Five Problems with 'Dollhouse'

Virginia got a healthy dusting of snow on Saturday, which gave me an excellent chance to catch up with Joss Whedon's 'Dollhouse.' The show is in its second season, but has been cancelled, and now Fox is burning through the remaining episodes two at time to get it all over with as soon as possible. Having seen many, many episodes of 'Buffy' and being a diehard lover of 'Firefly,' I don't feel 'Dollhouse' lived up to either of these previous projects. Here are five things I would have changed:

1. Eliza Dushku. This is both the most obvious problem and the biggest, in my mind. Dushku may be hot, but she's also horrible. I know she's a Whedon favorite, but why oh why? She's like Sci-Fi television's Mariah Gale. The girl can't act. And this is especially problematic/apparent in a show whose premise is based on a) the fact that the characters become completely different people each episode and b) the character of Echo/Caroline is supposed to have a mystic draw when it comes to all of the other characters (see point 2). To make matters even worse, Enver Gjokaj is just hands down AMAZING (troublesome RP accent aside), and any time Victor and Echo share an episode, Dushku's failings become even more apparent.

2. The Ballard/Caroline dynamic. Tiresome. Whedon kind of likes to mess with his audience, which is why the savior complex Ballard's ex-FBI agent feel towards Echo is given such a creepy undertone (which, though a clever angle, I don't think is taken far enough), but even that isn't enough to satisfactorily distract from the fact that this central through line is so incredibly done. I was over it the moment Ballard got a photograph and a name, and it was extra frustrating when paired with the genuinely intriguing Mellie relationship. This is much like the Enver/Eliza contrast...Whedon gives us something worthwhile, but makes it secondary to something tired, vaguely cliched and far more mainstream. Of course, if you had a more compelling actress playing Echo, it could have worked out well, but I find Dushku to have all the charisma of a Canal Street handbag, and so that someone should fixate on her is, to me, completely unbelievable and makes that through line feel even more like a kind of tried-and-true gimmick as opposed to an organic relationship between the characters.

3. Lack of humor. If you watched 'Firefly' you know that Whedon is more than capable of balancing intrigue and danger with laugh out loud funny ("I swear by my pretty little bonnet I will end you."), but the world of 'Dollhouse' is far too earnest and takes itself far too seriously to allow for such a balance, it seems. Not to say the show doesn't have it's funny moments, but they originate almost entirely from the neuroses of the chief programmer, Topher (if you saw the second of last week's episodes you will probably agree with me that the Tophers were among the best things ever, and further proof that Gjokaj is just phenomenal), or from some kind of neurological mix-up (Topher and Adele's deep discussion of brown sauce, Gjokaj's hilarious accidental turn as Kiki). When the humorous moments come, they are a joy, but there is also something obvious about them, as if Whedon realizes he owes us a few laughs. They don't always feel natural and there aren't enough of them. I understand this is not a "funny" show, but I don't know that the truly serious episodes are strong enough to stand on their own (with the possible exception of Epitaph One), especially when they are anchored around...you guessed it, Eliza Dushku. Seriously, so much could be fixed if she wasn't the anchor.

4. Epitaph One. This is a tricky problem to get into, and I know I probably stand alone, but Epitaph One really came close to ruining the second season for me. Released as DVD extra, there are 'Dollhouse' watches who have never seen this episode, and I envy them. As a stand alone, it is pretty phenomenal, and I love me some Felicia Day, but to release it ahead of the second season was, I think, a mistake. It takes place in the future and gives us a picture of what the Dollhouse's technology has done to our planet and society. Fascinating stuff, but the fast-forward ruins the suspense of the second's seasons episodes since we see the end result of all of the characters relationships. True, we don't know how they got there, but I don't know that I particularly care. It strikes the journey as hollow, like knowing the final score of a sporting event. Sure, there may still be exciting plays, but they lose a lot since you know the outcome.

Victoria loves the episode because she likes seeing the clues to the future and knowing where they lead to, and maybe that's most people. For me, I much prefer to be kept in the dark and try to figure out myself untile all is revealed, and then go back and look for the hints I missed the first time around. Had there been no second season, Epitaph One would have been a great way to answer questions and provide a stop to the series. Instead, it takes the fun out of it.

5. All of the above. I know, this sounds like a total cop-out fifth problem, but let me explain. This show has incredible promise. There are episodes that leave me totally floored (who else totally freaked out when the phone rang and Adele's voice calmly proclaimed 'There are three flowers in a vase. the third flower is green."? Blew my mind) and, despite my problems with the second season (see previous point), they are really getting interesting with the ways to screw with Echo (Echo as a mother and the serial killer episode were both incredibly cool). Adele is a kick-ass woman, Mellie was a welcome addition to the "I look like a real person" stable of television actresses and the secondary characters are incredibly interesting/compelling (Enver Gjokaj! I can't say that enough). But, I have not recommended it to a single person. Because, for all of it's potential, it doesn't come together. I find the holes just too big, and to get to a place where you do become interested and invested is more of a commitment than I think is worth it. I would say, at this point, at least a quarter of the episodes I could do without, most of which come from the first season and the complicated nature of the plot makes it vital you watch them all.

It was a cool premise, and sometimes succeeds, but too much of the good is too far undermined by the bad. When it goes off the air in January, I can't say I'll be crushed. I certainly won't be surprised.