Dollhouse S2E02 "Instinct"; discussion **spoilers**

Richard Dower

Can someone add a poll please?

Teaser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6iu-mvxtZo

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Was a bit better than last week. Still not enough Dollhouse stuff happening though and the absence of Boyd, Viktor and Whiskey was a bit s**t.

iguana

What are they playing at? More Doll of the week crap, do they want to get cancelled? And at the very end when Echo and Paul are talking and he asks her if trying to bring the dollhouse down from the inside is too much for her. When the **** did they have the conversation where they planned to bring the dollhouse down? The last we saw Echo was telling him she remembers everything. But we never saw them agree they wanted to destroy the house and rescue everyone. Or talk about how they might go about that.

We get lots and lots of weekly adventure crap while at the same time skimming over the more important overall arc. No way on earth is this show getting a third series, and no way does it deserve it.

Richard Dower

I thought it was interesting, a very echo-centric episode. We learned a few things. It's more apparent now that Echo is immune to wiping, but i think it's deeper then wiping....it proves you can't wipe a person's core or essence.

Echo's maternal/paternal instinct could not be wiped, the fact that Echo remembers all the feelings and emotions of her imprints, rather then the actual memories. It was great to see Mellie back!, she looked great....her backstory relating to her daughter was explained. It was better then last week but i agree the "mission of the week" thing is just not working for the show.

That was proved last season, i thought Dushku did much better acting wise in this ep., her emotion at having the child taken away seemed quite real. But overall in terms of Dollhouse the show it's not an episode that will help it survive past season 2.

J-blk

Yep, don't see why they still focus so much on the "imprint of the week" storylines - it doesn't work. Better than last week but yes, missing most of the other players doesn't help either (wow, Sierra really has been relegated to like 2 minutes of screen time for the last two episodes).

Probably the most important part to the major arc was Topher's cockiness, about been able to even imprint "glandular" functions in an active and you can see how his confidence in his abilities could lead to the mistakes that cause the future of "Epitaph One" to take place.

But I agree with you Iguana, they spend so much time on the "imprint of the week" story, yet Echo and Ballard now have this arrangement to take down the Dollhouse which has been skipped over. And I still don't clearly see why Ballard is so motivated to take them down in the first place...

Any ratings info on the episode yet?

iguana

J-blk wrote: »

Probably the most important part to the major arc was Topher's cockiness, about been able to even imprint "glandular" functions in an active and you can see how his confidence in his abilities could lead to the mistakes that cause the future of "Epitaph One" to take place.

I was watching Briar Rose during the week. And in the part where Topher is describing how he took Susan's mind, made it into an adult who had made good and put it into Echo in order to help an abused girl is very poignant once you've seen Epitaph One.

J-blk

J-blk wrote: »

Any ratings info on the episode yet?

Mr. E posted a link to the ratings back on the "Smallville" thread... Things are not looking good at all, folks:

1.8 (2.0) Medium
1.7 (2.2) Ghost Whisperer
1.7 (1.5) Dateline
1.6 (1.7) Numbers
1.6 (2.3) 20/20
1.5 (1.5) The Jay Leno Show
1.2 (1.3) Law & Order
1.0 (----) The Forgotten (r)
1.0 (1.4) FlashForward (r)
0.9 (1.0) Smallville
0.8 (1.0) Brothers
0.8 (----) ‘Til Death
0.8 (1.0) Dollhouse
0.5 (0.5) America’s Next Top Model (r)

* “Dollhouse,” down 41% last week from its February premiere in the Fox Friday Death Slot, fell another 20% this week.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/42600

It could be heading for a very abrupt cancellation...

Sherifu

Underwhelmed by it tbh. Way too much time arsing around with a baby and nothing going on in the Dollhouse.

Will Mellie's bang on the head be important in future eps?

Richard Dower

Wow...even discussion of DH has dried up!

Monotype

A bit of a bore. Don't think I'll be in a hurry to watch any more. I doubt this will last another season - have they filmed all 12 or 13 episodes for this one? They'd want to hurry if they haven't, in case fox gets tempted to let them go!

Sherifu wrote: »

Way too much time arsing around with a baby and nothing going on in the Dollhouse.

Haha, well put

Sherifu wrote: »

Will Mellie's bang on the head be important in future eps?

I was wondering that myself. I was half thinking they might activate her keywords make her more willing to come in when she refused at first.

J-blk

Monotype wrote: »

have they filmed all 12 or 13 episodes for this one?

I doubt it but it hardly matters either way - if the ratings continue to suck, FOX will pull it regardless of how many episodes are already in the can.

elekid

I don't think Joss Whedon is being his best. Perhaps he fell asleep or needs a treatment?

But seriously, it was an interesting idea for an episode and I did enjoy it but it seemed like a leftover idea for a season 1 episode. I thought there was going to be more arc stuff this season but as others have said I don't really remember a conversation where Echo and Ballard decided to take down the Dollhouse so it all felt a bit disjointed and last-minute. The show seems to have slowed right down again since the end of last season and it looks like all of it's potential is going to go to waste after it got a second chance

And where's Victor gone?

iguana

elekid wrote: »

I don't think Joss Whedon is being his best. Perhaps he fell asleep or needs a treatment?

The cynic in me is starting to suspect that Joss never felt he had a chance in hell of a second season. Epitaph One was supposed to have been an awesome swansong which restored his reputation after a lacklustre first series. The fans would have been vindicated for sticking with it and those who stopped watching would have eventually watched and thought "OMFG I should never have lost faith!" Then against all odds he did get a second season and he doesn't know what to do as he never thought that far ahead.

ziedth

I thought it was better then it looked on the Promo and next week seems to be another Doll of the week but TBF it looks cracking episode.

I def won't be staying up to watch the next one.

I was so hoping for this season to be based on the lead up to the future but I think now that you may have a point iguana,

sutty

Poll added, sorry about the delay. Not got to watch it yet my-self, as well as the first ep. Same with Dexter... just not enough time in the day

robby^5

Very meh episode, I'll be jumping ship if it continues like this... I can maybe stomach one or two more of these type of episodes.

The show has some major major flaws which I want to see addressed and quickly, what's funny is they're really basic stuff for a TV show. It needs a better good guy, Ballard is great but he needs to leave the Dollhouse or at least actively start "bringing them down" and stop talking about doing it...the show doesn't have the liberty of giving us a drawn out season where Ballard works towards his goals, he has to do something now.

It needs an identifiable bad guy, Rossum just isn't working for me at the moment because we don't know what their big bad plan behind the dollhouse is, if we knew we could hate them and want the good guys to take them down. At the very least show us the Attic so we know what it's all about and care about whether or not characters are sent there. This is all stuff I thought would kick off this season with some story arcs, but we're back to this doll of the week crap again.

One thing that will improve this show immensely...less Echo.