Monsters of Television

“I try to do my best.”

I had an intro prepared for this finale involving a trace of the show’s history. “Epitaph Two” had me delete it though because it didn’t seem to really hold up to this odd little episode. This episode, more than the previous two, is where the narrative compacting the show had to perform, and on the fly with probably no money, really comes through. The in media res of it all didn’t help, and I frequently felt disconnected from the show (perhaps airing this episode at 9 with “Epitaph One” at 8 would’ve solved this…?). This disconnect plagued me for nearly the entire episode as I struggled to maintain an interest. The stakes felt forced and too easily given and achieved. Even the showdown scene had no tension to it, leaving me to wonder why I was watching. Read more »

“You’re here because you’re my family. I love you guys.”

Watching Dollhouse the last couple of weeks has been like watching a show in fast forward. It’s both frustrating and exciting to see a show that (supposedly) had a plan for this season and then have to rush it to provide narrative resolution in light of cancellation. Whedon and his crew have done a yeoman’s job of balancing the need to hit all the necessary beats but still make the show feel like it’s heading toward a season finale and not a series one.

And I say that it feels like a season finale because even though I know that some characters end up okay (well, not okay in the sense that they’re sane or even happy, but okay in the sense that they’re alive), and because I still feel like there are a number of ways the show could continue to go from here to reach its narrative conclusion.  The show’s narrative ending, so present during some portions of the show (mainly whenever they talk about the tech), eludes me when I’m thinking about a character’s fate, showing just how invested I’ve come in their stories. Read more »

“With your life.”

One can’t help but think think that this week’s episode title is a little meta.  Echo and her gang (Oh, how I wish the show would be around long enough for us to give them a group name!) think they’re getting closer to bringing down Rossum, while we all know that they’re just getting closer to the future seen in last season’s “Epitaph One” and that the show is getting closer to finishing its run (just as it was getting its legs…again).

I was none too keen at the end of “The Attic” when Echo announces she wants to meet Caroline. Having met Caroline in “Echoes” last season, and seeing the, as Adelle noted in this week’s episode, seemingly pampered and innocent girl, who is actually an idealist (and as Caroline self-identifies at the start of the episode, also a terrorist), I was actually fairly relieved that we never revisited Caroline. The episode only reinforced that relief, but in all good ways.

Caroline is a driven person, much like how Echo has become in the later portions of this season (you know, after painful/pointless reintroduction episodes), but Caroline’s personality and motivation were always just a bit off, but I suppose they’re supposed to be. Caroline’s that protest happy college student whose reasons are, probably, that she’s in college. With “Getting Closer”, that personality develops a bit more, as does pretty much everything else. As a result, there’ll be spoilers below the jump. I’d advise not reading on if you haven’t seen the episode.

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