Paige must now take matters into her own hands to find the killer and vindicate herself for her past failures.

This film started off great, and had me hooked on the notion of “what’s gonna happen next?”. I love that in films, and this Rob Schmidt’s use of gritty, low-light cinematography helps set the atmosphere for this “cat and mouse” type serial killer flick. As I mentioned earlier, the serial killer’s M.O was interesting, and has not been overdone in films to my knowledge. He/she(I’m not giving any clues) picks children who’s first and last initials are the same alphabetical letter, and leaves the body in a city that starts with the same letter. It may not be the most ingenious serial killer philosophy, but it is still original as far as other stories are concerned.

Rob Schmidt once again does an amazing job directing and is really the biggest reason behind whatever success this film has received. His camera angles, cinematography, and pacing in the film work well and leave me asking myself “Why doesn’t this guy get more films? And with better budgets???”. He really does things right in the horror/thriller genre, and hopefully some big producers will notice him and give him a shot at bringing us some good horror flicks in the future.

The acting performances were well done and didn’t really detriment the film. Eliza Dushku has done well in previous roles and although she pretty much nailed her part in this film, I really do not like her in roles that require mental instability in her characters. It’s not just this film either. She suffers from the same miscasting in the TV show “Dollhouse”, which she stars in as an agent who constantly has her memory erased after completing different assignments. Maybe it is because she is too hot to be crazy, maybe it is the look in her eyes, but in all honesty…I simply do not like her in these types of roles.

Although I enjoyed the direction in this film, I felt the writing and story could have been improved. Writer Tom Malloy, who has a supporting role in this film as Det. Stephen Harper, did do a very nice job with the use of the film’s supporting characters. A lot of serial killer films have very few supporting characters, and make the required twist ending a little easier to guess. This film having so many different supporting characters works to it’s advantage and helps keep the viewer unaware of who the killer really is. I did not find the killer’s true identity to be THAT much of a surprise, but the way the character was written in was pretty clever. Bravo to Mr. Malloy. My gripes with this film’s writing mainly have to do with the notion of the “renegade cop who has to break the rules to vindicate himself/herself  and solve a case using facts nobody wants to listen to”, which is exactly what happens with Eliza Dushku’s character. I do understand there has to be some conflict with her character or else the film will be a bore, but there are creative ways to alter this film’s conflict to be a bit more original and not so cliché.

Overall, this is a moderately done film that will not give you anything new as far as it’s serial killer sub-genre goes. This is ok to watch as long as you don’t expect anything amazing from it and enjoy these types of thrillers.

Rating: 6/10

It’s such a shame that Dollhouse has been canceled – this week’s double episode – 7 and 8 – were among the best this show has ever had.

Episode seven we see a new type of doll – one that can change personalities on the fly to suit the need. Call her – Echo Supreme. Wasn’t that awesome?

Then the tour de force that was Episode 8 -A Love Supreme Part 2 – finally alpha is back – (where the frak did he go after the end of Season 1)??

He’s a wonderful nutbag of a character that we all love to hate.

And in a brilliant stroke of drama – Ballard is now brain dead but his imprint with Alpha – WOW.

There are so many loose ends and lots more drama to come as the final 4 episode of Dollhouse wind down this awesome show, once and for all.

Dollhouse has been an interesting experience. Originally it was cause for great excitement. Joss Whedon, the master behind such hallmarks as Buffy, Angel and Firefly had a new show coming, with many of the Whedonverse regulars! Unfortunately, the delivered show didn’t live up to the hype at all. It was in fact, a great letdown.

It may have made sense to wait a while as many shows had poor first seasons until they got settled, however Dollhouse has shown no signs of improving. It’s second season is quite a bit better than the first, but ultimately it is still just as bland and empty as the first. I also wonder how far that excuse can apply to Whedon’s shows, with Angel, Firefly having excellent first seasons, and Buffy being decent enough. It actually took me a while to get into Firefly being such a radical departure from the Buffyverse, but once I did the characters, stories dialog was top notch.

So, what is the problem with Dollhouse as a show? Well, where to start? It has none of the smooth wit or dialog Whedon is famous for. When characters speak it is always very brief and efficient, as though they are in a hurry. It is understandable that the dolls lack a personality, but why do the normal people? Is it all part of a larger plot plan to show that everyone is a doll?

It has (so far) none of the clever examination of moral and world issues so prevalent in his other works. The setup for the shows is a rich opportunity to examine what it means to be an individual and the importance of identity, corporations growing out of control, questions of the soul etc…, None of these are examined. It is sometimes hinted at, and Echo’s development is perhaps hinting towards such a plot, but so far nothing. The entire first season entirely squandered this opportunity, and the second season has so far only been dropping hints. In effect, 2 seasons over 2 years have failed to have any meaningful examination. No wonder it was canceled.

Then, there are the main characters. Many problem have an issue with Eliza’s acting. Personally, I think she plays a blank doll fine, and while her acting in her various guises is far from great, it is passable. It certainly would not be enough to bring the whole show down. What about the other characters? Again, the acting is nothing special, which isn’t a problem. Enver Gjokaj is one of the better actors on the show. His portrayal in the last episode (2×05) of Topher was perfect, with it being a perfect impression.The problem, is with the characters. They are bland and uninteresting, and morally suspect without any kind of reasoning or explanation given.

In all of Joss Whedon’s other TV shows, there is a common theme for people fighting for something. We had Buffy fighting against the forces of hell to save the world, Angel fighting for his humanity, and the crew of the Firefly fighting against a totalitarian government. This theme is absent in Dollhouse. Instead, we have a large apparently very evil corporation screwing around with peoples lives and personalities for profit. Indeed, it seems to be implied through that Rossum wins regardless, which invokes a feeling of ‘why even bother?’. The only character who was fighting against them was bland and uninteresting, and ended up working for them.

In the first season, we had Agent Ballard explaining why the Dollhouse was evil in every episode, while displaying a disturbing obsession with Echo that was never quite explained. For reasons that don’t quite make sense and appear to be forgotten, he now works for the Dollhouse, suddenly being convinced he is doing the right thing. With Senator Perrin revealed to be a doll, there is no one actually fighting the Dollhouse.

Boyd is obviously a moral character and has a lot of concern for the people in the Dollhouse despite obvious moral qualms about his work. An apparently meaningful relationship with echo in season 1 was abandoned in season 2. Why show these characters and their moral concerns if you are not going to expand on them. All we see is these people voluntarily working for an evil corporation without offering any justification. This makes it hard to sympathize with or like these characters, when we instinctively feel we should be rooting for them to be taken down.

One of the more annoying things about the show is the fact that everyone is turning out to be a doll. Dr. Saunders turned out to be a doll, which was interesting given that she was a member of staff. Then Lubov turned out to be a doll, which seemed like an interesting twist. Then Mellie was revealed to be a doll, which is exactly when it stopped being clever. After the last episode revealing that the Senator was a doll, it became an annoying plot device that makes it hard to be invested in the story. I won’t be surprised if any more major characters turn out to be dolls.

Another point that I found annoying, although it applies to a lesser extent to all of Joss’ shows, is a negative male portrayal. The males on Joss’s shows always seem to embody negative sterotypes to directly contrast the strong female characters, instead of just having ‘normal’ male characters. Topher seems particular annoying because he appears to be a clichéd lonely brilliant nerd. Much like Andrew. We then had Ballard with an unexplained obsession, one of the handlers being a rapist, the Dollhouse directors being willing to sell Sierra into sexual servitude for profit and Dominic trying to murder Echo. The only decent character seem to be Boyd who is still quite questionable. By contrast the females are all strong and independent, and work hard to do the morally right thing such as DeWitt restoring Serra so she would not have to be a slave, and Caroline being an activist before she was a doll.

One last small thing that has been bugging me with the show, and with other movies or shows with similar concepts such as Avatar, is why a persons consciousness must be transferred. Surely however that technology would work by reading the brain, it would make a copy? What would necessitate that the original be erased? It’s a minor point, but it seems that it is avoided for the sole purpose of the problems such a plot point would cause. If it is obvious to me, then it is probably obvious to others, so why not explain it away in the show?

Some people might say that Dollhouse was canceled just as it was getting good, and I am not sure that is true. The show has certainly improved, however I don’t think it has improved to a point that warrants renewal. The characters are still bland, there has not been any strong overall story or development, the stand alone episodes are weak….the audience has nothing to connect with. The show may have had potential, but they had two years to figure things out and correct their mistake. If they didn’t learn by now, then it is a fairly safe bet they may never have.

It was an interesting ride though. I wonder if the series will continue on in comic form ala Joss’ other works. I can understand many people watching the show being fan’s of Joss and wanting to see where the show went. What I don’t get is the blind loyalty some of these whedonites seemed to display, aggressively defending what is basically a bad show. Even if the show were good overall, when they defend obviously bad writing or dialog, it seems to be nothing more than fanaticism born out of some sort of twisted loyalty.

Something that this Penny Arcade strip captured perfectly:

While Dollhouse was ultimately disappointing, I look forward to Joss’ next project, and hope that he may return to his original winning formula.

Update
It seems I spoke too soon. I wrote this post before watching episodes 2×07 and 2×08, which seemed to contradict many of my problems with the show. The later episodes have definitely been interesting, although the story would have worked much better as a season/show arc rather than a conclusion to the canceled series. I have to say I was quite disappointed with the attic being a matrix ripoff and Victor and Sierra having a love that transcends self. Still, it is entertaining enough and I wonder how the show will end in January.

It seems a bit weird recommending a television show that’s already been cancelled.  But check out Dollhouse.  While Fox is currently playing out its final 6-7 episodes, airing them back-to-back so as to presumably get the whole affair over with, fans like myself are left with a couple questions.

For the uninitiated, Dollhouse is Joss Whedon’s newest series since the infamously short-lived “science fiction western” Firefly.  The show centers around an organization that wipes human’s brains and inserts new personalities for top dollar services.  Participants are called “actives” and can conceivably be turned into anyone, or anything.  Dollhouse deals with issues of consciousness and mind over matter, that a human brain can be programmed and reprogrammed like a computer.  Various moral and ethical objections are raised, ignored, and exploited, often to maintain the Dollhouse’s security and anonymity.

But the show was cancelled in November due to exceptionally low ratings.  As is becoming something of a trend, Joss Whedon’s shows are often met with difficulty in securing a large audience and ultimately network confidence.  Which is too bad; he is an excellent writer and brilliant filmmaker in general.  Maybe television as the distribution medium isn’t a great for him, at least anymore.  His mini-film Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog has become wildly popular and that was done on the cheap, directly for the internet.  If only Joss Whedon could just find a way to get his actors and production crew to work for free every time, then his problems would be over.