Whedonesque : Comments on 19586 : What the papers say about Dollhouse episode 6.

Clearly, this is how Joss has wanted the show to be from the beginning. Now that the silly network people have backed off and are letting Joss do things his way, it's gonna only get more amazing.

BuffyGroupie | March 21, 14:53 CET

Color me happy!

Ronald_SF | March 21, 15:12 CET

Nice to read such glowing reviews. Episode 6 seems to have managed to live up to the hype.

Ameer | March 21, 15:29 CET

This was actually more amazing to me than the BSG finale, which was rock solid BTW.

There were twists in it that truly set up the mythology. Without spoilers: Is Topher truly behind the Dollhouse's programming? How long has Adelle DeWitt been keeping an eye on Paul Ballard in more ways than one?

Is it me or is Reed Diamond's security expert & Adelle's right hand man becoming more of a target of apathy as the season goes on? Maybe it's me but he is the only character I really no emotion for.

Desertpuma | March 21, 15:31 CET

I have to admit that I decided to watch the finale of BSG instead of watching episode six. I also have to admit that it was probably the worst mistake of my life. I seem to be almost alone but I hated it. I've honestly never felt more guilty than not watching that episode of Dollhouse. I'm sorry Joss. My allegiance to you shall never falter again.

dirtydag56 | March 21, 16:12 CET

This ep was fantastic. I just hope the ratings will follow.

Squishy | March 21, 16:15 CET

Here's Zap2It's review:

http://blog.zap2it.com/ithappenedlastnight/2009/03/dollhouse-hits-the-streets-.html

edcsLover9 | March 21, 16:26 CET

WOW, WOW, WOW!!! I was so bummed I don't have a DVR.
I would have replayed it over and over. I just loved it.
Also,I think I caught my first identifiable 'Whedonism' this time out (spoiler):
Paul and Mellie in bed:
Paul: "Can I borrow a cup of sugar?"
Mellie: "I think I'm all out of sugar."

arklin | March 21, 16:56 CET

Where are the ratings? (Biting nails. Squirming.)

phlebotinin | March 21, 17:12 CET

Great news for Dollhouse! It just gets better and better! I know I am certainly sucked in! Can't wait to see what happens next!

Jossfan_21 | March 21, 17:21 CET

Den of Geek's review:

http://www.denofgeek.com/television/222609/dollhouse_episode_6_review.html

(i'm sorry, i'm having troulbe with the link html tag)

edcsLover9 | March 21, 17:30 CET

I'm putting my weekly recap together, and it will be chock full of Whedon worship, especially for the scene between Mynor and Ballard, and what happened to Mellie. For creativity alone, it should be back next season....on Mondays in 24's time slot, then Tuesdays after Idol after January.

impalergeneral | March 21, 19:38 CET

It definitely kicked into gear last night knockout performances by the cast finally a series that one sink their teeth into l cant wait 4 next week l hope it returns next season preferably on tuesday after that worthless idol lm just saying

zee | March 21, 20:25 CET

I really loved this episode. It felt so Jossy, I can't tell you. I'm so glad I kept watching this show and didn't give up on it too soon.

Dietcoke | March 21, 20:41 CET

I really loved this episode. It felt so Jossy, I can't tell you. I'm so glad I kept watching this show and didn't give up on it too soon.

I love hearing that. It pays to keep watching when it's Whedon. Personally, last night's episode injected the show into my veins and by Joss, I am PWND. Thank you, Mr. Whedon.

electricspacegirl | March 21, 21:08 CET

"This was actually more amazing to me than the BSG finale"

Millie was great. But the stupid buy-a-new-house guy? C'mon. Seriously.
And better than BSG? What are you frakking smoking?

kerfuffle | March 21, 21:38 CET

I've heard several people preferring Dollhouse to the BSG finale, kerfluffle.

Jobo | March 21, 22:16 CET

Now THESE reviews I can agree with. Finally!

Man I love Joss Whedon.

korkster | March 21, 22:57 CET

This was actually more amazing to me than the BSG finale.

Millie was great. But the stupid buy-a-new-house guy? C'mon. Seriously.
And better than BSG? What are you frakking smoking?

I just finished the BSG finale, and I just can't compare the two. You got one episode, which is the sixth episode of the series, and you got a finale of a 5 year show. One is just coming out, showing what it can be. The other has more emotional resonance because it's ending a story. Very different dynamics there. I loved both, I was PWND by both, but in very different ways.

Unless you think the BSG finale sucked, you can't really compare the two.

Gotta say, though, I'm so glad there's another awesome show to fill the void of obsessive must-see genre TV that BSG is leaving behind. Nothing else I watch compares to how I feel about a Joss show, and Dollhouse is not an exception.

electricspacegirl | March 22, 00:09 CET

I haven't had a chance to watch the DVR'd ep 6 yet but I'm sure I'll like it better than the BSG finale. The mysticism was woolly, they never explained what happened to Starbuck, and starting out life in a new place by abandoning your remaining technology and scattering to the winds strikes me as suicidal.

.

janef | March 22, 00:39 CET

Don't suppose we could avoid mentioning what happened in the finale for those who have yet to see the episode?

Simon | March 22, 00:43 CET

I wonder how old the average new BSG viewer is, don't like the new show, it conflicts with my memories of the original one, which is great.

Loved the latest installment of the Dollhouse, good acting, nice fight scenes and amazing twisted plots. Wish this was the aired pilot.

Krusher | March 22, 01:23 CET

I reqret to say I fell in the same boat. Totally missed the episode because I was too wrapped up in the BSG final. Pretty ironic actually, who would've figured. Now, I'm begged, borrowing, and stealing to catch a watch of Joss' latest. Sounds like it took the cat's tongue. Oh, I'm so going to hate myself for missing this episode. Someone please pull out the stun sticks.

BTW Simon, the BSG final was awesome! Will not spoil in the least:)

Madhatter | March 22, 01:45 CET

Krusher, my dad used to watch the original series, and we oft taunted him for it. I loved the new one, and I'll never see fifty again.

redeem147 | March 22, 01:47 CET

What io9.com had to say. Spoilers. Major.

NYPinTA | March 22, 02:06 CET

This episode felt so different in style/tone... it was less slick, I think. Definitely the best so far.

fortunateizzi | March 22, 02:10 CET

NYPinTA, check out their sources. I think you may be surprised by what you find.

Madhatter | March 22, 04:05 CET

Madhatter, I'm not sure I understand what you mean.

NYPinTA | March 22, 05:08 CET

DH and BSG... just what electricspacegirl said. They're apples and oranges. I greatly enjoyed both. It was so frakking exciting to see and more importantly, feel a Joss show again. Silly Fox for not letting him go there in the first place.

Not everyone has seen the BSG finale. I only caught it last night. I feel for the souls who haven't caught up yet and read janef's post. (No offense, janef!) I loved it, but not the same way I love DH (now).

Silly, silly Fox.

WhoIsOmega? | March 22, 12:21 CET

TV Guide:

I'm interested to see the talkback for this episode. I suspect there will be quite a bit of disappointment from the fans. If they aren't feeling the show, then there's nothing I can say to that. Your taste is your taste. Perhaps some just can't get past the lack of humor.

Now this surprises me. He expected fans to be disappointed? Hamnoo? 'Cause it seems like pretty much every fan on here and around the Whedon/Dollhouse forums is full of praise on Ep. 6. I don't think the criticisms about "lack of humor" hold water in light of this episode, either.

Emmie | March 22, 13:37 CET

There has been some criticism, Emmie. I thought there would actually be slightly more if I'm honest as well, but I think Dollhouse is starting to find it's natural fan base now. Those Buffy/Angel/Firefly fans who watched and complained a lot have likely stopped watching. From here on out I suspect it will be less bitchin', more talk about the show rather than the quality of the writing.

gossi | March 22, 14:01 CET

Poor Joss really can't win.

If he'd gone for the light, fluffy humor there would be all manner of fandom caterwauling and cries of "He's taken a serious subject like human trafficking and cheapened it for the sake of a joke."

Perhaps I should start a collection for unwanted 'Joss Whedon is My Master' t-shirts. I'm sure I'd have no trouble finding them brand new, loving homes...

missb | March 22, 14:21 CET

Gossi, compared to the response for previous episodes though it's barely a blip on the radar.

Emmie | March 22, 15:22 CET

Add me to the "Joss wrecked the BSG finale" crowd. I was "meh" after the BSG finale (it had more anvils than Cylons) but I loved episode 6 and I've now watched it 3 times. They should've used the man-on-the-street footage as the basis of the entire ad campaign for the show. Especially the "Dolls. They're out there!" guy.

holeintheworld | March 22, 17:07 CET

Now this surprises me. He expected fans to be disappointed? Hamnoo? 'Cause it seems like pretty much every fan on here and around the Whedon/Dollhouse forums is full of praise on Ep. 6. I don't think the criticisms about "lack of humor" hold water in light of this episode, either.

This doesn't surprise me. I also expected fans to not enjoy MotS as much as they were told they would be, just because they were told they would. A lot of people rail against hype, and the hype itself can affect a person's enjoyment. I think part of my was surprised there wasn't a little backlash from that.

electricspacegirl | March 22, 17:50 CET

Are there any hattrick.org players here? I'm still amused every time someone uses "MotS" as an abbreviation for this ep, since it means "Match of the season" over there. And this episode indeed was the match of the season.

wiesengrund | March 22, 18:03 CET

I apologize to any who were spoiled by my comments on the BSG finale. I thought that after a show had aired in all American time zones, we could discuss it. If it's any consolation, I edited out several more specific spoilers before I posted.

janef | March 22, 18:43 CET

might be worth going back and editing the original "spoilery" post to remove the remaining spoilers, janef

doubtful guest | March 22, 19:07 CET

I dunno what the rules are for spoilers about non-Joss shows on here, but given that there're so many DVD-only viewers for other creators' shows on here (I am one myself, wasn't going to get into BSG on the air, always planned for it to be a DVD marathon sort of thing, ever since I caught all the hype around the time it was finished airing its first season), I try to keep things vague. It's a balancing act, especially when you're comparing shows or discussing a certain theme that many have tackled. For example, even though Six Feet Under has been over for four years and Deadwood about the same, I try not to give away any plot points when those come up. It's usually just praising them or a particular actor's performance anyway, so it's not too hard.

Re: hype

This episode was hyped quite a bit, but "Gray Hour" was hyped up too and, while I enjoyed it well enough, it didn't blow me away or anything (broken/wiped and confused Echo was a sad thing to watch, that's what's stuck with me). Ya learn to take hype with a grain of salt, but a whole lot of people also buy into it (I'm almost glad to hear ahead of time that there was disappointment among some with the BSG finale, now I'm prepared just in case I have the same reaction). "Man on the Street" far exceeded my expectations for what we'd be getting at just the sixth episode of the series though, fucking excellent. Sooo good.

I am fanboy again.

Kris | March 22, 21:50 CET

Put me in the negative reaction to BSG camp--I didn't hate it, but I felt it was far too much a mechanical exercise. The emotional moments felt too forced and the mythology resolution didn't make much sense to me. And I felt that one crucial speech was one of the most poorly written in the show's history. But then, I didn't like "Chosen" that much on a first viewing and it grew on me.

"Man on the Street" I liked quite a bit. And I didn't have a problem with the IT guy's emotional story--I felt that his scenes with Ballard were among the best so far, and bring about the show's complicated relationship with fantasy: this guy's fantasy is about love, real, true, and so it makes it hard to dismiss the purity of his emotions even though he is still using people to fulfill them.

WilliamTheB | March 22, 23:33 CET

"might be worth going back and editing the original "spoilery" post to remove the remaining spoilers, janef"

I tried but I can't figure out how. The "how to" page does not give directions on how to delete or alter a post after one has posted it. Is there someplace else I can look that up? I have no previous experience with HTML coding.

The "How to deal with spoilers" topic says,

"We define spoilers as any information about episodes not yet aired on North American television, or the country of origin"

I was obeying the letter but I guess not the spirit.

janef | March 23, 02:25 CET

"Man on the Street" definitely put my fears to rest. I was thinking of giving up on this show, but now I'm ready for more.

Millie is so interesting, and deWitt grows more and more Lilah Morgan-ish all the time, which is is delicious.

chickenbird | March 23, 02:46 CET

Janef, just use the tiny, little "edit" link below the post and you can change it to say anything you want.

Septimus | March 23, 02:46 CET

Doesn't the spoiler message deal with the show in question in the thread? I was very surprised (and not in a good way) to be spoiled for the latest episode of Bones (and in a mystery, the killer is a rather big spoiler) in a Dollhouse thread.

redeem147 | March 23, 02:54 CET

redeem147, your understanding is certainly the same as mine -- If I choose to enter a thread on one show, that shouldn't imply I've chosen to be spoiled on every show I might be catching up on. Odd that the janef's post was one in which the writer had themselves not yet seen the dollhouse ep yet was surprised others might not have seen the BSG episode that aired at the same time.

doubtful guest | March 23, 03:15 CET

Re: BSG finale. Because it aired on a cable network, there many who haven't seen it yet and have to wait till it appears on Hulu (which is sometime later on this week from what I understand). The warning about the finale was an exception and not the rule.

Simon | March 23, 08:21 CET

I'm going to alter our spoiler rules a bit to reflect delayed viewing which is quickly becoming the norm.

Caroline | March 23, 12:26 CET

I haven't watched the BSG finale yet so I skipped most of the comments. I don't want to be spoiled. Though my eye did see the word "disappointed". Finales are very hard for shows to live up to. I'm not surprised there are disappointed viewers.

I LOVED Dollhouse this week. I have found myself thining about it for days since watching it and am ready to view it again so that's a terrific sign. It's the first ep that made me laugh out loud and I also gasped in shock and was caught off-guard twice!! It was a wonderful roller coaster ride.

CrystalSC | March 23, 15:12 CET

Very nice reviews! Its about darn time! Stupid suits need to back off. :P

theforgottenslayer | March 23, 15:47 CET

"Janef, just use the tiny, little "edit" link below the post and you can change it to say anything you want.

Septimus"

So tiny as to be utterly invisible to my eyes. I must not be looking in the right place. Once it's out of the preview box and posted, I mean.

Thank you, Caroline.

janef | March 24, 09:05 CET

March 21 2009