Dollhouse

TV Review: DOLLHOUSE - SEASON 1 - ’Briar Rose’

The mysterious Alpha is finally revealed in a pretty good episode which sets the stage for an explosive season finale next week. Grade: B

Stars: Eliza Dushku, Tahmoh Penikett, Olivia Williams, Fran Kranz, Harry J. Lennix, Enver Gjokaj, Dichen Lachman

Writer(s): Jane Espenson - Director: Dwight Little - Release Date: May 1, 2009

One of the benefits of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and ANGEL existing on such smaller (and now defunct) networks as the WB and UPN, was the non-pressure to reveal major spoilers were going to happen. The network promos never said “Spike and Buffy have wicked sex” or “A major character is going to die this episode.” Things just happened, and it surprised loyal viewers with its twists and turns along the way.

Hence, the problem with DOLLHOUSE being on Fox. You absolutely have to let viewers know that something big is coming – because ratings are king and it’s incredibly important to drive viewers to their small screens every Friday night.

That’s why I’m a bit lukewarm on this “Briar Rose” episode. For weeks, we’ve been promising the reveal of the Alpha character and last week, sure enough, the promos were clear Alpha was going to be revealed.

And for nearly an hour, I was disinterested in all the other crap going on (as interesting as it was), because I just wanted them to get to the point and spill the beans about Alpha.

It’s not the way I like watching my television shows, because knowing in advance really spoils all the fun.

Anyway, the reveal was a big one, and if you don’t want to know anymore, I would stop reading now, because there are big SPOILERS ahead.

The episode begins with a reference to “Briar Rose” which is what Sleeping Beauty is referred to in the Brothers Grimm story of the same name. It took a kiss from a prince to awaken Briar Rose, and that’s the perfect metaphor for all the machinations going down at the Dollhouse throughout the episode.

Suspended F.B.I. Agent Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett) is finally close to finding the Dollhouse location. When he breaks up with Mellie (Miracle Laurie) who is actual covert Dollhouse spy November, he knows she will be taken back to the covert lair. So he follows her, and geez, the Dollhouse proves they’re still pretty inept when it comes to being covert, because the F.B.I. agent does what he does best — follow the trail. And a black van? I know we’ve seen them throughout the series, but it just struck me how retarded it is. Of course there’s something nefarious happening with a black van. Why couldn’t have been a repair truck or something a little less ominous?

Anyway, Ballard manages to track down an eco-engineer (FIREFLY’s Alan Tudyk) who apparently built the Dollhouse to exist underground working on mostly natural energy, gases and more – so it couldn’t be detected. Ballard needs him to break in.

Of course, before long, Ballard proves NOT to be Alpha, and SURPRISE (okay, actually not a big surprise, since it was leaked on the Internet a couple of months ago), that Tudyk is indeed Alpha.

And he’s a cutter – carving up people for his own pleasures (my theory is he was imprinted with the mind of a serial killer and it never got out of his head). As much as Ballard wanted to be the prince to save Echo (Eliza Dushku), Ballard fails in his mission and is caught after a knock-down, drag-out fight with Boyd Langton (Harry Lennix). Meanwhile, Alpha has awakened Echo, and by episode’s end, he’s imprinted her with some kind of wicked former lover and they leave the Dollhouse undetected (because, of course, Alpha had disabled their security systems, etc.).

Cool stuff – and the promos for the season finale look even cooler.

While there was some good acting all around – and Tudyk running around acting like the quirky father of Topher (Fran Kranz) most of the time before he reveals himself to be the baddie, I think it’s important to herald the incredible acting chops of Enver Gjokaj as Victor. Of all the dolls, he’s proven to be one of the most versatile – capable of using convincing accents, mannerisms and character tics without it seeming contrived. Even better, this episode he’s imprinted with Laurence Dominic’s memories (he was send to the Attic a few episodes ago). It’s clear Gjokaj really spent a lot of time studying actor Reed Diamond who played Dominic. He nailed not only his voice, but also his mannerisms. It was quite frankly pretty eerie, and a testament to the actor’s chameleon-like skills. Here’s one actor that’s going to survive DOLLHOUSE with flying colors if it doesn’t get a second season renewal. This guy’s a talent and this episode really reminds viewers of that.

I also liked the assignment Echo was on in the beginning of the episode. Topher, doing charity work, had imprinted Echo with the memories of a troubled young girl at a half-way house. But it’s the adult brain waves of the girl, if she gets her sh*t together and works through her issues. So essentially, Echo is there to teach the young girl, her younger self, that there is hope in her life, so she doesn’t turn out bad.

Overall, a pretty good episode – only marred by my knowledge that Alpha was going to be revealed. I would have preferred to just enjoy the episode and be surprised later, but oh well.

It also looks like Alpha has found a way to steal other people’s memories and imprint them on his own. Next week’s episode looked really f’ed up and frankly, I can’t wait.

DOLLHOUSE has hit its stride and I hope there’s enough story left to tell if indeed Fox grants it a second season to build on its loyal audience.