Mania Grade: B-
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- TV Series: Dollhouse
- Episode: True Believer
- Starring: Eliza Dushku, Tahmoh Penikett, Olivia Williams, Fran Kranz, Harry J. Lennix, Amy Acker,
- Written By: Tim Minear
- Directed By: Allan Kroeker
- Network: Fox
- Series: Dollhouse
Dollhouse: True Believer
Cyborg action commence. By
Stephen Lackey
March 16, 2009
Mania Review of DOLLHOUSE: TRUE BELIEVER(2009).
© Mania.com/Robert Trate
This week, Echo takes on the role of a blind woman tasked to go undercover in a creepy cult and unknowingly feed information back to the ATF. Several developments advance the story this week - the least of which is that some members of the Senate are very familiar with the Dollhouse. A Senator brings the Dollhouse on board the ATF investigation in hopes that the Active’s special skills to really become who they are imprinted with will allow an agent into the cult. Another reveal is that regardless of how valuable Echo is as an Active, the powers that be have no problem doing dangerous experimental surgery on her. Oh and another thing about the surgery - it’s extreme cyborg style stuff but no recovery time is needed and neither are any bandages post cutting. Yes, this is supposed to be cutting edge stuff but come on a camera was installed in her eyes!
Eliza Dushku actually does a reasonable job in this role as do the rest of the cult members. The scene with them not speaking and just singing is appropriately creepy. The action is minimal this week considering Echo is a blind woman with no special fighting abilities. She does further prove that when an Active has been imprinted they truly do live that persona when she is interrogated by the cult leader. The cult though offers nothing surprising. They fit the stereotype of David Koresh and this whole story feels a bit dated because they are just so predictable. With that said, the psychology of a cult leader is always interesting.
Back in the Dollhouse, a “unique” development further demonstrates that not just Echo, but most of the Actives are retaining parts of personalities or at least beginning to act on base almost animalistic instinct. Topher is inconsistent as a character because in one scene he seems concerned for the Actives and seems to have special interest in one or two of them and in the next scene, he’s excited to cut into them and do other experiments on them. Claire on the other hand is very set in how she feels about these “people”. When she learns of the new development involving Victor, she forces Topher into an uncomfortable voyeuristic investigation of the Active to see how long this new occurrence has been happening. She works to protect the Actives, even after one of them nearly killed her and permanently scarred her. Topher is a bit too much like a similar character from Alias when he shows feelings for the Actives. It would be much more interesting if he were to fall solidly on the side of do whatever needs to be done without conscience to the Actives, but still be the awkward nerd that he is.
This episode offered more than the last couple as far as interesting story development but characters still remain a bit flat. Hopefully, Claire will get more character development and will become more of an important force in the Dollhouse.
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Very accurate reveiw, but a little generous on the grade, in my opinion. I'd give it a C-.
Week after week, Eliza Dushku has been delivering performances that are more than good enough to keep me coming back, if for no other reason than to see what real acting looks like on a weekly basis. She has been great and this week, for the most part, was no exception. I was a true believer in Ester from the moment she stepped onto the cult grounds, right up until the moment she began reading aloud with perfect oration dispite having lost her vision at 9 years old. When it comes to convincing portrail of a variety of characters, Eliza has been, and continues to be, brilliant.
That said, her performance, in my opinion, only served to balance out the writting and plot issues enough to bring the shows grade up slightly from the D- it deserved. There are the things that Stephen mentioned already; zero recovery time from major experimental surgery, cliche-predictable "cult" characters, shallow perfromances from the AFT agents, ect. But there is also the evolution of Ester herself that bugs me a bit.
To me, Ester suddenly growing a pair was a bit off putting and, for the first time really, out of character for the profile Echo was uploaded with. Now I know that the point of the Echo conflict is that she is able to adapt and change based on her circumstances, despite the fact that the actives really shouldn't be able to do that. But this had a different feel. Her sudden awakening should have either been built more gradually, or she should have had a secondary jolt- besideds the one that gave her back her vision- that brought back a previous profile. For a second, I thought that maybe Caroline was starting to emerge and that could have had a continued in a conflict with Boyd when he showed up to save her, but instead it was the usual deactivation sequence that played out. Further conflicting the angle is that Wiped Echo seemed a bit apprehensive of the security guy (Ms DeWitt's associate) after leaving her check up. If it was the base Echo personality that emmerged when Ester's life was in danger, then everything she did was WAY too assertive.
Basically, I have an issue when a show establishes a set of rules and bounderies, and then rips them apart almost immediately. That is what they are doing with Echo and to a lesser extent, Victor. It's like they are writing the show with the mindset that it is going to wrap after 12 episodes. When you start this far into the story, how can you maintain it for 3 or 4 seasons without running around in circles?
If you write like you expect to be cancelled, you end up bringing the cancelation about that much faster.