Things are starting to simmer down regarding the Dollhouse cancellation. There are still a lot of angry, confused, upset fans out there. Which is understandable. I’ve always been vocal about my apathy on Dollhouse and occassional, infrequent joy, but there have been a few things that I have been grateful to Dollhouse for. So here they are.

Supporting Cast Members

While I was initially looking forward to seeing Eliza Dushku head-up a show of her own, I was left a bit disappointed. Thankfully the supporting cast more than made up for a weak leading actress. Pre-Dollhouse airing I was really looking forward to seeing Harry Lennix. I’d previously seen him in 24 and thought he was brilliant. Sadly, I think the character he was playing didn’t give him much to do. The same goes for Tahmoh Penniket. Awesome in Battlestar Galactica, though Paul Ballard? More like dullard.

So I was surprised then to find other supporting cast members who stole the show.

Miracle Laurie, Dichen Lachman and Enver Gjokaj are the ones accused of stealing the show. Initially I was skeptical of Dichen’s role in Dollhouse. The only thing I had seen her in was an Australian soap opera called Neighbours and she was far from Kylie! But as her role of Sierra grew she clearly outshone Eliza, for me. She played her characters all very differently and they were clearly different characters. There might have been a few dodgy accents thrown in there, but those can be easily swept under the cover.

Talking of dodgy accents, I think Enver was guilty of a few of those. But again, it didn’t matter, as he was a real find for the show. Though I think it was only really in the latter part of the first season and beginning of the second season where he really shone through. It was fun to watch him, either as a blank doll or in whichever character he was given.

Miracle Laurie has to be my favourite out of all the supporting cast members. From the ever so gentle, kind hearted and timid Mellie to a silent killing machine. She nailed it all. She made the relationship between her and Paul so real that even for a split second I believed it. She had a good on screen presence and, like Enver, it was fun to watch her onscreen.

It was only into the second season of Dollhouse that I began to appreciate Fran Kranz as Topher. To be honest, Topher annoyed me so much initially in the show, that I couldn’t even think as to whether I liked what Fran was doing. It was only after we’d got over who he was and what he was doing there that I thought, ‘Fran’s kinda brilliant.’.

The Guest Stars

From the supporting talent to the guests, they were always fun to see onscreen. More recently it has been the likes of Jamie Bamber (who I think made the premiere episode of season 2 really work), a small part for Michael Hogan, Alexis Denisof, Keith Carrdine and how could I forget – Alan Tudyk!

Alan really gave the few episodes that he was in, a real spark. It felt like a Whedon show, given the dialog he was given and how he used it made me think that Dollhouse was on track. It didn’t last for me, but it gave the last few episodes of season 1 a nice lift.

I was looking forward to seeing more of Alexis and Summer. Alexis, cruelly, not on our TVs enough. Then there’s Summer who, what sounded like, was going to be a very interesting role and somewhat less like River from Firefly or Cameron from Sarah Connor Chronicles.

The Sets

I ask anyone who’s seen this show to not be in awe of the sets somehow. Sure they had a bit of the Wolfram & Hart vibe, from the fifth season of Angel, but they were brilliant. It all looked like a real place. It didn’t look like a set that was used for 50% of the TV shows currently airing. It was unique to the show.

The Premise

While I didn’t intially gel with the premise of the show, I thought there was potential in it to really go beyond what was being told. Some intrigue. Mystery. A bit of humor. And while we were given some of it, I don’t think the premise was fully explored in the show. You could put this down to us not seeing much of it. True. But, it was a good premise. A unique one. It’s definitely not been done before.

So yes, I can say a few nice things about Dollhouse. It’s not all negative. It had a lot of potential in it, though sadly only some of what could have been, was seen. Thanks for the good times, Dollhouse!