Dollhouse: it sucks
Big disappointment from Josh Whedon over Dollhouse. Then again, I never liked Buffy/Angel either. Too corny of TV series. But both JBQ and I loved “Firefly”. I was fooled into thinking that after Firefly, Whedon found the perfect recipe for a successful — or at least cult — TV series. Instead, we were served some pretty boring, pedestrian flat shit.
The reason why Dollhouse sucks is because there’s no mystery in it really. The story is shown so flatly from all viewpoints that I can’t associate or sympathize with anyone at the end. It doesn’t make my heart beat faster the way “Lost” does. I mean, this is just some episodic TV where the main hero is getting reset at the end of each episode, making it impossible for me to theorize or delve into the mythology. Because there is no real story there, just some shit happening every week for some unlucky people. There are just episodes of actives doing this or that as they are hired to do. Sure, there’s the FBI guy plot, and the rogue active subplot, but they are not enough to keep the mystery afloat.
Now, you are probably asking, “how it would have been the right way to develop the series”, and the right answer is “there is none”. The very idea of this being a TV series is flawed. What Dollhouse should have been is either a SciFi Channel 3-part tele-movie (like the ones they used to do every December before the economy shitted on itself), or a feature film. But not a TV series. Just like “Lost” would never work as a feature film, same way Dollhouse doesn’t work as a series.
And the reason is because most of us who like sci-fi shows absolutely _hate_ episodic TV. Dollhouse doesn’t offer us enough mystery, action, coolness, geekness, or distorted perspectives of the reality the way ‘Lost’ so masterfully does. It’s just yet another boring TV show trying to be cool just by using Whedon’s name. This ain’t enough. Whedon must try harder to create something that will last.