Dollhouse: Eliza Dushku in a Tanktop

After watching the first two episodes I think myself ready to render a verdict on Dollhouse: Eliza Dushku looks good in a tanktop.

Other than that I'm still undecided.

I enjoyed Buffy as a result of zomg vampires. I enjoyed Firefly as a result of zomg spaceships. The problem with Dollhouse, I think, is that it offers neither vampires nor spaceships. Instead, Dollhouse offers terrible references to John Locke and an inability to maintain its own premise. Within the Dollhouse certain persons (Eliza Dushku) have their memories erased and are imprinted with personas in order to be rented out for various tasks (lots of whoring). Except Eliza Dushku remembers things she is not supposed to remember.

And that's the sentence your reaction to which will indicate the level of ejoyment you experience from Dollhouse: Eliza Dushku remembers things she is not supposed to remember.

Which would be intriguing if one could suspend belief and care about the series, its characters, and the overall plot. The problem with Dollhouse, so far, is that the plot is overbearingly spoon-fed to the audience to a degree which makes it unpalatable. And I don't want that to sound like I'm being a pretentious jackass. I'm serious. Ok, here's something that happens in the second episode:

Cut to a scene from weeks ago when Echo and her handler were first introduced. The handler has to establish a bond of trust with Echo and so he says to her, "Do you trust me?" to which she responds, "With my life." Cool. Now in episode the second Echo and her handler are out on an adventure. Things happen and in one moment Echo says to her handler, "Do you trust me?" to which the handler responds, "With my life."

Eh? SEE! Roll reversal. Yeah. Their roles reversed. Because first she trusted him because she was programmed to trust him. And NOW he trusts her as a result of the situation! Eh? Eh? Pretty clever, right?

No, not clever at all.

In addition to the "zomg memories" story arc we have a cop who is trying to find the Dollhouse but kinda can't (he needs to try looking to the left), some shadowy over-figures of the Dollhouse whose motivations are mysterious (because we love mystery), and a street-tough cop with a never-say-die attitude who slowly learns to be a paternal figure to Eliza Dushku (studio audience likey). It's sort of...Dallas meets Days of our Lives meets Season 4 of Buffy. Except it's all of the stupid parts of those components.

On the plus side I think Topher is a terrific character, the doctor is kind of hot, and the theme song is better than the theme song to Weeds.

I appreciate that hulu now provides me with video of Eliza Dushku wearing a tank top. That's pretty great. And I delight in being able to say "Amnesia!!!" every time her memory is wiped. Other than that? I'd be ok if this one were canceled.

Which, I think, means that it will never be canceled.

Edit: Forgot something.

Whedon, as I understand things, had to make this series episodic because, apparently, people who watch tv can only understand episodic things. So I'm trying to watch the series with the recognition that, had Whedon his way, he wouldn't organize it this way. So maybe all of this stupid shit is the result of the "episodic" restrictions and, had Whedon his way, that god-awful role reversal bullshit would never have happened.