Dollhouse

The promise of last week’s episode of DOLLHOUSE is washed away with this week’s entry, a rather unfocused mess called “Stage Fright.”

There hasn’t been a series in a long time that I wanted to like so much. I’ve given the show time to develop and find its footing, yet it still is proving to be a frustrating experience. And in the case of “Stage Fright,” it was one of the most unappealing and miserable hours of television since most of the “Villains” arc of HEROES.

This time out, Echo (Eliza Dushku) is hired to be programmed as a back-up singer (and unofficial bodyguard) for a snotty Beyonce-like pop star Rayna Russell (Jaime Lee Kirchner) after an obsessive fan has been threatening to kill her.

Another “doll,” Sierra (Dichen Lachman) is also brought into action as Rayna’s #1 fan, which also creates more conflict with the would-be killer.

The end result (SPOILER ALERT) is the twist that Rayna actually wants to be killed by her obsessive fan and go out in a blaze of glory, because, oh, well, you know, it’s so hard to be a rich pop star with everything you ever wanted handed to you on a silver platter.

Echo goes off mission, when she realizes what a brat Rayna is, and encourages her sicko fan to kill her. This gives Rayna renewed zest for life (agggg) and the Dollhouse is conflicted as to whether what Echo did was a good thing (going off mission) or if it was a dangerous thing that could lead her down the path of the mysterious Alpha who is on the loose after killing half of the Dollhouse members.

After watching this episode, I think I’ve discovered what the big problem with the show is – who do you root for? The client in this episode wants to protect his pop star invention Rayna. But Rayna is a spoiled, unappealing, whiny brat. And when she actually wants to die, you don’t really care about her at that point. Boo-hoo. In the “Target” episode, the client wanted to use Echo as human prey and in the premiere episode, she’s used a pleasure doll.

So there’s no sympathy with the clients.

Then there’s the dolls themselves. Most of them have “willingly” gave themselves over to this program. They weren’t forced into it (at least from what we know right now), so the sympathy factor with them is also nil, since they’re willing participants. The owners of the Dollhouse have no conscience, and the only likable people in the organization is Echo’s handler Boyd (Harry Lennix) and Dr. Claire Saunders (Amy Acker) who was disfigured after a run-in with Alpha.

I even like F.B.I. agent Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett) who is searching for the Dollhouse – and his cute little neighbor (Miracle Laurie) who has a crush on him.

These are real people (or so we think) – and people that we sort of can relate to. And whenever they’re on screen, the show seems to come to life momentarily.

But the show is still cramming in way too much mythology than it needs to. Ballard’s informant is some Russian guy who happen to be a “Doll?” Way too confusing.

And queen bitch Dollhouse head Adelle (Olivia Williams) is too cool for school. What is she really getting out of this. It’s an expensive and complicated operation with way too much risk.

I would understand if the Dollhouse was being used for good and to help good people – then I could get behind it. But it’s a shady organization, run by shady people and the line between good and bad is non-existent. It’s a show about sleazy people who do horrible things and treat humans like “dolls.”

There’s even talk of sending Echo to the attic because she’s becoming too aware. Now that’s cold.

I did like the addition of the Sierra character in a more central role. Lachman is an interesting and exotic looking actress, and she was given something a little more interesting to play. She was supposed to be “back-up” for Echo in this episode though, and she ends up getting kidnapped by Rayna’s fan. Wouldn’t her kick-ass programming kick-in at that point so we wouldn’t have to be subjected to Echo saving her? At least there’s something appealing about her, that made me momentarily forget the plot hole created by that one.

There’s another problem with the show – each Doll has a handler. And the handler usually comes in to save the day. So in this cast, two people are sent out on assignments, screw up and the two handlers come in to try to fix everything. That’s four people for a job that should only need one, maybe two tops. I’m all for stimulating the economy with more jobs, but really, it’s an expensive, risky and strange service the Dollhouse is offering – especially when Echo’s handler can’t keep track after she’s gone off mission.

One largely missed opportunity in this episode, that seemed to hinted at, but didn’t go anywhere – is the notion that what if pop star Rayna is a “doll” herself. Now that, my friends, would have been a super cool twist.

I also have to give kudos to the songs in the show. Whenever a TV series tries to replicate popular music, it fails miserably, but any number of the songs featured here could be Top 40 hits. The songs link thematically to the show through the lyrics and was one of the few clever aspects of an otherwise unlikable episode.

Three episodes in and I’m already having doubts about DOLLHOUSE. If the story doesn’t start to gel soon, I’m afraid Fox won’t give it a chance to grow because if a die-hard Whedon fan like myself is having a problem getting into the series, then what is the rest of American thinking when they turn it on Friday nights?