Archive for March, 2009
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
Dollhouse – “Echoes”
Maybe it is too early for an effective “Band Candy” or a “Tabula Rasa” type episode but since the chances of a third or sixth season of Dollhouse are less than zero, I will take one now.
I’ll take anything that makes me adore Olivia Williams who was hilarious. She really made her role in this episode work.
I appreciated that Topher was only marginally different on drugs than his usual annoying, unbearable self. He managed to be unpleasant as he pulled at November’s head and shook it from side to side. He is not a likable young man.
I was initially disappointed that Caroline’s story was that she was an animal rights activist which didn’t strike me as all interesting. However, on reflection I feel that her being set up as a bit of a cliché student activist is going to be developed much further. Adelle does talk of two years playing “this dance” which suggests to me that their conversation isn’t straight after the break in.
Since the reactions to the drugs depended on whether the characters were normal or actives then a few characters have been ruled out as actives. The notable exception is Dr Saunders.
The main storyline put me in mind of superhero cartoon. I fully expected Batman to turn up. It was plainly ridiculous (a drug that acts through touch and wears off before the episode ends!) but I don’t care.
I didn’t even realise that Alice was dressed as a Japanese schoolgirl. The client Matt is a creep and one of the stipulations of hiring a doll should include “no video recording”…
Paul had even less to do than episodes 1-5 except to react to being dumped by his girlfriend. Their relationship has been soured for this viewer so perhaps it’s a good thing. It won’t be a good thing if it’s goodbye to Miracle Laurie which it might be since she isn’t a featured cast member. Boo.
The supporting cast was sterling as usual notably Reed Diamond as an apologetic Lawrence and Enver Gjokaj’s smart NSA agent.
This was by no means as good as last week’s (or least the second half of last week’s) but was better than 1-5. However, losing its must-see momentum was an error. Not surprisingly, I won’t be sad if Dollhouse isn’t renewed because it isn’t very good and I think Joss Whedon should be doing something (anything) else and with a better actress as his lead. Eliza is still okay but that might be okay if the series didn’t need an amazing, fantastic, awesome, convincing, marvellous actress and not an okay one.
After last week’s topless Paul we had topless Sam so it’s a positive relief that there is equal opportunity ogling allowed. Sierra’s white lab coat, short skirt and high heels get up was ridiculous. Who do we criticise? Mutant Enemy costumers or Topher and the unseen back room staff of the Dollhouse?
Posted in Dollhouse, Television | 2 Comments »
Sunday, March 29th, 2009
These are all from the episode of Dollhouse called “Echoes”. You can’t call her wooden.
The original is on Flickr.
Posted in Dollhouse, Screencaps, Television | 3 Comments »
Sunday, March 29th, 2009
Seeing Red (Steven S. DeKnight)
The teaser finishes and straight away I’m calling the makers of Buffy bastards as Amber Benson appears in the credits.
Andy and I had a very long discussion about this episode after we watched it.
[Followed by a discussion about the implications of “Normal Again” and sexual violence on TV and particularly in Mad Men.]
We discussed the ambiguity of Spike’s attempted rape of Buffy. If Spike was human and if Buffy was an ordinary woman and if they hadn’t been involved in a violent abusive relationship then there would be no ambiguity. It seems an appropriately sad and tacky culmination to the Buffy and Spike relationship. The fade to black for an advert break was pretty outrageous though. I hadn’t actually given the incident any thought at any time because I was distracted by the other important event so it made a change to consider it.
I asked Andy for his reaction to Tara’s death (I hesitate to call it murder when manslaughter seems more appropriate) bearing in mind that Andy isn’t an obsessive Tara fan and doesn’t read much about the show. He felt her death was undramatic and that the sex and the kissing and the intimacy were in poor taste considering what unfolds.
I can only agree.
I find it really hard to separate my thoughts about Tara’s death based on season 6 alone and those based on subsequent events (or non-events) because they are all tangled up together.
The way season 6 was designed means that Tara’s death is necessary for Willow to go dark. Buffy or Xander wouldn’t have done. It had to be a lover. It could have been Oz. They could have cheated and had Willow think Tara was dead when she wasn’t but that wouldn’t be dramatically satisfactory. If Tara has to die why is it so undramatic?
They have just back to together, they are a hot sexy couple (who knew?), they appear to be happy and in one measly episode it’s over. Tara was interesting. She had a relationship with Buffy, She even had friends (do any of the other Scoobies have friends? Real friends? Janice. Gotcha.) If Tara had been offed in season 5 who exactly would have cared? I may have just understood why Tara is interesting in season 6 – so we can miss her.
And all the winds go sighing, for sweet things dying.
I do know one concrete reason why I dislike her death so much and that is because it is so unbelievable. The scriptwriters (or just Steven S. DeKnight) know they have to kill her but they don’t take any care to make it plausible. She hugs Willow and impossibly sees Xander arrive in the garden. Warren’s final shot must have taken the amazing ricochets to enter her body the way it does (it looks as if it’s horizontal and as if it was directly fired at her) to kill her instantly and to splatter her blood over her lover.
I have read that the ricochets aren’t actually impossible but to a layperson who knows nothing about guns it seems impossible. If they had been in the kitchen then I would be placated but then if they had been in the kitchen then the whole sex and then death thing wouldn’t be there to rankle.
Putting Amber Benson in the credits suggests a lack of respect to the character (and to the actor…). I often wonder about that. I think it speaks volumes of an unknown nature that AB didn’t come back for ‘Conversations With Dead People”. I don’t suppose we shall ever know the complete story but Amber if you are reading this…!
It is so lame in many respects. Warren was a genius because he was the first person to realise the most likely way to kill a Slayer is to shoot her.
The lovey-doveyness in the episode doesn’t assuage my discomfit at Tara returning to her violator. Willow may be off the drugs but she hasn’t muttered a word of apology for what she did. It may have happened off screen but I guess it wasn’t deemed important enough to show us.
I have never seen a single minute of any of the rest of season 6 and all of season 7 since my initial dazed and rushed viewing. It will be interesting to see if I can watch the rest without seething over my other problems with Tara’s death.
Also: poor Jonathan. He was betrayed by Warren and what’s his name who is such a weasel. In spite of myself I do laugh at the antics of the Trio. The jetpacks were stupidly OTT but it was funny to see Andrew hit the roof.
I’m disappointed that I haven’t written a more profound entry on this episode but that’s the way it goes I suppose. Thanks Amber, thanks Tara and thanks to Joss, Marti and co for creating her.
Posted in Amber Benson, Buffy Season 6, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Television | 7 Comments »
Saturday, March 28th, 2009
Doll House Crowd Convicted, originally uploaded by moley75.
This is a poor screengrab of the final few seconds of Walk on the Wild Side (1962). The dollhouse in question is a brothel.
Posted in Dollhouse, Films, Screencaps, Television | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
Dollhouse – “The Man on the Street” (Joss Whedon)
This is a series that I now want to watch rather than a series I am tolerating. How mad is that anyway? It’s like continuing to buy Stereolab or R.E.M. records long after you listened to any of them more than once.
So much happened in this and yet they managed to squeeze in far too much of Joel Mynor playing mind games and creepily justifying himself to Ballard. Oddly it was creepy Joel who actually hit home to me the utter wrongness of using the Dollhouse – using people for your gratification is immoral. The man is clearly not filling a void in his life if he has to repeat the event every year. I’m not sure how much we were supposed to sympathize with Mynor. The ending seemed to endorse his use of the Dollhouse to make himself feel better.
I loved Eliza Dushku’s performance. She is really getting into her groove or is being better directed but her multiple characters were well played (her squeaky “porn!” as Boyd leads her out of the house was very funny).
Thank goodness that I am warming to Olivia Williams as Adelle at last. She was splendid telling Boyd she needed to give him a bonus and telling Lawrence that she played a bad hand well.
The fight between Ballard and Echo was superbly choreographed but it is ridiculous to think that any woman of Echo’s stature (5’5”) could last twenty seconds against a man with the size, strength and skill of Ballard (6’2”) no matter how well programmed she is. His reach alone could hold her dangling helplessly from his outstretched arm. She ain’t no Slayer.
The tv documentary vox pops seemed pointless filler even though they were clearly important enough for Joss Whedon to write them and to name the episode after them but then Ronald D. Moore thought flashbacks were needed in the finale of BSG. JW and RDM make (generally) great tv shows and I don’t.
I could have done with less of Tahmoh Penikett’s hairless chest. Neither Eliza or Tahmoh being on display do anything for me but Miracle Laurie may be my new crush now that Katee Sackhoff is off to the other side.
Mellie underwent a drastic character change to start this episode as a believable human being. I do, however, feel a bit pissed off that she is a doll because I really liked her. She was warm, funny and real… I hadn’t really noticed how gorgeous she was until this episode and she played off well with Tahmoh (particularly in their post-coital conversation “I was thinking of Caroline.” “Well, I wasn’t!”) and I even liked him too. It truly was a great episode 
I absolutely and totally knew that she wasn’t going to die. I didn’t know how she was going to stay alive (the activation of her killer instinct was cool but not a surprise – she was far too bland and stupid NOT to be a doll) but I knew that there was no way that she was going to another Jenny Calendar.
I wish somebody would wipe my mind of the first four episodes.
Posted in Dollhouse, Television | 1 Comment »
Monday, March 23rd, 2009
Mad Men - “The Benefactor”
Oh dear, that was hard work. Don Draper is a bastard. I didn’t like him at all at any time in this episode. His use of sexual violence was horrible no matter how horrible she was and I’m dismayed that some commentators think it was actually hot. It was also implausible. Where were they? It was a public place where anybody at any time could have interrupted them. Ach.
I like Harry’s story. I liked that he opened Ken’s wage slip. I liked his understanding of how to use tv programmes to advertise to certain groups. I liked his relationship with his wife. I liked that they have worked through his infidelity and have moved on. I liked his inability to drive a hard bargain but still came out a winner. I liked his scene with Sal. I liked Harry’s story.
Otherwise, I DISLIKED everything else except Betty’s response to the accusation that she was profoundly sad.
Posted in Mad Men, Television | No Comments »
Monday, March 23rd, 2009
So the man who said his wife, Cally, smelled of boiled cabbage, who must also have known from Tory’s memory that Cally was about to commit murder and suicide, who called Boomer and Athena blow-up dolls, who broke Cally’s jaw, who stopped loving his son as soon as he realised he wasn’t his biological son, and who was responsible for Hera being kidnapped gets to live but an underwritten, underused Tory gets her neck broken? I’m not arguing she didn’t deserve to be punished but by Galen “Chief” Tyrol? Tigh’s snarky comment to Chief afterwards that nobody cared about her didn’t help matters.
Other remarks: the flashback scene when Boomer is chastised by Adama and Tigh who were both drunk was repulsive. They were laughing and sneering at her and I don’t understand why the scene was written like that. It was horrible.
The finale was good enough considering the poverty of what we had been served up ever since they found “Earth” although it was rather endless once they reached the real Earth. There are huge problems with the finale but I’m not that bothered by the implausibilities and impracticalities. The show went downhill from the moment they left D’Anna on “Earth” (the awesome Lucy Lawless was not able to appear in any more episodes) and that affected the plot.
I enjoyed watching Battlestar Galactica but I’m glad it’s finished.
Posted in Battlestar Galactica, Television | No Comments »
Sunday, March 22nd, 2009
Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to
stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.
–Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar. in Following the Equator by Mark Twain (1897)
I really enjoyed this film starring one of my favourite people, Emma Thompson. Great music, fascinating story, good cast and lots of baked goods. I would have happily been one of Ana’s study buddies.
Best line “I brought you flours.”
Posted in Books, Films, Quotes | 1 Comment »
Saturday, March 21st, 2009
Entropy (Drew Z. Greenberg)
It was quite weird watching the whole of this episode rather than the excerpts I usually watch. That said, I think it was good. It’s not the sort that you would ever put in your top twenty (well, I wouldn’t) because it is too tied up in the overall storyline as everything intersects so it doesn’t really stand alone. I think that I’m right in thinking that from now all of season 6 is one long narrative sequence similar to a British series.
The acting from all the cast is exceptional. I sometimes didn’t feel quite enough chemistry between Amber Benson and Alyson Hannigan (although I blame a lot of that on the restrictions placed on the depiction of a same sex couple – no touching! no kissing!) but they had oodles of it in their first and last scenes. I adore that first scene. Amber is just lovely. You get the idea with that.
As much as I love the final scene, it doesn’t seem appropriate or plausible. A part of me is saddened that Tara took Willow back (albeit with caveats) because Willow abused her. It seems wrong. Willow did a terrible thing. She does change but I feel uncomfortable about Tara’s return. I do realise that Tara’s return is entirely for expediency’s sake but that doesn’t help at all. It just reminds me of how expedient Tara was as a character full stop.
Tara’s speech appears to sum up the episode but since she hasn’t actually witnessed the most dramatic events, you have to ask, was she just round for a bit of comfort? Did Anya in the café depress her? Was Willow just too adorable to resist? Or did she want to show off her cool boots?
Willow is a dedicated student. Her two best friends have witnessed something rather traumatic, one has just run off with an axe with the other in hot pursuit, and Willow settles down with her books… She could have at least talked to Dawn.
Emma Caulfield really showcased her talent in this from her hilarious attempts to get the women to curse Xander (“I never use that word anymore.” “Coagulate?” “Squish, squish, squish.”) to her drunken vulnerability and her resignation at the end.
The scene when Xander confronts Anya and Spike and Buffy’s secret is revealed (“It’s good enough for Buffy.”) is a breathtaking one. It’s all out at last, there is sadness, relief, disgust and anger and it is so well acted.
Poor Xander. I really dislike the poor chap. He tells Anya off for hurting him in revenge even though he was never supposed to know and I’m glad she got to tell him that he dumped her and thus had no right to lecture her. And earlier on he really should have been listening to Patsy Cline.
We also discover that Sunnydale has a major shopping street quite unlike anything else we have ever seen but we are reassured with the sight of the Magic Box street which is quite devoid of other people. Dawn is quite lovable and she seems to have grown noticeably taller.
I love these lines: “Did Willow put that there when I was dead? Cause if I had known, I would have crawled out of the grave sooner to…” and “Whoa. Guys? There have only been four…three! Three! Three guys. That’s barely plural.”
Not so sure about this line: “You know I’m only doing this cause I’m…I’m lonely and drunk and you…smell really good.” Obviously vengeance demons have a poor sense of smell.
*Charles for the win. Stephanie also got it but she called me sappy! Lizzie was very close.
You now have to guess the next episode title.
Posted in Buffy Season 6, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Television | 2 Comments »
Page 48 on 
Georgia, USA on 
