What a big improvement from last week’s premiere, which I didn’t love the way I wanted to. The dialogue and pacing just worked better in this episode ("The Target") than it did in the first — even with the timeline jumping back and forth. (Never mind the special thrill of seeing Matt Keesler (The Middleman) playing it dark as the villain.) We got some juicy back story on Alpha, a human doll who went crazy after his memory failed to be wiped clean and killed a bunch of people back at the dollhouse. But he spared our girl Echo. We also saw Langdon (Harry Lennix) begin his time as Echo’s handler. Lennix sold his progression from having barely-contained disdain for Echo to something akin to care and concern. And he got to break off some of the best lines. (Topher explaining Alpha’s meltdown: "Still working out the kinkies." Langdon: "Like the blood? The screaming? The dying?")
And there was more insight into the extent of Agent Ballard (TahmohPenikett)’s obsession with finding out about the dollhouse. All thewhile, Echo was seeing images of previous implanted personalities and that can’t be good. Andthen there was the overarching conspiracy that seems to involve Alphaand Echo. All good stuff that I have to believe will tie togethersatisfyingly because…well because I’m a Whedonite.
I really enjoyed Echo’s up-for-anything, outdoorsy-girl personality thisweek but it made me realize that I like Elisha Dushku best when she’skind of a badass (like the clip below). The wounded-or-scared-girl act doesn’t always ring truefor me, mostly because it’s just her looking confused. While I hate tocall into question Dushku’s acting chops, I have to agree with MarcBernardin’s comment last week: Asking more of her than badassness"might not go as smoothly."
Still, I’ll be back to watch it next week. How about you?
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I honestly didn’t like this ep as much as last weeks.
Good: Action (beautiful)
Bad: Acting (Eh, Eliza can do better); Script/Plot Contrivances (Uh, why did alpha have the same Arrows as the crazy guy, and what was he talking about with the others?)
Last night’s episode was definitely a better episode, but we are talking a sample of two. Don’t get me wrong, I love this show and I can’t wait for next weeks episode. “The Target” had a lot more setup goodness than “Ghost” which may not have been a bad idea. The Dollhouse is such a strange concept, too much scifi may have turned people off the series in the first episode, but the calm betrayed the underlying darkness of the series while still making it accessible to everyone. From the look of it, the calm before the storm.
Oh, and Matt Keesler=AWESOME!!! Talk about an epic win. Too bad “Middleman” got ignored by ABC Family, probably even to its death. Everyone on that show should have a place of their very own on TV.
well what were you expecting from a pilot anyway? it was mostly just set-up and a basic doll mission. NOW the show can start getting into all the juicy details and backstory.
I was much happier this week than last week and I am actually much more interested in what happens in the dollhouse and the fbi guy than Echo’s individual adventures and that brings me back to wasn’t some of the best of Buffy where we saw a slaying at the beginning of an episode and then the rest was with the gang and going on there at school or the shop. And lets raise our hands for the fact that the guy leader of dollhouse might be the most interesting character. And how long will it take for Topher to move from creepy to the Xander like hero he obviously is supposed to be.
The backstory is interesting to me; her personalities are not. A negotiator last week, someone being hunted this-these things should be exciting and rivoting but I plain just didn’t care. I’ll keep watching to learn more about the history of dollhouse and the people in it, but if I have to suffer through more idiotic situations (and lame excuses, they didn’t know the guy was a killer because he faked his identity-but how would you not know the identity is fake?!) I don’t know how much longer I can hold on
I thought this episode was much better than the pilot. I want the backstory on Alpha, Echo, and the dollhouse, and we got bits of that. I also like learning about the characters and seeing them grow. Seeing Langdon’t view of Echo evolve was a good start. And I can’t wait to see what Echo’s memory fragments lead to – although we all know that the whole premise of the show is that she starts to remember things she shouldn’t.
i thought it was so mucfh better than last week! the adventure, the humor. i was actually excited duing last night, i wasnt last week. knowing that echo remembers something i awesome. i loved buffy and angel. i also loved tru calling, not as much as i quit watching b4 it ended, but when i watched it yrs later it wa good. anyway, unless it gets really boring i think ill watch faithflly, pls dont cancel it dammit.
I’d still rather be watching a show called “Faith the Vampire Slayer,” but the second episode of Dollhouse was a big improvement over the first. I wonder what Joss thinks of the premiere. The first episode seemed very bland and generic – not something I’d ever expect from Joss. However, Joss was credited with both writing and directing the first episode, which leaves me to wonder how much (if any) Fox meddled with Joss’ vision.
The FBI subplot is a stupid cliche!
I adored the episode. It completely hooked me. Amy Acker’s character and the head of Security are particularly interesting, and I think I fell in love with Tahmoh Penikett all over again.
I hated every second of this episode. Echo was Outdoors Woman until it came time for her to run and hide, then she became Helpless Woman. Made no sense.
I’m confused. Why do people think Eliza Dushku can act? She’s terrible. She has two faces: Confused and Angry. She has NEVER been able to act, so the fact that she can’t now should come as a surprise to NO ONE.
How can anyone in good conscience work for the Dollhouse? You’re whoring out the women,and probably the men, to the highest bidder. How is that not prositution?
I was hated until this second. Every Woman, she run and hide. No! For then it made sense. Outdoors echo, woman of her time. Came to became, helpless episode…
I guess I would have enjoyed the episode more if it wasn’t basically “The Most Dangerous Game” written in 1924.