Dollhouse

DOLLHOUSE - SEASON TWO - ’Vows’ - Early TV Review

Echo has an unusual engagement (in more than one sense of the word) and Claire/Whisky comes to some conclusions

Grade: B

Stars: Eliza Dushku, Enver Gjokaj, Fran Kranz, Dichen Lachman, Harry Lennix, Tahmoh Penikett, Olivia Williams, Amy Acker, Jamie Bamber

Writer(s): Joss Whedon

Director: Joss Whedon

Release Date: Sept. 25th, 2009

Rating: PG_14

It’s ever so slightly odd to return to DOLLHOUSE after what could be termed the summer of “Epitaph One.” The first-season finale, which was to all intents and purposes intended as the series finale, jumped ahead 10 years into the future to show what the long-term effects of a culture influenced by the Dollhouse technology would be. One whopper of a creative problem is that the episode never aired, though it’s available on the DVDs, so people who’ve seen it have a somewhat different view than those who’ve only been watching the show on Fox and Fox.com.

To be fair, the second-season opener, “Vows,” written and directed by series creator Joss Whedon, doesn’t bring up anything that might be confusing either set of viewers. We know that former FBI agent Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett) is now working at/for the Dollhouse, though he still disapproves of it mightily. In this episode, we see some of what he gets out of what he sees as a deal with the devil. We also see that Echo/Caroline (Eliza Dushku) has a bit more going on under the surface of being an Active – someone whose personality has been wiped clean to accommodate whatever sort of personality a paying client desires – than Dollhouse chief Adelle DeWitt (Olivia Williams) believes. Echo has an assignment with a big twist to it, involving a love-struck, major league drug dealer (Jamie Bamber, who here is reunited onscreen with his old BATTLESTAR GALACTICA colleague Penikett).

However, the really cool stuff in this episode, which is where Whedon seems to have invested his heart this time around, is in the interactions between the haunted souls of Doll programmer Topher Brink (Fran Kranz) and Dr. Claire Saunders (Amy Acker), who already hated Topher even before she found out that she’s actually an Active herself, programmed to replace the house’s murdered doctor. Claire is wretched that she doesn’t know who she really is and Topher is wretched that his creation is a) so unhappy and b) despises him. Their interactions, along with Claire’s simpatico relationship with house chief of security Boyd Langton (Harry Lennix), are the highlights here.

DOLLHOUSE has switched from film to videotape this season (actually, it made the switch on the aforementioned “Epitaph One”). Some people find this visually jarring, but one can successfully argue that the rawer look gives the show a greater sense of immediacy, so that there’s less danger of some of the engagements seeming as though they primarily exist to showcase the physical attractiveness of the (admittedly very good-looking) cast. Other upsides here include Ballard’s endgame strategy when his original plan goes downhill (FIREFLY fans may see shades of something that might have worked, with obvious adaptations, on that series) and Bamber’s lively guest turn. Downsides include a whopping great question about the timeline once we understand the plot twist, not to mention us having to accept that Bamber’s character is perhaps one of the most trusting drug kingpins ever depicted on TV.

“Vows” isn’t a perfect DOLLHOUSE episode, but it’s a good one, and it gets Season Two off to a generally engaging start.