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Friday, May 08, 2009

Alpha to Omega: The Final (?) Dollhouse

And so tonight, we may have seen the end of another Joss Whedon show. That's right, I speak of "Omega" on Dollhouse. A great capper to a great season, perhaps even a grand finale to a show that finally hit its stride.

I was impressed with how well the stories all wrapped up for the most part. I think Joss Whedon did the right thing by casting this as a potential series finale. Yes, a lot of loose ends were tied up. But there are still a lot of questions left open and left unanswered. For example, what was Topher and Whiskey's relationship? Did Alpha really throw away Caroline's wedge? What role will Ballard play in the Dollhouse? And what did that final word that Echo whisper really mean?

But rather than speculate about any of those things, I think I'd rather spend the rest of this post heaping more praise on Joss Whedon's foresight. Perhaps it's simply a case of "once bitten, twice shy." After the shameful way that FOX treated Firefly, it's only understandable that Whedon would expect his latest creation to die an early death. But in the long run, I think it's a good thing. If nothing else, it should give an example to every television producer and writer: don't leave too many threads dangling from one season to another (I'm looking at you, Chuck!). Sure, leave room for future growth, but given the volatile nature of television scheduling, it's always good to find end points just in case.

Having said that, I'm not hoping that Dollhouse is over. Far from it. I want this to come back. But if it doesn't, well, this was a fun ride. A great show.

And Alan Tudyk is still the man.

1 comment:

CraftyReader said...

See, I liked DH, but one of the hardest things to get over was the fact that each time a doll would go out, and have sex (which seemed to be an awful lot of them) and then get their memory erased--that's a lot like rape. And that's a horrifying aspect of the show.

I also think that shows like DH don't always do well because, while they're episodic, if you try to catch it halfway through the season, you're SOL--you cant make sense of it. There's too much to know (no more MotW), and I think a lot of sci-fi shows on basic tv (as opposed to Sci-Fi tv shows) can't do that well.

Sorry if this is a bit rambly, John :)

Overall, I enjoyed DH. I find Whedon's grip on 'strong female characters' a little shaky at times and that's frustrating, but it was a fascinating & thoughtful show to watch.

Amity (here via FB)