Dollhouse 1x03
Feb. 28th, 2009 02:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timepiececlockWhen I saw the head-shake at the end, I thought it was too overt, too early in the story. We went from doll memory threat level 1 to doll memory threat level 4. All they needed to do was imply that Echo and Sierra acknowledged each other as unique-- a certain smile could have done that, or a tilt of the head, or a small hand gesture.
But by having Echo warn Sierra away, they showed them not just acknowledging each other, but Echo making the cognitive connections that
a) it is "bad" or "wrong" for them to know each other
b) this "wrong" behavior is something to hide
c) which means she now has fear of reprisal from her keepers
That's an awful big jump to make, and one that would have made more sense after last mission (where she was wrongly endangered) than this one, where the danger was not connected at all to the Dollhouse. I'm worried that they're going to ruin the whole premise too soon.
Extrapolating on the idea that it might jump the shark too early with the self-awareness thing... One plot hole the show might run into here is the fact that any time a doll gets his/her memory wiped, there's no guarantee that "consciousness" that remains after wipe #17 will still remain after wipe #18. So how can they maintain a conspiracy or incite rebellion in the long run?
Echo or another doll might have already figured it out, already rebelled and freed her mind, been caught, and been wiped back to square one with a more thorough sweep to make sure this time. How do we know this isn't something that they expect to happen and even have a system prepared for? (like The Matrix.) Or, Echo and Sierra might become self-aware at roughly the same time, but maybe Sierra gets fully wiped later and now Echo's fellow conspirator is a brainless zombie (again.) How can she make any progress at all?
Re: Boyd
It seems from reviews I've read at the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
dollhouse_tv and on that some people have preemptively embraced Boyd (Echo's handler) as a heroic character and/or one who is "good" and therefor exempt from the contempt with which we view characters like Topher, the blond security officer, and DeWitt. While he is sympathetic and generally likeable, I think the sentiment that he's less "bad" couldn't be further from accurate.
Boyd isn't a "good" guy---he won't be for a long, long time. He willfully joined this operation, he's seen first hand everything that can go wrong and how revolting it all is, and he's instrumental in the execution of it. Yeah, he cares about Echo. But big whoopie. Until he plots to overthrow it from the inside he's just as guilty and sexist as the rest of them. No one's holding a gun to his head...he's getting paid a good salary for what he does. And what does he do? He controls Echo. Everything noble about his life as a cop, he left behind when he took this post. He looks with disgust on Topher, but they're equally complicit in the program. Topher just doesn't require a mask of self-righteousness to make himself feel less of a creep. If this whole program is slavery (and I can't think of it any other way), then he's the "nice" Overseer.
If Boyd is going to "see the light" and redeem himself for his complicity and profit with the Dollhouse, he'll need to lose a lot and he'll need to go a long way toward breaking down the program. Whether that's destroying it from the inside or the outside I don't know yet. But he's got a lot to make up for, morally.
But by having Echo warn Sierra away, they showed them not just acknowledging each other, but Echo making the cognitive connections that
a) it is "bad" or "wrong" for them to know each other
b) this "wrong" behavior is something to hide
c) which means she now has fear of reprisal from her keepers
That's an awful big jump to make, and one that would have made more sense after last mission (where she was wrongly endangered) than this one, where the danger was not connected at all to the Dollhouse. I'm worried that they're going to ruin the whole premise too soon.
Extrapolating on the idea that it might jump the shark too early with the self-awareness thing... One plot hole the show might run into here is the fact that any time a doll gets his/her memory wiped, there's no guarantee that "consciousness" that remains after wipe #17 will still remain after wipe #18. So how can they maintain a conspiracy or incite rebellion in the long run?
Echo or another doll might have already figured it out, already rebelled and freed her mind, been caught, and been wiped back to square one with a more thorough sweep to make sure this time. How do we know this isn't something that they expect to happen and even have a system prepared for? (like The Matrix.) Or, Echo and Sierra might become self-aware at roughly the same time, but maybe Sierra gets fully wiped later and now Echo's fellow conspirator is a brainless zombie (again.) How can she make any progress at all?
Re: Boyd
It seems from reviews I've read at the
dollhouse_tv and on that some people have preemptively embraced Boyd (Echo's handler) as a heroic character and/or one who is "good" and therefor exempt from the contempt with which we view characters like Topher, the blond security officer, and DeWitt. While he is sympathetic and generally likeable, I think the sentiment that he's less "bad" couldn't be further from accurate.Boyd isn't a "good" guy---he won't be for a long, long time. He willfully joined this operation, he's seen first hand everything that can go wrong and how revolting it all is, and he's instrumental in the execution of it. Yeah, he cares about Echo. But big whoopie. Until he plots to overthrow it from the inside he's just as guilty and sexist as the rest of them. No one's holding a gun to his head...he's getting paid a good salary for what he does. And what does he do? He controls Echo. Everything noble about his life as a cop, he left behind when he took this post. He looks with disgust on Topher, but they're equally complicit in the program. Topher just doesn't require a mask of self-righteousness to make himself feel less of a creep. If this whole program is slavery (and I can't think of it any other way), then he's the "nice" Overseer.
If Boyd is going to "see the light" and redeem himself for his complicity and profit with the Dollhouse, he'll need to lose a lot and he'll need to go a long way toward breaking down the program. Whether that's destroying it from the inside or the outside I don't know yet. But he's got a lot to make up for, morally.
