Mar 24 2009
Dollhouse is a rich blend of modern flesh and culture
One of the more enjoyable series on tv currently is Dollhouse, not least because three stars of Buffy and Angel are involved - Faith, Fred and Joss. Sorry, that should read Eliza Dushku, Amy Acker and Joss Whedon. Another source of enjoyment is the flexible and evolving storyline.
Like so much of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the joy of Whedon’s shows is often in the sub-plots and character development. With Dollhouse (photo 1 shows Echo and Sierra) he gets a fantastic blank canvas to play with each episode. It is probably too subtle for huge ratings, but it’s great while it lasts.
Episode 3 (Stage Fright) tells the story of skimpy-clothed diva Rayna and her troubled psyche. “She’s had stalkers ever since she’s been singing for the mouse,” is a clever reference to the modern musical training ground of the very successful Disney Club. But Rayna’s had attitude ever since as well, however the mask is wearing thin, even for her. “But I’m not a real person, I’m everybody’s fantasy.” Her self-centred obsession has becomes dangerous as she claims she wants freedom, “ultimate freedom”.
In this episode we see more aspects of Echo, the main Active played by Eliza Dushku (photo 2), who in real life and in the show seems happy to follow the modern trend for wearing revealing outfits and playing scenes for their sex appeal as much as their plot development.
Another Active, Sierra, plays the number one fan of Rayna and gets captured to progress the psychopath nutter scenario: “I kill for you, you die for me.”
Echo’s strategy to resolve the standoff is surprising, but creates an excellent finale. More important, perhaps, is it again shows the unique qualities in Echo that the creators failed to anticipate.
