Frustrations.

[sister_luck]

Episode 3 of Dollhouse left me feeling frustrated. The weekly assignment started out as promising and fun, but then the pacing was off in the second half. The parallel between Rayna and Echo could have been dealt with more subtly, though of course there is a certain irony to it when Rayna says something along the lines of Echo not being able to understand her as she wasn't created in a lab. (Yes, I get it, pop stars are fake and there's always a smarmy impresario behind them.)

There's stuff happening between the ensemble characters and the arc is progressing nicely, which gives me hope.

Yesterday afternoon, before I watched the episode, I kept thinking about how we're all a little bit like Echo, playing different roles every day and while you might argue that we're aware of this, I don't think this is entirely true all the time. We struggle with other people's expectations and we struggle to combine our different roles which sometimes conflict with each other.

In other news, there was spring in the air today. The sun was still feeble, but managed to win against the milky clouds we had in the last couple of days. I even made it out of the house for a short, very slow stroll around the neighbourhood. Boy, was I tired afterwards! After nearly two months of only leaving the house once a week, I'm in desperate need of some light exercise.

Comments

[lijability.livejournal.com]

I think this episode pointed to something. Who do we know are dolls and who are real people? Were Pauls assailants dolls? And just who at the dollhouse is a doll and who isn't? I like "Fred" [Winifred Burkle] also playing the Doctor - Dr Claire Saunders; but is Dr Saunders a doll? Wouldn't it make sense for anyone who works at the Dollhouse to have absolute loyalty to the Dollhouse to be built into their psyches by their technology? So we would have the Dolls leading the Dolls (and later the revolt of the Dolls against the Dolls?).

One thing you might have missed that seemed significant to me was when Sierra and Echo walked by each other in their 'plain' mode in the Dollhouse. Sierra went to talk to Echo and Echo shushed her up - likely because some of their handlers were nearby. It seems as if Echo was out of her "wiped" mode there, like she knew something (or it was Eliza Dushku acting the whole thing wrong.... but wouldn't Tim Minear correct that?).

Yes.... same as I posted in Chani's.
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"Dollhouse" (7 episodes)
Ghost (13 February 2009)
The Target (20 February 2009)
Stage Fright (27 February 2009)

Gray Hour (6 March 2009)
Next US airings:
Fri. Mar. 6 9:01 PM Fox

True Believer (13 March 2009)
Man on the Street (20 March 2009)
Echoes (27 March 2009)
...

[sister-luck.livejournal.com]

That's what I mean with "there's stuff happening between the ensemble characters", amongst other things like the development of the Boyd-Saunders relationship.

Just before Sierra and Echo are told that they are ready for their 'treatment', there is a line about Sierra's handler not liking it that Sierra and Echo hang out. To me, that's why Echo shakes her head, because she knows that contact would get Sierra into trouble.
I'm not entirely clear on the timeline though, whether this was talked about after or before the trigger word 'treatment'.

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

Anyway Echo still wanted to kick his ass after the word "treatment" and Boyd agreed! She immediately disliked the guy, echoing Boyd's feeling.

I still think that Echo shaking her head the way she did was a bit too much- too soon though.

[sister-luck.livejournal.com]

You're right, and 'treatment' only triggers the active's desire to return to 'headquarters' immediately, it doesn't remove the imprint. Hence, this slightly heart-breaking scene between Boyd and Echo when she wants to return to the perfect guy to tell him how much she loves him in Ghost and subsequent variations thereof.

Oh, I think it's about time that we see something happening with Echo - the engagements aren't really that great.... And in The Target she held onto "shoulder to the wheel", so I guess every engagement leaves a trace.