Pajiba

Going 'rogue" by the 6th freakin' episode?

I..I..mean, where could they POSSIBLY go from there? I'm gonna take the opportunity here to bring up La Femme Nikita, the series. It took them about 5 or six seasons to get to her and others from Section 1 to go rogue. Hell i could even argue that Nikita has already covered most of what Dollhouse could possibly hope to tell.

...where could they POSSIBLY go from there?

Well, they could take Dushku off of the show, and replace her with an actual actress. That will never happen though, you know the old phrase, "Who's dick did they suck to get a gig?" Well, Dushku's sucking Seth MacFarlen's dick, and Whedon inexpicably believes in her. With that lethal combination, there can't be a Dollhouse without Dushku, even though there should be.

Steve,

The difference is that Lost came out strong and then stumbled in later seasons. Dollhouse is lame out of the gate. It's as though the first episode of Lost was "Stranger in a Strange Land", after which Cuse and Lindelhof implored us to continue watching because "It gets better, promise" without any track record to convince us.

I'm terrified that the "awakening" will somehow be undone by the end of the show, and all will be back to normal.

Mmmhmm, I'm a little nervous about that idea too, DeadBessie. Although, as to your last point, they do voluntarily sign up for "membership", and I believe what they will be doing is fully explained to them, no?

I'm fairly excited for tonight's episode, and I'm not going to discount it until I see it. It looked good from the previews. It might be a little soon, I suppose; I guess it depends on the direction the show intends to go in.

Also, that is a hot pic of Tamoh, Joss and Eliza up there.

I love that BSlim mentioned La Femme Nikita, one of my favorite guilty pleasure shows from my youth. It's very similar in tone and plot and yes, it did take forever for the agents to go rogue.

I was hoping that Echo's backstory or involvement with the Dollhouse was a lot more complex and shadowy. I can't wrap my head around giving up your life and very soul based upon what happened to Caroline last episode. It would take a hell of a lot more for me to do that. Who knows? Maybe she was sucked into it by forces greater than what we've seen and this will prevent her from ever escaping.

That picture of Helo is smoking fine.

Hell i could even argue that Nikita has already covered most of what Dollhouse could possibly hope to tell.

Agreed. And with much better actors.

Steve,

Having belonged to the same self-hating Heroes fanclub as yourself for a long while, I can honestly say that you should probably lock yourself into a tv-less room next monday night. Draw the blinds, drink plenty of fluids and do whatever it takes to get through it. I kicked my Heroes habit after the third episode this season and haven't looked back since.

Thank you SilverDeb. I have never watched a Law and Order and I never will. Procedural cop shows are just completely uninteresting to me. (The Wire excluded)
And no one on L&O kicks ass like Agent Ballard.

I've seen every episode of this show in hopes that it would deliver on its potential. I think the basic problem is it dwells far too much on character development and too little on actual plot. As a result, they're building characters without a reason for anybody to care. Every episode is about something going wrong. How about a few where things go right? Establish the Doll House service before taking the show so deep into the fucking characters. Of course, I could be wrong.

Joss Whedon sucks ass!

If the show isn't good stop watching it you morons!

Wow, two feminist literature references in one title. I wonder where Joss is going with this?

I love Joss and I like Dollhouse. And Mellie is hot.

Man, I know that Dollhouse has my TV husband, Helo, in it. And I keep seeing pictures taunting me with him. But, damnit, I JUST BROKE my Heroes habit (with one small relapse due to hot-dudeness. At least I'm consistent) and I will not let myself get sucked into another good premise with disappointing execution.

…or I'll do what I do with Grey's Anatomy and watch it online when I can't think of a reason not to and justify it with "well, I just would've wasted that time anyway."

Shut up.

Y'know, it didn't entirely suck tonight. It sure could have gone further, but I guess they're pacing themselves. I find I best enjoy Dollhouse when I scale back my expectations to "a good Friday night show" - it's like watching AHL hockey rather than NHL, or listening to a community college orchestra rather than an internationally touring ensemble. Good in a pinch when there's no better options, but not the first choice in selecting a diversion.

Dene Chen, yes, Mellie is hot. It's nice to see a real woman on TV.

I liked this past episode, but as I half-expected, it left me with blue balls. I get that it'd kill the premise to have everyone escape, but maybe one or two of them could have stayed out permanently. Victor seems like a good pick, or maybe Sierra or both of them. The biggest problem with any series is that need for sameness throughout the story, otherwise you lead to an inevitable ending, and endings don't go over well in the world of TV.

chayes, I agree. It helps tremendously when they spread out the heavy lifting and don't focus so much on Echo. But, I'll allow that Eliza was better in last night's episode playing the Caroline/Echo hybrid as opposed to the blank-faced Echo or one of the assignment characters which seem to be way out of her range.

And Lucas, I completely agree about Mellie! I think she has a beautiful face and smile and the fact that she has curves and looks softer/rounder than the others makes her especially attractive.

I was kind of "meh" throughout most of this episode, but I was actually affected by the ending march. Maybe it was the music, I don't know. I liked it. I liked how it played out.

OK, I'm here to say the show did not get better, and it will never get better as long as Dushku is a participant.

And I am majorly bummed by last night's Sarah Connor Chronicles events. That is the show to be watching, though.

Lainey, I agree, caroline was somewhat tolerable this episode. The problem was that everybody else was great, so she looked worse by comparison.

and i really liked the ending march too, it sort of summed up the entire series nicely.

Lainey, yeah, the ending was nicely done. I felt cheated, but at least I had something artsy to take away at the end.

I don't understand the bile towards Eliza Dushku that's been all over the place lately. She's not great, but she's not bad either. We know she's not bad from her work on Buffy and from a few of the personalities she plays on Dollhouse, so don't write her off completely. I think she's perfect for Caroline, anyway. Not everybody can be Tricia Helfer and play a million variations of a character flawlessly. Blame Whedon for casting her in that kind of a role and not writing it towards her strengths, but don't blame Dushku for not being totally suited to it. If it were you, would you turn it down?

My biggest problem with the show is that it's hard to care about a doll. Mellie was my favorite supporting character until I saw her without a personality, and now everything she does seems fake and transient, not really worth my emotional investment. It's an interesting creative challenge, but that doesn't make it any easier to really care about characters whose development is nullified at the end of every episode.

That's why I was hoping at least Victor and maybe Sierra would manage to escape. We hadn't seen a sliver of their personalities and then when we finally meet them, they're great. I feel like the whole thing was a farce, showing off a couple of great characters just to tell me that they aren't real and don't matter.

I don't *hate* Dushku, tnAvBaa. I just think that her range is very limited. To have an actress with a limited range playing a character who changes each episode, seems rather ill-matched. She's fine in some things. I thought she was great as Faith and I liked her very much in Bring It On (story for another day, but my co-worker told me she thought Bring It On sucked and wasn't even a fun movie. I don't know how I can continue not throwing hot coffee on her. But I digress...)

She just looks like she's actressin'. It just doesn't seem natural. Her face works too hard to make her expressions look like what she thinks they should look like. Her voice is weak. I think she plays an OK bad-ass, but not a "normal" girl.

Again, I don't hate her, I just don't think she's right for this role.

I was actually shocked Lainey. So quick and no fanfare either. And is it wrong that I'm starting to like John Henry (don't answer that!)? I know it is.

I don't hate Dushku (I try to reserve that emotion). But I really do think she's an awful actress. I don't buy her as any of the characters she portrays, and I feel like we're expected to be drawn in or distracted by her looks (not so extraordinary). To me she comes off like a sub-par model trying to act.

Still worth watching. Terminator is better, though. I fear both will be canceled, though.

I do like how they manage to get Tahmoh shirtless each week.

I'm still watching, but it is falling further down my Tivo order each week. But, with "Damages" gone, there's open space.

I think Victor is hot too. I'll keep calling him Victor, because Enver Gjokaj is too damn hard to spell.