Epitaph One - A Review

I know this is a bit behind schedule, as most everyone has seen the fabled 13th episode by now. But still, I wanted to weigh in with my thoughts. The most recurrent thought being, simply, "Guh." If you haven't seen Epitaph One, go to your local DVD store, or on Amazon.com, and buy Dollhouse Season One. Not only are there two unaired episodes -- the other being Echo, which I have already reviewed -- there are also loads of deleted scenes and interviews with Joss Whedon. A very well-crafted DVD set, if I say so myself (though I am curious as to the lack of a 'gag reel'...yeah, that would have been even better.)

Oh yes, and SPOILERS AHEAD...

I honestly was not expecting anything that happened in this episode. I kept myself fairly unspoiled... but I did know that it would be set in the future. I actually saw a few promo pics that included the regular cast members, and was wondering if it actually really was set in the future, or if that was a mislead. After all, if it were the future, wouldn't they have aged? Well, it turns out that the main characters come into play via flashbacks to the past (yet these events seem to come after the events we've seen in season one, for the most part.)

Is that Faith and Dark!Wesley from season four Angel? Nope, just a rogue Caroline and Paul in one of the flashback sequences.

Epitaph begins in Los Angeles, 2019. From the fire and chaos in the streets, it appears to be some kind of dystopian apocalypse. The first character we see is Mag, played by Whedon-fave Felicia Day (Dr. Horrible.) Along with Zone, a small girl named Iris, her father (who appears to be wiped) and two other rebels, they manage to break into the underground Dollhouse, seeking refuge from the "butchers" above. The world seems to have gone tech-crazy, and the threat of being wiped is ominous. One can only assume that the "Remote Wipe" that Alpha used on Echo in Gray Hour has been perfected and put to use by the nefarious, yet unseen, powers that be.

The episode takes on an element of horror when one of the rebels is murdered while taking a shower (apparently, it had been a year since her last shower -- though if you ask me, she didn't look all that dirty.) When the remaining team discovers a blank Whiskey (who actually hasn't aged...hmmm), they think that she's the killer, because she is acting kind of ominous. Obviously they soon find out that she is wiped, but they decide to spare her, because she says she knows the way to "safe haven." "Safe haven" is never really explained. But in order to know what it is, they need to download Caroline's personality and memories into Whiskey (who actually offers.)

I won't give away who the killer was, because it was kind of a nice twist. I know I put up a spoiler warning and everything, but I really do want you guys to buy the dvd! So I am going to end there ;)

Echo: Dollhouse's Unaired Pilot - A Review

Warning: This review contains spoilers.

(This blog entry was linked on Whedonesque! Thank you!)

Tonight I watched the unaired pilot of Dollhouse, aptly titled Echo. Let me just say, for the record, that it was heart-stoppingly beautiful and noir-tastic. I can't help but wish that they'd originally aired this episode. We may have had a completely different experience with season one.

Echo has everything that we have come to expect from Joss Whedon: subversion of expectation (with Echo turning from 'damsel in distress' to cold-blooded hit-woman in the blink of an eye), suspense, philosophy, humanity and humor. Yes, you heard me right, humor -- that thing that was so glaringly absent from Ghost. I thought that Ghost was a good episode, but this was a great episode. It reminded me of those days when I was first watching Buffy -- when I would squeal if the credits said that the episode was "written and directed by Joss Whedon." It's special.

Echo on an "engagement."

Now that I have watched, I don't understand why people refer to this episode as jarring, or confusing -- or too dark. Now, I don't shy away from "dark" storytelling, but I wonder how this episode is "darker" than the aired pilot, which largely centers on a woman (well, an imprint) who was molested as a child. Is it the moral ambiguity of the main characters? Personally, I don't think that that makes it dark. I think that hiding the ambiguity is what made Ghost dark -- and unfortunately what turned many people off at the beginning of the season. I understood what Joss was trying to do, and so I put my faith in him. Unfortunately, I know many who didn't. They saw the prostitution aspect, but didn't think that it was duly addressed within the first few aired episodes.

Echo begins with the now famous scene of Echo underwater -- a scene that was later cut out and blended in with another episode. We hear Adelle speaking about the nature of the dolls, how they are "pure souls." All this exposition takes place because she is explaining the nature of the Dollhouse to a wealthy client.

The next scene shows a man in a bar, talking to a young woman. After listening to their conversation for a few seconds it becomes clear that he's some sort of pimp. The juxtaposition of this scene with the one before (where Adelle is basically "pimping" out one of the actives) is purposeful; for all of Adelle's philosophical chit chat about souls, and needs, and greater goods, when it comes down to it, she is a pimp.

Echo comes crashing into the bar and pistol-whips the pimp, eventually driving him out. She then urges the girl to leave the guy, and check herself into a hospital so she can detox.

We then see Echo on various engagements, from being a negotiator to a date. The date scene immediately follows the scene of her explaining the evils of being pimped out to the young woman in the bar -- again with the juxtaposition.

Without going into too detailed a synopsis, I will just say that my favorite scenes involve Echo and Paul. Paul discovers her in an abandoned warehouse, and she seems to be a classic damsel in distress. The whole scene is very noir, right down to her outfit. She tells him that she is looking for her sister, and, taking pity on her, he leads her back to his apartment. Kind of shady, right? Why wouldn't he take her to the station?

After a few faux fainting spells on her part, he realizes that she knows a little bit too much about the Dollhouse, and pulls a gun on her for the second time that night. But she's not a helpless victim -- and she proves it by snatching the gun and using some pretty awesome fighting moves on him. Eventually she shoots him, though he lives. When she finds out, she actually goes to the hospital to finish the job -- much to Boyd's dismay.

In the end, she doesn't finish the job, and it's the "why" that we're left with. After all, she was imprinted with the skills needed to carry out the job. Did she subconsciously fail at this engagement? What effect did seeing the photograph of herself have on her? The last scene is the same one that we saw at the end of the season finale -- that is, the scene of her laying down in her coffin-like pod and whispering "Caroline."

Which begs the question: Had this episode been aired, would Caroline's self-awareness have been explored more fully in the first season? In any case, it's definitely worth watching.

Pre-order Dollhouse Season One on DVD or Blu-ray.

A Timeless Masterpiece

I just can't stop watching this "book trailer" for Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters -- brought to us by the same folks responsible for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.



I wish they'd do one with vampires! How about Emma The Vampire Slayer? In between playing matchmaker to her friends and feeding the poor, Emma fights the good fight against the undead. Come on, how cool would it be for her to whip a stake out of her petticoat and kick some vampire ass?

Plot Twist - Frank Churchill turns out to be... dun, dun, dun... a vampire!

It's so perfect!

Emmy Nomination Reactions

Family Guy is nominated for Best Comedy Series? Really?

I think Family Guy is OK. I love Stewie and the dog (whatever his name is.) However, as a long time fan of The Simpsons, I am appalled that Family Guy has beaten them to the Emmy nom for Best Comedy. I mean, for seriously!?

Family Guy wouldn't even exist if it weren't for The Simpsons. And while The Simpsons helped create the archetype of the oddly philosophical idiot with Homer Simpson, Family Guy fails to imitate with the obnoxiously idiotic Peter Griffin. Family Guy has other aspects to it that are entertaining and clever -- particularly the many musical numbers and spoofs. I guess I'm not really taking issue with the fact that it's nominated for Best Comedy -- merely the fact that The Simpsons have never been nominated for that category.

Just sayin'.

As far as the other categories go, I am very pleased to see House nominated, as well as Hugh Laurie for the title role. I know that he's already won, but I didn't watch the show back then -- so it doesn't count! By the way, in case you haven't seen the preview for the two-hour season six premier of House, here it is:



Looks SICK, no?

It's unfortunate that there are no Dollhouse nods. However, I wasn't really expecting them. Nor was I expecting any nominations for True Blood. Ah well. I'm not shocked about that either, considering how trashy the show is (it's truly one of my guilty pleasures.)

One thing I am very excited about? Neil Patrick Harris! I cannot wait to see him as the host. I am also delighted that Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog got nominated for "Outstanding Special Class - Short-format Live-Action Entertainment Program." Phew! These categories are getting pretty long-winded these days, aren't they? They should just have a category called "Super Awesome Fantastic." Dr. Horrible would be the winner, hands down!

See a full list of the Emmy Noms here. rt-format Live-Action Entertainment Programs

What In The Slashy Heck?

Hear that sound? That's the sound of Spike/Angel slash shippers "squeeing" uncontrollably.

(Spike and Angel finally realize their feelings for each other...Kind of.)

Today marked the Dark Horse Presents internet release of Always Darkest, a short Buffy Season Eight tale brought to us by Joss Whedon and the wonderful, talented, awesome Jo Chen. Seriously, I've always wondered what it would be like for Chen to illustrate the actual comic, instead of just the covers. It's everything you could hope for as far as representation of the characters -- not to mention gorgeous.

Though only three pages, this mini-comic raises a lot of questions about what's going on in Buffy's subconscious. It's pretty obvious from the second panel that we are witnessing either a flashback or a dream, as Caleb is the one doing the taunting. His first piece of dialogue, "You can't kill what's inside you," harkens back to the beginning arc of Season Eight, when Buffy dreams of kissing Xander, and Xander tells her that she "is the dark." Darkness is something that Buffy sees in herself. It's a part of being a slayer, and to an extent, a killer.

(Caleb reminds Buffy of the darkness inside her.)

It soon becomes super obvious that Buffy is having a dream when Spike and Angel show up. But instead of welcoming her with open arms, they are distant and aloof, and seem more keen on each other than having anything to do with her. Now, there is a lot of subtext to the Spike/Angel relationship on both Buffy the television show, and Angel. There's also a bit of canoninity (I may have just made that word up) to them as a pair. At one point, late in season five Angel, Spike says, "Angel and I were never intimate... except for that one--" at which point he is cut off by a monster attacking or something of the sort. Joss has even stated that it's likely they were together sexually at least once during their time together as vampires. After all, they may have been evil, but they weren't, as Joss points out, "closed-minded."

(Adorable, no?)

First off, before I get into a discussion about slash fanfic, I should say for the record that I have nothing against slash. I sometimes read slash fiction myself. I have long been interested, however, in why the bulk of M/M slash is written by heterosexual females. I've even asked a few fellow fandom friends and fanfic writers why this is. The answers I get are what trouble me, as they are usually about "power dynamics," and "equality." Namely, that equality is much more easily acheived between two characters if they are both male. This seems to imply that there is inherent inequality in all male/female relationships, which I find a bit depressing. The most depressing answers, however, are from women who just find female characters too boring to be part of the equation, or that they prefer writing slash fiction because female/male relationships just aren't as "profound."

Is the slash fiction phenomenon in fandom a symptom of internalized misogyny? Or am I reading too much into it? I'm open to discussion of course, and I am not saying that all slash fiction writers write slash for these reasons. Some just find it sexy, and there's nothing wrong with that.

(Poor Buffy.)

I wouldn't normally link "hints of slashyness" in a comic with misogyny, but the surrounding themes in this piece seem to do just that. The next page is rather baffling at first glance. We see Buffy getting married to none other than Warren Mears -- now skinless of course, as a result of being flayed by Willow. Buffy seems to be happy in her dream about marrying him. Between this and her feelings of "dirtiness" and being excluded from the Spike and Angel lovefest, it seems as if she's dealing with some unconscious feelings of self-hate, or at the very least, a lack of self-worth. Tara even makes an appearance, telling Buffy that she still blames the slayer for her untimely death at Warren's hands.

The end panel is funny, if not a little abrupt -- and certainly in keeping with Joss' work:


All in all, it was a fun read. I sincerely hope that Chen will someday illustrate a full issue!