“The Public Eye” / “The Left Hand”

December 4th, 2009

“Everybody’s got a past – it’s the future [viewers] care about.”

Writing about Dollhouse is like riding a bike – the show has never suffered from a lack of ideas, making even its weaker episodes (once it got ahold of its identity) fascinating to discuss. However, there’s something inherently unsatisfying, in theory, about getting back onto that bicycle when you know that you’re about to run out of road, and in a very short period of time this bike is going to be absolutely worthless to you. So much of what I do here at Cultural Learnings is about contextualizing episodes in the past, present and future of any particular series, and in the world of Dollhouse that future has become a swift cancellation which could come as soon as early next week should the ratings from tonight’s two-hour block of episodes be so disastrous that FOX is willing to risk the wrath of fans as opposed to the wrath of advertisers and replace the show with reruns.

And yet, there is something about where this show finds itself mid-way through its second season that I find far more compelling than I should. I know this show is going to end, and yet there is something about the show’s view of the future that has turned its futility into an asset of sorts. It’s almost as if we’ve already reached the end of the road, but instead of a sheer drop the show is offering a lengthy kill on which we can simply coast down the hill with our hands off the handlebars feeling the wind in our face and taking those last moments to think about what was, what is, and what will (or would) be. It’s almost as if cancellation has freed Dollhouse from certain expectations, and what we get from this point forward is about what we take from the material rather than what the material necessarily says in and of itself.

As such, “The Public Eye” and “The Left Hand” are both really great hours of television not only because they’re well-executed in terms of basic plot and character, but also because through the wonders of a DVD bonus feature we as an audience are perfectly situated to understand the ramifications of what is going on here at levels that go beyond the immediate to a future that we might never be able to see but that we are able to vividly imagine in ways that allow the show to survive beyond the certainty of its fate.

Senator Daniel Perrin felt like a strange character to introduce into this universe back in October when we first met the man. He seemed like a waste of Alexis Denisof, an effort to set up an external threat to the Dollhouse in a way that seemed like a distraction. As such, it’s not too surprising that “The Public Eye” fundamentally deconstructs any notion of Perrin’s externality, revealing that he a unique sort of doll. In the process, the show manages to take the concept of the Dollhouse and apply it quite savvily into the world of politics. It’s as if Perrin is a third son, passed over for the first son and ignored when compared to the second son, left to waste away his existence as a 30-something frat boy until someone realizes that third son or not his name has potential. And as opposed to hiring a speech writer, an image consultant, and perhaps a big-money P.R. firm, the Rossum Corporation simply eliminates some attributes and adds others, creating a super-politician who can help clear the way for their master plan.

Dollhouse is often as its best when it takes things which happen in the real world (like, say, prostitution) and effectively turns the dial up to 11, shifting the purpose of the engagements in such a way as to challenge our preconceptions. Many politicians (including, most famously, George W. Bush) were built from the ground up by a political war machine, and in some instances were placed there by corporations. In the world of Dollhouse, though, that corporation is doing this not out of corporate greed but out of twisted self-preservation, understanding the immoral underpinnings (heck, pinnings (does this make sense? I don’t know, but it’s fun to say. Pinnings!) for that matter) of their actions and working to clear the way for them to continue heightening their power. When our intrepid protectors of a moderately less corrupt image of this process at the Los Angeles Dollhouse get into Daniel Perrin’s head, they discover that Rossum had plans to create a President – plans that have been altered by their actions, but that could just as easily continue to change this world in the future.

And yet, for some characters this idea of a future is almost impossible to imagine. Bennett Gulverson is, as is the case with nearly every character that Summer Glau plays, beyond any sense of real understanding. I’m still not entirely sure what she is: is she some sort of weird doll/human hybrid (hence why she wasn’t affected by Topher’s disrupter), or is she someone who was meant to be a doll but who lost her arm and thus lost her ability to “do her best” as part of the program, and who worked independent of programming to develop the skills necessary to help those who are what she can never be. Either way, the point is that this is a character who is stuck in the past, who spends each and every day trying to focus on the present long enough to do her job but whose job is treating and preparing those who are living the life she was supposed to live and that at least some part of her wanted. The moment where she realizes that Topher finds her pretty isn’t just a ploy, in my eyes: yes, she’s playing him as much as he’s playing her, but just as he is legitimately smitten with her she is legitimately overcome with emotion at the idea that he would consider her to be a doll because of what that represents in her twisted memories of the past.

Echo, in turn, is forced to live the past through her own present, losing the use of her left arm and struggling to figure out where Echo fits in with Caroline (her own past) and her future, which is far more indeterminate than the show’s. Because this show isn’t about simple characters, there’s no sense that closure is ever an option here: to “close” Echo’s character, you would need to resolve every bit of Caroline’s identity, every shred of identity inherent in Echo’s wiped state (which we know to be more sentient than any other), and every bit of what role she is eventually supposed to play in this grand conspiracy. For Perrin, his end goal is shockingly clear, a prime directive. Echo, meanwhile, is not wired for any one particular goal, which means that in a wiped state she’s trying to find her own purpose despite having no idea where to begin. Echo wandering around in the world is not so much dangerous for her physical self (as we saw in “The Public Eye,” provocation is capable of bringing out memories from previous engagements as a result of her glitching of sorts) as it is for her mental self, exposed to a world that will do very little to help the problems going around in her head.

A lot of “The Left Hand” is built around a clever device, as Topher (in order to be in both Washington and L.A. at the same time) imprints Victor with, well, Topher. The gag has its moments, most of which come from Enver Gjokaj playing the mimic yet again (between this and Reed Diamond, Gjokaj was built for this role), but it also helps to emphasize (albeit in a comic fashion) the sort of snowball effect of this technology. In his rivalry of sorts with the legendary Bennett Gulverson (who has also heard of him), you realize that this is like any other scientific field: one piece of technology (in this case Alpha’s remote wipe technology) turns into a useable device by one technician, while the other one finds a way to turn it into something else entirely. It creates a chain reaction effect which results in legitimate tension (Topher punching Bennett out was a highlight) and also a constant reminder that some day in the future, this technology is going to be mean the end of the world as we know it, and when that happens Topher Brink is going to be a complete and total wreck. In this episode, Topher enlists his own help in order to complete the task, but more minds only takes things that one step too far, where the technology goes from an emergency aid to disrupt the Actives to a device which can attack any architecture and even alter it from afar.

It’s a moment that refers to a future we have seen, a future that through “Epitaph One” has been hanging over this entire season. The idea that the series finale will be a sequel to that story of the survivors of an apocalypse stumbling upon the Dollhouse years after it has helped engineer the end of humanity as we know it is exciting not because I expect that we’re going to get substantial answers but rather because I want to see more. That one glimpse has created new complexities to everything we’re seeing, taking story elements which could feel like they’re moving too fast and making them feel like mere drops in the bucket. It’s a future that constantly asks us to reconsider the present, and here had my mind spinning from the very beginning. Both episodes played around with our expectations, slowly unveiling that what seemed like one thing is in fact another, but in some ways the entire show has become that: it is a show about how bad things are going to be, and yet where all of the characters but one believe that this is all about a sense of progress and the great future ahead. To some, the actives are being protected from lives that could have seen them killed or sitting in a jail cell; to others, the actives are purely being exploited, left with the architecture in place for them to eventually lose their identities all over again when imprinting over the air becomes a blight on society.

The one person who stands against it (actively – I think Boyd and Echo are on the same page, just not as active (ugh) on the front) is Paul Ballard, who could have saved Madeline from her fate of lying in Bennett’s chair if only he could have bought into the party line and firmly believed that Madeline was making a mistake going through with her plan to testify against the Dollhouse. But Ballard has convinced himself that he’s working the Dollhouse from the inside, working with Boyd and Echo in an effort to take it down from the inside. Now, the episodes clearly started to separate Adelle from the other Dollhouses (including the always great Ray Wise in Washington) and from Rossum (the similarly great Keith Carradine), but at this point Ballard can’t trust anyone, and even if our group in L.A. is the lesser of the evils they are nonetheless complicit in these acts. And as a result, Ballard is forced to believe what he says: if he wants the dolls to go free, he needs to be willing to accept the decisions they make, as trying to force her to make a different decision (even one inherently smarter for her future than the one Rossum wants her to make) is turning into one of them.

The two episodes really drive home the point that we are in the same position: we know enough about where this goes to feel icky about some of what happens in L.A., but we are also able to see in a character like Bennett (played with such a perfect level of crazy from the always dependable Glau) the true endgame here. Topher may border on the annoying on occasion, but he is involved in this because science fascinates him and because it’s what he knows how to do. Bennett uses the same technology to gain revenge, and whereas L.A. operates the Dollhouse as morally as possible within its inherently immoral premise it’s clear that Washington has somewhat of its own rules. And that Rossum has its own ideas entirely. And that we know just enough about all of this to see a situation like the one depicted in these two episodes and look beyond its cultural relevance and its fine writing/acting and see a future that the show will never be able to fully construct but that it has mapped out just enough to keep us filling in the gaps at 3am when we should be getting sleep instead.

I’m going to miss that bike.

Cultural Observations

• I enjoy the idea that each individual Dollhouse has taken on elements of its location: from what we’ve seen, Los Angeles is interested in a sense of almost romance and fantasy, whereas what we heard of the engagements at the Washington dollhouse (like the long-term engagement with the closested congressman, and Perrin) seem to have that sense of subterfuge and political corruption inherent in them. It makes sense that it would be Washington that coordinates the Perrin effort, and one thing I will miss about the future is the idea of visiting other Dollhouses and seeing what they would have to offer.
• I find my tolerance for crazy Topher is entirely dependent on who is on the receiving end of the crazy. When it was his awkward interactions with Bennett, or even conversations with himself on that subject, it worked. And then it was Boyd standing there not sure how to respond to VictorTopher, it was brilliant. It worked less when the show was just letting the crazy sit there with no purpose, which was scarce enough for the storyline to work for me. “Glasses on a Chain FTW” was just fantastic, although Glau was fighting with fire with “Your skin is like a pig.”
• I probably won’t be able to review these episodes as easily together in the future, as not every two-hour set of episodes will probably act as a literal two-parter (these might as well have been considered “The Public Hand, Parts 1 and 2,” which throws us back to Jaime Weinman’s argument from the other day). I might end up just choosing the best episode to “review” in those instances, but we’ll see.

Dollhouse is Back (well until it gets cancelled) – and its back with a BANG!!

So Rossum Corp turned one of its dollhouses against the other in a plot to ensure that the dollhouse itself is never exposed.

Amazing.

Topher and Topher as a doll – FUNNY

Summer Glau as the D.C version of Topher – ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT..Summer was awesome.

The complexity of plot in this two episode set was astounding with layer within layer and multiple sub-plot texts underneath. We know have seen our second dollhouse, we’ve now seen that Topher is really nuts..and we know more about Echo/Caroline than we’ve ever known before.

So where does Dollhouse go from here?

Well at some point Ballard will bring the Dollhouse down. At some point Caroline will help him and somewhere along the way Doc Sanders/Whisky and Alpha will return

‘Dollhouse’ is back tonight on FOX Friday December 4 9/8c. It will also air two episodes from 8p-10p on December 11 and December 18, before taking a break and then airing its final three episodes on January 8, January 15, and January 22.

I am really disappointed that Season 2 is the end of ‘Dollhouse’, it was really starting to develop and get interesting. Plus, it was one of the more original shows out in TV land right now. It will probably be replaced by the remake of ‘Charlie’s Angels’ or some other remake.  

Episode Synopsis: DOLLHOUSE ”The Public Eye; The Left Hand” Season 2 Episode 5 – Echo is sent to stop Senator Daniel Perrin (guest star Alexis Denisof) before he can expose the Dollhouse’s secrets, and Adelle and Topher travel to the Washington, D.C. Dollhouse to meet its genius programmer, Bennett Halverson (guest star Glau), a woman with a mysterious past connection to Echo. In the second hour, Echo and Bennett have a shocking meeting as Adelle goes head-to-head with the ruthless head of the Washington, D.C. Dollhouse (guest star Ray Wise). Meanwhile, Topher sees double when he involves Victor in his espionage, and Perrin finds a surprising witness to testify against the Rossum Corporation.

Echo’s rating: 2.5 out of 4 Changs

Mammoth Rated: C(for Campy) 90 min.

Starring: Vincent Ventresca, Summer Glau, Tom Skerrit, A Big Dead Mammoth.

Ok, party people, here we go. After some time of considering doing a Sci-Fi Channel retrospective–and usually nixing it because of Jarv’s coverage of similar material–I’ve decided to heck with it, there’s room enough here for both. Afterall, an examination of the sheer volume of work the dubiously named channel churns out means we will likely never come close to reviewing the same thing, unless someone greenlights FrankenFish 2: Jus When Yo Think It Safe! I’ll avoid stepping on toes, and will reserve this column for only stuff playing in that Saturday night death slot on Sigh-Fry, er, umm…Sy-Fy.

As a way of getting started, I’ve picked Mammoth–one of the funnier and more absurd entries and, as far as I am aware, the only one of the lot to be nominated for a Prime Time Emmy (yes, some of Sy-Fy’s series and mini-series have been, but never a saturday night ‘Original’). Emmy for what you might ask? The mammoth of course! Apparently, whomever is responsible for nominations must have decided that the CGI corpse of a rotting stinking prehistoric pachyderm chasing the guy from Picket Fences was a visual achievement worthy of recognition.  

In truth, the fx aren’t really that special (Oh, shock!) but the movie has its own brand of nuttiness going for it.  Skerrit and Glau, as sci-fi geek grandfather and sci-fi geek granddaughter respectively, who join forces to hunt down an alien infected mastodon who happens to be sucking the souls of the townspeople? Yes please. And, for good measure, the filmmakers have let Vincent Ventresca tag along too. The result is stupidity of the highest order, that occassionally drags, but managed to keep me smiling the whole time and it actually gives Skerrit opportunity to…wait for it…act!

The story, which kicks in right after a super-silly animation sequence featuring dancing cave paintings and alien spaceships, is pretty lame-brained, even by the standards of this sort of thing. Ventresca is a paleontologist studying the remains of a frozen mammoth in the museum at the center of town. Ventresca is challenged by that age-old dilemma; spend time with his teen daughter or stay late pulling blood samples out of a hairy, frozen carcass. Luckily for Jack (yes, that really is Summer Glau’s characters name), she has an uber-nerdy white-haired grandfather who looks suspiciously like the old-age version of that captain in the first Alien movie. Gramps hangs around, takes Jack to the movies for seconds of whatever B-feature is showing, and gets to give Ventresca insight on how to be a better daddy.

All swell, until an alien organism comes beaming its way down into the mammoth (what small town museum can afford to house an entire frozen mammoth?) and the creature comes to life, breaks its puny exhibit captivity and starts rampaging through the sleepy little burg, actually picking people up, impaling them with its tusks, and promptly using its trunk as a soul hoover to remove their lifeforce! Rock on!

The weird thing about the movie is this; yes it is daft, and purposefully insane, but it seems like its actually trying when it comes to the familial relationship at the movie’s center. The connection between Skerrit and Glau is the fun kind of parent/child team-up that one could often find in 80s horror films. I liked it, and thought they both had decent chemistry together. Ventresca’s character is a stick in the mud, so mostly he’s very wooden, but there are even some nice touches thrown in between he and Skerrit. Tom looks like he is having a ton of fun, and he refuses to lower the quality of his performance just because his co-star is a CGI mammoth that wants to snuff up his soul. There are a pair of agents that show up halfway through, and a couple of assorted rednecks late in the game, but neither group add much interest to the story. Same for Glau’s boyfriend. He smells like mammoth fodder from scene 1.

But the mammoth itself? How is it? Well, good enough to earn an Emmy. So I found it more than a little strange that after shuffling behind houses, picking up and shotputting a guy in a gorilla gram suit, and chasing raving teens through a field, the beast would reveal itself as this:

Ok, kidding. The mammoth is just fine, slightly more solid and seemingly ‘there’ than most of the creatures that end up in these films. It has some occassional weight and heft to it, but there are so few long shots of it, that usually we only see it when it’s in the frame with another person and right on top of them. As a result of that, it ends up looking like the mammoth is constantly creeping up slowly behind people as if it wasn’t the size of a dumptruck and probably smelled like death itself. At one point Ventresca is looking for it, and it’s standing right behind him in the parody of a Chaplin silent film. One dude, scanning an abandoned town for a massive rotting elephant and it’s breathing down his neck.

The weakest element of Mammoth is that when it comes to scenes like the ones mentioned above, the movie isn’t confident enough to assure us that its playing fast or loose or is just simply incompetent and thats why it is funny. I’m certain it is the former reason, but my point is, the comedy elements aren’t delivered with any authority. They are off-to-the-side, instead of being over-the-top.

You get the impression that director Tim Cox actually expects the human story to sell the movie. No, we want more mammoth madness please! But for a Sy-Fy original, it marks an evolution. Most of these things you watch as part of the background to a more interesting event; playing cards with friends, hanging out with beer, slowly passing out mindlessly of boredom. You get the picture. Mammoth has progressed to the point that when you look at it, you will be tempted to not look away. Thats about as close to a recommendation here as you are gonna get.

And some fine enterprising and tone deaf individual has set scenes from Mammoth to music from Offspring. Here you go:

Molto intessanti le immagini promozionali di The left hand. Se, come sembra essere, le immagini che vedono Summer\Bennett e Caroline\Echo sono antecedenti allo svolgimento degli eventi sappiamo perché Bennett ha il braccio sinistro “morto” e perché odia Caroline. Nell’altra immagine vediamo il Senatore Perrin sul lettino, di fianco a Echo, con il classico pigiamino da doll: sarà stato rapito?

Once again, Fox gives a great big middle finger to the whedonverse and with it great, original television. Granted, I didn’t think Dollhouse would last past season one. It was slow to start, and the very nature of the show made it extremely difficult to make a sympathetic bond with the characters. We all stuck it out, in a sick loyalty to Joss Whedon, the ruler supreme of all geekdom.

Season 1 laid it all out on the line. Pseudo-nefarious organization presses people into service as ‘actives’ wherein their brains are wiped clean and new personalities are implanted with every episode (see I told you it was a difficult concept to bond to). Little by little we, as the audience, learn about the past live of our actives before they became barbies for billionaires. Slowly but surely, I got hooked.

And then, Season 2 happened.

The dolls started getting sentient, Felicia Day made a guest appearance, there’s  all kinds of love affairs and then, oh god, the teaser for the next episode featured this:

Summer Glau. Summer I-played-River-Tam Glau.

P. and I were literally screaming and writhing in girl-geek delight at the end of the last episode. B thought we’d lost it, as did Gigi (the cat) who ran in terror from the foaming-at-the-mouth scene.

Want to know what I will miss the most? My weekly dose of the geekily adorable Fran Kranz as amoral mad scientist Topher Brink. He can wipe my brain any day as far as I’m concerned.

Goodbye Topher, we hardly had time to fantasize about thee.

This week the ELO features Summer Glau. She’ll be appearing in an upcoming episode of the recently canned Dollhouse. If FOX sticks to the schedule, she’ll be appearing on our TV screens on December 4th.

After the jump, Brett Ratner is a jack-ass, FOX has turned into the Seth MacFarlane Network and we take a look back at the loss of another great show.

Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt pays tribute to screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber by re-enacting the elevator scene in 500 Days of Summer… without dialogue. (Movieline)

In real life, there is no such thing as a friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. (LA Times)

I really liked the film Gattaca back in the day. Now they’re turning the series into a television show. Sounds good right? Apparently it will be turned into a procedural drama. My enthusiasm for the show has died down a bit. (MTV)

They’re going to kill off Jason in the next Friday the 13^th! Don’t expect the series to end. The dude always finds a way to come back… even if it defies all logic. (IGN)

Brett Ratner has a habit of destroying certain movie franchises. These awesome posters clearly illustrates that. (Ratnerfilms @ Tumblr)

Ambiguous movie endings leaving you twisted up in a knot? Fear not folks, we have found the resolution for a bunch of these flicks including Lost in Translation and The Wrestler! (College Humor)

Roland Emmerich, please leave Independence Day alone! (Slashfilm)

2012: Best comedy of the year! (Latino Review) Wait… I don’t think this is what they were going for…

2012 sorta pissed off NASA. (JoBlo)

No one will be able to watch this movie in one take. (Telegraph)

MGM goes on sale. You want the movies or the logo? (Collider)

Chuck vs. T-1000. Yes please! (Entertainment Weekly) It’ll be nice to have Bakula back in the fold too. He did say he’s game if the writers bring him back.

Get ready to meet the cast of the new and (hopefully) improved Scrubs 2.0! I don’t know about you, but I’m still pumped for this show. (The TV Addict)

Steve is already a huge fan of January Jones, but after seeing this, I think he’s officially head over heels for her. (Entertainment Weekly)

Canadian singer-songwriter Lights is known for her catchy electro-pop tunes. I had her album on full rotation for a little while. Here’s an interesting interview she had with IGN. Did you know she’s a huge fan of World of Warcraft? I think all the geeks’ heads have just exploded. (IGN)

Now that FOX has cancelled Dollhouse, Fridays have opened up for more programming. Given that the Animation Domination is a safe bet, would you be surprised if the FOX network somehow transformed into the Seth MacFarlane network? (College Humor)

There was some sad but not unexpected news over the past week. FOX has decided to can Dollhouse. Disappointed? Sure. I really liked the show despite some inconsistencies within the storyline.

For all the Dollhouse fans out there, assuming that FOX sticks to the plan, you can catch back to back episodes on December 4, December 11 and December 18. Then the last three episodes will likely air Jan. 8, Jan. 15 and the series finale will air on Jan. 22.

If you’re curious about the status of Dollhouse’s production, the show’s cast and crew are working on the eleventh episode out of Season 2’s total of 13, and the creative team will have time to give the show a proper ending, according to news reports. This is a good move by FOX since it’ll reward those viewers who bothered to tune in. Given that this show has gotten 13 more episodes than it deserves (due to its anemic ratings), I am not entirely bitter about the cancellation this time around.

I’ve always had a soft spot for Dollhouse during it’s short, rocky lifespan. While it is not consistently good like some shows out there, the Dollhouse creative engine has been revving constantly throughout its run. It is also one of the most thought-provoking shows out there as it brings up questions about morality, free will and identity. The last aired episode ‘Belonging’ certainly left me feeling rather uncomfortable but at the same time it was an amazing hour of television. The show may have never found its audience (or its creative groove), but at least it went down swinging.

I’ll miss you Dollhouse. It’s been a good run and I’ll continue to watch the show until the series finale.

I don’t have a random funny Youtube clip this week, so I’ll throw in a trailer. I’ve been buzzing about Kick-Ass for a while and the first trailer has finally hit the net. Check out the awesomeness below.

L’intervista è stata realizzata qualche giorno prima della decisione della Fox di terminare Dollhouse con il 13esimo episodio, forse è per questo che Joss si è un po’ sbilanciato nelle anticipazioni.
I fatti salienti, per bocca di Joss, sono questi

1 Con il 13esimo episodio si avrà ” a sense of resolve” : Whedon ha imparato che – nel dubbio del rinnovo – è meglio dare un senso di chiusura alla storia. Poi, in caso, si è sempre in tempo a riaprire le vicende.

2 Bennett (Summer Glau) è stata pensata come una ragazza che indossa abiti da scool girl, gentile ma un po’ strana. E’ la Topher della dhs di washington dc, ma al contrario di Topher lei ha principi morali.

3 Bennett conosce qualcosa di sorprendente su Caroline

4 La Dhs di washington dc sta cercando di proteggersi dagli attacchi del Senatore Perrin (Alexis Denisof). Joss non vuole spiegare perché Adelle&Co vanno a washington.

5 Quello di Alpha (Alan Tudyk) sarà un rientro con il botto: Alpha ha delle domande da porre ad alcune persone e le porrà in modo terrificante…

6 Amy Acker tornerà in altri due episodi e il suo rientro sarà molto interessante: scopriremo con sorpresa dove è stata.

7 Vedremo finalmente l’Attico e sarà come fare un giro a disneyland sotto l’effetto di allucinogeni. E nell’attico troveremo anche Echo…

8 Ballard e Echo si baceranno

9 Echo realizzerà che il vero nemico non è la dhs ma la Rossum Corporation: anche noi scopriremo finalmente quali sono i veri poteri .

Fonte: http://www.tvguidemagazine.com 

Il testo originale e integrale dell’intervista: Are you writing episode 13 to be a finale, just in case? Hedging your bets?
You know what, we hedged the last time and we got renewed, so we’re definitely hedging them again. People forget but I did this every year with Buffy. That’s just insurance. I didn’t do it with Firefly and look what happened. I went mad as a March hare and made a movie. So we’re doing that this time. Hopefully we’ll have nine more to do it after. We always wrap everything up and then unravel it again, if we’re told to.

Do you really have hope that you could come back with nine more?
Do I have hope? I do think the December double airings are kind of interesting. I’m not planning a trip to Vegas, but I live in hope. I know how the show would go on. That’s the most important thing. I will pitch that to Fox, if they find that the economics are working out for them, they may say keep it going. If they don’t, which is likely, they’ll say the other thing. But the point is to be ready for both, though there is a sense of resolve at the end of 13.

You have some choice guest stars upcoming. What can you tell us about Summer Glau’s character, Bennett, who shows up on December 4?
She works for the Washington D.C. Dollhouse, along with Ray Wise’s Howard. She’s someone from Caroline’s (Echo’s pre-House name) past. She’s got information about Caroline that will really surprise people, especially Echo (Eliza Dushku). And she has a dead arm, so what’s not to like. One of her arms doesn’t work and it’s in a sling.

Why?
It just felt right for the character, just like it felt right that she should probably dress like a schoolgirl and be very nice and a little odd. I would call her the Topher of the D.C. House.

But she’s actually ethical, unlike the amoral Topher?
Yes, she has morals.

Is Wise basically D.C’s Adelle, the head of the House?
Yes, he would be Adelle’s counterpart. He’s not so big with the morals. It’s a departure for Ray Wise (laughs). Another person in power, Harding, played by Keith Carradine, will be back. What a wonderful actor.

Why do Echo, Adelle (Olivia Williams) and Topher (Fran Kranz) visit the D.C. House?
That involves the D.C. House starting to take action against the Senator, played by Alexis Denisof, who’s targeting them. The corporation [Rossum] sees that there’s a problem there. Why LA gets involved, I can’t tell you.

You promised that Alan Tudyk (V) will return as psycho killer Alpha. Does he?
He’s back in a two-parter (Dec. 11) and he comes in with a bang. You don’t bring Alpha back unless you’ve got something really fun for him to do. He has very interesting questions to ask of someone and really appalling ways of asking them.

Thankfully, he sounds as vicious as when we last saw him.
He’s not a Franciscan monk. One of his personalities is a Franciscan friar. But he happens to be a very violent one. I will say he will be dealing not just with Echo but other members of the House as well.

Does Amy Acker return for more episodes? Is she still Saunders?
Amy Acker will return. We have two more episodes that we’re allowed to use her because of [her new ABC series] Happy Town. She comes back in an interesting fashion that I will in no way describe to you, a little bit later on. She’ll be the Doc, Claire Saunders. Where she’s been may be a surprise to people.

Is it true we’re finally seeing the feared Attic where they send the rebellious on December 18?
We’re going to finally reveal what it’s like. I can say without hesitation that it is a joyride, it’s like going to Disneyland on really bad acid.

Who will we see in the Attic?
Echo’s not the first person who will have been sent there. That’s all I’ll say about that.

What’s happening with Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett), the FBI agent turned Echo’s handler?
His relationship with Echo will change. His whole life will change more than once. They made an agreement to try and accomplish something and we’ll see that evolve. I know I’m being annoyingly coy.

Will they kiss?
Will Echo and Ballard kiss? It would be beyond reprehensible for him ever to kiss her. So, yeah!

You also wanted to bring back Felicia Day from “Epitaph One”…
She’ll be in a later episode. I would like to go back to the future, as in “Epitaph One.” I would love to see what happens to our peeps ten year on.

Where is the Dollhouse storyline heading?
This whole season has been about, and is getting more and more about, the larger conflict, not between Echo and the Dollhouse but between Echo and Rossum. When Echo first decided she wanted to deal with the Dollhouse, she didn’t realize how global it was going to be. What we’re heading for is bigger. We’re going to start getting to the top where the real power is and it’s going to get very, very twisted. That’s not strange coming from me, but even we’re thrown by it.

Current: 29360 / 50000

Past the halfway mark now and I run into a problem: I don’t have a way to upload this when Nov 25 ~ 30th come along. By then, I’ll be back in the US of A and without internet for a short while. So, I need to find someone to do it for me and that’s a task that may or may not suck when it comes down to it.

But, lets talk about unexpected things that made their way into Black Magic. Namely, two characters who started off as one idea and turned into people.

Character #1: Summer Glau Utah

Somehow, a run of the mill female assassin turned into River Tam midway through and now I have Summer Glau running around Italy carrying a large collection of guns in an attempt to kill the female lead. This is odd, but awesome in a strange way.

Hey, this story was based off a dream, just like Twilight! So, when I eventually get my publishing deal for being a hack, well, I already have one actress down now who can actually act, unlike a certain sleepy eyed girl playing the Mary Sue to end all Mary Sues!

And then comes number two…

Character 02: Arakune M.O.M.

W.ll, T..s O.e W.s By Co.ple.e ac.de.nt a.d w.und up be.ng p.rfe.t.

C.sm.c ho..r th.t c.me f.om h.ma.s th.t be.ome l.v.ng bl.bs a.d c.n’t spe.k a.d a.e incr.d..ly s..rcy in a s..nge w.y? W.ll, m.g.t as w.ll r.p a g..d on. .ff wh.le I c.n, y.s?

B..e m., I l.v. th.s g.y.

With the rights to the Terminator franchise going up for auction, Joss Whedon (self-described “Very Important Hollywood Mogul”) has written an open letter to the Terminator owners:

Dear Sirs/Ma’ams,

I am Joss Whedon, the mastermind behind Titan A.E., Parenthood (not the movie) (or the new series) (or the one where ‘hood’ was capitalized ’cause it was a pun), and myriad other legendary tales. I have heard through the ‘grapevine’ that the Terminator franchise is for sale, and I am prepared to make a pre-emptive bid RIGHT NOW to wrap this dealio up. This is not a joke, this is not a scam, this is not available on TV. I will write a check TODAY for $10,000, and viola! Terminator off your hands.

No, you didn’t miscount. That’s four — FOUR! — zeroes after that one. That’s to show you I mean business. And I mean show business. Nikki Finke says the Terminator concept is played. Well, here’s what I have to say to Nikki Finke: you are a fine journalist and please don’t ever notice me. The Terminator story is as formative and important in our culture — and my pretend play — as any I can think of. It’s far from over. And before you Terminator-Owners (I have trouble remembering names) rush to cash that sweet cheque, let me give you a taste of what I could do with that franchise:

1) Terminator… of the Rings! Yeah, what if he time-travelled TOO far… back to when there was dragons and wizards? (I think it was the Dark Ages.) Hasta La Vista, Boramir! Cool, huh? “Now you gonna be Gandalf the Red!” RRRRIP! But then he totally helps, because he’s a cyborg and he doesn’t give a s#&% about the ring — it has no power over him! And he can carry it AND Frodo AND Sam AND f@%& up some orcs while he’s doing it. This stuff just comes to me. I mean it. (I will also offer $10,000 for the Lord of the Rings franchise).

2) More Glau. Hey. There’s a reason they’re called “Summer” movies.

3) Can you say… musical? Well don’t. Even I know that’s an awful idea.

4) Christian Bale’s John Connor will get a throat lozenge. This will also help his Batwork (ten grand for that franchise too, btw.)

5) More porn. John Connor never told Kyle Reese this, but his main objective in going to the past was to get some. What if there’s a lot of future-babies that have to be made? Cue wah-wah pedal guitar — and dollar signs!

6) The movies will stop getting less cool.

Okay. There’s more — this brain don’t quit! (though it has occasionally been fired) — but I think you get my drift. I really believe the Terminator franchise has only begun to plumb the depths of questioning the human condition during awesome stunts, and I’d like to shepherd it through the next phase. The money is there, but more importantly, the heart is there. But more importantly, money. Think about it. End this bloody bidding war before it begins, and put the Terminator in the hands of someone who watched the first one more than any other movie in college, including “Song of Norway” (no current franchise offer).

Sincerely, Joss Whedon.

____

Let’s hope someone is listening. The last film entry was joyless and forgettable, and all the more painful given the real potential of the franchise. Salvation scored only $370 million at the box office, even less than the inconsequential Rise of the Machines ($430 million) and the benchmark Judgment Day ($520 million). Though unlikely to happen, it’s difficult to avoid getting exciting over what someone like Whedon could do with the concept.

Recently it was announced that the rights to the Terminator were going on sale. It will be by auction and it is rumoured that they will go for about $60 million dollars. Not a bad deal really.

Now a major mover and shaker in the film biz has put in an early bid acccording to an open letter Deadline Hollywood posted.

An Open Letter to the Terminator Owners. From a Very Important Hollywood Mogul

Dear Sirs/Ma’ams,

I am Joss Whedon, the mastermind behind Titan A.E., Parenthood (not the movie) (or the new series) (or the one where ‘hood’ was capitalized ’cause it was a pun), and myriad other legendary tales. I have heard through the ‘grapevine’ that the Terminator franchise is for sale, and I am prepared to make a pre-emptive bid RIGHT NOW to wrap this dealio up. This is not a joke, this is not a scam, this is not available on TV. I will write a check TODAY for $10,000, and viola! Terminator off your hands.

No, you didn’t miscount. That’s four — FOUR! — zeroes after that one. That’s to show you I mean business. And I mean show business. Nikki Finke says the Terminator concept is played. Well, here’s what I have to say to Nikki Finke: you are a fine journalist and please don’t ever notice me. The Terminator story is as formative and important in our culture — and my pretend play — as any I can think of. It’s far from over. And before you Terminator-Owners (I have trouble remembering names) rush to cash that sweet cheque, let me give you a taste of what I could do with that franchise:

1) Terminator… of the Rings! Yeah, what if he time-travelled TOO far… back to when there was dragons and wizards? (I think it was the Dark Ages.) Hasta La Vista, Boramir! Cool, huh? “Now you gonna be Gandalf the Red!” RRRRIP! But then he totally helps, because he’s a cyborg and he doesn’t give a s#&% about the ring — it has no power over him! And he can carry it AND Frodo AND Sam AND f@%& up some orcs while he’s doing it. This stuff just comes to me. I mean it. (I will also offer $10,000 for the Lord of the Rings franchise).

2) More Glau. Hey. There’s a reason they’re called “Summer” movies.

3) Can you say… musical? Well don’t. Even I know that’s an awful idea.

4) Christian Bale’s John Connor will get a throat lozenge. This will also help his Batwork (ten grand for that franchise too, btw.)

5) More porn. John Connor never told Kyle Reese this, but his main objective in going to the past was to get some. What if there’s a lot of future-babies that have to be made? Cue wah-wah pedal guitar — and dollar signs!

6) The movies will stop getting less cool.

Okay. There’s more — this brain don’t quit! (though it has occasionally been fired) — but I think you get my drift. I really believe the Terminator franchise has only begun to plumb the depths of questioning the human condition during awesome stunts, and I’d like to shepherd it through the next phase. The money is there, but more importantly, the heart is there. But more importantly, money. Think about it. End this bloody bidding war before it begins, and put the Terminator in the hands of someone who watched the first one more than any other movie in college, including “Song of Norway” (no current franchise offer).

Sincerely, Joss Whedon.

Imagine if Joss got the rights. What do you think he would do with the Terminator?

Jamie Bamber (Martin Klar) and Eliza Dushku (Echo) in the season two Dollhouse premiere "Vows." Photo copyright of Fox Television

What would you give to have the perfect man or woman to perform everything from a daring heist to a kinky sexual act? That is the premise behind Fox TV’s Dollhouse, which stars Eliza Dushku as Caroline Farrell, a former college activist who, against her will, has her personality and memory wiped and becames an “Active” or “Doll” for a worldwide organization called  The Dollhouse. As Echo, she is programmed with various personalities depending on the needs of the person or persons who hire her. At the end of the show’s first year, our heroine had started to regain snippets of who she once was, and this (second) season, Echo is fighting to regain her true self while fighting The Dollhouse from within. 

The daughter of an Albanian-American administrator father and Danish-American professor mother, Eliza Dushku was raised with ambition in her blood. At the early age of 10, she was discovered by casting agents for the lead role of Alice in the feature film That Night.

Most recently, Dushku co-starred with Alan Rickman and Bill Pullman in Bottle Shock, a drama about the birth of the Napa Valley wine country. In 1993, the actress landed the role of Pearl alongside Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio in This Boy’s Life. The following year, she starred with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis in True Lies, opposite Paul Reiser in Bye Bye, Love and alongside Halle Berry in Race the Sun.

After high school, Dushku returned to acting with the role of Faith Lehane in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Though initially planned as a five-episode arc, the character became so popular that the actress stayed on for the entire third season and returned for a two-part appearance the following season. The remainder of her original story arc was played out in the first season of the spin-off Angel. Repentant and rededicated, Faith returned as a heroine in a number of later episodes of Angel and the last five episodes of Buffy.

A few weeks ago, Dushku graciously spent part of her day off speaking with me and other journalists on a conference call about season two of Dollhouse. Here is an edited version of that Q & A. Enjoy!

How do you feel the direction of this (second) season differs from the last one?

ELIZA DUSHKU - Well, there’s so much being cracked open and explored, especially with Echo having this new place that she’s in, in terms of what we picked up from last year. She had all these personalities downloaded into her in one swift punch, and they’re not going away. This year, Echo is still tapping into these personalities. Sometimes it’s of her control, other times it’s not. Overall, she’s absorbing things from her engagements as well as The Dollhouse and she’s really becoming self-aware. However, it’s not necessarily as Caroline, but as Echo, as her own person, so she’s definitely more complicated. This season it’s a little darker all around. We’ll explore things such as the origins of some of the other Dolls as well as other characters. We’re also bringing in a number of guest-stars and other fabulous people, so there’s a lot of exciting stuff happening this year.

What trouble will Echo run into during her attempts to save everyone?

ED - I’m sure every kind and all kinds because it’s a Joss Whedon show. We’re starting episode seven and there are so many directions as well as layers. It’s all over the map. Of course, one of the main storylines is Agent Paul Ballard’s [Tahmoh Penikett], who spent last season trying to get into The Dollhouse. Now that he’s in and Echo’s handler, he’s working with her and they may possibly be trying to bring The Dollhouse down from the inside. We also get some backstory involving Dell [Olivia Williams] and her superiors along with other Dollhouses around the country and the world. We get an idea of just how big the Rossum Corporation is, and Summer Glau [Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles] will be joining us as well. She’ll play a programmer from the D.C. Dollhouse, and we’ll get an idea of the way the other houses are being run.

How does a Watertown (Massachusetts) girl become Joss Whedon’s muse?

ED - That’s such a funny and good question, and I have no idea. When I made my audition tape for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I went to the Arsenal Mall [in Watertown, Massachusetts] and bought my outfit at Contempo Casuals. I remember telling the clerk that I was making a tape for Buffy and they were so excited. And then I was actually emancipated by a Boston judge, who was also a Buffy fan. Obviously it’s a show that dealt with vampires who come out at night, and I was still technically a minor, so I had a great judge who emancipated me so that I could go out to Los Angeles and do the show. Fortunately, I was already out of high school at that time. I guess I’ve always gotten by with a little help from my friends, in Boston and everywhere else.

What do you like about working with Joss and doing his shows?

ED - First and foremost, I love the guy as a friend. Joss has been a friend, a brother, a teacher, a mentor, but the other obvious thing is just his talent. Joss’ skill is so beautiful to me, and he’s just wildly creative as well as smart, a feminist,  funny, dark, scary and twisted. Joss combines all that and more into such a sweet little package, and he gets me every time.

As great as the show is, as talented as the cast is, and as clever as Joss and his team are, obviously you want people to watch the show, and I’m just wondering, do you think Fox has put the show in a position for that to happen, airing you on Friday night after a comedy?

ED - Well, I think they realized last year that people who wanted to find the show did, and, obviously, there has been a lot of talk about DVR and TiVo and how we really are alive for a second season because of that in a major way. I can see how they would say that people found the show last year, so we’re just going to leave it where it is and hope that that continues.

Ratings are obviously important, but, you know, having a professor for a mother, she always taught us about qualitative versus quantitative research. I know we’re making a quality show and that we have quality fans and people who tune in experience something different and out of the ordinary. There are so many shows on TV that are instant hits; we’re not that, but we have a core following, and I think that people check the show out and aren’t intimidated by it. In fact, they find themselves being sucked in pretty easily. It’s sharp, intelligent fun. Sometimes it’s off-the-wall TV, too, and I know that when I’m spending an hour of my life sitting down to watch the boob tube, I love getting a rich experience out of it. And I’ve always found that to be true with Joss, in particular, as well as his shows. Having been given a second season, we’re just so grateful to the fans and to Fox for giving us another chance, and we’re making the most of it.

You and Summer Glau shot a promo last year, and back then your two shows kind of were fighting for the last spot in the line-up. Now that she’s part of your show, what’s the dynamic like between you and her?

ED - Summer is great. I love her. We’ve had such a good time during the past two episodes. She has come in with her A-game and is such a sweet, positive and fun actress. Summer is great to play off of. Our characters have some backstory that we have to fight out, and so that’s a lot of fun. Also, anyone who’s from Joss’ past and who he’s bringing back to work with, I assume he had a great working relationship with them. He wouldn’t bring any bad eggs into our house, so I can always pretty much safely know that we’re going to have the cream of the crop coming back and coming in.

You mentioned that Echo was kind of all over the place this year as a character; as an actor, how do you approach that?

ED - It’s easier this year because we don’t have as much of that sort of ‘dumb down Doll’ with Echo. She has all these personalities and is the sum of all these parts, including Caroline. At the same time, she’s not really any of these personalities, but is, in fact, Echo. There’s something grounding in that, and there’s a strength in the personality that she’s forming through that. Echo is picking and pulling information from all these different people that she’s been, and as a result she’s coming to understand and form her own ethics and morals. This character is constantly absorbing, thinking and processing, whereas last year she was switching from this dumb down Doll to a singular personality imprint, and it was always a different one. This season, there’s something going on inside Echo that’s not just what you’re seeing on the surface and it’s fun for me to play.

It seemed that you guys had such a strong fan base even before the show premiered. Do you guys pay attention to the blog sites and what the fans are saying when you’re coming up with how to shape the episodes and the series as a whole?

ED - I know that Joss and I have always paid attention to the fan love, and we love the fans right back, absolutely. I don’t know how much he takes tips from the fans when it comes to storylines. On the contrary, from what I’ve seen, when he sees someone falling in love with a character, he’s been known to assassinate that character or do something else terrible to him or her. Maybe that’s a blessing in itself, but Joss definitely has a mind of his own. Within the group of writers, they aren’t really conformists, I can confidently say. So whether it’s fans or critics or studios for that matter, they do their best work when they’re sort of left alone and they reveal things as and when they feel they should be revealed. And that goes for me and the other actors as well.

Sometimes it’s really exciting for me. I don’t want to necessarily know what’s going to happen three episodes down the road because it may affect the way I’m playing Echo today. I enjoy the thrill, the adrenaline that comes from reading the next new chapter, and the next layer that Joss reveals is one of the most exhilarating things that I’ve experienced as an actress.

Is there a particular role or character in an upcoming episode that you’re going to play that was hard for you to get into, and if so, why?

ED - Well, I’ll tell you, playing a mother was certainly something I hadn’t expected. I’m an aunt, and I’ve always loved other peoples’ children and babies, but playing a mother and trying to tap into that maternal instinct was a challenge, but also a thrill, and a beautiful thing, too.

Do you sit down with a script and break it down insofar as how aware Echo is of what’s going on with her, or do you just sort of do a scene and see what feels right in how to play it?

ED - We’re absolutely breaking it down more this year because those realized moments with my character are much stronger. It’s actually been deeper work for me, but, again, it makes the character more interesting and challenging for me to play. I have to say it’s been a blessing this year to also be shooting in HD [high-definition] because we have more time,which means i get to spend a lot more time with the material and these characters and their glitches, etc. I feel like that’s paying off for me a lot this year, and that my performance has gotten stronger and more honest.

In the season opener with Jamie Bamber there’s that scene in the office where he catches me, then bashes my head off the table, and then I end up in that sort of tailspin. I sort of famously now burst into tears in the middle of that scene because it was so emotional, and I now feel this real connection to the character that came from the inception of the show. Joss and I have tried to make this character a little bit based on me where it’s this struggle, this battle of who I  am. Even with all the pressures of society and things pouring in on me, where does that break and where is my authentic self, and how it feels to stand and live in that. So it’s very personal as well as exciting, terrifying and gratifying.

Do you feel like Dollhouse is really about the experience of being an actor living and working, in particular, in Los Angeles, and people expecting you to kind of fulfill their fantasies and the dark side of that? Is that something you feel when playing Echo?

ED - Yes, I absolutely think there’s a layer or more of that. When Joss and I had our infamous lunch, that was one of the threads and one of the themes, but I think it also translates to young women all over the world. I was the only girl in a family with three boys, and I remember my mother reading this book called Reviving Ophelia about adolescent girls and the way young women are broken down starting in their teens, where they’re starting to get hit from all sides by images in the media and how things start to change in their lives, especially when it comes to their fathers as well as their peers. It’s like the spirit of a young woman is so fragile and can be so toyed with and broken. My mother was always aware of that and really tried to fight against it and to teach me how to be comfortable in my own skin and all of that. So when I sat talking about that stuff with Joss, it’s so extraordinary that, as a man, he tapped into that in such a profound and intelligent way. I can’t think of anyone else that gets that and can create a fantasy show that encompasses such a universal and serious thing in our society. So it’s definitely parallel to me and, I feel, to women all over the world.

How much closer will Echo get to rediscovering her true self this season?

ED - Every single episode it’s been a little bit more. Again, we’re on episode seven now, and in this one we’ve been building to a real extreme. I’m scared to say too much because I don’t want to ruin it for the viewers, but Echo really is becoming an entirely different character in many ways. She’s getting further away from Caroline, even though she is Echo’s original self. Caroline is there, but Echo is discovering things about her that are unsavory or that are not Echo.

The development of my character has been so exciting and fascinating because of the way Joss and the writers pick pieces from each of her experiences and weave them into this new character. So you’ll be seeing a whole new Echo this season who is the sum of all the parts that she’s been.

They just released a film you did called Open Graves that kind of flew in under the radar. Can you tell us a little bit about it?

ED - I shot Open Graves in Spain about two-and-a-half years ago, and as is sometimes the case in this business, there are times that movies don’t come together at the pace or with the expectation that was initially intended. I actually haven’t seen the movie. It premiered on TV when I was in Italy, but I have yet to even watch it on my TiVo. The movie was a cool experience. I was interested in working with the director [Alvaro de Arminan], who had worked very closely with [producer/writer/director] Pedro Almodovar, and I thought the script had some interesting and different Sci-Fi/Horror twists to it. I enjoy working in that genre but it never quite gelled into the movie that I had anticipated, but, again, it happens, but you keep going. You don’t quit, and I certainly won’t quit that genre.

How much of a factor does (the Dollhouse episode ) Epitaph One play into season two, because it wasn’t originally broadcast but is part of the DVD set. Joss Whedon was saying that he’d like to revisit that in the future. Could you tell us a bit about that, please.

ED - Epitaph was so well done and it brought me to tears. Truly, when Joss told me about it, I wondered how the hell he was going to do it, but I was just so impressed and proud of him and everyone involved. It was such a beautiful episode and I think it’s a shame that it didn’t air here [in the States]. But also the fact that it didn’t air was sort of the reason we came back, because they didn’t end the story. Getting picked up for a second season, the network probably wanted to pick up where we left off.

I know that in the first episode of this season, Joss originally planned on weaving some of that [Epitaph] into it, but there was already so much to cover. We had Amy Acker [Dr. Claire Saunders], who we’re not going to be able to have with us for the entire season, so we had her character’s storyline and we had to have a big, fierce engagement. So we took anything to do with it [Epitaph] out, but I do know Joss wants to slice in some stuff into future episodes. I loved the way the future looked, so dark and terrifying, and I hope we see more of it.

As noted above, photo is copyright of Fox Television, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Il primo episodio in cui comparirà Summer Glau è in realtà la prima parte di una storyline strutturata  in due parti: con le nuove decisioni di programmazione vedremo questi due episodi in una sola serata, quella del 4 dicembre.

Le puntate in questione sono “The Pubblic Eye” e “The Left Hand”. Summer Glau è Bennett Halverson, che arriverà nella Dollhouse di LA da quella di Washington. Summer descrive il suo personaggio come “Una ragazza sensibile e creativa che per tutto il tempo sta per conto suo, in un mondo tutto suo. E’ uno scienziato folle alla ricerca della felicità. Questo ruolo è una sfida per molti versi. La sfida maggiore è nell’avere un braccio morto!”

Sembra che Echo e Bennett abbiano un passato in comune. Summer spiega: “Lei [Bennett] ha una vendetta da compiere su Echo. Lei conosceva il suo passato quando era Caroline ed era avvenuto quell’orribile incidente, e per molto tempo ha atteso che si ritrovassero, aspettando la vendetta.”

prosegue

“Ho reso il personaggio inquietante come occorreva, ma ho chiesto a Joss di poter essere sexy“

Joss di Summer dice: “Il personaggio che interpreta in dollhouse è molto dolce, calmo ed elegante, una sorta di persona timida e adorabile, probabilmente malvagia ma questo non importa. Lei è un po’ messa male perchè questo è quello che ho scritto. Ha già interpretato la sua dose di folli, e non volevo questo. Volevo solo che fosse un po’ “fuori dai binari” ma comunque facile da amare (traduzione molto libera di “ and yet enormously sympathetic”)

Clicca sulle immagini (dollhouse 2×05\2×06) per ingrandire 

Testi integrale preso da http://www.zap2it.com “Now things are starting to go seriously haywire in Rossum Corporation’s carefully controlled world. In “The Public Eye,” the first part of a two-part story that concludes with “The Left Hand” on Nov. 6, Glau creates the character of Bennett Halverson, who arrives at the L.A. Dollhouse from the one in Washington, D.C.
She works there as a technical whiz in charge of wiping and reprogramming the Actives.
“I see Bennett as a sensitive, creative girl,” Glau says, “who spends all of her time alone in a world of her own. She is a mad scientist who is searching for happiness. This is a challenging role in many ways. The most challenging thing is the dead arm!”
Apparently Bennett and Echo’s alter ego have a history.
“She has a vendetta against Echo,” Glau says. “She knew her back when she was Caroline, and there was this horrible accident, and she has been waiting to reunite with her for quite some time – waiting to get my revenge.
“I’m making her as creepy as it gets, but I asked Joss, ‘Can I still be sexy?’ “
“The character that she plays on ‘Dollhouse,’ ” Whedon says, “is very sweet and calm and elegant, kind of shy, kind of adorable, possibly evil, but that doesn’t matter.
“She’s a little bit damaged, because that’s what I write. She’s played her share of crazies, and I didn’t want that. I just wanted someone who was a little off-kilter and yet enormously sympathetic.”

So che Eliza Duskhu per contratto è la star dello show e Epitaph One non lascia dubbi circa la sopravvivenza del suo personaggio, ma è un grande piacere vedere Summer Glau - e già il solo vederla interpretare un ruolo è un grande piacere – che finalmente fa passare un davvero brutto quarto d’ora a Echo\Eliza.

Peccato dover aspettare il 4 dicembre.

A többség valószínűleg tudja, de azért szépen kiírjuk: A Babaház a 2×04 után kisebb szünetre ment, legközelebb december negyedikén jön új rész. Csakhogy, és de. Decemberben duplán jönnek az epizódok, az az kétszer 45 perc Babaházat kapunk majd minden szombat reggel. És ami egyértelműen kiderül az előzetesből:

Végre jön SUMMER GLAU.