Review - Dollhouse Season 2 Episode 13 Epitaph Two: Return

There it is. The last episode of Dollhouse ever. The ride is finally over and we can go back to whatever we were doing before we came upon the conundrum of Dollhouse.

After the disappointment two weeks ago, I was expecting more, and I got it. The episode starts off rather spotty with an underdeveloped story involving Harding (the character played by Keith Caradine) kidnapping people in a separate camp, but the episode picks up halfway through the episode with plenty of action before the satisfying conclusion which put a nice wrap on the series. Given the early cancellation and evident long term planning, the episode was certainly adequate for the constraints and managed to bring the emotion that has made season two so good.

The episode ends on a hopeful note; the world is saved. Priya and Anthony are together with their son, Alpha is normal (when we last see him), Topher redeems himself, dying in the process and alleviating any pain he may feel, and Echo has Ballard in her mind with unlimited time to spend with them. It was rushed and packed everything into the final moments with what felt like seasons and seasons of material, but the conclusion however hurried gave a proper ending to a show that started off so poorly.

At the same time, there are losses that can't be ignored. The world is still trashed and that fact is not ignored. While the immediate threat is gone, it will be almost impossible to rebuild the world with everything destroyed and people displaced, but Adelle is on it, so maybe she will succeed.

Whether you liked the ending or not, you have to marvel at the distance the show has gone. From the standalones in the beginning to the character depth in the second season, the radical changes the show is a testament to the ballsy moves of Joss Whedon and his writers. The ridiculous premise, Fox meddling, and bad timeslot doomed the show from the start, but the show turned into something truly amazing for those that stuck around.

Ballard's death was unnecessary, but fit in with Joss killing off Anya, Wash, Wesley, Gunn (ignoring the comics) in their respective finales. It allowed Echo to put Ballard into her head making her for the first time not alone. Even if Ballard's physical body survived, Echo still might not have let Ballard in.

Score: 9.3/10

Random thoughts:

I usually rag on Eliza Dushku, but in the few scenes in the episode where she was given a greater range to work with, she really earned her keep. Now only if she had been more consistent.

Imagine if Dollhouse had gone on for a few more seasons. The progression to the apocalypse sounds as harrowing as the darkened streets filled crazy people, and we'd finally learn what all the random jargon means.

I love Fran Kranz, but I thought he could have done a better job handling the crazy side of Topher and the side that wanted to save the world. I wasn't sure what to make of him and his emotional scene was flat.

It was cool seeing Maurissa Tancharoen get a larger part.

What's up with Victor and his "Mad Max" techheads?

Summer Glau showed up briefly on the screen which gave Topher and Bennett another moment. It's sad that their rela

Everyone aged 10 years VERY well.

No Boyd, Whiskey, Ivy, or Dominic. I would have liked to see them get worked in better.

Mag, Zone, and girl Caroline are essential the episode since they were the one that escaped the LA Dollhouse, but they did nothing in the episode and seemed useless other than to be an extra gun.

Review - Dollhouse Season 2 Episode 12 The Hollow Men

Sadly the insane twists last week turned out to be no more than J.J. Abrams-esque twists with little explanation, and a lackluster resolution. The string of strong episodes was cut short by this overly ambitious one, which was just short of a mess. There was potential in where the twists could have gone, but with two episodes left and one dedicated to the post-apocalyptic future, the elaboration was cut dramatically short, leaving us with plothole on top of plothole.

Anthony and Priya come back to find dead bodies all over the Dollhouse, wiped tapes, and a note on the chair. Anthony imprints himself, and becomes Topher allowing us to see Enver Gjokaj's amazing talent one more time. Topher has a hidden camera, and they discover that Boyd had drugged Echo.

Boyd, Adelle, Paul, Mellie, and a crazy Echo take a road trip to the Rossum headquarters in Tuscon where they are met by Claire/Whiskey. Their genius plan was to walk through the front door during the day, and demand to see the person in charge, because they "have something Rossum wants."You'd think they would come up with a better plan after driving for hours, especially since Claire who has been imprinted with Clyde the co-founder decides to Adelle on her own,  toss the rest of the them in a locked room, and take Echo somewhere else.

Boyd the mastermind has a key card, so he takes Topher to a room with the remote mindwiping tech, and convinces Topher to make the devices usable, so they can get out. Echo who just woke up in an unguarded room (I thought these people were smart.), knows Boyd is the bad guy, so she comes in attacking Boyd, but then Claire/Clyde comes in and stops her.

Here's where everything goes wrong. Boyd starts explaining everything. He goes into typical villain psycho talk about how they're family and how he's saving the world. First, he's made them into better people. Topher has morals now, and Adelle has a cause. Wow! So the genius who fooled everyone for two years is now completely insane. His justification for fixating on Echo/Caroline was just as far-fetched, but in the world of Dollhouse, science solves everything (this isn't Fringe is it?). Whenever her nervous system blocks an imprint, it leaves a neurochemical tracers in her spinal fluid that can be used to create a vaccine against imprinting. That way, when he starts going crazy with the tech, he and a select few will be safe. Oh yeah, and his justification for making the tech in the first place? Since the tech will be made eventually, he'll make it first to harness its uses.

Meanwhile, Paul and Mellie are off destroying the supercomputer. Boyd forces Adelle to activate November's killer imprint and before killing Paul, she kills herself. There hasn't been much of Paul the past few episodes, and Mellie was supposed to be off on her own, so their storyline felt very disconnected.

Echo is about to get her spinal fluid drawn when Tony and Priya save her. They also save Adelle and Topher, but they don't affect anything after this. She goes to slug it out with Claire, and we get what will probably be the last major throwdown of the series. Echo comes out the victor, and Claire isn't seen for the rest of the episode. It was very abrupt how the fight ended with Claire just lying there unconscious. I thought there would be more, but apparently not.

Boyd and Paul meet up and before they can do anything, Echo shows up, they fight, and Topher wipes Boyd. The role of active and handler is then reversed. Echo straps on dynamite onto Boyd, and tells him to detonate a grenade. Echo escapes just before the fire consumes her (obviously she was going to live). The final scene brought in the Epitaph One world for those who haven't watched the DVD.

There we have it. The last episode of the Dollhouse saga and the end of Rossum. But there's also the other Dollhouses, and probably the plans for the remote wipe tech floating around out there. Did they really think the imprinting would end with the destruction of one building? I love Joss Whedon's work, but I can safely say "The Hollow Men" wasn't one of them.

Score: 8.7/10

Amy Acker is awesome in the pantsuit.

Note for the next episode: The series finale has been pushed back to January 29 due to the multi-network Haiti telethon.

I wonder how good the show could have been if there were more seasons.

Harry Lennix did a terrific job.

Review - Dollhouse Season 2 Episode 11 Getting Closer

What the hell just happened? My mind is spinning, trying to comprehend all that happened. With two episodes left, I hope all questions will be answered. The Caroline and Bennett stories were both resolved, and with two episodes left, I think that's all we'll learn about the two.

In a series of flashbacks, we see Caroline as a college student already investigating Rossum, breaking into the LA Dollhouse, and finding files of herself and Bennett. She befriends Bennett who later finds her in the closet. They set off to blow up a Rossum building, and Bennett is caught in the explosion when Caroline tells her to stop the explosion after finding what I presume is the attic of the Tuscon Dollhouse. Eliza Dushku again didn't do a good job, especially with the superb performances we gotten, but I could at least tell that Caroline was supposed to be the rebel that wouldn't stop until the end, even if that meant casting off others.

Tim Minear did a great job showing the doom and gloom of what was going to happen while keeping the slight bit of hope. Mellie's return to Ballard's arms with Echo looking on, and Ivy being forced out by Topher despite her insistence have different layers that most shows lack. Sierra and Victor running off together before the end of the world would be a fitting end to their saga, but the door was left wide open for them to return, and nothing good can come from that.

The huge twist at the end--that Boyd is the Big Bad--basically turned the show on its head. In the beginning of the show, Boyd was joining the Dollhose, and still wasn't sure about it. He went along whatever happened, but sometimes he would show flashes of uncertainty. His friendly, trusting demeanor to Echo made us like him, and up until now, we've had little reason not to trust him. Now we learn he's was one of the top guys at Rossum, and dedicated everything specifically to get Caroline. I didn't see it coming, and I don't remember him ever being suspicious though maybe being too clean is a suspicion unto itself.

Dr. Saunders shooting Bennett was quite shocking with the red mist floating in the air, and the calm before the single shot. At first, I was confused, but considering that Boyd is a bad guy, I think it's safe to say she bad also (though I really shouldn't assume anything about this show). Before Bennett died, she and Topher were happy. They'd just kissed and bam, she's dead. This is Joss Whedon we're talking about; he doesn't pull punches. People who've watched his shows should expect stuff like that, but he manages to pull it off each time that is still interesting and shocking.

In terms of the usual metaphysical questions brought up, "Getting Closer" had none of that. Rushing full speed towards the end, the episode resolved a few stories, had several poignant scenes, and was chalk full of wild twists, setting up the final episodes. My fear is that with the Rossum people already in the Dollhouse, the next episode will turn into an actionfest where the moral dilemmas are ignored for more explosive fighting scenes. I'll admit I don't like the series finale of Buffy that much. There were some good emotional scenes, but the episode was all about fighting, and far too much time was spent on it. Dollhouse is a much different show tonally and thematically, so it probably won't happen.

Looking at the press releases for the next two episodes, I wonder if next week's will be the conclusion to everything that's happening in the present while the series finale will serve to wrap up Epitaph One. Assuming that that's true, there's one episode left that will attempt to show Boyd's deceit from the beginning, and the importance of Caroline/Echo. As for the other characters, there will probably be a minor conclusion, but nothing like what we'd get if the series continued. Damn you television gods!

Dollhouse has come a long way since the beginning episodes which were in no uncertain terms bad. The evolving nature of the show eventually settled on having Echo find her identity with plenty of screentime dedicated to the other characters. The engagement of the week stories eventually ended, and in the last half or so of season 2, there was a compelling story arc that elevated the show to another level. It went from near the bottom of shows I anticipated to the top. I'll be thoroughly satisfied with the series once it's over, and would like to acknowledge how amazing Fox was by renewing the show in the first place. For that, I will always be thankful. I will, however, be disappointed we won't be getting the top notch episodes that have become commonplace.

Score: 9.5/10

Could Dr. Horrible survive as a TV show?

With Dollhouse ending later this month, television wunderkind Joss Whedon will once again be out of the television business, allowing him to devote time to other projects including Dr. Horrible 2.

The original, which debuted in 2008, was a complete success with millions of views on Hulu and Youtube. The sales from iTunes and DVDs covered the costs of the crew and other expenses mere months after the release. Dr. Horrible continues to sell well on Amazon, making it to the top of several categories. The popularity of social networking and the internet created buzz for the musical that found a suitable niche.

Certainly the internet does not rival television or movie theaters yet, but the growing acceptance of internet-based creations is going in the direction where Dr. Horrible in its current state of low budget production could stand on its own. Dollhouse barely maintains more than 2 million viewers per week which is less than the number of people who've watched Dr. Horrible, and NBC struggles to get more than 7 million viewers for most of its shows.

Glee is very similar to Dr. Horrible with the musical numbers and quirky, off-beat humor, and excels in the coveted 18-49 demo. It's been one a bright spot among the multitude of failures this season. If made in a TV show, Dr. Horrible would have a built-in fan base, and a legitimate chance to bring in new fans.

The new show wouldn't have Neil Patrick Harris (Dr. Horrible) or Nathan Fillion (Captain Hammer) as they are occupied with other shows, but with the number of talented people out there, I'm sure there are lookalikes that can fill the roles. The popularity of Glee shows the willingness of the television audience to watch unique shows that don't fit the tradition mold.

Part of the success of Dr. Horrible was due to the total lack of network executives meddling, and Joss had to deal with that greatly with Firefly and Dollhouse. I concede that Joss and the rest of the people involved would be hampered by this, and Dr. Horrible would lose the homemade-professional feel. Nevertheless, I'm sure Joss and his cadre could keep the fans and bring in new fans. Anyone who's watched Dr. Horrible or the Buffy episodes "Once More With Feeling" knows there is precedent for Joss's accomplishments.

No network would currently entertain the idea of turning an internet creation into a show, investing millions of dollars into something unproven in the mainstream media, but as the internet grows, there is a shift what people are going to for entertainment. Radio once dominated household, but now the television rules supreme. If one day, the computer and streaming content becomes the dominant form of entertainment, I will not be surprised. How the networks integrate web content with conventional programming will be a huge part of this century. Maybe Dr. Horrible will reach your television sets eventually.

Can Dollhouse be saved? Only if you're high.

I got a hilarious message on the official Dollhouse forum titled "One Last Stand."

If not on Christmas, then on Christmas Eve, at a specified time, we should bombard Fox with emails, phone calls, tweets and just crash their whole system. Even if they're not working, we can at least give them something to come back to. And if anyone is willing, sometime before the return of Dollhouse, we should hold a protest or something in front of a FOX building. I'm willing to go. It could be just one, the nearest me is LA, or we can do it across the US. Even if nothing comes of it, at least we went down fighting.

Please anyone. Join me? It's happened before. It can happen again.

Sorry, but no show with such low, pathetic ratings has ever been renewed. Not even close. This season the ratings started bad and only got worse.

If you're going to go all out and "crash their whole system," just kidnap a couple of Nielsen families and turn their sets to Dollhouse. That way, Fox will actually see progress in the ratings and won't be pissed off that the fans forced them to spend more money on tech support.

The simple fact is that successful fan campaigns are 1 in 100, and nonexistent for shows like Dollhouse with genuinely bad ratings. Jericho got renewed. but it had almost twice the viewers of Dollhouse, and Chuck had many more viewers on a struggling network. Dollhouse on the other hand is on Fox where its measly ratings aren't needed. The repeats of House and Bones during November sweeps did substantially better than new episodes of Dollhouse. There is always a time to lay down and give up -- unless of course you take my suggestion and commit some crimes.

Review - Dollhouse Season 2 Episode 10 The Attic

Last night's offering of Dollhouse was the most inconsistent of the three double episode nights Fox has generously let us see. "The Attic" was a different kind of episode than "Stop-Loss" and was more fulfilling. It had action that wasn't indulgent, crazy twists, great pacing It was the whole package and for the most part, the last 7 episodes have been that way.

I've said this about 500 times already, but I After each episode I dread that we are one step closer to the end, and right now, there's only three episodes left.

The Attic turns out to be where Rossum gets it's amazing computing ability. The corporation whose lifeblood is essentially creating slaves would be the one to use discarded humans for processing power. Even scarier is how they do it. We see Echo dropped into a tank with some water, and get saran wrap pulled over her (I'm not kidding).

Inside the Attic, Echo makes a reunion with Mr. Dominic (Reed Diamond) and battle a villain named Arcane, along the way picking up Victor and Sierra. Arcane turns out to be a rather harmless guy named Clyde Randolph (Adam Godley) who tells them all about the Rossum supercomputer composed of people. To make things even more engrossing, they are now in the post-apocalyptic future of the "Epitaph One" world. The episode never aired on television, but considering how few people actually watch the show anymore, I'm sure most people got the reference.

Echo breaks out by tricking the system, and saves Victor and Sierra. The final scene sends us hurdling to the inevitable finale. There's Echo, Victor, Sierra, Topher, Boyd, Adelle, and Ballard all together, ready to take on Rossum.

On the subject of Ballard, Topher managed to save him by giving him Active architecture. There is one downside however (ignoring the fact that being a doll sucks). Topher had to get rid of something to make Ballard work. My prediction is that it is love. In Whedon shows, relationships never end well, and usually there is the angst of forbidden love. Ballard losing the ability to love Echo would fit in perfectly.

Score: 9.6/10

Review - Dollhouse Season 2 Episode 9 Stop-Loss

Eliza Dushku revisited Faith (Buffy) and spent most of the episode ass-kicking which is fine. The action made the episode fun to watch from the standpoint of someone who likes that kind of stuff. I was however expecting a more nuanced episode for an episode focusing on Victor.

We learned almost nothing about him other that he was a soldier in Afghanistan and had shell shock which made him turn to the Dollhouse. There were several scenes where we see Victor/Anthony alone contemplating everything -- anyone who was let out the Dollhouse would. What we didn't see is Victor before becoming a soldier or even that much expansion of his character The episode was far too focused on Echo and her new abilities to allow for Enver Gjokaj to shine (I spelled it without referencing anything). We've seen what he can do, and the writers did not try to capitalize on that.

The Scytheon arm of Rossum was a great idea, but I think the infiltration and killing of the soldiers could have been better. Echo is above-average with the numerous abilities pumped into her brain, but Rossum is portrayed as all-powerful. And yet, the soldiers were destroyed much like the fodder on other shows and movies. When I saw the soldiers moving together, I instant recollected the scene in the season premiere of Sanctuary where the Cabal minions walked  in sync in for no particularly reason other than to pose for a final shot. I think that scene will forever ruin people walking in tandem for me, so I was trying hard not to giggle at the soldiers.

Adelle has been pushed and pushed, and it looks like she is on her way to becoming completely evil. Her motives have never been clear from the beginning, but she had a strict moral code. Now, power is sole goal and in total despair, she first shuts down and then becomes a tyrant.

Random thoughts:

When Boyd was referencing something at home, the only thing I could think of was Dr. Saunders. She drove off rather abruptly and her re-entrance should have meaning.

What happened to Ivy? Liza Lapira was terrific in the episode and I hope she doesn't lose that wry charm.

Score: 8.9/10

Review - Dollhouse Season 2 Episode 8 A Love Supreme

What makes the cancellation of Dollhouse disappointing is that there is now a clear path to the show instead of the aimless wandering in season 1 and parts of season 2. It makes me think if these past few episodes aired earlier, the show would still be alive. Even though everyone watches the show is raving about it, those who stopped watching don't care. The show is already canceled, and they have run out of goodwill for a show that severely underperformed in the past.

Alpha is back, and Alan Tudyk was amazingly creepy again. This time, he's killing all of Echo's clients, so Joey Miner (Patton Oswalt) is brought in to be protected. I don't care for his character since he's just a creep, it is weird seeing him as a more sympathetic character though I still disliked him in the end.

Alpha devilish plan amounted to no more than to destroy Ballard, the one person who can have what he can never get. The last half of the episode amped up the action with Alpha imprinting all the dolls to fight back against the handlers, leading to Alpha capturing Ballard. Joss Whedon the most psychopathic showrunner (I'm being partially sarcastic) decided to leave Ballard brain dead. There is an easy out however. Alpha had created an imprint of Ballard, so I assume Topher should be able to fix him eventually.

In both episodes, there were great throwaway moments and humor unrelated to the story characteristic of Whedon shows. Maurissa Tancharoen made another appearance as Kilo in episode 7, being used as a test subject for Topher's remote wipe, imprinted with an angry black girl. Sierra and Victor as doctors was hilarious and Topher using the wipe stop them from kissing have me laughing.

Score: 9.4/10

Review - Dollhouse Season 2 Episode 7 Meet Jane Doe

What could have been a really great episode fell short mostly because it seemed the writers wanted to add an engagement which was the same kind of thing we could see any other week, except that now Echo can control the personailities. The only interesting thing about it is that the abusive guard was played by Glen Morshower, who plays Aaron on 24 -- the best human being on the show.

The whole time Echo was helping the woman, all the wanted to see was what Ballard and Echo were doing, and even that wasn't particularly interesting. It was reminiscent of Buffy with the training and sexual overtones, but the characters simply aren't Buffy and Angel. The weakest part of the show is probably Ballard and Echo, so an episode focusing on them wouldn't be my preference.

The last act of the episode redeemed the episode with Topher telling DeWitt of Rossum's evil plans. They are using each house to create small pieces of a device that can imprint people from a distance without a chair. Topher finally created the last component and was holding out because he was scared. That's why he feels so responsible for the situation in Epitaph One. DeWitt, having been demoted, wants power more than she cares about her morals, and takes Topher's remote wipe.

Score: 8.8/10

Numbers of Interest - Television Ratings for Friday 12/04/09 - Dollhouse fares the same

Dollhouse has been canceled, Fox doesn't promote it, and people who stopped watching still think the show sucks, so the .8 it got last night doesn't surprise me.

CBS handily won the night with Ghost Whisperer (1.9), Medium (1.8), and Numb3rs (1.6). Numb3rs is struggling, and CBS has already decided to order additional Flashpoint episodes which will probably take over.

NBC came in a distant second with Muppets Christmas: Letters To Santa (1.1), Dateline (1.5), and The Jay Leno Show (1.4) which almost got double Dollhouse (I know, that's just sad).

ABC came close to NBC with Dreams Come True (.9), Ugly Betty (1.2), and 20/20 (1.6).

Review - Dollhouse Season 2 Episode 6 The Left Hand

The second episode was a step up from the already great first episode. It was a fantastic episode, with great acting, and superb writing. In terms of story, I think this episode may be the strongest yet.

It was a bit like East Coast vs. West Coast with the D.C. dollhouse and L.A. dollhouse doing all these things behind the scenes. There were fascinating scenes between Lipman, the D.C. dollhouse guy, played by the always wonderful Ray Wise, and DeWitt. They try to gain control over each other, until Adelle quite literally takes it to his balls.

In the end, Rossum succeeds in their goal. Perrin uses his wife's death to put the blame on a conglomerate supposedly conspiring against Rossum. Now Rossum is the victim and can gain even more power.

Summer Glau's character Bennett has a huge problem with Echo/Caroline and is duty bound to mess her up, first torturing her, and then letting her and Perrin run off. We learn that her arm is dead because Caroline left her pinned under rubble a long time ago. Hopefully we'll learn more about this, and get more of an explanation.

The relationship between Bennett and Topher is interesting. Clearly they have a crush on the other but, their other obligations -- Bennett to kill Echo, and Topher is steal data -- dashes any chance they have. They are loyal people that follow a set path, and relationships aren't at the top of their priorities.

Enver Gjokaj. Need I say more? I don't know how it is possible for anyone who watched last night's episodes not to have cracked a smile at Victor as Topher. At first, it sounded to close to Fran Kranz that I had to look closely to make sure it wasn't a voice over. The voice and gestures were so close, and maybe a bit over the top, but that only added to the fun.

There are now only 7 episodes left and I hope there can be a satisfying resolution. Echo is still wandering around out there, and Ballard is still missing for some random reason (it like a financial issue). With Echo interacting with real people without handlers carefully watching her, she may learn more about herself, and if an active is a real person.

Score: 9.5/10

Review - Dollhouse Season 2 Episode 5 The Public Eye

Dollhouse has been canceled, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy the show. This season has had great episodes, and while I probably wouldn't have cared much if the show had been canceled last season, I am now disappointed after seeing what Dollhouse can really be.

I know there's no point in looking back, but I wonder if the series would still be alive if Perrin was introduced earlier, even in season 1. These past two episodes focusing on him have been excellent, and worked better than the engagement of the weeks.

Perrin's investigation was in bareling ahead as he called out Rossum during a press conference, talking about the Dollhouse. Madeline is going to spill the beans on everything, but Rossum of course won't let that happen. Ballard, being the hero he is, won't let them kill her. Let the games begin... I loved the twist that Perrin was the active and not his wife, since it was kind of obvious who was who.

I wasn't a fan of Echo as a escort, because it seemed like a ploy to have more Eliza Dushku in the episode, but in the end, it transitioned well into the next episode.

Joss said he didn't want to make Summer Glau into a doll, because she's already done robot stuff, so it was interesting that he decided to make her a bit like River with the rambling. I'll be talking about her more in the review for the next episode.

Score: 9.1/10

Review - Dollhouse Season 2 Episode 4 Belonging

Incredible, incredible, incredible episode. I loved the acting from everyone (minus Eliza Dushku) and especially loved the directing. Huge props to Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon for writing the episode and last but not least Jonathan Frakes for the directing.

The backstory on Sierra was sad and chilling. She was an artist from Los Angeles when possibly the worst person in the world, Nolan Kinnard (Vincent Ventresca), takes an interest into her. We discover that he drugged her and made her psychotic, so the Dollhouse would make her into a doll. Topher immediately has problems with what Nolandid as well as Adelle. It is essentially rape, as Nolan manipulated the Dollhouse into letting him have sex with an unwilling participant.

Adelle confronts Nolan who threatens retribution unless he gets Sierra permanently. Reluctantly, Adelle tells Topher to do it. This is where everything goes all wrong. Instead of doing as Adelle asks, Topher puts in Priya (the real Sierra) who kills Nolan. Topher arrives sees the mess. He and Boyd clean it up, leaving no evidence of wrongdoing.

This was the first time we got to see Topher in a role other than comedic relief. For the first time, he grasped the issue of morality and acted to preserve whatever Sierra had left. Great acting from Fran Kranz.

Dichen Lachman was simply amazing throughout the episode, portraying an artist, a psychotic, a terribly damaged active, and a blissfully unaware doll.

The connection between Sierra and Victor transcends everything. We see the attraction between them when Victor was an active and Sierra was not, even though Victor was not programmed to do so. The episode ends with Sierra and Victor happy and totally oblivious to the calamity that elapsed.

There was a minor story with Boyd discovering Echo's plotting. He discovers her journal, but doesn't take any drastic action. Unless he perceives Echo as a real threat, I doubt he will really care what she does. Ballard was conspicuously absent during the entire episode and I kept wondering where he was while all these events were going on.

Once again, an amazing episode and the ratings simply sucked. There is no chance for renewal, but Joss said the season finale would have some resolution. Maybe the Dollhouse will be brought down by then. 

Score: 10/10

Review - Dollhouse Season 2 Episode 3 Belle Chose

Another intriguing episode with somewhat of a tie-in with Epitaph One. When Dollhouse got renewed earlier this year, I didn't care much. I wouldn't have been broken up if it was canceled. I watched it and liked it, but it wasn't terribly special. After Epitaph One and the first 3 episodes of season 2, I will be very disappointed if Dollhouse is canceled.

A serial killer who is in a coma has his entire mind dumped into Victor, so Ballard can interrogate him. He had just kidnapped 3 women before getting hit by a car, so he is a danger. Michael Hogan guest stars as his shareholder uncle who thinks he can connect with Victor. After Ballard fails to get substantial information other than a confirmation he just killed someone, the uncle breaks Victor out who of course turns on him the first chance he gets.

While this is happening, Echo is off on a romantic engagement as a college student with a creepy college professor. Topher decides to do a remote wipe which will take the whole system offline. Something happens, but its not exactly a wipe. The minds of Victor and Echo switch, so its half fun and half terrifying.

Echo was about to get in on with the professor, but with the serial killer mind, kills him and goes back to the 2 women still alive. Victor had entered a nightclub to look for a replacement for the woman he killed, but as the college student starts dancing suggestively. Props to Enver Gjokaj for doing such a great job. Eventually, Ballard takes him back to the Dollhouse with Victor clinging to his arm. Echo as the serial killer is about to kill the women before she glitches and reverts to what I assume is Caroline. She wants them to kill her before the killer comes back. They are about to before the Dollhouse guys and Ballard come in.

For the first time, Topher attempted to do a remote wipe and used a biolink feed. It did not work, switching the minds of 2 actives, but shows the possibility that a progression can happen leading to the apocalypse of Epitaph One. First it's the biolink, then phone, and soon the world is doomed.

I liked the references to Dr. Saunders so we could know that at least they haven't caught her yet and the ethical qualms of Topher and Adelle. I guess they draw their lines at serial killers. When the serial killer playing with his victims, they looked very much like dolls and when Ballard interrogates him, Adelle seems to realize that what she does may not be so much different.

A review for this episode wouldn't be complete without mention of the promo. If you haven't seen it, Youtube it. Before anything, the promo made sure we knew Summer Glau will be here in 3 weeks. Then it went in the more awesomeness with clips of the next episode dedicated to Sierra with a shocking look at Topher. That's in 2 weeks though. Damn baseball...

Score: 9.3/10

Opinion of Current Television Shows, Part 1

I don't review all the shows I watch every week, so I want to give a quick rundown of what I think of all the shows I currently watch and have watched all episodes of. I'll do them by network, so they aren't in any particularly order. Since Blogger only allows 10 labels at a time, I'm splitting this in several parts.

Supernatural: Brilliant show all around from the writing to the acting, and everything in between.

Bones: I liked the first few seasons a lot, but the show starting going in all sorts of directions that were pretty stupid. The show can still be entertaining as evidenced by the last episode, but it's near the bottom of my shows and probably isn't going to climb put of the spot.

Fringe: Is is terrible for me to say this show is overrated? I've seen lots of comments with high regard to the father-son relationship of Walter and Peter. While it's pretty good, how can that compare to the Sydney Jack relationship on Alias, another J.J. Abrams show, just a few years ago? Fringe really lacks the kick that makes Abrams shows special, and the continued use of standalone episodes bother me when there is so much they can explore.

House: The quality of the show has declined a lot, but Hugh Laurie is still a scene stealer. Replacing the team members would be better had the replacements been better than the originals, and if the worst of the originals, Foreman, had also been removed.

24: I don't care how ludicrous the plots are, 24 is my favorite show on television right now. The writing is compelling, and Jack Bauer is flat out awesome.

Dollhouse: I think the premise of the show boxes some creativity in the corner. The show started without a clear direction and while it has established the direction by now, the ratings continue to stink.

Chuck: It's the only one-hour show I watch on NBC, so it must mean a lot. The will-they won't-they I could do without, but the from top to bottom, Chuck is an amazing show.

The Office: Hilarious show. Love the characters, love Dunder-Mifflin. The show has stayed very consistent through the years.

Community: There's so much potential in this show it's disappointing the episodes haven't been much funnier.

Criminal Minds: I don't care if its pop psychology. It's a cool show and I like it.

Opinion of Current Television Shows, Part 2

Numbers of Interest - Television Ratings for Friday 10/02/09 - Dollhouse dead

Dollhouse will not get a second season. After a decent season premiere, the second episode of the season did even worse getting a pathetic .8, barely better than a CW repeat. If the show had kept stable at 1.0, there might have been a chance of renewal, but a weekly drop like that dooms the show. On the plus side, the episode coincided with the premiere of Stargate Universe which may have drew scifi fans away.

Fox didn't do any better with Brothers (.8) and Till Death (.8). Obviously Dollhouse doesn't have a good lead-in, but it should be able to attract viewers on its own.

CBS won the night with Ghost Whisperer (1.7), Medium (1.8) and Numb3rs (1.6) which still aren't big numbers. It's Fridays, so we can't expect much more. CBS seems set for Fridays for the year.

NBC did fairly well with Law & Order (1.2), Dateline (1.7), and The Jay Leno Show (1.5). L&O will probably not be renewed, but a 20 year run is good enough. Leno continues to do well when against light competition.

The ABC repeats were very interesting. FlashFoward tied with The Forgotten with 1.0. FlashForward did way better than The Forgotten for the first run yet tied with The Forgotten which bad horribly on the first run. Procedurals still do well under any circumstance.

Review - Dollhouse Season 2 Episode 2 Instinct

Dollhouse will probably be canceled. but I'll keep reviewing this show as long as it airs. The pacing of each episode is always uneven. I liked the episode, but the engagement always drags while the events at the Dollhouse are underused.

Echo is a mother of a newborn who is married to Nate, a rich guy, she is very suspicious of. She overreacts and goes through his stuff finding photos of his wife who died. I found this very interesting. She looking at pictures of herself in a different body except she has no idea of what's going on. Echo/Emily starts getting ideas of the Dollhouse after seeing the black van and overhearing a phone conversation. She tries to save the baby by running off with help from her friend Sierra who gets taken into the black van. Echo takes off on her own and gets help from the police, but Nate and Ballard come and take her away.

At the Dollhouse, she goes crazy and has to be sedated. After being wiped, she attacks Topher and goes to get her baby back. Topher somehow made Echo lactate be changing her on the glandular level causing her maternal instinct to override everything else. Apparently too much maternal instinct is her similar to psycho killer. Nate describes the Dollhouse to her and she is conflicted, but exceedingly receptive of the idea, leaving the baby.

Perrin continues his Rossum investigation but needs help. Alexis Denisof's voice is a little high-pitched which was covered up well in Angel due to not using an American accent. With the American accent, he sounds a tad shrill. He's on the warpath and with good evidence, Perrin won't be stopping anytime soon. Unfortunately he only has 2 scenes which will probably increase as the season progresses.

November/Mellie/Madeline makes another appearance and is doing very well and is doing thoroughly pleased with her situation. She comes in for a diagnostic test and meets Ballard after getting a cut from Echo. They talk and Ballard is clearly holding back emotions and thoughts. Ballard is confused after learning the Dollhouse actually made her life better. I'm sure in certain circumstances it would, but who's to judge?

The episode ends with Ballard talking to Echo. She seems very aware of what happened and feels horrible about what Topher did to her. I guess this is the first stumbling block to their ultimate goal of bringing down the Dollhouse, but a seemingly minor one as they will continue.

Score: 8.8/10

Numbers of Interest - Television Ratings for Friday 9/25/09 - Dollhouse tanks

I had expect some of the buzz over the summer to carry over into actual viewers. Sadly I was mistaken and a cancellation is almost guaranteed.

Fox sucked with Dollhouse getting a measly 1.0 and it's lead-in Brothers also getting 1.0.  Want me to put a positive spin of this? The lead-in sucked, a scifi movie Surrogates came out, Fox barely promoted the show, and perhaps the biggest one: Fox renewed it for a second season. Even with the horrible ratings last season, Fox still renewed the show. We don't know exactly what they were thinking, but all we can do is hope.

ABC did well with repeats of Flash Forward (1.5), Modern Family (1.5), and Cougar Town (1.5) To top that off, 20/20 won to 10 PM timeslot with 2.3.

NBC did ok with Law and Order only getting 1.3, Dateline 1.5, and The Jay Leno Fall getting 1.5. I'm guessing this is the last season of Law and Order with the move to Friday.

CBS won the night as they usually do with Ghost Whisperer winning its timeslot with 2.2, Medium with 2.1, and Numb3rs getting 1.8. I was surprised so many people watched Medium,. There are 2 possibilities. Everyone who watched Medium on Mondays are NBC followed the show to CBS, or people that watched Ghost Whisperer liked Medium. Either way, things are looking up for the show.

The CW was back in the dumps with Smallville getting 1.0. With The Beautiful Life getting canceled yesterday after only 2 episodes, I think it would be smart for the CW to put Smallville in that timeslot though they've already scheduled a Melrose Place encore.

Review - Dollhouse Season 2 Episode 1 Vows

Miraculously, Fox somehow didn't cancel Dollhouse, so here we are. It was clear from the beginning that this episode has more purpose than most of the first episodes last season. The second season is where lots of shows succeed. After tinkering around in the first season it seems Dollhouse has found it's place. I'd be perfectly content with episodes like this every week and not some random sexcapade that marred a couple episodes.

The engagement of the week seemed straightforward. Echo was going to marry some weirdo named Martin Klar played by Jaimie Bamber. That sounds fine, right? Of course not, Joss wrote this episode and learned from the mistakes of last season. It is in fact Ballard who is the client using Echo to marry Klar who is an arms dealer. Echo believes Ballard is still in the FBI and she is just helping in an official investigation. The plan unravels quickly with Klar's crony Hugo getting pictures of them together. This seemed like a cop out especially considering the secrecy of the Dollhouse but I get that it was done to advance the plot.

Echo tries to open a desk while unbeknownst to her Klar is standing right outside. This is where Jaimie Bamber proved his worth as he went from calm to super crazy, beating on Echo. This triggers Echo to start having flashes of previous engagements. Her handlers are so stupid they don't realize anything is wrong and it takes Ballard to call Topher. He confirms that she experienced pain and wildly changing chemical levels indicating a concussion. Klar takes her to a hangar and Paul confronts him. Echo starts cycling through a couple personalities and Ballard comes up with a plan. He starts hitting her, and activates her fighting personality. She beats up everyone and stops Klar from getting away. It was a great action sequence and made me want more badass Echo.

This was definitely one of the better engagements since it wasn't all about adventure or sex (ok, that one scene was nice). Eliza Dushku did a great job being the good wife (great show btw), FBI agent, and being confused after being smacked around. I hope this improvement continues since she was shaky last season.

The most intrigue of the series happens inside the Dollhouse which is where the focus should be. Dr. Saunders was having trouble coping with the fact that she herself is one of the dolls. I can just imagine how crushing it would be to learn that your entire existence is just so digital information shoved into your brain and the writing and acting certainly invoked this. Amy Acker is such a wonderful actress and I'll be disappointed she'll only be a recurring character this season. Boyd wants to have dinner with her, but then she rattles off a list of things she is afraid of. Of course this is predicated on the fact that these were all designed into her. Boyd says that they are simply excuses.

Her interaction with Topher and pretending to want to have sex with him was a really disturbing scene that made you feel sorry for Dr. Saunders and made you hate Topher less. He's a genius and has at least some trouble grasping with exactly what he does to people. In the end, Dr. Saunders drives off leaving us for a couple episode. She'll appear in only 2 more episodes so I hope she gets as much screen time as she did today.

Alexis Denisof of Buffy and Angel made his first appearance as Senator David Perrin. He has his sights on Rossum and isn't backing down. All we saw of him was a measly press conference so we don't know anything really, but from all accounts, he plays an important role this season.

There could be a weird possibly of a love triangle between Adelle, Sierra, and Victor. In the beginning of the episode, Adelle feels his face and at the end, Victor and Sierra hold hands and smile at each other. Is that too much of a stretch? Victor and Sierra like each other naturally, but Adelle has the ability to make Victor like her.

The big kicker was at the end. Echo tells Ballard she remembers everything. She is all of them (the personalities), but no of them is her. Ballard tells her the real her is Caroline, the imprint that originally belonged in her body. She has grand vision of finding the real person in everyone and asks for Ballards help. He obviously goes along. What better way to indulge an obsession when the obsession asks for help.

I know many people stopped watching last season and for good reason, but it's time to jump back in. The quality has improved and the show seems to have a purpose and direction. With the last scene, everyone is coming back for more, right? I know I am. 

Score: 9.2/10

5 Best New Shows of 2008/2009 TV Season

5. Dollhouse (Fox)

The tone of the show is great, and for the most part the acting is strong (Eliza Dushku isn't that great). Some of the episodes weren't that good, but the last few episodes were riveting. The show has lots of potential for backstory and crazy things happening to the Dollhouse. At first, the concept seems a little bizarre, but it grows on you after a while.

4. Better Off Ted (ABC)

BOT is a different kind of comedy to the run of the mill ones on CBS. Set in an office with high-tech things everywhere, the show is wacky and fun. There is lots of potential with new gadgets and weird technology that can wreak havoc each weak. The characters are all quirky in their own way, and there is definitely lots of potential for the show. Like Scrubs, there is lots of unrealistic, physical humor, so I'm afraid it won't really catch on. 

3. The Mentalist (CBS)

Former fake psychic (they actually aren't real) Patrick Jane is a consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation and helps solve crime with his observation skills and intuition. Basic, right? Yes, actually, but that's what makes the show so fun. There's crimes and the team solves them. The best part of the show is Simon Baker who plays Jane. Jane is a great character with witty, funny comments, but when push comes to shove, can become as serious as anyone. I know people won't like to hear this, but I may actually like him better than House. Robin Tunney plays Teresa Lisbon, the head of the team, and even thuogh lots of people don't really like her in the role, I think this does a great job playing off Jane.

2. Fringe (Fox)

I'll admit the first couple episodes were shaky at best, but J.J. Abrams has done it again with a scifi show. The premise is that there are weird events happening called The Pattern and the FBI investigates them. It's similar to The X-Files, except the FBI agents have much more resources are more mainstream. There are some awesome twists and a cool main storyline which I have to admit is more interesting than that of The X-Files (please don't hate me). None of the characters are very interesting other than Walter Bishop played by John Noble, but I'm sure later seasons with go more in depth with that as there are many possibilities.

1. Leverage (TNT)

Imagine a Ocean's 11 with a philanthropic heart. That's Leverage. A group of master criminals get together to help people in need. The show is solid throughout. The pacing is near perfect, the characters are funny, and the jobs are highly intelligent. The world of high-tech thievery meets a helping hand and we get a great show. Helping the underdog is lame at times, but it is rarely the focus, and most of the focus is on the actual crime. While other cable shows like Burn Notice get more recognition, Leverage is a show that is truly a cut above the rest.

Related:

5 Best Renewals of 2008/2009 TV Season

5 Worst Cancellations of 2008/2009 TV Season