Dollhouse - Series 1 Details

A lot of promise!

This series is similar to that of Quantum Leap when it first started. It shows a lot of promise, with story-lines showing off how good of actors the series has.

It is also not short of eye candy for both sexes. The main role played by Eliza Dushku is perfect for her. Her previous show of Tru Calling was good but didnt show off how diverse she can be.

As for the other members of the cast... what can I say, apart from believable and strong. The only flaw in this series is that, the current [main] story-line can only run so far. It would be worth watching, just to see what they come up with.

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Lacks the Buffy Factor

Does anyone remember Joe 90?

In hindsight this was a bad choice for Joss Whedon from the start, a producer who thrives on the interaction between characters running a show where half the cast get their personalities reset at the end of each episode. The result is that many of the talented cast come across as bland zombies, unable to develop anything for more than a few minutes per episode. Even Eliza Dushku, who managed so well with truly awful scripts in Tru Calling, lacks any real depth as the central character, Echo.

That said if you are prepared to stick with it through the early episodes there is lots to praise with the series. The Dollhouse staff have time to realise the nuances of performance that exemplify the best of Whedon's work, and the dolls/actives themselves get to display a range of characters over several episodes (Special mention to Miracle Laurie as the sleeper Active in love with FBI agent Tahmoh Penikett. If you ever get bored with butch handsome types...) and when Alan Tudyk makes his belated appearance as the season villain the whole series lifts to another level.

My favourite episodes, Echoes and Needs, are both based on episodes of Buffy and Angel. Due to their construction they allow plenty of fun interaction between the characters and bodes well for a second season, but probably come too late in the series to engage any casual viewers (Please, Joss, more of this in season 2).

As with so much good TV these days individual episodes do not do the series justice and you need to see the series in it's entirety to see the quality of the production.

I understand that Joss Whedon has a 5 year story arc for the characters, unfortunately I would be surprised to see the series make it that far. Like Firefly and Angel before I fear that the Dollhouse will end up unjustly cancelled before it's time.