Finale: Let the waiting game begin.
May. 15th, 2009 12:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sister_luckI watched two finales in the past seven days, the penultimate season of Lost and the official season finale of Dollhouse.
Dollhouse is, in television speak, 'on the bubble' and it's doubtful that we'll get to see a second season, but at least there's the mysterious Epitaph One to look forward to. Lost will return to be concluded in May 2010.
Omega had a great Frankenstein/mad scientist set-piece at its centre, but overall felt rushed: How did Alpha get away? What did our two bounty hunters get up to?
Alan Tudyk was great as the larger-than-life villain - with that many personalities in him, he just has to be over-the-top. I'm not entirely sure I like what the series is saying about the core of humanity in Alpha and Echo. Was Alpha/Kraft (and yes, someone has looked into a German-English dictionary again, just like Hol(t)z = wood, Kraft = force, power) born bad? We can't quite answer that, but we know that his previous life informed who he became as a doll, just like Echo/Caroline has retained her idealistic "I wanna help" persona. There is still the possibility that it does come down to nurture and not nature (or if we keep to the real world, some kind of mix of the two).
I must confess to being a bit confused about the 'wedge' that Paul saves - I've now come to the conclusion that it's Caroline, but I had been wondering what had happened to Wendy - she is gone, isn't she?
Whatever will happen to the princess? There is a bunch of princes competing for her, Alpha planning but failing to make her his queen; Boyd, the fatherly figure protecting her innocence but keeping her from growing up; Paul Ballard seemingly abandoning her in this episode: He saves Mellie instead, but in doing so manages to stay close to Caroline who he'd have lost otherwise.
As to Paul Ballard: Now he's right where I want him to be. I've even got a little crackpot theory what with all the gaps in the narrative, that somehow he and Boyd had a little off-screen conversation beyond the "It's always a woman" line and that they have a secret plan. I like that all the players inside the dollhouse have different motives, and in some cases we're not even clear on what exactly they are, but they still have to work together.
The first season as a whole had some serious flaws.The concept might have worked better as a mini-series and that's how I'd like to see it return, six to eight episodes with less focus on the engagements.
Dollhouse is, in television speak, 'on the bubble' and it's doubtful that we'll get to see a second season, but at least there's the mysterious Epitaph One to look forward to. Lost will return to be concluded in May 2010.
Omega had a great Frankenstein/mad scientist set-piece at its centre, but overall felt rushed: How did Alpha get away? What did our two bounty hunters get up to?
Alan Tudyk was great as the larger-than-life villain - with that many personalities in him, he just has to be over-the-top. I'm not entirely sure I like what the series is saying about the core of humanity in Alpha and Echo. Was Alpha/Kraft (and yes, someone has looked into a German-English dictionary again, just like Hol(t)z = wood, Kraft = force, power) born bad? We can't quite answer that, but we know that his previous life informed who he became as a doll, just like Echo/Caroline has retained her idealistic "I wanna help" persona. There is still the possibility that it does come down to nurture and not nature (or if we keep to the real world, some kind of mix of the two).
I must confess to being a bit confused about the 'wedge' that Paul saves - I've now come to the conclusion that it's Caroline, but I had been wondering what had happened to Wendy - she is gone, isn't she?
Whatever will happen to the princess? There is a bunch of princes competing for her, Alpha planning but failing to make her his queen; Boyd, the fatherly figure protecting her innocence but keeping her from growing up; Paul Ballard seemingly abandoning her in this episode: He saves Mellie instead, but in doing so manages to stay close to Caroline who he'd have lost otherwise.
As to Paul Ballard: Now he's right where I want him to be. I've even got a little crackpot theory what with all the gaps in the narrative, that somehow he and Boyd had a little off-screen conversation beyond the "It's always a woman" line and that they have a secret plan. I like that all the players inside the dollhouse have different motives, and in some cases we're not even clear on what exactly they are, but they still have to work together.
The first season as a whole had some serious flaws.The concept might have worked better as a mini-series and that's how I'd like to see it return, six to eight episodes with less focus on the engagements.
