Please forgive the lack of press tour blogging today. The hotel was having hellacious wifi difficulties for most of the day, and by the time the problem was resolved, I realized I had to start marshaling my strength for what we hope will be an epic NBC executive session tomorrow. And because I still have CBS' "Survivor" 10th anniversary non-party party to attend tonight, and then will be hip-deep in the Leno/Conan mess tomorrow, I sadly don't have time to try to figure out, much less write about, last night's "Dollhouse," which Mo Ryan described on Twitter as "brain-melty." But I'm sure those of you still watching the adventures of Echo and company have many, many thoughts on the subject, so have at it.
39 comments:
Others have said they saw the Boyd twist coming. I totally didn't. Completely did not see Saunders/Whiskey shooting Bennett coming. Jeeeebus. Utterly fantastic episode, even if Boyd as the Big Bad does have a bit of a retcon flavor to it.
I'm not convinced that the person in "Boyd"'s body in the flashback is the person we've seen during the series, given what goes on in this show.
To quote Kitty Pryde in Joss Whedon's "Astonishing X-Men" run ...
"YeahbuhWHAT?"
DonBoy: I totally think it is him, and not a doll or anything.
I loved the twist, and I did not see it coming. I did have a feeling something would happen with Dr. Saunders, though, thinking about how she and Topher left things (though I was quite shocked to see exactly what happened).
I've seen some people say that she's evil and working with Boyd and that she's part of the "conspiracy" or whatever, but I don't think so. I just think she really, really hated Topher and wanted to hurt him as much as possible (her whole "I didn't know he could love" speech seems to indicate that, I think)
The problem with figuring out who the baddies are in Dollhouse is that you never know who is a doll. So you don't know if Boyd is a bad guy or a bad guy took over Boyd because he was close to Echo.
It brings in interesting story lines, but can cause people to lose faith in the show because everyone's a doll.
I smacked myself in the face when Boyd was unveiled as the Rossum headman! I knew the episode was building towards a reveal of SOMEONE we'd seen before, so I'm sitting there in my head going over the show's brief but voluminous history...and I just completely skipped him for some reason, maybe because Harry Lennix was really good at playing up the aloof, "trust me, I'll protect you" side. It made perfect sense too once I thought about it, because his backstory has always been kind of murky.
I'll have to go back over the episodes to be sure, but I couldn't immediately come up with any retcon issues, at least none that couldn't be justified by things ultimately working out in Boyd's favor. It'll also depend on what the full extent of his plans are/were. Was the Alpha composite event that launched the series something he planned or a glitch, etc...things of that nature.
Also, I'm pretty sure Boyd is the actual Rossum head and not a doll, because the flashback is Boyd meeting with Caroline before there ever was an Echo, so I don't believe it's a case of someone getting to him later or anything like that.
I gotta give credit where credit is due to Whedon and Co. regarding how they've handled the endgame for this show. Ever since the cancellation was announced, the fat's really been trimmed from all the episodes and it's been a really fun ride and I just get the sense we're gonna get a really good story with satisfactory closure at the end. I'm sad about the cancellation, but I'd rather go out with episodes I'm 100% entertained by than see the show tread water with some of the more uneven storytelling from earlier in the series...just my opinion though.
The last six episodes or so of this show have been absolutely phenomenal.
You know when I first watched the episode I was excited and everything, but after seeing Joss pull the exact same move over in the Buffy comics (note it hasn't happened yet but the cover solicit spoiled the identity of the big bad there)
I'm really thinking Joss has run out of ideas or just has no idea how to do a long term plot without hitting almost every beat over and over.
After seeing the wuvvy-duvvy looks between Topher and Bennett get worse and worse, it was clear that one of them had to go.
On the other hand, no one in this world is ever really "gone." If the show weren't coming to an end, the others could easily have found a copy of her brain lying around in a drawer somewhere, ready to plug into the next guest star.
The thing is.... I'm not sure Boyd was revealed as the big bad. If Boyd then = Boyd now - he knows that putting Caroline back in Echo will let her know that he = original Rossum partner. And he helps her do that. He could have let that soldier kill her - but he doesn't - he wants Caroline in Echo. He supports her rebellion.
My theory is that Boyd made Echo. When he originally encountered Caroline things at Rossum were already spinning out of control - perhaps Boyd realized what was happening and knew that by that point it was not something he could dismantle. So he chose Caroline and made sure she would become something different - a failsafe so that if things got bad, there would be something for him to fall back on, an ace in the hole.
Of course there are a lot of holes tha need to be filled in - and Clyde's story doesn't really track with it. But the way he spoke to Caroline at the end of the episode, and the way in which he definitly wanted Caroline in Echo and was supporting her rebellion leads me to believe that he must be for Rossum coming down, and there was a reason he called Caroline up to meet her face to face.
I like Curtis' theory, however I didn't see it as part of such a large plan as he did.
I posit: 1) "Boyd" has remained the receptacle for Clyde Randolph 2.Evil throughout the show (this reasoning would imply this body is a Doll, since only those with "Doll Architecture" can be imprinted, although "Boyd" may not be the first doll, they may have body jumped. Look at "Boyd's" partner, he looks way to young to be the original body of Clyde 1.Good's partner). 2) "Boyd" wanted Echo to wind up as something like she is now, a stable composite of imprints. This explains why he would not freak out when he realized that Echo was more than just another doll.
The show has been framed in the shadow of the Alpha Incident. Remember Topher saying how you have to imprint a whole personality, not just a talent for jet-skiing? I recall Topher offering Madeline some small "uprades" they were fairly small potatoes as skill sets go, he wasn't like, "You know, I can give you a blackblet in Kung-Fu, or a Ph.D. in Genetics, or perhaps a subject more useful like Post-War American Lit."
That being said, a stable composite Doll would be of great value of Rossum. It would be the equivalent of the humans in The Matrix, able to be uploaded with a massive series of highly specialized skill sets, as well as temperaments which can be equally if not more handy.
It makes sense that "Boyd" is and has been Clyde 2.Evil, it explains why he was so cool with the job, with Priya's killing, and why he is the sort of guy to shoot the Rossum big wig without blinking. It would fit with the sort of amoral person who is cool with running a company like Rossum and having his alter-ego trapped in the attic.
The real question right now is whether Boyd has been shown within striking distance when Topher has used his "Dolls go sleepy now" shutdown device.
And I think something like this was set up earlier. Recall the ep where Echo is downloaded with the World's Greatest Detective Who Doesn't Dress Up Like A Bat, Drink Gingold, Or Wear A Deerstalker persona. When she interviews Boyd, the conversation goes something like
Boyd: You trust me with your life, don't you.
Echo: You know, for some reason I do. Move along.
So, not only has Echo been inhibited from mistrusting him (unclear how strong the directive is for NuEcho with multipersonas and marshmellow pieces), but Boyd took the easy way out to avoid being looked at too closely.
Oh, and I'm wondering just why the fictional school needed to be 1) an Institute of Technology (not that I have anything against such, having worked for MIT) and 2) located in Tuscon and 3) instead of being called the Arizona Institute of Technology or AIT is called the Tuscon Institute of Techology or TIT.
Didn't see the Boyd reveal for sure, but Curtis' first paragraph makes me think he's not exactly the Evilest Evil that's ever Eviled.
I also don't think Boyd is t a Doll. Take the episode "Echoes," where it's pretty obvious that he's still himself, but he's acting like he probably did as a kid. Uncannily disciplined, but still regressed. Not reliving previous memories the way the other Dolls did.
My reaction to this is the very same one as the Big Bad reveal in 24 Season 5: If they can pull this off, it'll be a work of genius. If not, then we're screwed. For this show, they have one and a half episodes to be able to pull this off (because the last episode is gonna be another Epitaph episode). If they make it work, you can preface that last sentence with "unfortunately;" if they do, "luckily."
I'm still not completely buying Boyd as the Big Bad. Yes, I can see why an aware and self-controlled composite would be of great interest to him, and I can see why someone who is never completely wiped would be as well.
But I can't understand why going undercover as a handler for two seasons was the best way to effect his end goal, whatever that end goal may be.
Liked the episode, but ...
While we all like a show having some mythology, I think there is a difference between good story telling, and creating a surprise just because it has been 15 minutes and hence time for a surprise. I do not care whether Boyd ends up to be the good guy or not. That is not the point. The same happened with DeWitt last week right?
If this is how I need to write the story, all I got to do is to make a roulette with the actor names instead of numbers, and every week whatever name turns up on this roulette, that's the character who will turn (from good to bad, or vice versa, or flip bacwards twice). Totally random, but equally meaningless.
The challenge is that one moment you are talking about the dark meanings of the dollhouse, why people go there, why people work there, and the next moment ... just another writers trick. Is it feasible, yes. Is it necessary, NO.
Once again, I have liked the mythology shows, and did like this episode in general. But, please ... this is NOT good storytelling.
Why do I so enjoy watching everything go to hell for characters I like?
The Topher/Bennet stuff was so good... and then her death was so shocking (reminding me of Libby's death on Lost). I loved the next scene too, where he is still covered in her blood but trying to finish her work.
Oh, and we had earlier questioned the logic of Bennet being friends with Caroline, but the show explained that satisfactorily.
Finally, I've always wondered why we haven't gotten Boyd's backstory (he seems like a nice guy, but there at hints at a dark past). So, I believe that Whedon has planned this reveal for awhile.
Either this Boyd thing will be explained well, or it'll turn out to be as ridiculous as BSG's Final Five. (I love BSG, but still.) I'm more interested in learning why he cultivated Caroline for all these years. I've got a theory...
There are at least two factions in the Dollhouse's upper echelons. First, there is the majority, who want to use the tech for profit (and E1 shows us how that turns out). Second, there's Boyd, who probably lost direct control of Rossum as it grew; who sees the present and future implications of the tech; and who is trying to take down the Dollhouse from the inside. Caroline apparently represents the best way to do that.
I speculate that Rossum/the spread of imprinting tech can't be stopped; the only option is to adapt, and that means Caroline and her ability to adapt to multiple imprints. Will she (and possibly a reformed Alpha—I'm just guessing here based on Epitaph 1 dialogue, I haven't read any spoilers for the last eps) save a small remnant of people and teach them to composite if imprinted? Eventually a society of people would emerge who are not singular personalities, but are instead unique collections of personalities; some of who may be that way not because of forced imprints, but because they have chosen to be stronger and smarter—to be the best of all possible bests. If so, what an apocalyptic and cool vision of the future.
I'm also curious to see if Alpha and Whiskey will turn out to have been created indirectly by Boyd, and if he decided to come supervise/manipulate Caroline in person because of previous failures.
@Ninja Editor: that makes sense to me. Either Boyd accidentally unleashed Alpha on the world experimenting with Composite Events or he was intrigued when it occurred and wanted to explore it further in the hopes of creating someone like Echo.
One of the many thoughts I had trying to figure how Boyd fits in as the actual head of Rossum.
People! Do you really think Joss Whedon's inner fanboy would let him pull a twist like that out of his ass and get away with it? Anyone who accuses him of making it up on the fly and not thinking it through is an idiot. Only his most rabid fans are still watching, and they'd pick it apart in an instant if the explanation didn't make sense. Why would Joss make up a story-shattering twist when he has only two episodes left to tell his story?
The only other conclusion is that Joss has planned this from the beginning. Damn...
Not cool tossing around terms like 'idiot' so freely on this site, Anonymous.
Wow, this show is really gonna make me miss it. It makes me wish that they had known from the beginning that there would only be 26 episodes; imagine how tight and intense that could have been?
I didn't see the Boyd reveal coming, but that was as much my lack of thinking about it as it was storytelling. I like it though, it could definitely be a nice surprise direction. Either way, I am extremely excited for the final two.
Not cool tossing around terms like 'idiot' so freely on this site, Anonymous.
Yes. Please read Rule #1 of the commenting rules.
I think this group is in denial about Boyd being the leader of Rossum. I believe there is not enough time in the show to establish that he is someone else. Whedon said the audience would get a resolution for the show. This reveal to me makes the most sense.
I like it because it helps me understand that Shepard Book is most likely the military general in the Alliance who most likely initiated the program to make River a super soldier.
@confused dot sarder at gmail dot com
A part of Joss Whedon's philosophy in his shows is to demonstrate the flawed and imperfect nature of humanity. In real life people are not pure evil or pure good to him. In his commentary for the Firefly episode “Objects in Space” he referenced a question and answer session between Willem Dafoe and a reporter in which the reporter asked him whether he preferred playing good guys or bad guys. According to Whedon, Dafoe had replied that it doesn’t matter because everyone thinks they are righteous meaning in real life people don’t think of themselves as good and/or bad but do think that their actions are right. Whedon accepts this idea. Whedon also takes it one step further in showing how people’s actions have unintended consequences.
In the first season finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy goes off to face The Master because she thinks she can stop his rise even though she is predicted to die. In a typical series this would have seemed heroic and the moment of triumph for the hero. However, it turns out this decision is what causes The Master’s rise. A character acting in a righteous fashion bringing about a downfall. In this case Buffy’s death.
This is similar to Caroline’s actions in this episode. She acts idealistically and plans to blow up labs in Rossum to bring down the company. Instead she plays in to Boyd’s hands and leads her to him so that she can be a part of his plan which Clyde established as bringing about the end of the world.
This leads me to the question what were/are Boyd’s plans for Echo? Is he just using her to make sure he is safe in this apocalyptic world?
Furthermore, what is Whiskey’s real name and who was she before she became Whiskey?
In terms of her shooting Bennett I think that she was imprinted to shoot her. Remember Boyd found her. Also remote wipes are possible now. So she could have been imprinted from inside the Dollhouse by Boyd as well. Rossum has the technology blueprints now to imprint anyone even without active architecture thanks to Topher.
I really liked the Topher Bennett relationship it was very sweet. Both Summer Glau and Fran Kranz did tremendous acting jobs here.
It is weird to me how Caroline now seems more ambiguous than Echo now. In an episode last season we got to see Caroline’s college and one of her teachers saw her and said that she had been her history teacher. Caroline also had a group of rebel friends. In this most recent episode she evades the question of who she is in terms of her intellectual pursuits when she avoids telling Bennett and the yearbook videographer her major and background respectively. However, she is constantly reminded of her mission when she sees evidence of Rossum. She defiantly establishes herself as a corporate terrorist. This makes me think that Tucson Institute of Technology was not her first college and that she was using Bennett from the start.
The scene repeated in this episode of Caroline betraying Bennett is a perfect example of Whedon’s beliefs on idealism, perception and good/bad character. Whedon first wants to say that idealists end up being terrorists because they fail to take into account the desires and needs of other people and the constraints of reality. In terms of perception, in a previous episode we see this scene through the eyes of Bennett in which Caroline leaves Bennett behind to save herself demonstrating Caroline’s uncaring and unsympathetic character. However, this week we see the memory from a different perspective. This shows that Caroline was saving herself but leaving Bennett in a position where she could be taken care by Rossum as Caroline gives Bennett the alibi that she is the victim in the terrorist plot. This actually removes the perception that Caroline was merely saving herself.
This also shows us the complicated nature of good and bad. The corporation that Caroline is fighting against is experimenting on humans making Caroline the good person. However, she is willing to betray her friends to do it; making her a bad person. Bennett is willing to bring down the corporation as well making her a good person. However, she is working with Rossum perfecting their experiments making her, in our eyes and in Caroline’s, a part of the problem and not a part of the solution.
Finally continuing the exploration of ambiguity, now knowing that Boyd is bad, that Whiskey may have always been a part of his plan and that Alpha is the one that set up safe haven in Epitaph One is Alpha a bad guy?
@Anonymous, not so fast. I've never seen a Whedon movie or television show besides Dollhouse. I'm not generally a big sci-fi person, but the premise of this show intrigued me. They almost lost me in the first season when it seemed like a (in my opinion) less meaty Alias, but then it started getting really good and hitting on the interesting and thought provoking themes its premise promised.
So no, not only Whedonites are watching the show.
@lookauri: Clyde is Clyde is Clyde. Boyd is/was his best mate who knew something could be done with the tech, and never a recipient of the Clyde 2.0 personality.
And while there is an argument for Adelle's flip-flopping, I don't think it is as jarring as some here make it out to be. She fell to rock bottom, did things in desperation that she's not proud of, and pulled herself out of her hellbound path in good part due to Boyd's influence and her own better nature, which has always been on display.
In contrast, I sincerely doubt that this is a (solely) shock-value heel turn for Boyd. We've learned little about him other than his caring nature since the show began, so I think he has always been written as being part of a long con in taking down the greater Rossum juggernaut. While this leaves a number of unanswered questions (like, why'd he leave Clyde 1.0 in the Attic after his change of heart, unless it would be impossible for him to remove him, or he needed his brain powering the system to accomplish all he needed.) I can't claim to have seen this twist coming, but I'm not discounting it out-of-hand as a twist for twist's sake. Not like how I reacted to White Collar's cliffhanger. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but this doesn't *feel* like a cynical play on the audience's emotions. Boyd's been going out of his way to protect Echo and the LA house, a long bit of history that would be completely un-Joss to discard (last season of Buffy notwithstanding.)
My biggest question is regarding Caroline's history with Rossum and Adelle. Is she a doll twice-over? (Adelle said something like "are we ever going to be done with her?") Why did Rossum already have her file? What's in it that brought her to Boyd's attention?
Anyway, enough wall of text. Just my 42 cents.
I think it's safe to assume, based on the fact that Dollhouse is one of the lowest-rated network shows ever to get renewed, that Joss & co. knew they might only get one season, and planned accordingly. Also, Joss being Joss, I suspect they've known since the beginning of the season about this reveal, so he's clearly not pulling it out of his ass. There's a fair amount of Boyd-behavior to explain (going undercover as Echo's handler may make sense; killing Rossum's own men--not so much).
I'm not a big fan of the whole Bennett-dying thing.
(SPOILER ALERT FOR BUFFY S6, ANGEL S5, DR. HORRIBLE)
We've seen this three times before: geek falls in love; love of geek dies horrible death. Willow reunites with Tara; Tara gets murdered. Wesley finally lands Fred; Fred gets murdered. Dr. Horrible comes into his own; Penny gets accidentally/killed. (Buffy Season 7: Xander wins Anya back; Anya dies in the big battle.)
He's played this card on every TV series except Firefly, and I'm betting if there's a Firefly season 2 the doctor and Kaylie would've hooked up, and then Kayle would've been turned into a Reaver or something. There's a certain point at which killing a specific character--the female love interest of the geek--becomes a tic. And Joss just reached that point.
Still, it's an awesome show otherwise.
Im with Mo - I definitely did not see the Boyd reveal coming. I'm just too damn trusting :p
Put together a recap/review for the episode if anyone is interested in reading: http://bit.ly/6sIPMC
did not like. joss does interesting concepts/themes, and often characters I like and can get behind (lots o love for firefly and dr horrible), but I can't stand the storytelling in this show.
I'm not as angry as I was with BSG, but the sloppiness leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It's not about the Boyd reveal... well, it kinda is, but the general murkiness of who is what and on which side muddles what I wish was a steady rise to the climax.
If this episode was more setting up a clear plan of what the protagonists want and how they're trying to get it and less Bennett getting shot and what's his face mysteriously escaping from the Attic, I'd be a lot happier. I don't need battle lines between "good" and "evil", but I would like "us" and "them" to be more consistent to make the flip-floppers and double agents the exception, not the rule.
As a "fan" I got upset when Victor and Sierra were told to escape, and as a writer I got upset thinking back on how many fucked up missions Boyd took Echo on.
The only reason the 40 minutes wasn't a waste was because I got a lot of laundry folded.
The drug episode established Boyd as not being a doll (or not being a doll as we know them if they chose a cop-out like that).
The next step will be to show that Echo was always aligned with Boyd due to the Caroline-Boyd meeting from 3 years ago.
And then DeWitt will turn out to be the brain behind the whole operation, while masquerading as the boss of the LA operations.
While this may or may not be Joss modus operandi, and maybe he really thinks way deeper than me. However, my point is that the story does not require these.
Perhaps there are clues in the play mentioned as the origin of the name Rossum. The play, R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), has a young female idealist meet the elderly founder of robots and the founder's son. The female, Helena, has the goal of liberating the robots. The liberation eventually occurs, but it comes with a price . . . All humans, except one, are killed.
In retrospect, it was significant that in Epitaph One, Boyd was the only major character not seen after the apocalypse.
I think the assumption that Boyd may not be in total control of Rossum isn't necessarily due to our attachment to him, but more to explain the fact that working undercover in one Dollhouse as a handler for years would be a pretty stupid way to run business if he were really in charge. Oh and contributing to multiple revolts against HQ. While I agree he's not a doll, perhaps he pioneered the Rossum leadership practice of placing yourself in multiple bodies. Clive did it too. Maybe Boyd 1 handled Echo while Boyd 2 ran the company.
Or...Caroline/Echo is so special that nothing was more important than for Boyd to be by her side as she developed composite status. But other flashbacks suggested she was a stereotypically naive animal rights activist who stumbled upon Rossum's real purpose and dedicated herself to their destruction, was forced into being a doll, then randomly developed unique cognitive abilities almost no other doll possessed (Alpha went crazy and I don't see how Whiskey was special...the assault and long-term Saunders imprint gave her massive doll-PTSD, but nothing else).
But the final scene discussed some plan for Caroline. So is she special? Was her composite ability somehow predicted or non-randomly created? It must have been if Boyd served as her handler. If so, how could this be done under Topher's nose? Tausif Khan makes a good point that, animal rights activist flashback aside, Caroline's background is quite vague. I would answer Francis' question by saying Caroline had a file because she was already doing terrorist-y things to them, but agree that something seems to have brought her to Boyd's attention. Finally, wasn't it Boyd who told Echo she was stronger than Caroline, although in a way supportive of their mental coexistence?
I guess next week we'll see if Boyd came back to save Echo/Caroline, staying with the LA Dollhouse rebels, or to abscond with her for his own purposes.
Other thoughts: in her previous episode Bennet seemed to be a shallow character, just a collection of Summer Glau-style tics without anything else, but the flashbacks did a great job of establishing her character to the point where her death was moving in its own right, not just how it affected (series regular) Topher. It was not played up, but it seemed like there was a Mulholland Dr. type subtext to her relationship with Caroline in the flashbacks.
It made no sense to dispatch Victor, Sierra, and Ivy. Given that only this small group of people can prevent the world from ending, it's extremely stupid, and paternalistic, for Echo/Topher to say "hey, go out there and enjoy the world!" Of course if E1 comes true, two of them will be back...but still.
Can't wait for the last two!
@Number Five/Francis
I think Francis presents an interesting point about the Rossum file on Caroline. It is easy to dismiss the file as someone to keep tabs on because she is a threat to the company. It is possible that Caroline had been Daniel Perrin-ed, made to think she is against the company when she is already a part of its machinations. She found her file near Bennett Halverson's who was already an employ of Rossum at the time. As I said before I don't think Tucson Institute of Technology is Caroline's first school. Maybe Boyd was letting Echo find the information to see how she will be able to execute his evil plans which is a reference to his plans for her comment at the end of their meeting scene. Interesting to think about...
I called both Bennett's death and Boyd being Rossum about a few minutes before they happened. Go me!
I'm not thrilled with the girl geek deaths over and over again (hey, why don't we kill a guy for a change, at least?) myself, though. It's gotten old.
Anyhoo, I had been thinking for awhile that Joss had promised to talk about Boyd's backstory in season 2, and I had been thinking through the last few episodes, "Huh, are we ever gonna find that out? I guess not...?" So bwah, Joss, for getting that one in. I'm impressed. I do buy this as something he had in mind all along.
@ jenmoon - killing Topher would have been much more powerful, actually, since it would have taken Epitaph One off the table. I am completely with you on the girl geek thing - Ivy gets sent away 'for her own good' right after that.
Wouldn't it be great if the show ended on a completely horrible not?
Right now there's a sliver of hope that a cure may exist, what if Epitaph 2 just shows us the worst of the worst presented. That is, no cure; the world is fucked; and there is no hope.
It'd be a nice bang of a conclusion
tim minear was interviewed on io9 and said that the boyd twist was manufactured after season one. so epitaph one may have not shown him b/c it wasn't in the plan going into s01. your BSG way of making it up as you go along. great twist regardless IMHO, adds a lot to the show. isn't the larger question is why caroline was special from the start? what, besides being an idealist/terrorist made her special enough for boyd to want to align himself with her and gain her trust? will that trust survive when caroline reenters the picture? why did alpha only give the cure to caroline? s02 seems to have given much more freedom back to whedon and crew, prolly b/c the rating were so dismal and fox couldn't justify their interferance anymore. who knows. and what about the dramatic visual signature change, I'm unclear of it that came after the cancellation or not, but it certainly made the show much darker in tone.
Post a Comment