More about Dollhouse

[chani]

Just a few thoughts on episode 3 of Dollhouse before signing off to have a relaxing bath.

I wasn't impressed by parts of the writing that I found extremely heavy, especially the dialogues between Rayna and Echo when she whined about being a "factory girl", "not being real", "being everyone's fantasy " blablabla or Rayna's lines when she asked Sierra to switch off fan mode onto her real self-mode and Sierra was at a loss. Echo's lines were lames too either when she mocked the fan's servility or when she lectured Rayna about taking her life in her own hands. *rolls eyes* Come on couldn't they use less anvil and be a little more subtle with their parallels and irony?

I prefered the irony of Viktor telling Paul that the Dollhouse was a myth but he wished there were actually a Dollhouse because if so he could sign in. By the way I wasn't spoiled but I had seen the promo poster and promo photos and from them it was obvious that Viktor was an Active too. However I liked how the twist was done, Victor's dollness being sort of nonchalantly revealed as Topher goes on with his work. I liked the line I mentioned because Viktor was genuine. Yes he had been programmed to fool and mislead Paul Ballard, but when he said that, it sounded "true" and it reminded us that those dolls did sign in, had motivations in their previous human life that made them chose to be used as dolls. Perhaps some part of the real Viktor was speaking through the doll he had become.

But how desperate someone must be to accept such a deal? It raises interesting and controversial questions on slavery, and how being a slave somehow implies some sort of complicity, a certain state of mind to begin with*. I guess it was the whole point of the Rayna storyline with her crazy fan and of Echo telling her that she let them make her the fantasy girl she wanted to kill off, but I found it more elegantly done with Viktor's little line I paraphrased above.

 I also liked the scene with the two handlers who don't get along at all.

And I liked Sierra. I found her much more believable than Echo, but to be fair it could be because the actress doesn't have as much screen time as Eliza.

Oh and I like the idea of back-ups, its layers and twists. Echo played a backup singer but she was there to protect Rayna so she was rather a security extra; Boyd is determined to protect his girl as well, he does have her back all the time, staying in the shadows but ready to help if needed; Sierra was sent as the backup Active but ended up being kidnapped and then rescued by Echo; Rayna turned out to be her worst enemy, adanger for everyone. And I guess that what we see Topher do everytime is backing the files up when an engagement is done.

This makes me even more suspicious towards Paul's neighbour of course. I don't think it's a coincidence we've seen  Echo and Sierra interact in the same episode we saw Viktor and Paul's neighbour meet up. 
 
Poor Paul. He is the only one who is alone without any backup. I liked the fight scene though.

* By the way this reminds me of Konchalovsky's film The Inner Circle, which is a study in political naivete. Konchalovsky's main point is that Ivan, the lead character, embodies the Russian soul which helps to understand how stalinism could succeed and turn so many people into slaves. Ivan epitomized the willful suspension of disbelief that rides shotgun alongside the cult of personality. Ivan's hero worship blinds him to the clenched hand in front of his face; even when Beria takes Ivan's wife, Anastasia as his mistress, stealing her from underneath Ivan's nose, he believes only what he wants to believe. And, in Konchalovsky's view, while Stalin may be a monster, Ivan is the kind of self-deluding fool who allows his monstrosity to flourish. There's complicity, he suggests, in accepting the party line.  

Comments

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

Not sure they retained some knowledge of the mission, just knowledge that they were friends in their child state. It was an echo to their first scene together. I saw it as two children who have learnt not to share stuff with the adults around, who have their own world.