Joss Whedon's Dollhouse: 'Dollhouse' ends: The ultimate winners and losers

Addressing your Firefly comment first: I think the blue hand men angle wasn't given a chance to be elaborated on and it's another one of those future plots, like Books's past, that would never happen on a TV show. However, the first Serenity comic, Those Left Behind, did have more of the blue hand men but they still stayed a mystery.

Those "mysteries" that were left on Firefly showed what kind of show it could have been. In the case of Buffy, there were mysteries involved in the show but I would never consider them gimmicks. I consider it a well written structure. Joss had the structure of Buffy planned out from Day 1. A few examples is when Faith hints to Buffy about the coming of her sister. "Little Miss Muffet. Counting down from 730." And the entire episode of Restless has a slew of references to several future episodes.

And this is where I believe Dollhouse failed. It lacked the structure that made Buffy, Angel, and Firefly into the Joss phenoms we came to expect. And when Dollhouse came along, we were all expecting the same. And just like Joss, he takes the road less traveled and tries to give us something totally different.

Joss will never experience the level of hype that was created out of Buffy. And he may never have another story written as well as Firefly. We set up Dollhouse to be on those same levels and it failed. Personally, I'd rather have someone try something different and fail than to just be doing the same thing over again.

Here's to your next project, Joss!

 

Well, they did approve the show, and have given it a second season. I think that speaks for one reason why he went to them - it might not have been a success, but it was an opportunity, one that might not have been afforded on other shows. *Shrug* This isn't a show that I've thought would be long lasting with that concept.

Last Friday's double episodes were fantastic - I'm interested to see where it goes next.

 

Just had a crazy thought. Imagine, just for a moment, that the original pilot hadn't been scrapped, and the "introductory" episodes hadn't been made. We would have gotten to "Omega" with several episodes left in the season, which would have allowed for "Epitaph One" to be aired, and just enough room for "The Public Eye" and "The Left Hand" to be the season 1 finale. The plots would have had to be tightened up, and certain elements would have been sacrificed or delayed, but...

I need a time machine and Joss's address. And maybe a baseball bat for FOX.

 

I'm loving these double episodes. The show is tremendously good right now.

 

9-10PM
Fox

Dollhouse

"The pressure is on Topher to reconstruct Echo's original personality and memories after Adelle realizes they are key to stopping horrible future events. Too bad Echo's past can't stop the imminent end of Dollhouse."

 

This show is still a huge guilty pleasure for me. The Topher-Bennet episode was BRILLIANT. My one complaint right now is that it feels like they're trying to squeeze three seasons worth of material into these last few episodes. Everything is so rushed. I guess it was either that or leave the show with lots of loose ends.

 

I'm enjoying these last few eps and all, but when Topher and River started getting all kissy all I could think was "***dammit Joss, you're about to kill one of them!"

 

And as usual, he didn't disappoint.

 

'Dollhouse' ends: The ultimate winners and losers
by Ken Tucker

"For folks who never watched ?Epitaph One? (the unaired, DVD-extra, 13th episode of season one), Dollhouse really ended last week, with ?The Hollow Men,? the last episode that took place in the present-day of the original Dollhouse universe.

This week, ?Epitaph Two: Return,? set in 2020, wrapped things up in a way I found more effective, even moving, than I expected. I thought the Mad Max-iness of ?One? was as derivative as that comparison makes it sound, but ?Two? gave ?One? context, and really made both of these book-enders cohere dramatically.

Rather than go through a recap of an episode that Dollhouse watchers without benefit of ?Epitaph One? may have found baffling anyway, I?ll let you knowledgeable fans discuss it among yourselves in the Comments section below, and instead, I?ll tote up what I think are the Winners and Losers in the great Dollhouse experiment. As Paul Ballard said last night, ?This is where it gets interesting.?

Losers:

Joss Whedon He never stops trying something utterly different from what anyone else in television is doing, and he?s always punished for it with a modest-at-best audience. Who does the cancellation of Dollhouse make more wary: him or any broadcast-network exec tempted to work with him again?

Eliza Dushku Given (a) plum role(s), Dushku sometimes seemed not quite up to the task of portraying all the various characters with which she was imprinted. Sometimes they just seemed like a slight variations on either slow-talking robotic Echo, or butt-kicking Echo/Caroline. Where does the failure of this series leave her TV career? Maybe in search of something very different. Bet she?s looking at ABC?s Modern Family and wondering if her agent should get her the next smart sitcom.

Topher I went back and forth on this character, but ultimately (as in last night?s finale), his manic-nerd mannerisms, no matter how many times they were partially redeemed by a subplot showing the real man inside the man-boy, just grated. The challenge for actor Fran Kranz will be to prove he has the range to do something more nuanced than brilliant-but-squawky Topher.

Fox Not a terrible villain at all, but not a hero, either. The network took a chance, it didn?t pay off, which could have made them look gutsy. Instead, by doing things like the reported big-footing interference in the early-panic stage of the series, not airing ?Epitaph One,? and burning off the second season on Friday nights, Fox looks a bit squirrely.

Winners:

Joss Whedon He?s free to be courted by cable. FX, Showtime, HBO, AMC ? who knows where he?ll take his next project, but who among us will not be front-and-center for its premiere?

Olivia Williams She was ultimately one of the two actors whose performances became richer, more sly and knowing, with each week. I?d love to see her in another series, soon.

Enver Gjokaj And he?s the other one who comes out of this looking like a deft, dexterous actor who could slide into almost any genre and succeed with charm to spare.

David Solomon He directed some of the best episodes, from ?Spy In The House Of Love? to ?The Public Eye? to both of ?Epitaph? hours with flair and economy (both in his sense of atmospheric storytelling, and making do with the budget he had).

So, what did you think of the final Dollhouse? And who do you think are the winners and losers now that the series is over?"

 

The biggest loser: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

The money FOX spent on another half-season of Dollhouse could have given us some amazing television from the TSCC crew. Then again, TSCC was probably going to get canned either way, and Dollhouse was more an issue (as Whedon joked) of FOX just forgetting to cancel.

The biggest winner: Dollhouse.

It's probably going to get some of the "killed before its time" reputation boost of shows like Firefly, but frankly the whole thing could have been compressed to one 13-episode series and been all the better for it. The finale was nothing great, and would have just been made increasingly disappointing if we'd been put through several more years of Echo's hooker adventures on our way there. Some have said that the last half of this season felt rushed - I thought the other 3/4ths of the show's run just went way too slow.

 

I tivo'd all of the "end run" episodes, but have yet to watch them. Not sure if i'll ever bother.

Th show was interesting, but incredibly flawed. You do have to give Joss credit for trying something new, and Fox DID give it it's shots, but i think the suits at Fox have to realize that there will never be another show like "The X-files" that actually thrived and built an audience on friday nights. That slot is just above Saturday for "where shows go to die."

 

Finally watched Epitath 2. Fantastic episode.

 

My thoughts: http://jeditrilobite.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/dollhouse/