Love.

"Is 3 years long enough to stop lovin' somebody?"

Things that are awesome (or not)

AWESOME:

-The fact that Dollhouse had an even better second episode than its first. For me, a large part of this was the development of the relationship between Echo and Langdon. Sooooo sweet. Handler is to Active as Watcher is to Slayer. The fact that they were reminding me of the Buffy-Giles relationship was great because I have always been very emotionally attached to that kind of bond.

-Watching Hugh Jackman's opening act from the Oscars. Over, and over, and over again.

-Just having LOST in my life, period. Last week's episode, "316," blew me away. I think I would probably put it in my Top 10. First of all, I am a sucker for the reunion scenes/moments (see: "Collision" and "One of Us"). Also, I would never in my wildest dreams have expected Jack and

Co. to return to the island so soon. And the circumstances of their return set up so many intriguing flashbacks. There's a reason why I am obsessed with this show, and Season 5 is justifying that.

-Battlestar Galactica. Ellen is back, and the fates of the humans and Cylons are uncertain but I have complete faith that the conclusion will be satisfying in every way I have imagined.

-The hope that the best Grey's relationships (Owen/Cristina, Mark/Lexie) will continue to progress with sufficient cuteness.

-Rewatching Buffy.

LAME:

-Having to wait 3 weeks for the next new episode of Bones. What is up with that?! I need it NOW.

-Even entertaining the notion (and from what I've been reading, the definite possibility) that Robert will die on Brothers & Sisters. Sadly, that will be the nail in the coffin of that show for me.

-Misleading promos for The Closer season finale that make me worry that Brenda and Fritz will not go through with the wedding. That's just cruel.

-Waiting. I miss Mad Men, True Blood, and Dexter...

-Shows that I love having a run of episodes that use old material and don't move the story forward. I'm talking to you, Chuck and Burn Notice. I still watch, I still enjoy, but I'm not currently anxious about the state of affairs. In television, anxiety is a good thing because of the sweet relief that comes after everything works out! It's not a question of "if" but "when" these shows will get back on track.

-Bad comedy. I would rather be blind than be forced to watch any of the following shows: Kath & Kim, According to Jim, Rules of Engagement (my love for Patrick Warburton notwithstanding), Two and a Half Men, Gary Unmarried, or 'Til Death. Also Scrubs, but I know a lot of people like it. I don't deny that it is probably a genuinely funny, well-written show, but I just can't stand Zach Braff at all.

-Reality tv. Still pervasive. Still soul-sucking. One of the things I look forward to the most in my life is the day when people stop watching American Idol and it gets canceled and never mentioned again. And an entire season of 2-hour episodes of The Bachelor? That's pathetic. America's Next Top Model Cycle 83? Good grief... (Obviously, this sweeping generalization does not include So You Think You Can Dance, which I personally love, or a few others that are not bad, like Project Runway and Top Chef.)

SOMETHING THAT WILL PROBABLY BE LAME BUT THAT I WISH WOULD BE AWESOME:

-Castle. I heart Nathan Fillion. There is no getting around it. I will be watching Castle when it premieres in March. But... I just don't have a good feeling about it. I hope to be proven wrong.

Dollhouse

I wrote an article for my college newspaper about Dollhouse, the new show from Joss Whedon, which aired its first episode last Friday night. Unfortunately, when I get going about television in general (and Joss' shows in particular), it's difficult for me to stop writing. The result: 1,600 words where 600-800 were asked for. I understood that I was going to have to cut it down, and it would break my heart. So here it is, in its entirety: my take on Dollhouse.

Enter the Dollhouse

"Nothing is what it appears to be." These are the first words uttered in the new series from Joss Whedon, Dollhouse. Even after you know the show's premise, there are layers of meaning to uncover and understand.

Anyone who has ever seen a Whedon show, whether it be Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, or even just the 45-minute internet musical series, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, will be used to his style: what happens on the surface may seem fantastic in the sci-fi geek sense of the word, but the truth of the message is an intimate study of the human experience. And this is all done in a way that is full of Whedon's characteristic wit and imbued with Classical storytelling themes. When it comes down to it, his shows are all about good versus evil, and the moral gray area in between. Dollhouse is no exception. The story is about a secret company that will fulfill people's deepest desires with the use of Actives--human beings who reached a place in their lives where they became willing to sign themselves over to "helping others." Calling them "volunteers," however, is a bit of a stretch because, from what I could sense of Echo, the words "actions have consequences," as they pertained to her when they were said in the first scene, meant "go to jail" or "start a new life where your past actions mean nothing." Of course, they could not fully comprehend what they were agreeing to because it would have seemed unfathomable that their personalities were going to be completely deleted, leaving them with no history and no identity. They have become, in effect, "dolls" who can be imprinted with a new personality every time they are hired out to a client. They can fulfill any need and possess any skill to satisfy that client. At the end, their experiences are erased from their minds, and they return to their everyday lives of contentment and emptiness in the Dollhouse.

On the logistical front, production difficulties have plagued Dollhouse from early on. Delays and rewrites were announced several months ago, which is never a good sign for a show that you are excited about. FOX relegated Dollhouse to a Friday night timeslot (basically a big announcement that they had little faith in it to attract an audience). The only upside of this is that their expectations are probably not too high, so even if ratings are not stellar, they might keep it around for a while. The pilot episode pulled in about 4.5 million viewers--a respectable number under the circumstances.

I think Dollhouse will be safe for at least this 13-episode first season and a pickup for Season 2. Beyond that, its numbers, critic reactions, and fan response will determine its fate. Why do I feel so sure about its survival at present? Because "Save Dollhouse" campaigns were started by Whedon fans about a year ago. Because in 2002, Whedon had a show on FOX called Firefly about a band of rebel outlaws trying to survive in space (it has since become a cult favorite, complete with its own nationwide events called "Browncoat Conventions," and the 2005 sequel film, Serenity). Firefly was canceled after only a handful of episodes. It was such a cold-blooded act on the part of the network that Whedon has not worked with FOX again until now when the people that made that decision have been replaced. Replaced by people who know that Joss Whedon is one of THE creative geniuses of television. That he brings out the best in other creative geniuses like actors Eliza Dushku and Amy Acker and writers Jane Espenson and Tim Minear who have worked with him for years and are working with him now on Dollhouse. And that if they cancel Dollhouse before it has had a good, long run of episodes, all those responsible at FOX will be trampled by a stampede of Whedon fans.

In the pilot episode, "Ghost," the Active Echo, played by Eliza Dushku (Faith of Buffy/Angel) becomes a hostage negotiator for a man whose daughter has been kidnapped. Dushku is a very strong actress and, as a self-described ADD person, this role is perfect for her because it allows her to explore new characters every week. At the same time, she has to develop Echo as a character. This is obviously a difficult task since an Active, by definition, has no "character" to speak of. Nevertheless, even in the first episode, there were a couple of indicators that her character will evolve in very subtle ways. For starters, she had a single, brief flash of a memory that was accidentally not removed (or that was, but she remembered it anyway). In addition, Echo showed an innate curiosity. She wants to understand the people around her, not just live a meaningless existence in the Dollhouse. She also seems to be seeking the approval (beyond a simple robotic obedience) of the people she comes in contact with--like even though she has no recollection of her former life and whatever pushed her so far to the edge of the cliff that she saw no other option than to sign her life away, she wants to be redeemed.

Other characters introduced were Langdon, a former law enforcement agent who now works as a handler for the Actives. He watches from afar while they are on missions to ensure their safety and their ignorance about the jobs they are performing. Topher is the techie of the operation--the guy who handles the computers and the mind-wiping process. Adelle DeWitt is the person in charge. She's British, she's cold, and she's controlling. In the future, we are sure to learn more about the person beneath the perfectly posed exterior. But now she just gives me chills. Finally, FBI agent Paul Ballard (portrayed by Tahmoh Penikett, the stalwart moral compass of Battlestar Galactica) is the man in charge of the investigation to find the Dollhouse. He was only in a couple of scenes in the first episode, but his desperation is already apparent. Whether he wants to free Actives from their state of servitude, to bring to justice those responsible for creating the whole system, or to do something else entirely, I do not yet know, but I could potentially foresee him ending up like Langron--someone who becomes involved in the process and serves as a force of good. A protector of the dolls. A person genuinely concerned with helping people. I could be reading too much into all of thise, having seen only an hour of the show so far. However, I feel pretty confident in saying that I know Joss Whedon;s work very well. It is a primary contributor to my love of television. It's the kind of television that I can (and have) discuss with people and theorize over for hours. What I understand already is enough to keep me watching Dollhouse because Whedon payoffs are the best kind. They hit you like a ton of emotional bricks, making you feel like you are bursting with happiness, and destroyed by perpetual sadness, all at the same time.

Most of the reviews for Dollhouse so far have been mediocre, calling it "imperfect but intriguing," or saying that Echo's ever-changing personalities will make it hard for people to become invested in her story. The pilot episode did have a few forced plot constructions in it--Topher conveniently explaining to Langdon (but more to us) about how the imprinting process worked when the latter had probably been working there long enough to know that stuff; one of the kidnappers just happening to be part of Echo's imprinted identity's past, leading to new obstables and revelations that would not have been there otherwise. That seems unimportant to me, given that it was still a great first episode that definitely leaves one yearning for more. The review in the New York Times claimed that Dollhouse was not compelling, that the universe created thus far is "thin and bland," and Echo is "presumably so named because she can only repeat her programmers' words." Really, New York Times columnist? You think that's why? You don't think that she is just named Echo because, like her fellow Actives Sierra and Victor, she was assigned a name from the NATO standard alphabet? That could give the Dollhouse a possible military connection. Or it could just be a simple, clinical system of nomenclature. OR, if you broaden your thinking for a moment, this Active in particular could be called Echo because of the story recorded in Ovid's Metamorphoses about Echo and Narcissus. She was a pretty nymph who was cursed by the jealous goddess, Juno, to only be able to mimic what others have said. She has no free will. She is trapped in her mind with her thoughts and no words to express them, which becomes even more painful when she falls in love with the perfectly beautiful Narcissus. That perspective could lend a little more depth to the name "Echo" than just the fact that "she can only repeat her programmers' words."

So, as for me, I'll be watching intently every week. I have accepted that the first few episodes will be very self-contained with only a tiny dose of complicated serialized stuff. That is to be expected in the beginning. They needz to bring in the viewerz. But, straight from interviews with Eliza Dushku and Joss Whedon, episode 6 is where everything starts unraveling. And I can't wait.

A Brief History of EVERYTHING (By which I mean, the last few weeks)

Okay, so this was a super stressful week of classes, and more is still to come next week. That means that today and tomorrow are all about giving the ol' brain a little downtime. But I have a lot of catching up to do on my blog. My solution: delivering my thoughts to you in incomplete sentences, which is probably not what my shows deserve because they have been stellar the past few weeks. Props.

In alphabetical order so as not to show favorites (even though LOST is by far my #1)-

Battlestar Galactica-

Frakking with my mind. 2 intense weeks in a row when Gaeta (whom I loathe with every ounce of my being) staged a takeover of Galactica with the help of Tom Zarek. Things starting to slow back down as we learn more about the history of the "Final Five" Cylons. This past episode was all about the background that, having been revealed, brings the entire series into a new clarity. The EW recap by resident BSG expert Marc Bernadin sums it up perfectly:

"It was as if some hidden vault of information opened up in front of me, kind of like the Ark of the Covenant, and by the end of the hour, it melted my face off... And there were so many little touches. Anders' pre-op ramblings ('All the forgotten faces, all the forgotten children, we speak a forgotten language. The mind is its own place. The Hell of Heaven.'); Ellen the Machine Goddess offering Boomer the apple of knowledge; Roslin passing the mantle of leadership to Lee; Tigh laying his head on Caprica-Six's swelling belly. At the end of the day, you know why I loved this episode so much? Because I earned it. We all did. All of us who've been watching, faithfully, from the very beginning. It was like finally getting to the 'mystery solved' speech in a Sherlock Holmes yarn. We've put in the time, and now here's our reward. Now we know the truth behind the Cylons but knowing is half the battle."

Bones-

Follow-up to Season 2 milestone, "Aliens in a Spaceship." Booth escaped with the help of a ghost, a young soldier he fought alongside. Bones swooped in to save him. Creepy Gravedigger (turned out to be a woman, who saw that coming?) taken down with the help of Little Booth, Jared. Not as emotionally gripping as its predecessor but still great. Nothing beats the beginning of Angela-Hodgins love. Or the Booth-running-and-digging-Bones-out-of-the-dirt scene.

Burn Notice- Moving kinda slowly right now. Not that I have a problem with that because there is lots of Michael-Fiona cuteness. I am looking forward to some intense action going down between Michael and Carla soon. And I read something about finally finding out WHO burned him?

Chuck-

Post-Super Bowl episode in 3D. Except only barely so as not to exclude people without 3D glasses. Kind of a disappointment on that front. Awesome on the guest star front, though. Dominic Monaghan as a rock star being hunted by terrorists.

The Closer- Wedding of Brenda and Fritz happening soon. Lots of good episodes since it came back in January. Sanchez dealing with the fallout of his gunshot wound. Provenza being his awesome self. Last week had another Billy Kroelig-type creepy bad guy who got away with multiple rapes and a murder. Gives me chills but hope to see him again. Next week has Amy Sedaris as Fritz's sister.... Sweet!

Desperate Housewives-

Eh. Lynette continues to wear me down with her dismal storyline. Bree has nothing interesting going on. Gaby is trying to get her old self back- complete with excessive amounts of money and a hot body- but realizing that she should leave some of her less attractive former personality traits behind (we'll see how long that lasts). Susan is ridiculous. She doesn't deserve to get Mike back. Dave's masterplan seems to be at a standstill.

Friday Night Lights-

The DirecTV run ended, leaving us with no assurance that there would be a Season 4. If there isn't my heart will be broken, especially since Season 3 was spectacular in every way. Perfect exits for Street and Smash. Matt/Julie and Tyra/Landry reunited.

Life wasn't all happiness, though because JD's father was the worst kind of scum and got Coach Taylor fired. The Dillon school board offered him the position at the about-to-reopen East Dillon as the Head Coach of the Lions. Whoa. Switching my loyalties away from the Panthers will be a difficult adjustment, for me and all the characters on the show. Which is why there needs to be a Season 4 so that we can see what happens next.

Grey's Anatomy-

Lots of dramatic buildup to a Meredith-Derek proposal. Private Practice crossover didn't do much for me because I hadn't been watching Private Practice and neither knew nor cared who Archer was. Mark has definitely become a better man thanks to Lexie's influence, and their flirting is adorable. Owen-Cristina interactions have me hooked. Don't care about anybody else.

Heroes-

My once-great love for Nathan and HRG has disappeared almost entirely. Hoping some hidden layers are there that I don't see. Sylar as a mentor to a young boy is twisted but fascinating. Rest of the heroes are having to band together to hide from the Hunter/stop Nathan from this hypocritical persecution.

How I Met Your Mother-

Has lost a little of its magic from previous seasons. I might retract my judgment in retrospect, but I'm just not enjoying these episodes as much as I used to. Funny aspects remain (almost all revolving around Barney), but not with the same mixture of humor and sweetness.

LOST-

People on the island- Sawyer, Juliet, Daniel, Charlotte, Miles, and Locke- have been flashing through time. Good opportunities for us to learn more about the island's history as we have seen the period when the Dharma Initiative was active. Returned to events we have already witnessed- Claire giving birth to Aaron; pillar of black smoke. Desmond working in the hatch.

Rousseau arriving with her team, pregnant with Alex. Jin came back after floating in the water on a piece of wreckage. Charlotte died from time-travel sickness. Desmond and Penny are married and living on a boat with their son, whom they named Charlie (*tear*). Faraday came to Desmond in the hatch and told him that the on-island people needed his help. In the present-day, Desmond woke up and remembered that it had happened all those years before. Now looking for Daniel's mother=Mrs. Hawking=First name, Eloise, so potentially the same person as the young Ellie who is part of Richard Alpert's band of "hostiles" (along with a young Charles Widmore). Ben trying to get the Oceanic Six back to the island. What he will gain from getting them back, I don't know... Jack is fully on-board because he has finally come to accept that his destiny lies on the Island. Kate is angry. She wants to keep Aaron away, but she should come around soon because she will follow Jack to the end of the world. Sun is willing to go back because Ben gave her proof that Jin is still alive (How will Jin react when his wife brings his baby girl, Ji-Yeon, to that place?). Hurley is in prison. Sayid is the biggest holdout because he resents Ben for making him kill people. I can't wait to see the reunion between the 2 groups.

The Office-

Post-Super Bowl episode, "Stress Relief," definitely full of moments of high hilarity. Overall, not the greatest episode ever (I still argue that "Money" has been the only hour-long to successfully maintain a great story that is consistently funny). Favorite parts were with Andy, thinking that Pam & Jim were really insightful about the movie they were all watching together, even though they were talking about something completely different. 2-part episode, "Lecture Circuit," was awkwardly wonderful. Michael and Pam traveling to other Dunder-Miflin branches. The hope of a Holly Flax reappearance was dangled and then snatched away. Soon, my friends. Soon. Back in the Scranton office, Jim and Dwight trying to function as the party planning committee. Angela licked her cat.