Joss and his slow beginnings, part II

[maggie2]

And tonight we learn, *finally*, that Dollhouse really *is* a Whedon show.   The whole Whedon package.  Plot twists, layers, challenging the audience's expectations, and raising hard questions about just about everything. 

I still have no idea why it took five episodes of some remarkably dull televsion to get here.  But whatever.  We have ourselves a show.
 

Comments

[angearia.livejournal.com]

Okay, so check out my icon. Imagine the Scythe is all my doubts and worries about Dollhouse. Now imagine episode 6 Man on the Street is Buffy's fist.

Yeah.

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah.

I wouldn't say I had doubts. Everyone said that the show starts at #6. But I was totally on hold -- and now I'm not. I'm crushed I have to wait until tomorrow to rewatch.

I think my favorite thing (based on the one viewing) was the way the man on the street interviews amped everything up. We know slavery is bad. But are we willing to look hard at all the ordinary ways we manipulate and use people? If we view humans and human nature as totally malleable, is there anything to being human at all? Loved that stuff. How much are we allowed to do to alleviate our suffering?

Sigh.

[angearia.livejournal.com]

While I was definitely enjoying the first 5 episodes, it didn't quite have that Joss "It" factor. Looking back, I'll admit that while I was hopeful that ep 6 would bring it all together, the fact that I was hoping rather than certain...yeah, there was a little doubt there. I'm happy to say it's completely gone now.

*iz berry happy* Besides loving the DH ep tonight, I also just finished writing the first draft of Ch 5 of Thought You Should Know. So I'm on a writing high. :)

...now I just have to wait for my beta. Waiting sucks.

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

I look forward to reading it. (Am saving up a few chapters cause I prefer to read larger chunks).

[angearia.livejournal.com]

It's probably for the best lol. I keep getting comments from people reading it a chapter at a time calling me evil. I keep ending each chapter on a note that leaves you wanting to read the next one. A new twist.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

FUCK yeah.

That's about as coherent as I am right now. I'm going to have to rewatch, I think.

But one thing that struck me: the way the Mellie fight, with Paul running back to the flat in slo-mo, is a direct subversion of Kendra's death in "Becoming" - we know the hero will be too late, we know the poor sidekick is doomed (even if it wasn't a huge surprise to find out she's a doll). And then we flip it: yay! Mellie kicks his ass! Mellie... doesn't exist. And it's very doubtful, given his priorities and his methods, whether Paul can be considered a hero.

And the man-in-the-street interviews pretty much read like every commentary on Dollhouse so far, didn't they? From the "Of course it's just prostitution and human trafficking!" to the "Cool!" There's a reassurance in that: they know what they're doing, and we're supposed to be asking questions.

hous

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

Ooh -- good parallel. There are just heaps of things to say about this episode -- unlike the first five where you had to get out a big magnifying glass and do some squinting to find interesting things to say.

I LOVED the interviews. The other thing that was fabulous in every way possible was the Paul/internet mogul conversation, and the way it all played off the last scene. I just loved how it stirred the pot and forces us to ask hard questions about ourselves. (I have a particular animus to shows that play to our sense of moral superiority. LOOK! Exploitation!! BAD! Am so very happy to see that as usual Joss is taking those audience predilections and yanking on them very hard.)

Re: hous

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

H_____ Of Unusual Size? *is slightly confused but not altogether sober*

The other thing that was fabulous in every way possible was the Paul/internet mogul conversation, and the way it all played off the last scene.

Oh, hell yes. Especially since it was pre-undercut with Paul's colleague claiming he'd gladly pay to sleep with Caroline - and these are supposed to be the good guys?

I have a particular animus to shows that play to our sense of moral superiority. LOOK! Exploitation!! BAD! Am so very happy to see that as usual Joss is taking those audience predilections and yanking on them very hard.

Do you follow Big Love? So far, even given this episode, I'd say it's been doing what Joss thinks he's doing for the last three years... a lot more subtly, too.

Re: hous

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

It took me forever to figure out what you were talking about! I have no idea where that heading came from. My computer is weird and sometimes skips me to other parts of the page without my noticing it. I wonder what I was trying to say when my 'hous' got morphed to the header...

I don't know Big Love. What is it?

Re: hous

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

I don't know Big Love. What is it?

It's an HBO series currently wrapping up its third season, starring Bill Paxton, Chloe Sevigny, Harry Dean Stanton, and a bunch of others. It's... kind of difficult to sum it up and make it sound as awesome as it is, but it's essentially a drama series about a mormon family in Utah. A polygamous family, one guy and his three wives, just trying to live a normal life in modern-day USA with the man bringing home the money and the wives serving him. And apart from being a rather excellent drama, it's also one of the subtlest and creepiest examinations of power structures, patriarchy, free will and all that jazz I've ever seen on TV; every episode basically makes me need to take a shower. And they're constantly playing off the audience's preconceptions, our wish to be tolerant towards others while at the same time telling ourselves that they're completely different and we're not anything like that...

Re: hous

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the rec! It's added to my to-do list.

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

A vast, vast improvement. Lots of Joss humor, actual plot development, good action scenes, the hour flew by instead of dragging for once.

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. Not only was it completely engrossing -- I'm all fired up to see that episode again. Which is defintely NOT something you can say about the previous five.

[candleanfeather.livejournal.com]

Dollhouse seems interesting. With a little luck some TV network will decide to broadcast it in France.

Have a good week.

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

Have a good week yourself! And I do hope Dollhouse gets to France at some point. Seems strange that in a world with media as fluid as it is that national borders would still matter like that.