Dollhouse 1x02-1x03

[oyceter]

Still incredibly problematic, and yet, it is so incredibly boring that I can't even bring myself to get angry. Dropping it.

For episode 2, we get a ton of eroticized fear with only a little turn at the end. Maybe the trust bit between Boyd and Echo would have worked had I more faith in Joss' portrayal of black men; as it were, I am cynically certain the Boyd-Echo relationship is eventually going to end up echoing the threatening black man/delicate white woman stereotype.

And maybe I would have been more impressed by Echo being violent had the other thirty minutes of the show not been her cowering in fear.

For episode 3, I am not sure it could have possibly gotten more boring or more exploitative. Yay black woman. Boo black woman shown as a suicidal and selfish diva, at Echo (a white woman) calling her a "bitch," at the gratuitous use of gospel music and references to political freedom to refer to personal freedom, women in bikinis dancing in cages, Asian girl getting threatened by white man saved by white girl, and how every woman in the show maximizes cleavage, belly, crotch, or all of the above.

I was spoiled for the Victor reveal, but frankly, I'm not that impressed anyhow. So the guy doll gets to be an informer and play a Russian mobster while the female dolls get to dress in nearly nothing, strip on camera (Echo in the dressing room, and wow that was a completely unnecessary scene), and get threatened.

And did I mention the boring?

Comments

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

I think I'm enjoying reading about this show way more than I would enjoy actually watching it :)

[oyceter]

I think that is the best way to watch it!

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

I second the above. I haven't watched an episode since the pilot but I've been enjoying the write-ups.

[oyceter]

I think that really is the best way! Seriously, though, I give up out of sheer boredom. Like, it's great that ED acknowledges the first six episodes suck and the seventh kicks things off, but I have many other ways to waste my time.

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

See, I find annoying they acknowledge the first 6 eps suck and still show them to us!

[heresluck]

Yeah, the third ep was pretty much unsalvageable FAIL from the premise on out. What frustrated me so much about the second ep was that, given that premise, there was still no reason for the ep to be as bad as it was. It makes perfect sense for Echo to try to get away from the psychopath, but simply showing her a) in more clothing and b) angry/determined as well as terrified would have gone a long way towards making the episode less dreadful. Still boring, maybe, but less cringeworthy.

I'm sticking it out until the seventh episode and will report on whether the show does in fact magically improve. (God, I hope so.)

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

I thought the episode could have been fun-- something light and fluffy with undercurrents of the dark undertones of the show. I spent half the episode hoping the pop star was an Active on permanent assignment, which didn't happen, and the rest cowering as Sierra (who I loved SO FUCKING MUCH someone needs to get her a better show RIGHT NOW) got kidnapped and reduced to Yet Another Victim.

I'm sticking it out (at least for the moment) so I can bitch with other people about it. Plus, I figure it won't last long.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

For episode 2, we get a ton of eroticized fear with only a little turn at the end. Maybe the trust bit between Boyd and Echo would have worked had I more faith in Joss' portrayal of black men; as it were, I am cynically certain the Boyd-Echo relationship is eventually going to end up echoing the threatening black man/delicate white woman stereotype.

Actually, given Joss's history, which includes Jubal Early and the Operative but also includes, well, Book, and (white) Giles, I feel that Boyd is more likely to end up a sacrifice or a mentor.

Eta: Not arguing with the decision to drop, because, seriously, OH JOSS WHEDON I AM SO EMBARRASSED FOR YOU.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

The person I watch it with fell asleep about 15 minutes from the end of episode 3 when we were watching it last night. (Admittedly, she had already seen it before with her sisters and was rewatching it because there are doubts as to whether or not I'd last more than 5 minutes alone at the start of each episode.)

It's sad, though, when the most positive thing about an episode is that the main "character" isn't sold for sex that she then forgets and has no idea she's doing because she was programmed to. And that it's actually surprising.

[vonnie-k.livejournal.com]

I caught up with the aired episodes over the weekend and you're so very right. The sin of the skeevy is outweighed by the even bigger sin of the boring.

I kept it on TiVo season pass in case someone tells me it improves later, but I don't know if I'm going to keep watching.

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

My big reaction is: It could have been good. I also handwave cheesecake on other works, but it's doubly disturbing when the characters are brainwashed.

My big thing is that Whedon's going through the motions of (mindwiped and programmed) white girl saving the day and fighting back, so there's just enough that the premise doesn't feel as fucked up as it actually is, but the gestures feel empty. (Again, mindwiping, programmed, and too much glamorous presentation of it.) And then there's the WoC characters, the black diva, Sierra, the Latina kid-- and they're used as plot devices, things to be rescued. Even when two out of three aren't brainwashed. And one is both an adult and not a doll.

I'm not bored. Although I wish I were.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Note that the one Active with an interesting assignment-- Victor-- is a white male. Thanks, Joss.

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

I like that we get a male doll. I don't like that the one male doll gets the only non-sexed up assignment we've seen.

I think I keep waiting for Dollhouse to do something like Tiptree's "The Girl Who was Plugged In", or Maureen McHugh's "Nekropolis". But like a post I read somewhere said, the TV formatting might not allow Dollhouse to do that sort of thing.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

If that sort of thought ever crosses the creators' minds.