shards

Placebo Effect?: Hooked on Dollhouse

Lord knows I was lonely after Buffy aired its final episode. Then, I tried to kindle a love for Angel, but I guess it never really worked without the hot queer Wiccans. To Joss Whedon’s credit, he did resurrect mad people from the dead, and made Angel a father. In high school, I stopped watching television, which means I missed the whole Firefly train, even if I did appreciate the whole China-and-US-being-Evil-Together thing, which I hear made for some stunning and slightly-racist imagery.

So, I was really excited for Dollhouse, the new Whedon show starring Eliza Dushku. And I didn’t catch it til today, when I Hulu’d the first two episodes while I folded laundry and ate dinner.

The first episode was kind of weird, and got all CSI Miami on us, as the major recurring characters were introduced. But the 2nd episode felt a bit more awesome: there was a crazy rich dude who liked to hunt his dates down in a forest RPG set-up, the introduction of a tragic villain’s arc (Alpha, who has no face and is probably either in love or obsessed with, Echo, Dushku’s character), and some back story.

But I’m sitting here wondering: is this my Whedonite placebo effect? I keep making mental notes of the similarities (in wardrobe styling, dialogue quirks) between Dollhouse, and Buffy, which is definitely 1 parts projection, 1 parts Joss Whedon, and 1 parts television aesthetic standard. I also know, and other bloggers/forum-ers have pointed out pointed out, Buffy wasn’t really good until a few episodes in, and Angel definitely wasn’t until a season or two in.  So I won’t know if the show is yay or nay til a few weeks (to a year) from now.  But let’s be serious, it’s a Whedon sci-fi show, I’m a not-so-secret fangirl, and Eliza Dushku (who I simultaneously want to date/be) is badass.  I’ll keep watching anyway.