VOWS
The good;
How gorgeous is bride Eliza? May not have affected ED but made me go awwww! Everything about the Toper/Saunders relationship is fabulous. Love that way that when Khar catches Echo snooping in his desk she almost get's away with her explanation, she's very plausible.
The bad;
What the heck happened to Jamie Bamber's hair? He looks like he's one of the Four Seasons, I keep expecting him to break into 'Oh what a night'. Why does Khar just fire 2 shots at Echo when he has a pistol with 15? When the limo blows up you can clearly see it's nowhere near the airport.
Best line;
Dr Saunders; (of planting rats in Topher's cupboard) "Just dealing with some vermin"
plus
Dr Saunders; "They'll go over your head"
Boyd; "I'm very tall"
and
Topher; "You're human"
Dr Saunders; "Don't flatter yourself"
Packing heat; Echo uses a pistol taken from Khar's goons
Echo;8
Boyd; 8
Dominic; 9
Sierra; 4
Victor; 3
Ballard; 10
November; 1
Echo kissage;3 at her wedding
Kinky dinky;
One of Echo's previous clients was a TV newsreader with a splosh fetish (a desire for sex with people covered in food). We now have Dominatrix Echo in the opening titles each week, much like Buffy and Faith dancing just too damn sexy not to show again and again. Sierra's 50s Princess character likes to be tied up and spanked (so much for Adele's assertion that the actives aren't hired out as sexual submissives). Topher refers to 'deviant excitment'. I never thought Eliza could be more sexy than as the dominatrix but seeing her in her wedding night lingerie she's just stunning and you couldn't pick which you prefer, sugar or spice? (a remark you understand much better if you've seen Batman Forever). Dr Saunders puts on the lacy teddy and puts the moves on Topher. He seems to have erotic dreams about Fozzie bear which is a whole other level of kinky. Topher observes that he could easily have made a willing sex slave but Saunders counters that the real ultimate fantasy is to make someone who initially hated you love you.
Capt subtext;
Note Adele stroking Victor's scarred face, remebering their Miss Lonelyheart time together. Dr Saunders keeps her scars because although she knows she's a doll her physical imperfections make her unique amongst them. Echo's handler telling Paul 'You're the client' really hit's home. Echo flashbacks to her and Whiskey done up like Ava Gardener and about to get all kissy at a masked ball. To my shame the first time around I missed the idea that what triggers this memory for Echo is Dr Saunders giving her a gynecological exam implying they did a lot more than just kiss. Dr Saunder's assertion that the ultimate sex fantasy is to make the person who despises you love and desire you is possibly an allusion to Caroline/Echo, Rossum's greatest enemy surrendering to them and allowing them to turn her into their willing plaything, their's to use and humiliate as they wish for fun and profit. Question is did Topher make Saunder's hate him as an aspect of his own self-loathing?
Echo's remark of 'We are lost but we are not gone' may be an allusion to the whole Dollhouse situation.
Notches on the Dollhouse bedpost; Echo and Khar
Echo; 4 definite, 1 possible
November; 1
Ballard; 1
Victor; 1
Adele; 1
Sierra 1 possible
Topher; 1 possible
How'd they get away with that?
.Echo's husband hitting his wife is a true 'Jeez!' moment. He may be an evil arms dealer but even he seems ashamed when she accuses him of domestic abuse. Sierra's anti-Asian racism towards Ivy is also a little hard to take even if played for laughs.
This weeks fantasy;
We see Echo as a bride/undercover agent and Sierra in her Jackie O/Audrey Hepburn personality. Echo also slips back into Margeret from 'Ghost' and Alpha's 'Badland's' style girlfriend from the end of the last season.
Total number personalitites; one more for Echo, we've seen Sierra's personality before
Echo; 24
Sierra; 11
Victor; 7
November; 3
Total dolls;
8-Echo, Sierra, November, Victor, Mike, Tango, Alpha, Whiskey
Addy is a bit British;
Joss seems to have a thing for British authority figures
Topher is a bit geeky;
Subverting the Hollywood cliche;
Bondage; we don't see any but Sierra obviously has a thing for it
Sierra tied up; 1
Ballard; 1
Knocked out;
Echo; 2
November; 1
Sierra; 1
Victor; 1
Topher; 1
Kills; assuming they die when she shoots them Echo kills two of the arms dealer's henchmen.
Sierra; 2 kills
Echo; 3
November;1
Dolls injured;
Echo with a big old gash on her head and concussion
Happy hookers;
Echo is an undercover agent who wins her mark's confidence by actually having sex with him, the stuff of bad erotic thrillers (Undercover Heat anyone?
www.imdb.com/title/tt0114786/ ) something that gives Ballard great moral angst.
Know the face? Alexis Denisoff, another Whedon hattrick
9 Whedon alumni-Mark Shepherd-2 (Dollhouse/Firefly), Amy Acker-2 (Dollhouse/Angel), walking action figure-2 (Buffy/Dollhouse), Eliza Dushku-3 (Buffy/Angel/Dollhouse), Jim Piddock-2 (Angel/Dollhouse), Gregg Henry-2 (Dollhouse/Firefly), Alan Tudyk-2 (Dollhouse/Firefly), Felicia Day-2(Dollhouse/Buffy), Alexis Denisoff-3 (Buffy, Angel and Dollhouse)
Guantanamo;
Paul says he no longer cares about due process
Fanfic;
Missing scenes;.
Reminds me off;
The way Topher has engineered Saunder's phobias to prevent her leaving the Dollhouse is reminiscent of The Truman Show. The idea that Dr Saunders is reluctant to get her original personality back as that will be akin to dying for her is similar to an ep of ST;Voyager where 2 characters are merged by a transporter accident. Echo clinging to the bonnet of the car reminds me of TJ Hooker who was prone to that.
Whedon cliches;
Breaking the programming;
The dolls are noticeably less zombie like and have more personality, I think that was one of the reasons people couldn't take to them in the first season.
Questions and observations;
Echo has a new handler but this is the only time we see him. As Joss says the lighting on the Dollhouse is very different. Topher sleeps at work which seems to be a common thing in the Dollhouse. I think I'm beginning to fall a little in love with Ivy, she's a character who keeps growing on me more and more. In reference to the Jonas Brothers do they mean they're Dollhouse clients or that customers hire the actives out to play their roles? Still weird to hear Jamie Bamber talk with his real accent. Adele knows about Echo's unique nature but wants to watch her develop. Echo's remark of the 'Honeymoon is over' may be her telling Paul that from now on things are only going to get harder for them. Shame we don't get more of Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof etc this season but not enough in the budget (perhaps why they dropped CC/Conor from the last season of Angel so that they could have fan-favourite Spike?). It seems Joss' favourite series is BSG. I love Adele's new hair. Everyone seems to be hitting the booze pretty hard, even Dr Saunders (whiskey?).
Marks out of 10; 7/10 good ep, Joss didn't expect to get a second season so this is a partial reboot for the show