TV is the New Reading

‘Dollhouse’ turns in disappointing finale

I'm directing a show for a local community theater, and I’ve resigned myself to the fact that while this play is going on, my DVR is going to develop a pretty hefty backlog. With the growing mass of syndicated “Supernatural” episodes in there, on top of a bunch of “West Wing” episodes, I don’t see getting that thing anything like cleared out for awhile.

Of course, I did manage to work through a marathon of “Battlestar Galactica” episodes leading up to the final season -- which was a great way to experience that series, incidentally -- so I know it is possible to claw through it eventually.

Incidentally, I have enjoyed the “Supernatural” episodes I’ve managed to see. The WB didn’t have a huge effects budget and some of the choices they made in compensating for that didn’t do them a lot of favors. But the writing, acting and storytelling is sound and generally I’m enjoying it.

Men of a Certain Age

I got a chance to watch a bit of backlog on my DVR recently. I saw three episodes of TNT’s “Men of a Certain Age” back to back, which is also a good way to watch that show. Not that there’s a lot of progression of storyline from one episode to the next, and I do find the Beach Boys and Rod Stewart to be a bit grating, but these three friends coming together to complain about their otherwise unremarkable lives and the ordinary adventures they manage to make of them are themselves sort of interesting. I mean, dealing with a daughter’s breakup and facing down City Hall about a building variance they don’t want to approve can be just as nerve-wracking and treacherous as anything Jack Bauer does.

I did catch Terry’s Schroedinger’s cat reference, which is more than a little bit overused -- every writer thinks they’re presenting it for the first time and they’re not. The simultaneous, unobservable condition of alive and dead, while intriguing, isn’t always especially useful. I think if writers are going to dazzle us all with their grasp of quantum physics, they should try to work in more about Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle and action at a distance among interlinked particle pairs. See how complicated and talky and sciency ... yep. Best stick to Ray Romano chatting pantless with his new lady friend, and leave Schrodinger’s cat in the box. Like Scott Bakula’s character reads.

Ugly Betty

Another show that’s even better with two or three in a row is “Ugly Betty.” This show is so cute. It’s just not one where I’m like oh my god, the new “Ugly Betty” is on I’ve gotta drop everything and watch it, so I got a bit of a backlog. But when you kick back and watch a few in a row you can enjoy all the over-the-top nonsense as well as Betty’s tortured little soul all at once.

On a related note, I’m rooting for Janeane on “Project Runway.” Indeed, Season 7 is underway, and we’re about three weeks in so far. It seems quick, but season six was delayed while they were working out all the logistics in its move to Lifetime so yes, it does feel like we just had one and now we’re having another, but we did have a long time waiting for the last one so I’m just going to appreciate it.

And yes, Janeane. She reminds me of Leanne, the winner from Season 5. I love her attitude and I appreciate that quality of just letting the design speak for itself. Also, I figured if I’m going to say things like “I was pulling for Irina all along” at the end of Season 6 I may as well just announce at some early stage in the competition that she’s one of my picks for the final three. If any others start standing out I’ll let you know.

Dollhouse

Finally, Joss Whedon’s “Dollhouse” came to a screeching halt when it smashed into a cinderblock wall Friday. Because it’s a Joss Whedon production it requires an apocalypse and Tucson and then Los Angeles were overrun with mindless mindwipes who behaved as zombies. There were people off the grid determined to live their lives free of the mindwipe technology and freedom fighters running about the countryside like a road company of “Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome,” and ...

In 2009, Joss Whedon introduced us to Eliza Dushku as Echo, once Caroline, a corporate infiltrator trying to bring down the Rossum Corporation, which was developing technology that could install skills and personalities into your brain and cause you to do things and think things. In the development stages, they’d hire the dolls out to rich weirdos to play out their fantasies or commit their crimes. Otherwise the dolls just hung around and tried to be their best.

As the show progressed it became clear that the endgame was something like a handful of people imprinted with Rossum CEO’s personality so in effect there was more than one of him and he could just imprint from body to body to body as his own wore out, which is a sort of immortality. As for the people he took over, well, too bad. He was developing a portable mindwiper so that was about to become really easy.

In the finale, it’s ten years down the road and chaos has broken out. People are jumping into each other’s bodies and multiple personality types and composites are emerging. Fresh mindwipe dolls are preyed upon by the howling zombies, everyone is armed and shooting at one another and our last best hope is ubertech geek Topher who’s gone completely loopy and is making about as much sense as those mystic drone hybrid thingies from “Battlestar Galactica.”

Topher has to detonate an electromagnetic pulse which should reset all the dolls and possibly allow their original personalities to re-assert themselves and take control. He does so, and there’s about 17 seconds left to see if he managed to or not before the closing credits.

First, this episode was called “Epitaph Two.” There’s an episode in the first season disc set which I haven’t seen called “Epitaph One,” and my guess, since Felicia Day was in both, is that this finale would make more sense if I’d seen that episode.

In that I have to have purchased a DVD set in order to understand the series finale, here’s what I have to say about that:

“Dollhouse” was a perfectly good show. FOX gave it all kinds of chances, but it never built the audience and it was canceled.

In that it was canceled, Joss did some pretty good work in trying to bring it to some sort of conclusion, but I’m trying to think of a worse possible way to do so. I’m envisioning the appearance of a unicorn, a scene where Topher’s college roomate shows up and they spend 20 minutes hacking Swedish porn, possibly a roomful of writers throwing darts at index cards pasted to the wall, Neil Patrick Harris leaping from a cake in a ballgown, I’m thinking three monkeys driving a truck into a marshmallow factory, I mean yeah, I suppose there were even more non sequitur ways to bring this show to a close.

But I can’t envision something much more hostile. Joss Whedon, you are a talented writer with an agile mind. You are able to create characters we give a crap about and situations that are compelling. You do not need to plumb absolute devastation in every show you create. It doesn’t always have to come down to the universe collapsing, the worst of all our worst fears realized and overcome in one last desperate act I mean COME ON! What would’ve been wrong with Echo interrogating Alpha following the raid on Rossum and in the final 10 minutes realizing he’s installed Rossum as well, or Ballard and Ballard is the one reaching out to you, saying he loves you one last time. I mean, why not let Epitaph One and that dystopia from the Attic be the projected worst case scenario and in the present day, shut it all down?

Buffy’s “The Gift” was awe inspiring, bringing the Buffy saga to a legitimate close. The second series finale, “Chosen” and the destruction of Sunnydale was good, too. The final confrontation in “Angel” was unsatisfying but at least it was epic. Penny doesn’t always have to die at the end of "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog." Wash doesn’t have to die in order for River to find peace of mind, you psycho. The world doesn’t always have to come to an end just because you won’t be writing it anymore.

Pain is transformative. It’s transfigurative. But it can also become that go-to thing you always do when you’ve run out of ideas, and maybe you ought to try a little harder.

And like I’m not going to watch whatever else you come up with, but jeez, Joss, what the jazz?

“Men of a Certain Age” airs Mondays at 10/9c on TNT, “Ugly Betty” airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on ABC, and “Project Runway” airs Thursdays at 10/9c on Lifetime.

Back Back to Shows Back to Main Page Next