AOQ Dollhouse Review 2-7: "Meet Jane Doe"
Arbitrar Of Quality
review threads.
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DOLLHOUSE
Season Two, Episode 7: "Meet Jane Doe"
(or "She collects seashells by the seashore")
Writers: Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon and Andrew Chambliss
Director: Dwight Little
[Note: This is a review of "Meet Jane Doe" only. Thoughts on "A Love
Supreme" will be posted separately.]
The second scene of "Meet Jane Doe" has Echo dumpster-diving. The
penultimate scene has her power-walking back into the Dollhouse. In
between, three months pass, and a lot seemingly happens, mostly off screen.
I have mostly positive feelings about this device. Done well, a time jump
can give a story a larger, more epic scale. The way people and situations
change so abruptly can be an out for lazy writers wanting to elicit a change
without going to the trouble of "earning" it. But done properly, it's the
opposite - as long as the developments feel organic, it allows for clarity
of storytelling, clearly linking where people come from with where they're
headed. Similarly, the game of doling out the "okay, what exactly is going
on now?" information to the audience can be abused as a gimmick for its own
sake. But done properly, it's fascinating and downright stylish. "Epitaph
One" of course did this with panache. This is a smaller scale example. I
can tell you that I didn't expect to see that "three months later" caption,
but as often happens, it worked out pretty well overall.
First, before the jump. Echo has been reverting back to near-doll state in
Medina, TX. More like what we expect from a typical active, she's like a
clever animal, with no knowledge of the world but with a capacity to try to
figure it out. I like the convenience store scene a lot. Part of it is the
way Dushku's performance combines naivet�, intelligence, control, and
desperation. The other part is the logic in the way it plays out: Echo is
driven to cause trouble not by her own hunger but by the desire to help
someone else. Nice. Yet impulsive actions have consequences, and the two
main consequences of hers are that a woman gets imprisoned and a guy who was
doing his job gets beaten up. Also nicely done.
And then it's three months later. Let's start with the Dollhouse. Most of
the time, "Meet Jane Doe" says everything it needs to say with economy. If
anything, sometimes it could be even more economical. Harding takes a cup
of tea - "thank you, Adelle." Okay, point made. That's all we even need to
see to process how things have changed (well, I guess we do need her getting
a few programming instructions so we can be clear on her exact position in
the new order). Another example comes when Miss DeWitt passing along the
instructions about how the client is into "pain. Or rather, inflicting it."
Okay, especially for those of us who remember a related line from "Spy" back
in Season One, we already get the point. The rest of the scene is worth it,
though, for seeing the fact that Boyd can be complacent in any job, and
still disapprove in the most nonchalant way possible. And of course we soon
find out that for once Boyd is not as passive as he seems.
More on that in second, but in the most jarring shift, suddenly Dushku's
_Nurses_ pilot has been picked up after all. Wha? This bit of in medias
res storytelling is the dullest, but that's primarily due to the relative
weakness of the jail story. Things pick up once Paul attacks her in their
apartment, and suddenly a lot of what we've been seeing makes sense.
I had a bit of revulsion at the idea of a romance between our two heroes. I
was a bit reassured by the "take it easy" vs. "get physical" exchange, which
was a clear signal that we were in for a fake sex scene that reveals itself
to be a training scene. Hey, I kinda know this writing team by now. I
would have been more relieved had recording problems not made the whole
sequence hopelessly choppy - I had to sorta watch around it at first and
didn't get properly caught up until the episode went up on Hulu. But when
the episode is seen in order, it further reassures the viewer by making the
open attraction one-sided. Paul (outwardly, at least) resists it because he
considers it "forbidden," while Echo is a young woman trying to find
herself, including fulfilling her base desires on her own terms without
being influenced by whoever else she might have been. Okay, good. That's
the correct way to play this one, show. And then we get the inevitable joke
where an apparent sex scene resolves into a training montage, and it's still
amusing.
On a related note, the brief Caroline flashback from last week turns out to
be a driving force for why Echo is suddenly scared of her former self (happy
now, OBS?), and for her obsession with becoming a new person. While Paul
perhaps correctly sees bits of Caroline coming through in this new
individual, she's becoming more adamant about being herself. Although
earlier Echo used the metaphor of collecting seashells washed up by the tide
to describe putting herself together, the Caroline memories and the imprints
"are not me. There is a 'me.'" Even if it did nothing else well (and it
does a lot of things well), I'd single out MJD for doing a good job
establishing a (semi)-permanent identity for our hero, as a character.
By the way, I've read several comments suggesting that the "correct" way to
make the show more appealing/marketable would have been to start with Echo
as an escaped doll working together with Paul, and take the series from
there. Instead, we do that paradigm for exactly one episode midway through
the season, and then move on to the next phase of the story. I'm amused by
how aggressively _Dollhouse_ seems to confound the desires of anyone who
wants it to be in any way marketable.
The phone call between Boyd and Paul afterward is when the show most
effectively uses the time jump to build mystery. It allows for three
separate reveals within less than a minute. First we see Paul apparently
turning in Echo, and even though we may quickly realize that this can't
possibly be as it seems, it's still a jolt. Then we get the suggestion that
her health is deteriorating, and whatever Paul's doing is geared towards
helping her, whether she likes it or not. Finally, we learn that she and
Boyd are full collaborators in whatever this plan is. Which was the most
sensible explanation all along, but the show was hitting us with twists the
whole time along the way to getting there. See, I love that kind of stuff.
It's hugely entertaining TV.
I'm not overwhelmed by the jail story, Echo aside. It takes up a large
portion of screen time, but is barely worth talking about (and is one of the
things ensuring that I can't rate this episode above a high Good). For the
purposes of the plot, she's seeing if she can free a prisoner, one whose
enslavement she herself caused, before moving on to the main event. Okay,
that's "concept." "Execution" is shoddy as hell. If you're running a jail
near the border and detaining a lot of illegals, you hire someone who can
communicate with them. Also, even if you hire corrupt incompetents to run
things - that sometimes happens - you don't make them such boring stock
villains. This has been a mostly strong half-season, in part thanks to the
emphasis of the ongoing story. There's an unfortunate side effect, though,
which some here have been pointing out since the premiere. The individual
engagements, never the show's strong point to begin with, have degenerated
into barely sketched scenarios and one-dimensional characters. With the
sole exception of "Instinct," it doesn't seem like _Dollhouse_ is even
trying anymore in that regard.
You know what else is a little unimaginative? The room full of bigwigs
sitting around laughing with their cigars. That image is just such a
clich�. I guess I can forgive the presence of the cigars simply because it
sets up a great line once Adelle makes her presence felt again.
Only one night passes between acts 2/3 and 4/5, but it seems almost like an
equally long period of time with the new set of plot developments and
revelations. The escape enjoyably uses the device of Echo selectively
"accessing" personalities as appropriate, and it taking a physical toll on
her. If this were the kind of show that were marketable, there would be
video game tie-ins, and in said video games, the player would be allowed a
limited number of transformations per stage (or an MP system covering the
same thing).
Meanwhile we're slouching towards apocalypse more quickly than previously
suggested, what with the plans for universal imprinting. This is where the
time jump gives us a "whoa, are we there already?" moment which gave me a
few misgivings at first, but which I now appreciate. Adelle's accusations
that Topher is "playing" aren't totally unjustified (typical of Mutant Enemy
villains), since he does seem to be legitimately enjoying himself during his
demonstration. But it is a revelation the extent to which he's terrified by
the progress - until the basement conversation with Adelle, the viewer gets
no indication that Topher isn't thriving in the new order. So that's the
first in another set of bing-bang-boom plot developments, the last of which
is Adelle having lost her British mind.
That's well done too. The thing is, all season and especially lately, the
series has been buttering us up to treat Adelle as one of the de facto
heroes, despite everything. I thought I still didn't trust her. But I
guess I let my guard down somewhere, because her betrayal caught me off
guard. Even during the scene where she presents Harding with the keys to
his ambitions, I was amused by her triumph, because she does have some
morals, so I assumed she was playing a hidden game against Rossum, and
convincing them to trust her was just part of that. (Note that I'm not
stating definitively that she isn't - I wouldn't put it past this show.)
For the moment, she claims to have accepted the situation. Adelle's desire
for control does appear to have set her up as the villain of the piece
again. And the one who provides the voiceover that so well complements that
striking penultimate image.
Isolated comments and lines:
- Specific clips from previous episodes during Echo's activation: "I
understand everything" from "Omega," "goodness gracious" from "Belle Chose,"
"friends help each other" from "Stage Fright." I couldn't make out any
others. Obviously, a few of the personas she calls on are familiar, most
obviously Taffy from "Gray Hour."
- Why does Echo only have 36-38 personalities (it varies by dialogue. And
it's not just Alpha's choice, since she's picked up a few more since,
without increasing the total estimated number)? She's surely been on more
than 36-38 engagements.
- Galena sure is trusting, huh?
- There's a weirdly isolated scene with Topher being cruel to Ivy and her
quest for his respect without even realizing it. Will the series have
enough room to give us more Ivy?
- ". . . and Mrs. Finney in 32 wants us to *put* Mrs. Willis to sleep
because she keeps singing show tunes"
- Amazingly, Sierra isn't the one sent out to be abused by the client.
- "Oh my god, she's a zombie!"
- I fully expect Kilo to become one of those characters who develops a mini
cult following if she keeps appearing.
- Adelle's low key "that's unnerving" is a highlight.
- "Topher Brink is a genius, but I didn't realize he was actually smart"
- So, um, hopefully our heroes do have a plan of some kind that makes sense.
Well, I'm sure most people just went straight on to watch the next episode
and find out.
Main cast missing in action this episode: No one! First time since the
season premiere.
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So.
One sentence summary: Best "part I" in the _Dollhouse_ canon, if you want
to call it a "part I" at all.
AOQ rating: Good
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[Season Two so far:
1) "Vows" - Good
2) "Instinct" - Good
3) "Belle Chose" - Decent
4) "Belonging" - Good
5) "The Public Eye" - Decent
6) "The Left Hand" - Excellent
7) "Meet Jane Doe" - Good]
Mel
I wish I would have seen that caption. It would have made the next 2
hours make a lot more sense.
Mel
One Bit Shy
news:hg1fud$j41$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
> DOLLHOUSE
> Season Two, Episode 7: "Meet Jane Doe"
> The second scene of "Meet Jane Doe" has Echo dumpster-diving. The
> penultimate scene has her power-walking back into the Dollhouse.
A small moment in the bigger picture, but I really, really liked the power
walk. The drama of the moment works well, coming right on the heels of
Adelle pronouncing that never again will anybody undercut her authority in
the house. A tough looking Echo appearing with her posse and a confident
smile is a superb counter-argument.
Aside from that it's also a nicely staged version of a classic prison
entrance by the bad-ass everybody inside knows, fears and respects. The
synchronicity with the prior prison story is nice, as is the implied
perspective of the Dollhouse as prison. And finally it's a terrific way of
getting across how much Echo has changed and how much power she has
acquired.
> In between, three months pass, and a lot seemingly happens, mostly off
> screen. I have mostly positive feelings about this device. Done well, a
> time jump can give a story a larger, more epic scale. The way people and
> situations change so abruptly can be an out for lazy writers wanting to
> elicit a change without going to the trouble of "earning" it. But done
> properly, it's the opposite - as long as the developments feel organic, it
> allows for clarity of storytelling, clearly linking where people come from
> with where they're headed. Similarly, the game of doling out the "okay,
> what exactly is going on now?" information to the audience can be abused
> as a gimmick for its own sake. But done properly, it's fascinating and
> downright stylish. "Epitaph One" of course did this with panache. This
> is a smaller scale example. I can tell you that I didn't expect to see
> that "three months later" caption, but as often happens, it worked out
> pretty well overall.
I like the device too. Quite a bit. Though I'm sure there are bad examples
of it, I can't think of any offhand. I think it encourages economical story
telling, and almost automatically pushes the writer(s) to cherry pick the
best and most important elements to tell.
In this case, the most uncertain element was the choice of 3 months, which
feels a little too short to me. In most regards I think it's well executed.
However, I do sense that it's likely part of a broader picture of
compressing a big story into the few episodes remaining to the series. Even
well executed, this device can't hide that there are plenty of stories that
just aren't going to be told. Oh, well. Nothing can be done about that
now. So I applaud the effort to tell the best and most important as well as
possible.
> First, before the jump. Echo has been reverting back to near-doll state
> in Medina, TX. More like what we expect from a typical active, she's like
> a clever animal, with no knowledge of the world but with a capacity to try
> to figure it out. I like the convenience store scene a lot. Part of it
> is the way Dushku's performance combines naivet�, intelligence, control,
> and desperation. The other part is the logic in the way it plays out:
> Echo is driven to cause trouble not by her own hunger but by the desire to
> help someone else. Nice. Yet impulsive actions have consequences, and
> the two main consequences of hers are that a woman gets imprisoned and a
> guy who was doing his job gets beaten up. Also nicely done.
I don't know how it works in California, but around here you don't get paper
food stamps anymore. It's all on a kind of debit card. Though it's true
that some stores refuse to accept them.
I liked this scene too. (And, incidentally, Dushku looks really good in it.
All episode actually. Also, for the first time in a while, I was reminded a
lot of Faith this episode. Mainly in the fight scenes, though some of the
moves were more Buffy like.) All the things you said.
However, this is the element I most missed with the jump in time. In some
alternate universe I could imagine Echo on the run extending several
episodes - even most of one season. It's a scenario filled with story
ideas, and represents one of the most important periods of character
development Echo will ever have.
> And then it's three months later. Let's start with the Dollhouse. Most
> of the time, "Meet Jane Doe" says everything it needs to say with economy.
> If anything, sometimes it could be even more economical. Harding takes a
> cup of tea - "thank you, Adelle." Okay, point made. That's all we even
> need to see to process how things have changed (well, I guess we do need
> her getting a few programming instructions so we can be clear on her exact
> position in the new order).
It's not just the time necessary to make the point, it's the time necessary
to absorb it and wonder what to believe about Adelle and the situation.
This is nearly as big an episode for Adelle as it is for Echo. We need to
dwell on her parts to properly feel and appreciate the subsequent treachery
and ice-cold aftermath. I'm OK with the tempo.
> Another example comes when Miss DeWitt passing along the instructions
> about how the client is into "pain. Or rather, inflicting it." Okay,
> especially for those of us who remember a related line from "Spy" back in
> Season One, we already get the point.
Again, the show is highlighting Adelle's change (contrasted with Echo's
change), this being an expression of her hanging onto the past in helpless
futility. It's also tied into her relationship with Boyd, who appears to be
taking everything in stride himself and who seems to practically shame
Adelle into drawing the utterly ruthless out of her.
The topical repetition and nearly trite sounding content is representative
of where Adelle is stuck. It's kinda supposed to make her look bad. As
Boyd points out, she's kidding herself anyway about her treatment of actives
before.
> The rest of the scene is worth it, though, for seeing the fact that Boyd
> can be complacent in any job, and still disapprove in the most nonchalant
> way possible. And of course we soon find out that for once Boyd is not as
> passive as he seems.
Considering that he's part of Echo's cabal, what do you make of him
essentially goading Adelle into her ruthless mode? Boyd is quite
interesting this and next episode. ("Man up.") It might just be story
convenience - he's available for the job. But if there's purpose to it I
wonder if he merely believes he'll be better able to "handle" Adelle than
Harding. (A notion which also comes out next episode.)
Incidentally, does it look like the seeming Boyd/Ballard conflict in the
past has gone away?
> More on that in second, but in the most jarring shift, suddenly Dushku's
> _Nurses_ pilot has been picked up after all. Wha? This bit of in medias
> res storytelling is the dullest, but that's primarily due to the relative
> weakness of the jail story. Things pick up once Paul attacks her in their
> apartment, and suddenly a lot of what we've been seeing makes sense.
>
> I had a bit of revulsion at the idea of a romance between our two heroes.
> I was a bit reassured by the "take it easy" vs. "get physical" exchange,
> which was a clear signal that we were in for a fake sex scene that reveals
> itself to be a training scene. Hey, I kinda know this writing team by
> now. I would have been more relieved had recording problems not made the
> whole sequence hopelessly choppy - I had to sorta watch around it at first
> and didn't get properly caught up until the episode went up on Hulu. But
> when the episode is seen in order, it further reassures the viewer by
> making the open attraction one-sided. Paul (outwardly, at least) resists
> it because he considers it "forbidden," while Echo is a young woman trying
> to find herself, including fulfilling her base desires on her own terms
> without being influenced by whoever else she might have been. Okay, good.
> That's the correct way to play this one, show. And then we get the
> inevitable joke where an apparent sex scene resolves into a training
> montage, and it's still amusing.
Alas, it seemed one sided acting to me too. (The good side being Eliza's
performance.) Paul didn't sell me on his feelings throughout these scenes,
some of which I thought were drawn out to boot, making this the slowest part
of the episode for me.
Conceptually it's terrific though, which offsets some of my negative
reaction. The best part for me is the lengthy display of the core Echo
personality. Eliza is terrific, but I'm not just talking acting. This
really extends and solidifies the the Echo persona from last week's episodes
to make for a very appealing and feeling person that plays real. The irony
is that Echo, a bizarre construct that most parallels Alpha and will next
episode make Topher wonder what she is (certainly not human), ends up with
just about the most natural unassuming character on the series. In
isolation one might describe her as well grounded. I find that funny and
oddly delightful.
> On a related note, the brief Caroline flashback from last week turns out
> to be a driving force for why Echo is suddenly scared of her former self
> (happy now, OBS?),
Yeah, I noticed. Specifically mentioning how she used to think of herself
as a shell waiting for Caroline makes for some pretty deft handling of a
potential continuity problem. However, the Caroline traits appearing in
these two episodes still lead me to think that Caroline is going to make a
plenty big splash when she returns.
> and for her obsession with becoming a new person. While Paul perhaps
> correctly sees bits of Caroline coming through in this new individual,
> she's becoming more adamant about being herself. Although earlier Echo
> used the metaphor of collecting seashells washed up by the tide to
> describe putting herself together
Picking up the pieces of me? Something like that. I really liked the way
it was expressed - an episode highlight for me. A Caroline connection
didn't occur to me then. I was thinking more along the lines of describing
how Echo was made - which I'd love to be true, so I may be biased in
interpretation. That's probably a scene I need to see replayed again for
more context.
> , the Caroline memories and the imprints "are not me. There is a 'me.'"
> Even if it did nothing else well (and it does a lot of things well), I'd
> single out MJD for doing a good job establishing a (semi)-permanent
> identity for our hero, as a character.
Well, I'd say permanent if it weren't for expecting Caroline to still
arrive. Still, it seems to match up pretty well with Epitaph One's
depiction of the way she handles the multiple personalities.
> By the way, I've read several comments suggesting that the "correct" way
> to make the show more appealing/marketable would have been to start with
> Echo as an escaped doll working together with Paul, and take the series
> from there. Instead, we do that paradigm for exactly one episode midway
> through the season, and then move on to the next phase of the story. I'm
> amused by how aggressively _Dollhouse_ seems to confound the desires of
> anyone who wants it to be in any way marketable.
The "correct" way? LOL
I'm sure one could construct something along those lines - and I did suggest
above that the story potential could fill most of a season. But personally
I think that's more distancing from the core concept than I would prefer to
start with.
However, what this and Epitaph One does do for me is make me think that the
series might have been better served starting further into the story and
felt less compelled to explain everything at the beginning.
> I'm not overwhelmed by the jail story, Echo aside. It takes up a large
> portion of screen time, but is barely worth talking about (and is one of
> the things ensuring that I can't rate this episode above a high Good).
> For the purposes of the plot, she's seeing if she can free a prisoner, one
> whose enslavement she herself caused, before moving on to the main event.
> Okay, that's "concept." "Execution" is shoddy as hell. If you're running
> a jail near the border and detaining a lot of illegals, you hire someone
> who can communicate with them. Also, even if you hire corrupt
> incompetents to run things - that sometimes happens - you don't make them
> such boring stock villains. This has been a mostly strong half-season, in
> part thanks to the emphasis of the ongoing story. There's an unfortunate
> side effect, though, which some here have been pointing out since the
> premiere. The individual engagements, never the show's strong point to
> begin with, have degenerated into barely sketched scenarios and
> one-dimensional characters. With the sole exception of "Instinct," it
> doesn't seem like _Dollhouse_ is even trying anymore in that regard.
Well, I've made that criticism myself and understand where you're coming
from. This one doesn't bother me so much though. I think for a couple of
reasons. First, as sparse and routine as the story is, I did like the
performances of the sheriff, the Latino gal and Echo. Some of the fight
moves worked pretty well too. But best of all was simply watching how the
integration of personalities works. Since that's really the whole point of
the exercise, that's quite fortunate. I thought that was positively
fascinating. I loved the little moment when the next personality in line
voices, "I'm in," to indicate the personality transfer was complete.
This also offers an explanation for the the thin and chancy escape plan.
Her strength isn't crackerjack planning. It's bringing more resources to
the party than her foes can possibly compete with. I thought that was kind
of interesting.
Don't get me wrong. This isn't high praise. What the episode doesn't
provide is a lot of wow moments, least of all here. I just find these
scenes easier on the eyes than you seem to.
> You know what else is a little unimaginative? The room full of bigwigs
> sitting around laughing with their cigars. That image is just such a
> clich�. I guess I can forgive the presence of the cigars simply because
> it sets up a great line once Adelle makes her presence felt again.
Not half as clich� as the rich Arab specifically. I could have done without
that and the threat of actives being shipped to the Middle East.
> Meanwhile we're slouching towards apocalypse more quickly than previously
> suggested, what with the plans for universal imprinting. This is where
> the time jump gives us a "whoa, are we there already?" moment which gave
> me a few misgivings at first, but which I now appreciate.
Another moment in accelerated story telling. It does have the virtue of
taking an explanation of Rossum's grand plan that actually downplays
Topher's part and then suddenly elevating both his and Adelle's
responsibility to new heights. It still feels unnaturally fast, but what
choice is there? I'm happy the story is being told, and I like the notion
of the secret distributed development.
> Adelle's accusations that Topher is "playing" aren't totally unjustified
> (typical of Mutant Enemy villains), since he does seem to be legitimately
> enjoying himself during his demonstration. But it is a revelation the
> extent to which he's terrified by the progress - until the basement
> conversation with Adelle, the viewer gets no indication that Topher isn't
> thriving in the new order.
Well, I'd say instead that it was a surprise how much Topher was thriving in
the new order. I think he'd developed too many decent feelings this season
and had too much of his tech backfire to go along so easily. So the
revelation is more of how willing (and sneaky) he is to resist Rossum.
Brings a slightly different tilt to Harding's observation of not realizing
that Topher's smart as well as a genius.
> So that's the first in another set of bing-bang-boom plot developments,
> the last of which is Adelle having lost her British mind.
Heh.
> That's well done too. The thing is, all season and especially lately, the
> series has been buttering us up to treat Adelle as one of the de facto
> heroes, despite everything. I thought I still didn't trust her. But I
> guess I let my guard down somewhere, because her betrayal caught me off
> guard. Even during the scene where she presents Harding with the keys to
> his ambitions, I was amused by her triumph, because she does have some
> morals, so I assumed she was playing a hidden game against Rossum, and
> convincing them to trust her was just part of that. (Note that I'm not
> stating definitively that she isn't - I wouldn't put it past this show.)
> For the moment, she claims to have accepted the situation. Adelle's
> desire for control does appear to have set her up as the villain of the
> piece again. And the one who provides the voiceover that so well
> complements that striking penultimate image.
I can't say I expected the betrayal, but then I wasn't expecting the
demotion and didn't have time to think that through. If there had been an
episode break between the two events, I think lots of people would have
anticipated a coming betrayal.
Which is another way of saying that it fits Adelle. I sure wondered if
Adelle might have had something up her sleeve when she handed over Topher's
plan, but the more I thought, the more obvious it seemed that she simply
seized the opportunity. To her, any sacrifice is worth regaining control of
the house. Even from a do good point of view, she would think that
everybody is helpless without her leadership. If she didn't seize the
opportunity, then Rossum would inevitably get their hands on the plan
anyway. Not to mention everything else going to hell. No. Everything -
everything - is subordinate to her being in control.
As far as her subsequent ice queen performance goes, I'm considerably less
certain. We've been shown before how she's willing to act the Rossum toady
where it matters in their eyes. As we've been shown how acutely aware she
is of them watching. And we've been shown how she disguises her
manipulation of others - notably how she's already goaded Topher into
"defying" her orders. And so on.
The point being that I'm not at all sure that the ice queen performance is
entirely real. At the least I feel certain that in some fashion she's
determined to make Rossum and Harding pay for what they did to her. Her
never again remark may be less directed at her immediate audience than it
sounds.
On the other hand, there are some elements to the next episode that suggest
that she still needed to be brought down a peg or too.
So, I remain uncertain how much is real and how much is subterfuge. (Like
who really gave Echo the security pass card a few episodes again. Boyd on
his own? Or Adelle in secret?)
But either way, I'm pretty sure that Adelle kids herself in just about every
way. Handing over the plans alone is probably the great unrecoverable error
to haunt her forever. And the problem with the secret manipulation of those
around her is that it likely primes them to turn on her - even when she
believes she's on their side.
However it turns out, I'm really glad that this happened this episode.
Adelle has always been one of the most interesting characters in the series
to me.
> - There's a weirdly isolated scene with Topher being cruel to Ivy and her
> quest for his respect without even realizing it. Will the series have
> enough room to give us more Ivy?
I was actually wondering that last episode when Topher 2 was created. Quite
a slap in the face of Ivy that was.
I hope more is done with Ivy since this would be an unfortunate couple of
scenes to leave her with. I doubt completing her role is a series priority,
but there are likely some natural places for her to fit in yet to come, so
I'm hopeful.
That said, these scenes did serve an unlikely function for me. I don't know
about other viewers. But when Topher discovered that his plans were
missing, I immediately thought that it was payback from Ivy, which stopped
me from thinking of Adelle, thereby providing maximum surprise of the true
revelation. Maybe that was intentional.
> - ". . . and Mrs. Finney in 32 wants us to *put* Mrs. Willis to sleep
> because she keeps singing show tunes"
Yeah, I noticed that too. I don't know whether to laugh or be creeped out.
> Main cast missing in action this episode: No one! First time since the
> season premiere.
Miracle?
.
> So.
>
> One sentence summary: Best "part I" in the _Dollhouse_ canon, if you want
> to call it a "part I" at all.
I don't really think of it as a Part I, but I'm OK with you calling it best.
> AOQ rating: Good
Another plot intensive episode - though in this case the plot twists come in
spurts rather than an ongoing stream. I liked it, but wasn't blown away but
anything really. Don't Excellent episodes need more of a wow factor? So
I'm rating it Good too, though the importance of plot points may be higher.
OBS
Horace LaBadie
"Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsm...@wildmail.com> wrote:
> That's well done too. The thing is, all season and especially lately, the
> series has been buttering us up to treat Adelle as one of the de facto
> heroes, despite everything. I thought I still didn't trust her. But I
> guess I let my guard down somewhere, because her betrayal caught me off
> guard. Even during the scene where she presents Harding with the keys to
> his ambitions, I was amused by her triumph, because she does have some
> morals, so I assumed she was playing a hidden game against Rossum, and
> convincing them to trust her was just part of that. (Note that I'm not
> stating definitively that she isn't - I wouldn't put it past this show.)
> For the moment, she claims to have accepted the situation. Adelle's desire
> for control does appear to have set her up as the villain of the piece
> again. And the one who provides the voiceover that so well complements that
> striking penultimate image.
If we accept what she says here to Harding and in the following episode
to Alpha at face value in both instances, and what she says to Topher
about genuinely caring for him, and we also take into account her
suppressed indignation at the accusation by Boyd that caring for the
well-being of the Actives was all self-delusion, the picture that we
have of DeWitt is that she has come to the conclusion that the endgame
is merely a formality. Rossum is going to win, sooner or later, and the
only chance she has to save herself, and thus the House and its
occupants, is to get back control of the House the only way she can.
There is a "mother hen" in her. She cannot save Civilization As We Know
It, but she can save this House. Its shocking that she would sacrifice
the world to do it, but she's a remarkably determined woman.
Don Sample
wrote:
> Arbitrar Of Quality wrote:
> > A reminder: Please avoid spoilers/discussion of unaired episodes in
> > these review threads.
> > .
> > .
> > DOLLHOUSE
> > Season Two, Episode 7: "Meet Jane Doe"
> > (or "She collects seashells by the seashore")
> > Writers: Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon and Andrew Chambliss
> > Director: Dwight Little
> >
> > [Note: This is a review of "Meet Jane Doe" only. Thoughts on "A Love
> > Supreme" will be posted separately.]
> >
> > But done
> > properly, it's fascinating and downright stylish. "Epitaph One" of
> > course did this with panache. This is a smaller scale example. I can
> > tell you that I didn't expect to see that "three months later" caption,
> > but as often happens, it worked out pretty well overall.
>
>
> I wish I would have seen that caption. It would have made the next 2
> hours make a lot more sense.
>
I missed it too, but it only took me a couple of minutes to figure out
what had happened.
--
Quando omni flunkus moritati
Visit the Buffy Body Count at <http://homepage.mac.com/dsample/>
clau...@webtv.net
Vampire Slayer. Hey, maybe that's where she got her fighting skills
from. j/k
When this series started, I thought it would be more like The
Pretender, who could assume any roll. I thought that she would be
downloaded with different programs for different situations, like the
episode where she was a hostage negotiator, but it turned into the Dolls
mostly being sex slaves. I still like the show but it is a lot different
then I expected.
David Milligan
> I like the device too. Quite a bit. Though I'm sure there are bad
> examples of it, I can't think of any offhand. I think it encourages
> economical story telling, and almost automatically pushes the writer(s) to
> cherry pick the best and most important elements to tell.
>
> In this case, the most uncertain element was the choice of 3 months, which
> feels a little too short to me. In most regards I think it's well
> executed.
>
I would have liked a whole episode of Echo-On-Her-Own.
I guess we'll just have to wait for the miniseries/move that is
sure to come (The Peacekeeper Wars ; Serenity)
--
David E. Milligan
http://daviderl31.blogspot.com/
http://daviderl.com/
Fallen
>> I like the device too. Quite a bit. Though I'm sure there are bad
>> examples of it, I can't think of any offhand. I think it encourages
>> economical story telling, and almost automatically pushes the writer(s) to
>> cherry pick the best and most important elements to tell.
>>
>> In this case, the most uncertain element was the choice of 3 months, which
>> feels a little too short to me. In most regards I think it's well
>> executed.
>>
> I would have liked a whole episode of Echo-On-Her-Own.
> I guess we'll just have to wait for the miniseries/move that is
> sure to come (The Peacekeeper Wars ; Serenity)
>
Firefly got a movie because the dvd boxsets sold through the roof.
Dollhouse boxsets jumped off the roof.
Fallen.
Horace LaBadie
"David Milligan" <david...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > I like the device too. Quite a bit. Though I'm sure there are bad
> > examples of it, I can't think of any offhand. I think it encourages
> > economical story telling, and almost automatically pushes the writer(s) to
> > cherry pick the best and most important elements to tell.
> >
> > In this case, the most uncertain element was the choice of 3 months, which
> > feels a little too short to me. In most regards I think it's well
> > executed.
> >
>
> I would have liked a whole episode of Echo-On-Her-Own.
> I guess we'll just have to wait for the miniseries/move that is
> sure to come (The Peacekeeper Wars ; Serenity)
As Joss has said specifically that there will not be any follow-up to
the show in any format, that will be a long wait.
Arbitrar Of Quality
news:3bubos....@integratelecom.com...
>
>
> Arbitrar Of Quality wrote:
I can
>> tell you that I didn't expect to see that "three months later" caption,
>> but as often happens, it worked out pretty well overall.
>
>
> I wish I would have seen that caption. It would have made the next 2 hours
> make a lot more sense.
Not the first time you've not seen some of the most important bits of
linking information, huh, Mel? Maybe some force in the universe wants you,
for some reason, to work harder to understand ME television shows.
-AOQ
Arbitrar Of Quality
"Horace LaBadie" <hwlab...@nospam.highstream.net> wrote in message
news:hwlabadiejr-7772...@news.isp.giganews.com...
I'd thought of it more as saving herself and less about saving her domain
and the people she cares about. But you're entirely right with the expanded
interpretation, particularly after the final Adelle/Topher exchange.
-AOQ
Arbitrar Of Quality
news:iL6dnefwfbE76bnW...@supernews.com...
> "Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsm...@wildmail.com> wrote in message
> news:hg1fud$j41$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
[Echo alone and confused]
> However, this is the element I most missed with the jump in time. In some
> alternate universe I could imagine Echo on the run extending several
> episodes - even most of one season. It's a scenario filled with story
> ideas, and represents one of the most important periods of character
> development Echo will ever have.
You know, I felt something of the same thing, actually. A little cheated
out of not seeing Echo develop step by step into a new person. However, it
would have been haphazard and non-linear - thus not TV friendly - given the
way her access to and control over her imprints seemed to be fluctuating.
>> The rest of the scene is worth it, though, for seeing the fact that Boyd
>> can be complacent in any job, and still disapprove in the most nonchalant
>> way possible. And of course we soon find out that for once Boyd is not
>> as passive as he seems.
>
> Considering that he's part of Echo's cabal, what do you make of him
> essentially goading Adelle into her ruthless mode? Boyd is quite
> interesting this and next episode. ("Man up.") It might just be story
> convenience - he's available for the job. But if there's purpose to it I
> wonder if he merely believes he'll be better able to "handle" Adelle than
> Harding. (A notion which also comes out next episode.)
I think that despite working against her, Boyd does see Adelle as a friend
of sorts, and an ally in the sense of being "less bad than the other bad
guys." He doesn't like seing her reduced/defeated much more than the viewer
does, so he redirects her focus as seems "appropriate." Whether or not Boyd
gets any blame for the sacrifice Adelle makes to get her house back might be
worth discussing.
> Incidentally, does it look like the seeming Boyd/Ballard conflict in the
> past has gone away?
They were more in parallel than in conflict anyway.
>> I had a bit of revulsion at the idea of a romance between our two heroes.
>> I was a bit reassured by the "take it easy" vs. "get physical" exchange,
>> which was a clear signal that we were in for a fake sex scene that
>> reveals itself to be a training scene. Hey, I kinda know this writing
>> team by now. I would have been more relieved had recording problems not
>> made the whole sequence hopelessly choppy - I had to sorta watch around
>> it at first and didn't get properly caught up until the episode went up
>> on Hulu. But when the episode is seen in order, it further reassures the
>> viewer by making the open attraction one-sided. Paul (outwardly, at
>> least) resists it because he considers it "forbidden," while Echo is a
>> young woman trying to find herself, including fulfilling her base desires
>> on her own terms without being influenced by whoever else she might have
>> been. Okay, good. That's the correct way to play this one, show. And
>> then we get the inevitable joke where an apparent sex scene resolves into
>> a training montage, and it's still amusing.
>
> Alas, it seemed one sided acting to me too. (The good side being Eliza's
> performance.) Paul didn't sell me on his feelings throughout these
> scenes, some of which I thought were drawn out to boot, making this the
> slowest part of the episode for me.
Penikett's acting didn't bother me much in this episode, actually. He's the
weak link of "A Love Supreme," however.
>> On a related note, the brief Caroline flashback from last week turns out
>> to be a driving force for why Echo is suddenly scared of her former self
>> (happy now, OBS?),
>
> Yeah, I noticed. Specifically mentioning how she used to think of herself
> as a shell waiting for Caroline makes for some pretty deft handling of a
> potential continuity problem. However, the Caroline traits appearing in
> these two episodes still lead me to think that Caroline is going to make a
> plenty big splash when she returns.
Fine by me. I'm interested in seeing that. There's an entire sequence from
the next episode
[where Echo escapes from solitary, herds Adelle around, and takes charge of
the group of principals]
that's extremely Caroline like. I think I mentioned it in that review.
>> Main cast missing in action this episode: No one! First time since the
>> season premiere.
>
> Miracle?
She's always been a "Guest Star."
-AOQ
Mel
I'm not sure what you're what you're referring to exactly, but as a
follow up to not seeing the caption on episode 1, my live showing of "A
Love Supreme" froze up on me for about 5 minutes at the beginning, so I
missed some of that one too.
Mel
Arbitrar Of Quality
>
>
> Arbitrar Of Quality wrote:
>> "Mel" <melb...@uci.net> wrote in message
>> news:3bubos....@integratelecom.com...
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Arbitrar Of Quality wrote:
>>
>> I can
>>
>>>> tell you that I didn't expect to see that "three months later" caption,
>>>> but as often happens, it worked out pretty well overall.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I wish I would have seen that caption. It would have made the next 2
>>> hours make a lot more sense.
>>
>>
>> Not the first time you've not seen some of the most important bits of
>> linking information, huh, Mel? Maybe some force in the universe wants
>> you, for some reason, to work harder to understand ME television shows.
>
> up to not seeing the caption on episode 1, my live showing of "A Love
> Supreme" froze up on me for about 5 minutes at the beginning, so I missed
> some of that one too.
Weren't you the one who watched ATS S4 missing "Spin The Bottle?"
Various people have mentioned some transmission problems throughout the
whole block (different ones in different parts of the country). As I
mentioned, my DVR hopelessly garbled most of act 2 of MJD (from the
candlelight dinner to the next act break), and at least one other Chicagoan
has mentioned the exact same issue.
-AOQ
Mel
Arbitrar Of Quality wrote:
>
> "Mel" <melb...@uci.net> wrote in message
> news:3c0lj8....@integratelecom.com...
>
>>
>>
>> Arbitrar Of Quality wrote:
>>
>>> "Mel" <melb...@uci.net> wrote in message
>>> news:3bubos....@integratelecom.com...
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Arbitrar Of Quality wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> I can
>>>
>>>>> tell you that I didn't expect to see that "three months later"
>>>>> caption, but as often happens, it worked out pretty well overall.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I wish I would have seen that caption. It would have made the next 2
>>>> hours make a lot more sense.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Not the first time you've not seen some of the most important bits of
>>> linking information, huh, Mel? Maybe some force in the universe
>>> wants you, for some reason, to work harder to understand ME
>>> television shows.
>>
>>
>> I'm not sure what you're what you're referring to exactly, but as a
>> follow up to not seeing the caption on episode 1, my live showing of
>> "A Love Supreme" froze up on me for about 5 minutes at the beginning,
>> so I missed some of that one too.
>
>
> Weren't you the one who watched ATS S4 missing "Spin The Bottle?"
Yep, that was me. I guess I've since tried to block out all of Season 4.
>
> Various people have mentioned some transmission problems throughout the
> whole block (different ones in different parts of the country). As I
> mentioned, my DVR hopelessly garbled most of act 2 of MJD (from the
> candlelight dinner to the next act break), and at least one other
> Chicagoan has mentioned the exact same issue.
>
> -AOQ
Nice to know it wasn't just me that time. :-)
Mel