Dollhouse - Episode 1x06: Man on the Street

[rufio]

wenxina- you're crazy if you don't think the street interviews did anything but serve as bookends. The dialogue the people on the street had reflected the following scenes with the dollhouse characters. My favorite was the girl in the alley saying 'where's the dotted line?' and the girl on the grass saying 'that could be kind of beautiful'. All of the street scenes really were gold if you ask me.

Favorite character: Paul & Mellie. I LOVE them together. Their chemistry is so good. I honestly had tears in my eyes when she was being attacked. Knowing Joss, I was prepared for her to die in episode 6 right after we had grown attached to her!!! thank god he didn't kill her.

Least favorite character: Sierras handler. Total scumbag.

Favorite scene: Honeslty, I loved all of them. If I HAD to pick one...it'd have to be the one where Mellie is attacked and then triggered by Adele over the answering machine.

Least favorite scene: I really don't have one.

Biggest surprise: Mellie being a doll. I don't care what anyone says, I did NOT see that coming. I just thought she was going to be Paul's cute & humble neighbor and possible love interest. Turns out she's sooo much more than that & it is kind of amazing.

Thing you saw coming a mile away: umm...fight scene in the kitchen? lol

Thoughts on Echo's personality: She was so hysterical with the rachel personality. Her scream when the guys started fighting was so funny. And of course the whole porn dialogue was funny. Her fight scene personality was just badass- i was imagining faith during the fight.

Question you want answered most: Everything.

Did you enjoy this episode more than the prior one?: yes. definitely the best episode. so far!

[iloveromy]

Ok the show now has my attention. This is my must watch Friday show now that BSG is gone.

WOW what a great episode.

[BennyTheKey]

Amazing. Just wow. I REALLY didn't see the Doll/Mellie thing coming, I was in shock the whole time thinking she was going to die. (I loved how she was triggered by Adele), That had to be the best part of the show for me. The ending scene with the music was so touching, and I really didn't think it would be Sierra's handler to do that, urgh!.

[hitnrun017]

I wish it was Sierra that killed him, but Mellie was awesome. Thought it was cool that he took advantage of an Active that couldn't fight back, but ultimately got killed by one. Mellie so overpowered him like he overpowered Sierra, picked him up by the balls and everything. Bastard deserved it.

[BennyTheKey]

It would have been amazing to see Sierra kill him. But like you said, it was so cool to see him think he had that power over Mellie and that he would kill Mellie in order to redeem himself to Adele. I so thought the perv was going to rape her before killing her as well!.
*Re-watches that scene a million times*

[wenxina]

Mar 21, 2009 19:22:00 GMT -5 rufio said:

wenxina- you're crazy if you don't think the street interviews did anything but serve as bookends. The dialogue the people on the street had reflected the following scenes with the dollhouse characters. My favorite was the girl in the alley saying 'where's the dotted line?' and the girl on the grass saying 'that could be kind of beautiful'. All of the street scenes really were gold if you ask me.

Maybe I am crazy, but bookends aren't necessarily a bad thing. They framed each of the sequences very nicely, which is what a bookend is supposed to do anyway. Perhaps you misunderstood what I meant by bookends. However, did they serve to really further the plot? Not really. And while some of the interviews segued into the sequences quite nicely, some just seemed a wee bit forced to me. Doesn't change the fact that I thought that the ep was possibly one of the best Whedonverse eps I've ever seen so far. But I'll stick with my opinion of those interviews being bookends, thank you sir.

[rufio]

but the dialogue in each little 'interview' was so sharp & seemed very meaningful. I feel like they covered a lot of different viewpoints, opinions etc. about the dollhouse & made the plot of the dollhouse more accessible and understandable to a casual viewer or even someone who doesn't really understand the shows concept. This really felt like the pilot episode v.2 and the 'bookends' are what made it feel like that.

[underbuffysspell]

After rewatching this, I don't think Laurence, or anyone at all for that matter, is aware of Mellie being November. I say this by the mere action of Adelle asking him to leave before she assigned Sierra's handler the assignment of killing her. I think the actions of Laurence these past episodes, and even actions we've yet to seen or haven't, have made Adelle a woman who has to keep matters to herself.
This episode has definitely secured my faith that the show will continue, not that it wasn't already there from the start. I just think that now, after this episode...it would take a violent war to take this show off of the air.

[wenxina]

Mar 21, 2009 23:53:31 GMT -5 rufio said:

but the dialogue in each little 'interview' was so sharp & seemed very meaningful. I feel like they covered a lot of different viewpoints, opinions etc. about the dollhouse & made the plot of the dollhouse more accessible and understandable to a casual viewer or even someone who doesn't really understand the shows concept. This really felt like the pilot episode v.2 and the 'bookends' are what made it feel like that.

That's the problem I kinda had with the bookends (not a real problem, just that they sometimes seemed out of place). They did give off a pilot v.2 vibe, and this would have been something that would have been very nicely suited for the pilot. Or the finale. Or both, for symmetry (but only if it fits). But the episode was pretty close to flawless, bookends or no, and I didn't say I didn't like the bookends. I like bookends. They frame a story, possibly make it prettier (i.e. more insightful).

[Greer]

Favorite character: Paul Paul Paul! Sigh.
Least favorite character: I'll go with Dominic. He's just...stupid.
Favorite scene: Mellie snapping out of it. She kicked total ass in all of that. I think the nerdy computer guy was so sad, saying his wife was a nurse tugged at my heart strings(that's what I'm going to school for, so bait, hook, and sinker there)
Least favorite scene: Anything with Laurence.
Biggest surprise: Mellie being an Active. I didn't see that at all.
Thing you saw coming a mile away: Echo kicking Ballard's ass.
Thoughts on Echo's personality: I liked the kick-ass one. The Rachel "Porn" thing was amazingly funny.
Question you want answered most:How long has Mellie been an active? Who the heck else is an active? Who's in charge of all the Dollhouses?
Favorite line: The Porn lines.
Did you enjoy this episode more than the prior one?: This was the best episode yet. I'm honestly hooked now and cannot wait until there are more Jossy episodes! This was amazing.

[wenxina]

Andrew: I just rewatched the ep, and I was wrong. Echo's last mission was not to murder Ballard. It was to take him out of the game for now, to get him kicked off the FBI, or at least suspended. That was DeWitt's plan. The added parameter was the part where she told him stuff. There was probably no tap because she was programmed to just get Ballard to hurt someone. But... given that it is Echo, you'd think that some extra precautions may have been taken.

Second time around, and that ending sequence still tugs at my heart, even though I know it shouldn't. Damn the persuasive nature of music! Now, off to find the damn song... If anyone's interested, it's "Sweet Dream" by Greg Laswell.

[Midnight Butterfly]

I love this episode. Quick question... was it Alpha that tampered with Echos imprint?
Anyway I really loved this episode. I like the fact that we didnt have to wait untill the end of the season for Agent Ballard to fint Echo(Caroline).
I dont understand the whole flowers in the vase thing that caused Mellie to go all mental. Is the Dollhouse controlling her to keep an eye on Agent Ballard. If so then why did they send Ciaras handler to kill her? im very confused lol. But i love it still

[wenxina]

Mellie is a sleeper Active. Sleeper used in the same way as Spike in S7 of BtVS. Mellie's trigger is the "three vases" thing, whereas Spike's was the little song his mother used to sing. Sending Sierra's handler off to deal with Mellie was DeWitt's way of covering the entire thing up. To anyone not in the know, it seemed that the Russian mob (the Borodins) that Ballard messed with had sent someone over to hurt/kill him. Dominic commented that Sierra's handler's fingerprints showed up as a Russian floater. DeWitt's plan essentially took care of all the loose ends. Ballard's been suspended, Sierra's handler taken care off, and the "civilian" that Ballard has been spilling his guts to is now identified to be an Active.

EDIT: As to who tampered with the imprint, it's the big mystery. It could be Alpha, since he seems to want to take the Dollhouse down. Or it could be someone else. Someone who shares Alpha's agenda. Wait and see, I guess.

[AndrewCrossett]

Mar 22, 2009 10:37:49 GMT -5 wenxina said:

Andrew: I just rewatched the ep, and I was wrong. Echo's last mission was not to murder Ballard. It was to take him out of the game for now, to get him kicked off the FBI, or at least suspended. That was DeWitt's plan. The added parameter was the part where she told him stuff. There was probably no tap because she was programmed to just get Ballard to hurt someone. But... given that it is Echo, you'd think that some extra precautions may have been taken.

OK, then I wasn't mistaken about Echo's mission.

Right now, my belief is that Adelle is running her own game here and that the "inside man" story is just a ruse to get Ballard to trust Echo's info. He'd never believe anything she said if he knew she was just a programmed Active.

I can't believe that they wouldn't be listening in on Echo... if they weren't, I consider it a plot hole.

(And can someone tell me why Topher is using plastic cartridges to store his programs for the Actives? What is this, 1978? One of these days he's going to accidentally program one of them with an Allman Brothers Greatest Hits 8-track.)

[Rebecca]

Mar 22, 2009 11:03:46 GMT -5 wenxina said:

As to who tampered with the imprint, it's the big mystery. It could be Alpha, since he seems to want to take the Dollhouse down. Or it could be someone else. Someone who shares Alpha's agenda. Wait and see, I guess.

I've got my eye on Ivy. It's plainly obvious that she is well educated but being underutilized and quite possibly has the capacity to tamper with the "tape". So far we have seen little about her... there has to be more to her character than fetching food for Topher.

In "Grey Hour", Topher was talking about how much security was around his imprinting computer system, and a bit too casually commented that Ivy had seen it (and indirectly indicated that she had access to it). Perhaps she was strategically placed to tamper with imprints, not being the *key* man on the inside, just in league with him or her.

In the grand scheme of things, with there being in the range of 20 dollhouses in the world, I could see Adelle being the 'man on the inside'. She shows too much empathy and plainly has the brains to accomplish something like this.

Mar 22, 2009 11:39:43 GMT -5 AndrewCrossett said:

I can't believe that they wouldn't be listening in on Echo... if they weren't, I consider it a plot hole.

Unless it the inside man and the person who set up the mission were the same person. Adelle Dewitt authorized the mission, gave Topher specific parameters (which were later altered), made Boyd sit the mission out (using protocol as the excuse, even though protocol has been broken in the past for engagements), and didn't even replace Boyd temporarily clearly leaving Echo alone on an engagement for what end other than to deliver the message to Ballard? The elaborate scheme is covered up by protocol, and all authorized by Dewitt.

[wenxina]

Mar 22, 2009 11:39:43 GMT -5 AndrewCrossett said:

(And can someone tell me why Topher is using plastic cartridges to store his programs for the Actives? What is this, 1978? One of these days he's going to accidentally program one of them with an Allman Brothers Greatest Hits 8-track.)

Well, I noted that the whole set-up, despite appearing somewhat futuristic does have some retro touches to it. Cartridges are a lot more visible than DVDs or Blu Rays. And hey, maybe Joss likes his Nintendo.

[Skytteflickan88]

I haven't seen more than a few clips but I need spoilers. Just to get this straight, people aren't signing up of their own free will or what? I read in a thread that

SPOILER: Click to show

Echo and the others tried to break out, so assume that although it look in the first ep as if Caroline/Echo got to choose.

If it is against all their wills, this might just be the most disgusting kind of trafficing there is. And all their "customers" deserve to die.

I'll still watch the show, but I want to know in case I need a bag ready to puke in when watching.

[wenxina]

SPOILER: Click to show

It's ambiguous if Actives are truly volunteers. Caroline was desperate when she signed on. Desperate to get away from what is still largely unknown. However, if it's true that once their contract is up, they're given a fat wad of cash and a clean slate to start anew, it's possible that some of the Actives are volunteers. The ambiguity is explored in the interviews with the average civilian in this ep.

[Skytteflickan88]

Mar 22, 2009 12:19:02 GMT -5 wenxina said:

SPOILER: Click to show

It's ambiguous if Actives are truly volunteers. Caroline was desperate when she signed on. Desperate to get away from what is still largely unknown. However, if it's true that once their contract is up, they're given a fat wad of cash and a clean slate to start anew, it's possible that some of the Actives are volunteers. The ambiguity is explored in the interviews with the average civilian in this ep.

Thanks.

[AndrewCrossett]

Mar 22, 2009 11:50:50 GMT -5 wenxina said:

Well, I noted that the whole set-up, despite appearing somewhat futuristic does have some retro touches to it. Cartridges are a lot more visible than DVDs or Blu Rays. And hey, maybe Joss likes his Nintendo.

It's obvious that those programs would require far more storage space than any normal storage device, or even hard drive, would allow under today's real technology. Maybe the cartridges have some kind of super-capacity tape inside them.

It would actually make more sense to store the programs on a mainframe and hook the Dolls directly up to it when programming them... less chance of the program getting physically damaged, lost or stolen. (Of course the computer would have to be unconnected to the outside world.)