I recorded the much-hyped Dollhouse last night and gave it a shot a few hours later. For those who haven’t been following along: Dollhouse is a show created by Joss Whedon, creator of other cult series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly. Since most of his shows have had devout followings, ratings issues, and cancellation notices (although Buffy came back for two lackluster seasons on UPN), people have been curious about this one for awhile.
Dollhouse stars Eliza Dushku (a Buffy alum) as a young woman named Echo who is programmed with the knowledge and personality suited to the person who has hired her. As expected, sometimes this is as arm candy, others — as in the pilot episode — require her to be someone with knowledge and skills that would likely exceed her age. After the mission is done, her memory is wiped clean. She and other “Actives” live in the Dollhouse, something of an odd laboratory, and has a personal handler who looks out for her.
Since I heard about this over a year ago I was intrigued. I’m still not sure what to think of it after the first episode, since we’re just given a little of the story so far. We follow Echo and her handler around on a few missions, including one that results in a disastrous breakdown of Echo’s psyche due to the “imprinting” given her. Her handler is upset at her treatment, yet continues to take care of her. However, we’re given hints that both the imprinting and the wiping are not perfect as Echo seems to remember little things about her previous excursions.
This is quite different from Buffy and Firefly – already I’m seeing people complain that none of the witty banter of either show is present. Personally, I’m fine with that; normal people don’t come up with quirky expressions on the go, especially those who have guns pointed at them. Whedon seems to have a little higher ambition for this show since he’s already come up with a 5-year plan for the characters and plot, and I hope that FOX or another network will give him a chance to see those plans come to fruition. Not much is revealed in this episode, but I think that’s the way they wanted it. I’ll be taking another look at it next week or looking it up on Hulu if the new PVR breaks down; I had to wipe its memory to give it a new set of instructions, too…and I’m beginning to think it’s catching on!
You’re right, I watched the opener on Hulu and wasn’t really “grabbed” by it. Curious, because most shows try to make the original very gripping. I do like Joss Wheden’s previous work so I’ll give dollhouse another shot.
Personally, I was more intrigued by the premise than the pilot itself. From what I hear, this episode was heavily reworked and reshot after some meddling from FOX, and next week’s episode is a marked improvement. Still, I liked what I saw and will check it out again.