Live Blogging "Dollhouse"

Back with live blogging commentary as the second season premiere of Dollhouse airs on Fox! The standard warning about spoilers (lots and lots of spoilers) applies . . .

9:01PM - Topher just called (former) Agent Ballard "frenemy."  LOL!

9:03PM - Alexis Denisof's name just popped up in the credits.  So glad to see him on TV again!  Especially opposite Eliza Dushku.

9:05PM - They did not just make a Jonas Brothers joke.  Oh my.  And Amy Acker is deliciously twisted so far.

9:13PM - Grrrreat.  Rich dude's crazy wedding fantasy.  And wedding night fantasy.  Hope he doesn't have a thing for crossbows and hunting like one of last year's Dollhouse clients did.

9:15PM - So it's a job within a job for Echo, eh?  She's an undercover FBI agent playing her new groom for a fool because he's an arms dealer. And Ballard's the client?!!  Did he not quit the FBI?

9:16PM - I guess arms dealing means this guy packs weapons a lot worse than a bow and arrow.  Potentially big ouch!

9:21PM - Well, that implied kiss just made all sorts of fanboys in the Whedonverse happy.

9:23PM - Weiiiiird hearing former "Watcher Wesley" speaking with a flat Yankee accent instead of a British accent.  And how does the Dollhouse keep sucking in these good guys like Langton and Ballard?

9:28PM - Jamie Barber is looking awfully good in that button down shirt. Wouldn't have minded a multi-episode arc for him.  And either Eliza is wearing really high heels, or Jamie Barber is kinda short . . .

9:32PM - This glimpse into Topher's psyche is exactly the kind of development this show needed to hook audiences in.  And more kudos to Amy Acker for her acting in this ep. Wonderful depth and emotion.

9:37PM - The "you're human" and the "Roomba" quip make me wonder if wemight be seeing some robotics later this season?  Just a possibility.

9:42PM - Eek.  Bad time for a glitch.  Bad, bad time for a glitch.  I'm liking the new energy in this premiere.  The tension has been ratcheted up a few notches.  The stakes feel higher (if I may continue with the chain of cliches).

9:47PM - "Special Agent in Charge of Bugger All."  Sounds like a job title far too many people have at their respective companies.

9:49PM - Looking forward to the moment when . . . oh, there it goes.  The moment when Echo recalls one of her kung-fu fightin' imprints.

9;51PM - Considering the nature of so many of the jobs that they send the Actives on, Echo's not going to be of much use to the Dollhouse if pain makes her glitch.

9:59PM - The biggest problem that I'm spotting with the premiere is that right now I'm more curious about what's going on with the characters of Whiskey and Topher than I am about Echo and Paul Ballard.

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TV News: Whedon Spills "Dollhouse" Spoilers, View 18 Mins of "FlashForward"

- SCI FI Wire has posted a list of nine spoilers for season two of Dollhouse as revealed by Joss Whedon himself.  If you want to find out juicy tidbits like when Ray Wise's character is joining the show and what role the lovely Summer Glau will be play, click here! [SCI FI Wire]

- ABC has posted some wicked video clips online in anticipation of the series premiere of FlashForward and the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy on September 24.

Check out the 18 minute clip from FlashForward, which boasts an impressive cast including Joseph Fiennes, John Cho, Dominic Monaghan, Sonya Walger and Jack Davenport.

This six minute clip from Grey's took my breath away, even though it's well known that T.R. Knight has left the show.  Afterall, Shonda Rimes is more than capable of giving the audience the ending they expect, while still turning everything we were assumed about the path to that ending on its head.  The video caption on ABC's site however, gives away a bit too much considering the shock value of the clip.  And how fantastic is Sara Ramirez ("Callie Torres") in the clip and on the show?

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Dollhouse Co-star Talks "Lost" Episode, Season 2

SCI FI Wire has posted a very interesting interview they did with Fran Kranz (doll programmer Topher Brink) of Dollhouse at Comic-Con last month.  In it there's much discussion and spoilers for one of the infamous unaired episodes of the Joss Whedon show.  But unless you're buying season one on DVD or Blu-Ray set, you want to be spoiled for the unaired ep "Epitaph One."

"Epitaph One" serves as the jumping off point for the second season of Dollhouse and the post-apocalyptic world will not be a place that's kind to Topher Brinks, according to Kranz.  Click here to read the interview and enjoy a clip from "Epitaph One" below.

[SCI FI Wire]

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Film News: Terminator Stomped, New Potter Clips, Buffy Resurrected on the Big Screen?

As Radhika said, the Pop Wenches are back after a quick break for the holiday weekend here in the US and there's no shortage of news and reviews to catch up on!

- Terminator Salvation was bested by Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian over the long Memorial Day weekend. Museum brought in $70 million while Terminator came in below expectations with $53.8 million. With Terminator's reported $200 million budget, that box office tally has to hurt. Meanwhile, Star Trek held on to the third spot at the weekend box office and is close to grossing $200 million. [E!Online via Yahoo! News]

- Warner Bros. has released download links to a new Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince featurette that clocks in at a little over 2.5 minutes. The featurette includes interviews with Dan Radcliffe (Harry Potter) and Michael Gambon (Albus Dumbledore) and new footage from the movie. More sneak peeks of Half-Blood Prince will air this weekend during showings of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on ABC Family as part of their "Harry Potter Weekend." [Mugglenet]

- Buffy the Vampire Slayer may be returning to the movie screen . . . without Joss Whedon, Sarah Michelle Gellar, or fan-favorite characters like Angel, Spike, Willow and Xander. The director of the original Buffy movie, Fran Rubel Kuzui, and her Kuzui Enterprises own the rights to Buffy and work has begun "on what is being labeled a remake or relaunch, but not a sequel or prequel." Taking a page out of the new Star Trek film's handbook, the new movie would use the Buffyverse conceit that there is a new vampire slayer for each generation to create a plot and cast that is separate from the well-loved television series, but doesn't disregard the plotlines that were established in the show. The Buffy tv series aired from 1997-2003. [Hollywood Reporter]

- Disney is set to remake the cult favorite sci-fi adventure movie Flight of the Navigator. Originally released in 1986, the movie "told the story of a 12-year-old-boy (Joey Cramer) who is abducted by an alien spacecraft in 1978 and reappears eight years later, still the same age and with no memory of what happened." When the government tries to exploit the child, he escapes with the spaceship and tries to find his family. [Reuters via Yahoo! News]

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Dollhouse finale closes doors, opens others

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Friday's Dollhouse finale, "Omega."

The final episode of Dollhouse Season 1 (possibly the last episode that will ever be shown on television) aired on Friday night, bringing the first installment of Joss Whedon's latest project to an end. It's no secret that I've been pretty supportive of Dollhouse, starting out as someone who felt pretty ambivalent about the premise, until I decided I was in love with the show by its sixth episode.

So how did the finale add up?
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Okay, I'll be honest — as much as I've grown to love Dollhouse over the past few weeks, the finale was a bit of a mixed bag. I think this is partially due to pacing. Whedon clearly wanted to answer some questions and open up some new ones in this finale, which wasn't a bad idea on his part in the sense that the show does have a bit of a conclusion in case it goes off the air... but can also go on if it gets renewed. This is all completely understandable when you consider what happened to Firefly back in the day.

So let's just break things down into the following categories.

The Good:

•  Alan Tudyk, playing Alpha, continued to show off his brilliant acting chops playing an active with 48 different personalities coexisting inside his mind. This was probably pretty difficult to play, and very unlike Tudyk's usual type, so it was still a treat to watch after last week's episode.

• The Whiskey storyline was an interesting one. As hinted at last week, it turns out that Dr. Saunders (Amy Acker) was previously a doll named Whiskey. After her face was slashed, the original Dr. Saunders' personality (a kindly old lollipop-dispensing gentleman) was downloaded into her, making her the character we see on the screen today. It was interesting to see some of her self-loathing come through after realizing she was previously a doll, and it was also interesting to see her ask Topher why he programmed her to hate him. I couldn't help wondering what Topher's relationship with Whiskey was back in the day. Did he know her before she was a doll? Will we ever find out what Whiskey's past really was?

• Echo showed some more self awareness, even after Alpha downloaded 30+ different personalities into her to turn her into "Omega," another potentially psychopathic active who could serve as his counterpart. This didn't work out as Alpha planned, and Echo actually seemed determined to get her original personality (Caroline) back into her body.

• Ballard signs up to work for the Dollhouse (supposedly — more on this later in the post) and does this in exchange for Mellie's freedom. A nice moment, since I have a sneaking suspicion that most dolls don't really get to leave the Dollhouse after five years.

The Bad:

• Alpha basically did end up being a bit of a stereotypical psycho, despite Tudyk's brilliant portrayal. Instead of turning into a monster because of the Dollhouse, he was "evil" from the very beginning as a convicted felon named Karl William Kraft. It's fine and all, but I just wish it had been more complicated that. (On the other hand, this episode did not end with the death of Alpha. So who knows what else could happen if the show does manage to live on?)

• Despite Echo's moment of self-awareness, something still feels off about the Echo/Caroline characters. I'm not even sure if Eliza Dushku is to blame for this because Caroline was played by another actress in this episode. But I still find Whiskey/Saunders, Sierra, Victor, and other characters so much more compelling.

The... okay, what's that supposed to mean?

• What on earth happened to November/Mellie and Sierra's bounty hunter plot? A few blogs were circulating pictures of the two out on the prowl, but television audiences were left hanging. Was this because Whedon wanted to squeeze a few other things in?

• The final moments of the show were definitely rushed, and this is where that pacing issue seems to come into play. So as I mentioned, Ballard seems to have pulled a Boyd, and will be working for the Dollhouse. Now it's likely that he wants to work on destroying the Dollhouse from the inside. But then why would the Dollhouse staff fall for this schtick when they know Ballard wanted to bring down the Dollhouse a mere episode ago? And if Ballard does believe in the Dollhouse now, why has he had this change of heart?

• Another puzzling thought, and maybe I'm wrong about this — but could Ballard be signing himself over as a doll? (I can't fully understand why he would do it if that's the case, though I could maybe think of a reason here or there). I only ask because after he asks Mellie for her real name before she leaves the Dollhouse, he just tells her that he's "nobody." Is that the end of Paul Ballard?

• Why does Echo go back to being a doll, even though she was all gung-ho about getting Caroline back into her body? I imagine she'd be strong enough to fight back and ask for her original personality back.
  

The moments mentioned in this final category aren't all bad, but they certainly do raise a lot of questions about what comes next for the Dollhouse. And it's sadly likely that we will never find out. But if that does turn out to be the case, I do hope we'll get more answers on the DVD — and it will be interesting to see if "Epitaph One" (the thirteenth episode that FOX decided not to air) will answer any of these questions as well even though it seems that it works as more of a standalone. 

For now, I guess we'll just have to wait and find out what lies in Dollhouse's future.

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Alan Tudyk 'brings it' on Dollhouse

Warning: This post will contain spoilers for Friday's episode of Dollhouse ("Briar Rose").

It wasn't exactly the best kept secret in the world. Everyone seemed to know that Alan Tudyk (aka "Wash" on Joss Whedon's Firefly and Serenity) would be appearing on Dollhouse. And most people were pretty sure they knew what character he would be playing. It turns out that all the buzz was correct — but that didn't stop Tudyk from making the impact he did when he finally appeared in Friday night's episode, "Briar Rose."
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Tudyk is best known for his comedic talents, which definitely shaped his character on Firefly. But soon after Dollhouse first got on the air, fan sites began posting that Tudyk would be playing "Alpha," the rogue active who escaped the Dollhouse following a violent killing spree. Tudyk played my favorite character on Firefly, so I was excited by the thought, though I couldn't help wondering how he would be able to play such a disturbing character. Turns out, I really had no reason to have any reservations about this bit of casting.

Tudyk didn't immediately appear as Alpha in "Briar Rose" — in fact, he was first introduced as Stephen Keppler, the man largely responsible for helping build the Dollhouse. Tudyk drew on his comedic chops and played Keppler as a ridiculous, slightly over-the-top stoner agoraphobe. He did such a fantastic job that I actually began forgetting the Alpha spoilers, and began wondering if another actor would indeed be playing the part. Then I found myself trying to figure out why he was acting this way — maybe he just didn't remember being Alpha.

Anyway, it all ended up being part of a twisted plan to get into the Dollhouse, courtesy of slightly-crazed (suspended) FBI agent Paul Ballard. And when Tudyk made the switch from twitchy stoner to malicious killer, I was floored. The man can act. I actually found myself feeling pretty terrified as soon as he took on the Alpha persona, which completely made up for the fact that the Internet "spoiled" the whole thing. It's going to be interesting to see what happens next week during the Dollhouse finale. The preview made it look like we'll be seeing some Natural Born Killers-style plotline, but either way, I have a feeling Tudyk — who can easily take on more non-comedic roles — will be selling this part incredibly well.

Before I go, I'd just like to add some more highlights from "Briar Rose":

• Actor Enver Gjokaj (who plays the active "Victor") continued to prove how fantastic he is at taking on new roles every week. This week, we got to see Gjokaj act like the Dollhouse's former head of security Laurence Dominic (previously played by Reed Diamond). And I swear, I felt like Reed Diamond was talking to us during the entire scene. Of course, it just figures that the episode ended with innocent doll-like Victor getting slashed in the face by Alpha... so who knows what we'll be seeing of Gjokaj after this.
  

• Another interesting reveal: Dr. Claire Saunders is a doll, whose code name happened to be "Whiskey." I'm not sure how much more we'll be finding out about her circumstances, but it was a neatly done, subtle reveal in an episode that was otherwise heavy on allegory (not a bad thing in this episode's case).

• The fight scene between Ballard and Boyd. Yes, there were a few stupid moments, but I honestly didn't know which character to root for. Both men are sympathetic, but both are flawed in their own ways. Another plus? The fight scenes on this show continue to make me uncomfortable in the sense that they actually feel real. Dollhouse is a dark, morally-grey, gritty world — and I'm glad the fight scenes reflect that so well.

And that's all for now. More to come after the Dollhouse finale next week!

[To get some of Tudyk's own thoughts about Dollhouse, check out this Entertainment Weekly exclusive.]

[Photo: FOX]

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Keep Dollhouse out of the attic

Warning: This post will contain spoilers for the latest Dollhouse episode, "A Spy in the House of Love."

As previously reported, the future of Joss Whedon's latest FOX project, Dollhouse, is a little uncertain at the moment. In fact, many are saying the show is as good as gone. It's unfortunate that such news and rumors have started circulating this week of all weeks, as Friday night's show was one of the best episodes to date. Dollhouse began picking up rapidly with its sixth episode (which Whedon himself said would serve as a turning point), and this week's episode had a compelling mixture of action, betrayal and incredible reveals.
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Here's what we witnessed this week:

1. Mellie/November reveals that she's a doll to Agent Ballard. While we already knew this, the moment itself was pretty shocking (and heartbreaking for Ballard who will have to keep pretending that nothing has changed).
2. Adelle is not above using a doll (Victor) to fulfill her own needs, even though she's not likely to do it again.
3. Echo is somewhat aware of her doll status — she actually asks Topher to make her "different" to help the Dollhouse catch a spy in their midst.
4. Security Chief Laurence Dominic is the aforementioned spy, an NSA agent keeping tabs on the Dollhouse. By the episode's end, he's sent to the "attic," which basically means he's had the mindwipe to end all mindwipes.

It was a whole lot of stuff to take in, but the pacing was solid and suspenseful — a sign that the show really has hit its stride. I didn't expect to see a lot of these revelations so early in the show's run, but I'm glad to see that Whedon was willing to put them in. The sense of mystery still remains, but those of us watching have also been rewarded for sticking with the show so far.

As I've previously stated, the first few episodes of Dollhouse did not make the show an easy one to fall in love with. The Dollhouse universe is very different from Whedon's other creations. Thanks to the majority of the characters' mind-wiped or evil tendencies, viewers do not get to watch instantly-lovable characters like the protagonists (and even some villains) in Buffy, Angel, or the preemptively-canceled Firefly.

But the latest episodes, this one included, have finally started to show that these characters do have more layers to them than we initially realized. Even mind-wiped characters like Victor and Sierra are increasingly compelling, and while I admit that the show's star — Eliza Dushku — does appear to be the cast's weakest link for the most part, she was great in last night's episode.

It's hard to say who should really be blamed for Dollhouse's messy start. One could blame the executives, or Whedon for not doing a better job of following up on his vision. However, it's still too early to decide whether or not the show will ultimately be a success. FOX should take note of the fan forums and sites that have been buzzing since Friday night, and give the show a little more time to prove itself. If given a chance, it seems that Dollhouse has the potential to develop into a brilliant sci-fi series.

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Rumor Mill: Dollhouse canceled?

It all started with actress Felicia Day's Twitter account. io9 reports that the actress said the season finale — which she happens to be in — will not be airing. Fans were anticipating the finale, which supposedly features Alan Tudyk (formerly of Firefly) in an important role.

Since then, the rumors have been circulating — has FOX canceled Dollhouse? The show has already seen plenty of turmoil. It's been said that network executives kept stepping in when the show was in development, causing creator Joss Whedon to change the pilot and a few other details before he could really begin exploring his vision. And it's bad enough that the show airs on Friday nights at 9 o'clock. It seems that FOX does plan on airing "Omega," Whedon's original ending for the season. But it also sounds like an episode with a lot of potential to cement a fanbase is being kept off the air.

Dollhouse isn't the easiest show to get into, but recent weeks have shown a massive improvement (something that has happened with many of Whedon's other shows, including the long-running Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel). The plot has thickened, and I've observed an increasing number of viewers admitting that they're eager to see what happens next. Though many are unsurprised by this latest development, let's hope FOX gives the show a better chance than it already has.

[Photo: FOX]

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Sad News: RIP Andy Hallett

Angel star Andy Hallett died Sunday night at LA's Cedars-Sinai Hospital, after a five-year battle with heart disease. He was 33 years old. Hallett played the singing green demon, Lorne, on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff. E! Online reports that a Cape Cod funeral service is likely to be held this weekend. [E! Online]

Watch Andy in a scene from the Angel season two premiere, Judgment, below:

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