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2.1 Vows Echo: "Wait. What did they make me this time?" Fake wedding in the beginning. Real wedding at the end. I found the first half hour and the FBI plot confusing the first time through, and that's not good. But I thought the powerful ending made up for it. They fixed two huge problems I had with season one: (1) they finally made me like Echo and see her as the center of the story, and (2) they finally created a strong, emotional connection between Echo and Paul. In fact, I liked every scene centered around the relationship between Echo and Paul. His distress at her having sex with Jamie Bamber. Him being the only one to realize she was in trouble. The way he recreated their fight in the Chinese restaurant in order to key up her programmed fighting skills. Her confession to him that she remembered everyone she has been, except who she really is. Paul finally agreed to be Echo's handler in order to protect her -- no small thing, considering how distasteful he finds all of it. That rote recitation ("Do you trust me?" "With my life") actually meant something this time, because Echo and Paul were aware of what they were saying and they both totally meant it. Vows. Claire's identity crisis was amusing as well as tragic. Interesting what Claire said about not wanting her current self to "die." It raises such complicated questions about self and identity. Isn't the current Claire, with her wealth of experience, just as much a person as whoever she originally was? I hope we see Claire again. I want to know who she is. I want her and Boyd to have a wild and crazy love affair, too. I loved that he asked her out. And that he did it only after he discovered she was a victim of the Dollhouse, too, and not really on the staff. Topher's reaction to Claire's crisis showed us his human side. He's a brilliant, lonely geek who sleeps in a server room. Claire freaked him out by making a pass, and Topher brings up a Muppet? He's such a sexless man. At least he's no longer creeping me out. I'm so glad Adelle's guilt over her sexual exploitation of Victor got him his beautiful face back. I'm very fond of Victor. I'm confused about the real Sierra, though. She is partly Asian, and prejudiced against Asians? Is this a "I hate myself" thing that she also expresses with sexual masochism? Or was she imprinted with someone else but dressed in her own clothes? Confusing. I will again say that I love how Joss Whedon brings back actors that he loves. But having the casts of Buffy, Angel and Battlestar mixed together like this feels a little like television incest. And was outright weird to hear Jamie Bamber and Alexis Denisof reverse accents. Although, oddly, they were returning to their own accents. Television can be strange. I also wish the first half hour had been easier to follow because I bet it turned off some new viewers; I'm surprised that Joss Whedon made a mistake like that. But it was still an emotionally stirring episode, and I loved it. Bits and pieces: -- The cast is the same as season one. New credits, all focused on Echo. Why not the rest of the cast, too? -- Senator Daniel Perrin (Alexis Denisof) was introduced. Please give us lots of him, pretty pretty please. Many episodes. Did Paul give Senator Perrin his new anti-Rossum cause? Did Boyd? -- Too bad Alexis Denisof didn't get to do a scene with Amy Acker. Maybe later, huh? -- Jamie Bamber was suitably despicable. And he and Tahmoh got to do a scene together, which was fun. -- Topher used Bride of Frankenstein as his alert mechanism for Claire hacking into his files. Funny and cruel at the same time, like Topher himself. -- Was Claire about to go for a scalpel, like Alpha? That little hint did not make me happy. -- Did some client pay to see Whiskey and Echo making it together??? -- Ivy got to add rat catching to her resume, along with fetching inappropriate starches. -- Echo has three more years on her contract. -- In this season's hair report, Adelle got a new do. More severe, a bit darker. I'm not sure I like it. Topher's hair seemed wilder and longer, too. Softer, maybe. Like him. Quotes: Boyd: "After that news anchor..." Adelle: "Which one?" Boyd: "The one who wanted to be rolled in eggs and flour and dipped." Adelle: "Ah, Tempura Joe. Such a lonely soul." Ivy: "We're backed up like LAX at Christmas." Topher: "It's the autumn rush. Temperatures plummet to the high sixties. The leaves fall off that one tree on Wilshire." Claire: "I like my scars. They bring out my eyes." Claire: "What if she went over your head?" Boyd: "I'm very tall." Claire: "My entire existence was constructed by a sociopath in a sweater vest. What do you suggest I do?" Boyd: "Have dinner with me." This is a couple I could definitely get into. Topher: "Guy's asleep. Could have been Fozzie Bear and I would have... not that I think about Fozzie Bear." Claire: "So why didn't you stop there?" Topher: "Because I was designing a person, not a Roomba." Not sure how to rate it. What did you all think? Billie View all comments or post a comment. |
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