Watching Orphan Black first spoiled Dollhouse for me. Eliza Dushku doesn't make a bad job of portraying lots of different people in one body and getting you to root for all of them, but there was no hope of her doing a better job of it than Tatiana Maslany. She is the gold standard and everyone else just falls a bit short. In fact, I think Enver Gjokaj as Victor did a better job than Dushku - his portrayal of Victor as Topher was rather good.
Dollhouse wasn't bad. There are some bits of humour, mostly from Fran Kranz as Topher and the Victor/Sierra romance was charming in a somewhat thought provoking way - of people that fall in love regardless of who they ostensibly are. There are some shock reveals - exciting! But most of these aren't examined in any great depth. Some of the missions seemed a little contradictory - where did the academic who wanted a pupil to fall for him get the money from? And unfortunately, the most interesting parts of the story were mere cameos - the consequences of the technology condensed, for the most part, into a mere two episodes, one per season. And Bennett Halverson, who had the potential to be a really interesting character, barely featured in just five episodes.
Dollhouse had the potential to be great, but it needed MORE. More insight. More looking at difficult questions. More consequences. Sturdier characterisation. More more and more.
Dollhouse wasn't bad. There are some bits of humour, mostly from Fran Kranz as Topher and the Victor/Sierra romance was charming in a somewhat thought provoking way - of people that fall in love regardless of who they ostensibly are. There are some shock reveals - exciting! But most of these aren't examined in any great depth. Some of the missions seemed a little contradictory - where did the academic who wanted a pupil to fall for him get the money from? And unfortunately, the most interesting parts of the story were mere cameos - the consequences of the technology condensed, for the most part, into a mere two episodes, one per season. And Bennett Halverson, who had the potential to be a really interesting character, barely featured in just five episodes.
Dollhouse had the potential to be great, but it needed MORE. More insight. More looking at difficult questions. More consequences. Sturdier characterisation. More more and more.