I was meant to be doing these Dollhouse reviews as the new episodes began airing, but you know what it’s like. Also the fact that Dollhouse doesn’t exactly inspire me to write. I’ve got a few moments now to jot down some thoughts I’ve had since Dollhouse returned to see its self through to the end.

There’s been a lot of praise for Dollhouse since it came off its hiatus break, and I’m sure some of that is deserved, but I can’t help but feel that people are just cheering for the final hurrah. I’m not saying some of the hurrah isn’t deserved, but it’s still been pretty much the same old Dollhouse for me. Some hit, but a lot of miss.

Take Alan as Alpha for example. I think he’s a fantastic choice of actor for the role of Alpha and seeing him return was brilliant. Though the episode before that with Echo taking, in three short months, control of all her personalities, rescuing a random woman from a prison. I just didn’t see the point. Well I saw the point – we’ve got to see Echo as Echo, not a blank doll and someone special. But it was all far too rushed. And really, with all the powers of the Rossum Corporation and the Dollhouse they couldn’t find her?

The same could be said about last week’s double bill. Enver’s a fantastic actor, but Roger is such a stereotypical English gentleman it makes my eyes roll to the back of my head and never return. That episode wasn’t the strongest one either, despite Enver’s brilliant performance. Again, it felt rushed. I understand that with the cancellation they’ve had to rush some storylines, but part of me would have preferred to just have something satisfying and open than what we are getting.

I was also completely unconvinced of Rossum’s ‘army’. Really? That was them? And how easy it is for Echo to seemingly to anything and everything. What she does is right out of The Matrix! Was it ever really explained how she managed to get control of all the people in her brain?

The Attic was a much better episode. Seeing Reed Diamond again lifted it for me. However the best dream like episodes seen from a Joss show are Buffy’s Restless and Angel’s Soul Purpose. They get the dream like quality in the episode down so well. This almost got it right. The scene with the snowy tree in the atrium of the Dollhouse did look stunning.

I like how the attic is explained now. Before it was like the Boogeymen. You tell your kids about it just to scare the bejesus out of them. And what they did explain made sense. Get caught in an endless loop in the hope of escaping. Nice touch. Though it all felt a bit fudged. Being able to jump from mind to mind and how easily Echo did escape in the end. Shame she didn’t bring Mr. Dominic with her.

All in all, I still don’t think Dollhouse is one of the best shows on TV. Far from it. I have a list. It’s quite long and Dollhouse is nowhere near the top. Sadly. The last few episodes have been better than season 1 put together, but that doesn’t mean this show doesn’t deserve a cancellation. Despite having a brilliant supporting cast, Fran Kranz has been brilliant this season, the show still needs a leading lady who can carry the show. Which it doesn’t. The central concept’s still fairly loose and maybe too complicated for it’s own good.

I’m interested to see where the final episodes will take us. But I can’t say that Dollhouse has been like Firefly – short lived, but every episode a gem. Dollhouse is just short lived and utterly forgettable.

Okay, that’s a cynical way of looking at things, but I’m a fairly cynical person. Combine that with not being Dollhouse’s biggest fan and you’d think that this review would be fairly one sided. Surprise surprise!

Vows sees things going as they are normally at the Dollhouse. Echo’s out on an assignment, with Agent Ballard as her client. Topher’s at work and creating new imprints. Boyd’s settling into his new role as head of security not as well, seeing as his main concern is still Echo. So everything’s going as they would normally.

There were a few reason I was vaguely looking forward to Vows – Jamie Bamber and Alexis Denisof. Some might say two fairly fickle reasons but hear me out. Jamie Bamber’s a fantastic actor and I was looking forward to seeing him ‘help’ with his acting chops. Same with Alexis. It’s been far too long since he’s been on TV, which is just a crime.

So verything’s so very Dollhouse in the beginning but the one major thing which lifted this episode for me was Amy Acker. I was hoping they would deal with the repurcussions of Whiskey finding out that she was just a doll at the end of the last season and they do. Impressively well. Amy gets to do some real acting and it’s rather exciting! Seeing Whiskey pursue Topher in order to find out her place in the world were some of the best scenes in this episode. Maybe best character driven scenes I’ve ever seen in an episode of Dollhouse. It’s interesting to see Topher no longer the comic clown we’re so used to seeing him as, but someone who’s genuinely troubled.

The mission itself, or whatever you want to call it, was interesting enough. Well having Paul as the client was a nice little twist. Though being a ridiculed former FBI agent with no job, I had to scratch my head a bit as to how he could afford Echo. Though as Adelle’s keen to keep Paul close, maybe it was all just free for him! Though Paul’s obsession with Echo/Caroline bores and concerns me. I’m not sure that it’s coming across very well as to how much he cares for Echo. Him listening in to Echo on her assignment just felt a little bit creepy more than anything else.

Though saying that, the trust that’s getting built between the two characters is interesting. It’ll be good to see how much Echo does still remember and what personality she develops of her own, if she does. Well I hope she does and I hope said character isn’t just Faith. I’m not a bit advocate of Eliza Dushku’s acting skills and I swear, yet again, we were treated to an imprint that was Faith, as she spoke to Paul about the job in the Chinese restaurant.

While the episode had amazing guest stars and it rolled along at a good pace it belonged to Amy Acker. Seeing Whiskey/Saunders just crumbling under the truth of the fact that she’s a doll was brilliant. Whether it was with Boyd or Topher, the scenes were my favourite. Made me emphasise with the character without feeling too sorry for her but wanting her to get out of the situation she was in. At the end, seeing her drive away left me with a good feeling. Well for the character. I don’t want to see Amy go! Though seeing as she’s got another TV show to appear in, I understand she’s only got 2 or 3 episodes more of Dollhouse to appear in. Sadly.

All in all I was quite impressed by this episode and strangely I want to see more. That fact alone shocked me. Though it seems without Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles as a lead in show the ratings weren’t so great! I still stand by the fact that FOX cancelled the wrong show and it’ll be interesting to see how long Dollhouse will last with these ratings.

Rating:

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

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Supernatural keeps up the pace and doesn’t stop the pressure on the boys Winchester and keeps emphasizing the results of their actions – releasing Lucifer.

Supernatural’s first season staple episode was the stand alone episode – a job the boys go on, solve the problem and leave. Effectively this could be seen as the same kind of episode with the ongoing plot nicely woven through it. Take away the Fourth Horseman featured in the episode and replace him with a demon or spirit of some kind and you’ve got an episode that could happily sit in any season.

That’s not a negative though. I enjoyed the episode a lot and with the introduction of the Horseman it moves the plot along and it actually feels like we’re heading to the end of the world. There’s a sense of real pressure which is refreshing to see.

The main plot and how everything was unravelling was a tad predictable. Sure as an audience member you’re shown both sides of the story and as such you can put two and two together before the characters figure it out. But I like figuring things out as the characters figure them out. It feels like you’re on the same page. Saying that, figuring it out before makes you feel far more intelligent than the characters!

It was great to see Jo and Ellen again. I really have missed them. Ellen’s reaction to seeing Dean again was spot on and it felt like she’d never been anywhere else. It’s also interesting having Jo and Ellen as hunters as it shows how bad the situation has got, as neither of them were too ‘hot’ on being hunters. Especially after what Jo was put through; she really wasn’t keen at all to revisit being a hunter.

We’re seeing actual casualties now though. The residents of the town were completely innocent and drawn into the war out of no fault of their own. Feels like we’ll be seeing a lot more of that in the episodes to come.

The tension between Sam and Dean finally got to a point where there was only one option – they have to part ways. I didn’t think they would actually go through with it, but at the end of the episode seeing Sam drive away was heartbreaking! I can’t see how that relationship is going to get repaired, but it has to be. The Winchester boys only seem to work at their best together. I wonder how long they’ll be separated for.

Great episode and looking forward to seeing the other Horseman and what’s in store for Sam and Dean…. just bring them together again!

To be honest I can’t remember where we started off in season 3. I can only remember what I’ve seen this year, and that’s only just remembering. While Eureka is an enormously fun show to watch I’m finding, episode by episode, the quality’s getting somewhat more and more haphazard.

The first season hooked me instantly with the characters and the scenarios they were put in every week. And while I’m still watching and laughing at pretty much everything that’s meant to be laughable and crying at all those well meaning bits, I can’t help but feel that it’s lost some of it’s jazz.

Saying that the finale, What Goes Around Comes around had enough in it to make it feel like a finale and keep me happy. Though it was a pretty predictable affair (Especially with Colin telling all us at this year’s 4400/Eureka con earlier this year – February, that Jordan Hinson would be leaving!) it was still enjoyable. Which where Eureka gets it right and wrong. Predictable = bad. But Jack Carter/Colin Ferguson makes the predictable enjoyable to watch.

The predicament of the week is somewhat bigger than we’ve had this season, though the science babble really was at an epic scale. The audience just has to take it all in and accept it as gospel. Though the addition of having Eureka’s own version of the Large Hadron Collider was a nice touch and connects Eureka to some reality that I recognised.

One of the irks I did have that has been used over and over again is the side plot line having a direct impact on the main one. In this case Zoe’s high diving tech being used to help sort the issue of the week out. That’s the predictability which I’m getting bored of. Please do something new! Or package it a bit more cleverer.

So Zoe’s off, Tess is off to Australia and Jack’s probably heading that way, if anything for a holiday. Nice way to end things. Keeping some things open enough for the future, but I do have a wishlist for season 5:

• Less predictableness! Okay that may not be a word, but I want to actually be surprised for a change while watching Eureka
• More Zane! Not totally from a fickle POV. Maybe slightly. But he’s just plain awesome.
• Have something major happen that’s not reversed in 1 episode. Give us some drama in the small but sometimes curiously large town!
• Jack’s not dumb! How many years has he been in Eureka? And yet the people there still don’t give him enough credit. That needs to change.
• Is it too much to hope for a Jack/Alison reunion? Maybe, but as cute as Tess and Jack were, just didn’t have the chemistry that Jack and Alison had

Eureka’s still up there in amongst my favourite things to watch on TV. It’s the characters that keep bringing me back. Every single one of them. Here’s hoping for more goodness for season 4.

Last week’s Needs sees some of the dolls get some of their memories/characterisitcs back from before they entered the Dollhouse and plan an escape.

Of course this is all just an elaborate planned hatched by the very nice people at the Dollhouse and everything’s kept nice and in control. Maybe that was my problem with this episode. With all the madness of rogue dolls going on I didn’t for once really feel that the situation was out of control. There was no urgency about it.

The dolls who were given part of their memory back were Echo, Sierra, Victor, November and Mike. Out of all of those dolls the only one’s character I vaguely liked was Victor’s. The more I find out about Echo pre Dollhouse, Caroline, the more I really could not care less for her. She’s the kind of self righteous woman that Buffy turned into part way through season 7. I didn’t like it then and I don’t like it now.

Maybe I liked Victor because he was just being the typical hero. But it worked here and it felt like a character I could definitely warm to, have some sympathy for and maybe connect me to the Dollhouse itself.

Which again is where I’m struggling with Dollhouse – I have no connection or ties that draw me into the Dollhouse. I’m still failing to gel with any of the characters. Paul had potential but lord know what he’s been relegated to. Yes Tahmoh is a pretty face but I think that’s all they’ve got him doing now. None of staff members of the Dollhouse intrigue me at all. I mean, they revealed how Dr. Claire Saunders got her scars in the second episode of the series! I thought they’d have drawn that intrigue out a bit more.

I’m actually glad we didn’t really find out how Victor and Sierra got into the Dollhouse. They’ve still got a bit of mystery there to those two characters. I don’t believe that that was how Sierra got indoctrined into all things doll-like. With Victor all we learn is that he wanted to get the girl. Drip feeding interesting facts like that is good and something there needs to be more of.

Putting aside the nitpicking and negativity this was one of the stronger episodes so far. The pacing was good. Their was purpose and intent behind what was going on. Even though it was all simulated it was fairly entertaining – though as I have already said, could have done with a bit more urgency.

By the end of the episode though the reset button has been pressed and as a viewer I don’t think I got anything out of this episode. If they left this episode out of the DVD release I don’t think it would make any difference. So early on in the show’s life I don’t think any episode should be like this – every episode needs to count.

Well I guess at the very end we’re given a cliff hanger but that just felt like a cheap tactic to make you watch the next episode.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

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This episode reminded me a lot of Angel’s fourth season episode – Spin the Bottle, where the characters revert to their child like selves. This was much the same and this kind of episode seems to be a staple amongst fantasy and sci-fi TV shows. But the reason why they revert here is quite simply a drug. I’m fine with that – I bought it. Just very early on in a series to be running this kind of episode. Well at least it had some kind of reason.

Reason being that the drug brought back memories of Caroline to Echo as Alice. Though as she’s wandering around the campus, would you trust someone who says that they remember something but can’t remember remembering it? As it was I was finding Alice somewhat annoying, and completely different to who she was from the pilot.

Don’t get me wrong it was funny seeing Topher and Adelle acting like children. Though I don’t think I ever want to see Topher in his underpants again. Please – not a good sight whatsoever! Seeing a very wasted Mr. Dominic was pretty funny too and it was good to see Reed Diamond do something other than Mr. Stiff Rules man. He can do so much more!

It was nice getting an insight to the dolls former lives. Well Victor’s anyway. With Sierra we just flashback to when she got raped. So Victor was an army dude, something went wrong and he walked into the Dollhouse?

What can we take away from this episode? Well that Caroline was a big believer in animals rights and human rights and all kinds of rights. She wanted to do as much as she could in her life time. She got into some kind of mess which led her to the Dollhouse and to commit five years of her life to working there. Much like how new doll Sam got recruited.

Do all dolls get recruited for five years? What happens after the five years? Do they really just let them leave? I find that really hard to believe.

While this episode answered a few questions, it didn’t really answer them in an episode which I found all that thrilling. I appreciate the slow burn, I really do – but there’s still nothing so far that’s happened in Dollhouse that has got me remotely excited.

Also – what is Paul Ballard going to be doing now? Tahmoh’s completely wasted in this role! Give the man something to do!

Rating: ★★½☆☆ 

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That’s not to say it wasn’t a good, solid episode. It had it’s moments. Well maybe moment. I liked that it’s moving the plot forward. Slowly, but it’s getting there. See I don’t understand why I’m not liking this plot moving slowly forward. Most of the TV shows I watch have slow moving plots – Lost, Mad Men, Battlestar Galactica, none of them are known for having plots which move a million miles an hour. Yet, I’m having a problem with Dollhouse. Maybe it’s the fact that it feels like a show that needs to give that much more? Anyway, I digress.

The moment I enjoyed? Well the Paul/Echo bust up was pretty good. Still it’s not Angel fight sequence, but it was good. Getting to that point took a while and I’m pretty sure my attention was drawn elsewhere – like the ceiling in my bedroom. Okay that’s harsh. I wasn’t totally bored but partially. Again it was the mission that Echo was on which led to Paul’s first real lead on the Dollhouse. A guy who hires a doll once a year to relive his wife’s death? Are we meant to feel sorry for him? I really didn’t.

Hmmm, so what was it that I partially enjoyed about this episode? I can’t actually remember, but I do remember being more satisfied with this episode than the previous ones. Best episode after The Target me thinks.

The side plot line with Sierra getting raped by her handler was interesting, if a little bit …. well i guess it has an ‘ick’ factor to put it mildly. It gave Boyd something to do in this episode I guess. Though I think Dichen was going back to her soap acting when she screamed when Victor touched her. It actually made me laugh out loud. Or at least snort a little bit.

I liked that Boyd was the one figuring things out – I like his character, but he still feels like he’s ‘floating’ along with the rest of the characters. They’re just there, you know? It was all over and done with very easily and the dolls are back to being their innocent selves.

There was one, I guess twist, which I guessed fairly early on in the show – Paul’s neighbour being a doll. It made sense for there to be someone to keep an eye on Paul who was linked to the Dollhouse but couldn’t be directly tracked back to it. And she’s far to eager to learn what Paul’s doing with the case. But seriously, would an FBI agent be pouring over a case openly in front of a neighbour!? Found that a bit hard to believe, but I’m just taking things as they come.

And the final twist that someone on the inside changed Echo’s programming to send a message to Paul? Well, is that really the case. I sat there thinking that that was part of Adelle’s plan to get Paul off the case and out of the FBI – which worked. I didn’t take it that there is someone inside the Dollhouse who is working against the system. Though talking of the system, I like that it’s a worldwide thing – it’s not just LA – it’s everywhere. Though that gives it a Wolfram & Hart kind of feel, no?

With all that’s said and done this wasn’t THE episode I was waiting for. It’s better than the past few, since the second episode, but it’s still not what I was hoping from Dollhouse. Average and chugging along.

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Sorry, but yet again I’m left cold by Dollhouse. Well not totally cold, but the missions Echo is having to go on do absolutely nothing for me. The main purpose of the episodes bore me a fair bit. This one did even less for me than the previous few episodes. I think this has been one of the weakest episodes so far, with the pilot still being the weakest for me.

The idea of the cult felt pretty weak to me. And the cult itself – why did they all dress like they were extras from The Little House on the Prairie? Do all cults look like that? Felt a little bit too ‘typical’. Along with all the oh so ‘typical’ cult followers. There was nothing there to make me go, ‘Oh, that’s a bit different and creative.’. But there was none of that. The fact that the cult was just a front for gun running wasn’t really made that obvious and didn’t really make enough of a feature in the episode. It just felt like a ‘by the way’ kind of thing.

Echo herself – nothing new again. Yes Paul’s getting closer to her, but the fact that she’s a characterless character doesn’t leave us as a viewer with much character to explore. While the relationship between Boyd and Echo should be something that’s leading Dollhouse, is struggling because we never really get to know Echo and never really will.

And the side plot line with Dr. Saunders and Topher and Victor’s ‘man reaction’? Oh dear is all I can say. While I think it’s meant to be funny putting Topher and Claire together, as they’re clearly two characters who aren’t meant to gel, I found those scenes frustrating. That might be to do with Topher. I like the dryness of Claire. I like her realism. But Topher I do just find annoying. He’s not funny. He’s not anything to me. He panics a few times. He annoys a few people. I think he’s meant to be like what Xander was in Buffy or Wash in Firefly, but he fails for me. Sorry Topher – you fail.

The ending? All of a sudden the cult leader (I’ve forgotten the character’s name – it didn’t really stick) has a change of heart and just wants to get rid of himself and everything? Maybe I haven’t fully understood the episode but the resolution of the cult fell flat on its face.

It’s not all bad. I like where they’re going with the dolls and them still retaining some kind of character. I like what they’re doing with Mr. Dominic and his insistence on getting rid of Echo and Adelle’s reluctance to do anything about Echo – her attachment. The hint of the fact that the government is aware of the Dollhouse and yet they cast a blind eye to it.

Somehow I’m still sticking around. That’ll be that ‘Joss Whedon’ effect, huh?

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

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Echo is brought on as an expert thief to steal something from some other thief’s big vault. Things go wrong but everything works out in the end.

I have to ask this – why spend all the money getting a doll (I’m right in thinking they’re meant to be pretty expensive, right?) to do the job of an expert thief when an expert thief probably would have been cheaper and a whole let less problematic? So far the only occassion which I think has really needed a doll has been in the episode The Target. Perhaps I’m being pedantic, but these are the things I think about.

Anyway, here we have Taffy. Sexy saucepot and expert safe cracker. She’s leading a team of thieves to get a priceless piece of art. But, *gasp*, one of said thieves is a double crosser! Shocking. Then cue a series of things going wrong, including the remaining thieves and Taffy getting locked in the vault they broke into and Taffy getting wiped remotely.

See that bit – where she gets wiped was vaguely interesting. Vaguely interesting until they tried to have a mystery involved with who could have remotely wiped her. It doesn’t take a genius to make a guess that it was Alpha. So far he’s the only one outside of the Dollhouse who’s got any interest in Echo. Well him and Paul, and really – does Paul have that ability? Erm, nope.

Echo as an empty slate sadly not that interesting at all. She copes far too well in my eyes.

Dichen failed a bit as Taffy for me. Mostly because Eliza did Taffy far better and more convincingly. That part of the story felt the most pointless because in the end nothing came out of it! Though nice that they’re addressing the fact that the imprint is available to any doll, after it’s been created. It’s still there to be used.

The good people at the Dollhouse do still seem to want to spin Paul’s investigation even further out of where he wants to be going. I wish they’d do more with that plot line. But give it a bit of meat. And maybe give Paul a bit more of a clue. No wonder he’s the joke of the FBI.

I think the main problem with this episode is that the characters aren’t developed enough to do an episode like this, which I resume was meant to be a character study. Studying the blank slated Echo was a tad boring. She liked looking at art and figuring out who was broken and who wasn’t.

All in all, while Dollhouse still manages to hold my attention for 45 minutes it doesn’t spark anything in me, no interest afterwards to get a debate really going. But I’m still hanging in here to see if anything will spark my interest further down the line.

Rating: ★★½☆☆ 

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We’re into the third episode and they’re still using Eliza sex appeal to sell. Well I guess it’s a no brainer, but for me I’m left rolling my eyes into the back of my head whenever there’s more flesh flashed from Eliza as whatever character she may be playing. Bet the boys love it though!

This episode brings us yet another character for Echo to play – the backup singer looking for stardom, but she herself doesn’t know she’s also a security expert. Wouldn’t that be a bit unsettling for you? If you didn’t know why you were thinking about the security of someone constantly? That part boggled my mind ever so slightly, but the whole show has a tendancy to do that (not a good boggle sadly) so at this point I’m just going with the flow.

Sadly the pop diva who Echo’s protecting is such a diva that even when it looks like the writers are trying to make you think of her and see her side of the story, it still all failed for me. The whole ‘I’m not in control of my life’ cry for help – oh dear. I just couldn’t buy it.

Also I’m still seeing Faith when I’m not meant to be seeing her. Maybe this time it was more down to the fact that Jordon, who Echo was this time, was from Boston and pretty mouthy and in your face. Everything Faith was. Only Faith was better. I’ll stop comparing whoever Echo happens to be to Faith when I see a difference, okay?

Towards the end of the episode things did pick up for me. I liked that Echo took her mission quite literally. Well that’s my version of things. Her purpose was to save Little Miss Diva’s life, and she did. The episode tells you that Echo thought through things a bit deeper, but in my mind she was just taking things at face value.

I wasn’t shocked to find out that Paul’s snitch was *gasp* a doll! Seriously? No? All those promotional images of him in full doll gear were all fake? Maybe it shocked and surprised the every day Joe watching the show without any investment in the history and run up to this show. Sadly me – not surprised. Though this is one occassion where I see and understand the use of a doll. Having someone so believe they who they think they are, without any hesitation. It’s also an interesting tactic to take from the Dollhouse head security dude Laurence Dominic to put Paul off the track of whatever he’s on. That felt a bit clever, so good stuff. Though what FBI agent goes out into the field without a bullet proof vest on? Come on, in this day and age? Jack Bauer runs around with one on! Think people.

The final revelation that as personality-less dolls they do seem to remember things and still have some kind of semblence of memory, when Echo hints at Sierra not to interact with her. Interesting. Something to expand on please. More of this kind of thing would be good, but the main plot lines need to be better.

A partially good ending does not make an episode. I still rate this one better than the pilot, but not better than The Target. I preferred that episode, while other people still see Dollhouse as building on the previous week’s episode, as the weeks go by.

The major thing for me is that there’s still not much ensemble character interaction. That’s not the key thing that’s needed to make episodes work though. Look at Supernatural, which is effectively run by two characters, but the interaction between these two characters makes the show work. There’s no interaction whatsoever here. Well there’s an effort to be some bonding over Echo between Boyd and Claire in this week’s episode, but it’s not enough. There needs to be a heart to this show – usually that’s the characters. That needs work.

Visually though the show looks great. It’s got a good glossy, well produced look to it. But like a lot of the dolls, it’s all flash and no depth.

Rating: ★★½☆☆ 

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