Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

“Hey, this is weird. I ordered one frozen yogurt and they gave me two. You don’t happen to like frozen yogurt do you?” “I love it.” “You’re kidding! What a crazy, random happenstance.” Except, of course, this apparent good fortune is clearly not a random happenstance. Dr. Horrible (candidate for the Evil League of Evil) would rather Penny (“the girl of [his] dreams”) mistake his calculated orchestration of events with chance, luck, or destiny, to borrow a phrase from Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales (General Prologue, line 844). In this moment, Dr. Horrible’s choice governs Penny’s perspective: his free will determines her destiny. And his plans to control destiny move well beyond this moment—“I’ll bend the world to our will,” he envisions singing to Penny. Elsewhere, he insists, “Soon I’ll control everything/My wish is your command.” Here, as in Buffy, “it’s about power” (“Lessons” 7.1). Unlike Dr. Horrible, Buffy ultimately chooses to share her power, inviting others to exercise free will—to “make a choice” (“Chosen” 7.22); her destiny as the Chosen One is thus changed. Gregory Stevenson claims that “the role of fate in Buffy’s world is ultimately tempered by free will” (71), and, moreover, “[f]ree will as moral choice continues as a theme throughout the series” (72). Similarly, J. Michael Richardson and J. Douglas Rabb argue, “Whedon is developing… a virtue ethics emphasizing moral character in decision making” (52). In contrast, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog shifts the familiar bonds among destiny, free will, and moral choice, thereby illustrating what might be called malevolent ethics. Whereas Buffy works with destiny by accepting the opportunity to change, encouraging choice, and exercising free will toward good, Dr. Horrible works against destiny by rejecting the opportunity to change, discouraging choice, and exercising free will toward evil.

For the purposes of this paper (the brevity of which negates extended focus on the philosophical intricacies of free will versus destiny and/or determinism), “free will” refers to choices characters make with the intention of affecting events, whereas “destiny” refers to events (whether by fate or happenstance) that seemingly occur beyond the control or intention of the characters. Thus, free will puts Dr. Horrible at the scene of the Wonderflonium heist, but destiny determines that he and Penny cross paths at that particular point. Robert Kane in “Free Will, Determinism, and Moral Responsibility,” contends, “free will arises in circumstances where the will of the free agent is deeply divided between conflicting motives. One powerful set of motives is pulling the agent in one direction, while another…is pulling the agent in an opposing direction” (43). At such points of conflicting motives, we might place Buffy’s decision to sacrifice herself in “The Gift” (Buffy 5.22) or Angel’s decision to destroy the Gem of Amara in “In the Dark” (Angel 1.3). Both Buffy and Angel repeatedly resolve conflicting motives by making the “moral choice” which, according to Stevenson, “is one that sacrifices self-desire for service to others” (166). “An immoral choice,” argues Stevenson, “is one that is self-centered with no regard for others” (166). Throughout Dr. Horrible, intersections of free will and destiny generate space for conflicting motives and, thus, for the necessity of choice—a space that provides the opportunity for Dr. Horrible to choose the moral good, to change course along his path to evil.

As viewers of a scripted, finite, and relatively short text, we do not have the ability to regress through each stage of Dr. Horrible’s character development; nonetheless, the script provides evidence of character traits that inform, if not determine, his choices. William Dwyer in “Free Will and Determinism” asserts, “If a person is to be held responsible for his choices, then those choices must proceed ultimately from his character” (226). He maintains, furthermore, “only if [a person’s] choice is determined by his character can that choice be a reflection of it, and therefore deserving of blame and punishment” (225)? What remains debatable is this: does the text—albeit a work of fiction ultimately dependent on authorial control—allow Dr. Horrible “alternative possibilities” at moments of conflicting motives; does the character, as Robert Kane might ask, “have the power or ability to do otherwise” (33)? For example, when Penny interrupts the heist, could Dr. Horrible have discarded the remote control and his quest to rule the world to choose Penny and her quest to “help the helpless” (as Angel might say)?

Much of Dr. Horrible’s character is revealed within the first few moments of Act One. He laughs menacingly and explains, “A lot of guys ignore the laugh and that’s about standards.” “If you’re going to get into the Evil League of Evil,” he insists, “you have to have a memorable laugh.” We then learn his application to the League is “strong this year.” But the emphasis on “this year” suggests he has applied and been rejected in previous years. Thus in under a minute we learn that our apparent hero not only aspires to evil but has failed in those aspirations and now believes every aspect of his character, including voice modulation, must meet with evil standards. The e-mails he receives likewise focus on what he has failed to accomplish. “2sly4you” regarding the Transmatter Ray, taunts, “Obviously it failed”; and Johnny Snow derides him for “once again” being “afraid to do battle with [his] nemesis.” His actual nemesis, Captain Hammer (“corporate tool”) “dislocated [his] shoulder—again—last week.” These details provide a glimpse into a past built on failure and defeat—one that influences Dr. Horrible’s quest for power and potentially determines the unethical choices he makes.

On the other hand, textual evidence supports the “alternative possibilit[y]” that Dr. Horrible has “the power or ability to do otherwise” (Kane 33). That is, he exhibits character traits that suggest he is indeed capable of making ethical rather than unethical choices. For one thing, he appears to set limits on the magnitude of his evil acts. In response to Johnny Snow’s e-mail regarding Dooly Park, Dr. Horrible notes, “There are kids in that park.” Likewise, after receiving orders from Bad Horse to “go kill someone,” he tells Moist, “Killing is not elegant or creative. It’s not my style.” Finally, after hearing Moist’s suggestion that he kill a kid in Iowa who grows up to be president, he says, “I’m not going to kill a little kid.” Thus, Dr. Horrible (initially at least) sets limits on his unethical behavior—a position that arguably allows him to choose the moral good among conflicting motives or desires.

Penny provides the primary site at which Dr. Horrible’s conflicting motives converge. Dr. Horrible wants Penny, an emblem of good; but (as he later tells her), he also wants to “do great things…be an achiever. Like Bad Horse.” Penny’s reaction—“The thoroughbred of sin?”—and Dr. Horrible’s backpedaling response—“I meant Ghandi”—reinforce the incompatibility of his desires. According to the e-mail from DeadNotSleeping, Dr. Horrible, “always” says on his blog that he will show Penny he is “a true villain.” He aspires to win Penny’s affection through a victorious life of crime. Indeed, only after he has “stop[ped] the world” with his Freeze Ray will he “find the time to find the words” to tell her how she makes him feel. Despite the numerous times he could have spoken with her at the laundromat—“Wednesdays and Saturdays except twice last month, you skipped the weekend”—he remains, indefinitely, “just a few weeks away from a real, audible, connection.” In other words, he is never going to admit his feelings until—thanks to his superhero weaponry—he is able to control her feelings:

“I’m the guy to make it real The feelings you don’t dare to feel I’ll bend the world to our will.”

He’ll bend the world to his will, given that he regularly ignores hers. Dr. Horrible’s inability to admit his feelings to Penny before succeeding as a “true villain” is so fundamental to his character that it inhibits him from getting to know her when destiny presents him with the opportunity to do so.

This serendipitous moment (at which Dr. Horrible and Penny cross paths during the heist) provides an alternative possibility. Of course, by this point, Dr. Horrible knows that the League “is watching”; indeed, they have said explicitly, “The grade that you receive will be your last we swear.” In other words, he will not be able to apply again. Consequently, when Penny introduces herself and extends her hand, Dr. Horrible (or Billy from Penny’s perspective) keeps both hands on the remote control, explaining he’s “texting”—“It’s very important or I would stop.” Thus he rejects the opportunity to accept her gesture and, moreover, to touch her. When Penny then asks, “Can you spare a minute?”—effectively giving him a second chance to choose her over his remote—Dr. Horrible momentarily looks over his shoulder at the van, blinks his eyes firmly as if weighing the options, and says, “Okay, go.” Though he listens and responds to her, he also continually looks back toward the van, leaving Penny to conclude, “You’re not really interested in the homeless are you?” During their brief exchange regarding the human race, Dr. Horrible blinks firmly again when he suggests that world power be put into different hands. But the hands to which he refers are his own, those currently on the remote control, and his quest for ultimate control hinders his ability to help the homeless rather than rule the world. Thus he rejects the moral path represented and offered by Penny.

Dr. Horrible’s subsequent actions in the heist scene physically reinforce his (im)moral choice. Though he tells Penny, “I wouldn’t want to turn my back on a fellow laundry person,” he immediately does so, having been distracted by the arrival of the Wonderflonium. By the time he turns toward her again, she has already walked away. Nonetheless, even in this moment, he could choose to follow Penny. Thinking aloud, he says, “She talked to me. Why did she talk to me now? Maybe I should—.” Maybe he should, but he doesn’t. Instead, he starts singing, “A Man’s Gotta Do”—“Don’t plan the plan if you can’t follow through.” In the span of a single line of this song—“All that matters is taking matters into your own hands”—Billy, in his street clothes, lowers himself into a stairwell and emerges as Dr. Horrible, complete with lab coat and goggles. At this moment of transformation, the wrought-iron fence around the stairwell fills the foreground of the shot, visually imprisoning Dr. Horrible behind bars. Though the “remote control was in [his] hands,” Dr. Horrible loses control of both the planned heist and the destined opportunity to choose the moral good.

Dr. Horrible’s choice to reject Penny allows Captain Hammer the chance to influence Penny’s perspective when he sings to her, “Seems destiny ends with me saving you.” Ignoring his own role in this turn of events, Dr. Horrible claims he has “inadvertently introduced [his] arch-nemesis to the girl of [his] dreams” and then proceeds to blame his nemesis for his own rapid descent into evil. During the opening song of Act Two, Dr. Horrible looks through the window of a homeless shelter and sees Penny having dinner with Captain Hammer. At this moment he sings, “It’s plain to see evil inside of me is on the rise.” On the word “rise,” Dr. Horrible backs away from the light of the window into the darkness of the street—a visual cue for his retreat away from the moral good. During the same song, as he watches Penny and Captain Hammer in the park, he despairs, “Penny doesn’t seem to care that soon the dark in me is all that will remain.” He blames his impending darkness on their actions rather than on his choices. Later, in a laundromat scene, Penny sings, “Even in the darkness every color can be found.” Thus, the darkness into which Dr. Horrible has retreated could still provide alternative possibilities if he were willing to acknowledge and act upon them.

In this same laundromat scene, Dr. Horrible reaches a point of inertia amidst the conflict of free will and destiny. When Penny says, “Everything happens,” Dr. Horrible replies, “Don’t say for a reason.” This is an outright denial of the possibility of destiny—if events happen for a reason, an external power must be controlling those events. However, when Penny concurs, “No, I’m just saying, everything happens,” Dr. Horrible responds, “Not to me.” This response—“not to me”—suggests a denial of free will in that he confirms that things happen (or not) to people (not that people make things happen). Thus, in this moment, Dr. Horrible has neither hope for change through destiny nor faith in his own ability to enact change freely. Accordingly, during her song, when Penny touches him, first on his leg and then on his chin as she leans forward slightly as if welcoming a kiss, Dr. Horrible neither accepts her gesture nor makes a definitive move. He keeps both hands in his sweatshirt pockets. He is, in effect, stuck—he can neither act nor react. Moments later, Captain Hammer arrives on the scene. Their subsequent encounter—during which Captain Hammer declares, “I’m gonna give Penny the night of her life. Just because you want her”—reinforces the battle of wills between the men and prompts Dr. Horrible to sing, “This appeared as a moral dilemma,” but now “it’s a brand new day.” In the same song, he declares, “Penny will see the evil me, not a joke, not a dork, not a failure.” His “moral dilemma” is resolved by his decision to act, but his choice is anything but moral.

In the final act when Dr. Horrible is about to murder Captain Hammer, he sings, “No sign of Penny—good—I would give anything not to have her see.” The contrast between his earlier desire for Penny to “see the evil me” and his desire here “not to have her see” points again to his conflict. Notably, Dr. Horrible does not commit murder (despite the subsequent media spin on events). Captain Hammer takes control of the Death Ray and pulls the trigger. And Penny dies not because anyone intended to kill her but because she is standing in the wrong place at the wrong time. Dr. Horrible’s failure to choose the moral good when—by chance, luck, or destiny—opportunities present themselves leads to the “crazy random happenstance” of Penny’s death. In his final song, he claims,

So you think justice has a voice And we all have a choice Well now your world is mine.

These lyrics reiterate Dr. Horrible’s view that people (including him) do not have a choice unless they rule the world. Yet we have seen that he did have a choice. As Richardson and Rabb insist, “We always have the potential for radical conversion” (45). Dale Koontz, in Faith and Choice in the Works of Joss Whedon, concludes, “In the end, as Whedon reminds us again and again, it’s not what we carry in our blood that makes us worthwhile. It’s what we choose to do” (189). Dr. Horrible has chosen not to share his power, not to slay the dragon, not to “feel a thing.”