Dollhouse

I got my hands on a Dollhouse-script. One that looks legit enough, that it could actually be an episode that will air. Here’s my thoughts, which include minor spoilers. The problem is, it’s an untitled, uncredited draft, so I can only guess which episode it is, but I am sure it is not the new pilot or any early episode at all. So the spoilers are basically huuuuuuge in the script (and my viewing experience may very well suffer because of that... ) but I will try to keep the spoilers to a minimum here. I won’t even name the basic premise of the episode, because it could turn out to be so huge.

Basically, we know that Dollhouse starts our more or less episodic, with stand-alone episodes that include some hints on future character developments. We can expect the second half of the season to turn out to be more or less serialized when the characters take over the narrative. Well, this episode is - as far as I can tell - from that part of the show.

The teaser actually makes you think we came out of a cliffhanger from the previous episode. It is only after the credits that we get to know, that they are deploying one of the oldest tricks in TV history. The first act starts out with "Two days earlier". So, we get to see how everything came together to that teaser-moment, which I have to say, is not one of the best moments in this episode. I think it can be pivotal and astonishing and groundbreaking, if you know the history of characters and their relationships till that point, but since I don’t have that luxury, I was found myself a little confused about why exactly that scene was chosen. On the other hand: The scene involves two characters that can very well be the "selling point" of the whole show. So, it could very well be the best scene to hook viewers in. We’ll see how it turns out.

The first act sets up very nice stuff, there are interactions between main characters where I actually stopped breathing for a short time, because I would have never seen that development coming. Of course these scenes may seem trivial once you get to know how they got there in the previous episodes. But good stuff happening, I assure you. Interesting stuff, intriguing stuff, character- and relationshipwise. We also get to see a short assignment outside the Dollhouse, with some funny, but also setting up some serious stuff that we actually only come to understand over the course of the episode. Basically some very cool character setup. (Or - again - maybe this is all trivial, if you’ve seen the episodes before.)

Back in the Dollhouse... oh may I just say, I love Adelle DeWitt?! They really handle that character very well, and it is amazing how they balance a very deep and gray character like her with sprinkles of humor that are nearly laugh-out-loud-moments. Maybe because of the context and her gray-being the rest of the time. (Reminded me of the humor in Buffy Season 6, where I laughed the most, just because it contrasted the most with the rest of the season...)

Well, okay, fun stuff happening, but when the first act closes, the big bomb drops and the main storyline of this ep starts to unfold. I may just say it is very "wow!" and very intriguing, but at the same time it feels like a very direct approach, story-telling wise. Meaning, the questions they explore in the following two acts are very complicated and very gray (again sprinkled with amazing Adelle-humor) and I can see Joss doing a number of "The Body"s on that topic. But they didn’t, because they found a very cool, very human, very relateable way to explore them. Again, I see people saying that this is exactly what they feared with the Fox interference, that the show was "dumbed down", but I assure you that there’s stuff happening underneath that is great, and that the only thing that is kept "simple" in this show is the actual telling of the story, not the story itself. I’m very confident that this can and will appeal to a much broader audience than any Whedon show before, and I understand totally why some Whedonites will cry "Sell-out!". But they’re wrong. This show could actually crack the jackpot and become a hit. Or, to put it another way: Dollhouse could very well have the same metaphoric potential that the first Buffy seasons had. The time when they explored teenage psychology by making the problems and demons literal. To call Dollhouse "dumbed down" feels to me like saying "Well, it’s a cop-out to make the questions literal through some story-telling device." I think it’s no cop-out, it’s just a very cool way to make the premise relateable and engaging to watch.

The second and third act deal with the bomb, with some very nice drama and tension. It feels very real, and I can clearly see the way they want the audience to root for Echo. I don’t see any difficulty in that. When the Dollhouse starts to tackle some of the drama and tension, things get really interesting. There’s a scene in act three that blew me away cause it’s dealing with the questions raised in that episode in a very interesting way that I never would have anticipated. In act four the drama reaches a very emotional climax before we burst out into the action of things (passing by the teaser-moment) and it all gets really exciting before we enter the fifth act on a very dangerous and creepy note. This last act basically ties the whole episode together very nicely, bringing all the stories and main characters together, resolving the conflict in a very straightforward, but nevertheless engaging way. We end up with consequences. Heavy consequences, as far as I can tell. Characterwise, the consequences are gigantic. And dark. Still, with funny sprinkled in. But we end on emotional moments that can’t possibly not make you want more. "It’s COMPELLING" to quote someone from the Whedon-clan.

So, all in all, great episode. Some stuff I totally didn’t see coming, but most of it makes so much sense afterwards, that I really start to understand how this show will work, and that it’s a good way to go. The pacing is a little different than what we know from the "Echo"-script (the much-applauded "four acts without teaser"-structure was replaced by a more conventional "five acts plus teaser") but the act-breaks have weight and feel right.

As I said, I can only guess what episode it is. It doesn’t feel like a Joss-script, but I haven’t read so much scripts that I could rule that out. On the risk of totally being a fool a few months from now, I would locate it somewhere between episode 7 and 9. From the titles we know so far Liz and Sarah’s "Echoes" could be a good guess.

So looking forward to this show.