Title- Dollhouse (Omega, 1x12, Man on the Street, 1x6, The Target 1x2)
Year- 2009
Character- Agent Graham Tanaka
Synopsis- Underground organisations known as Dollhouses hire out people known as Actives (the ‘Dolls’) to wealthy clients. These Actives have their personalities wiped and a new personality loaded depending on the requirements of each assignment. FBI Agent Ballard is investigating rumours of these illicit establishments, mainly trying to track down an Active named Echo.
Medium- DVD
Entirety or episode?- Entirety (but just rewatched Mark’s episodes recently)
Overall verdict- This is pretty much the most Whedon series to ever Whedon. As in, it is sharp, interesting, absorbing, thought provoking, full of witty dialogue but also intensely convoluted and problematic. I have pages of notes from my rewatching of these three episodes, so it’s hard to boil them down to a succinct review because I could talk at length about the themes and implications of this show – suffice to say, it’s never boring. And the fact that it’s creepy af and super problematic is, in this case, kinda the point – so I’m inclined to give it a lot more passes than say, Firefly, which is also creepy and problematic in places, but needn’t be.
Dollhouse raises a ton of interesting points regarding identity, truth, beauty, consent, the nature of happiness, free will, reality, humanity, trust, relationships, control, how we’re manipulated by society and the media – I mean, it really is a fascinating premise, and whilst the execution sometimes misses the mark, it sometimes hits it dead-on and some of the episodes are actually pretty moving and affecting. (Some, however, are really daft.)
Saying that, despite having a ‘badass female protagonist’ it feels pretty male-gaze and there’s a ton of cringey damsel-in-distress stuff, and the mind-control aspect (if manipulation and abuse storylines upset you, maybe skip this one) can get a bit heavy. It makes me wonder how it would have been received if it had been a vulnerable, hot young male protagonist with a capable female handler instead of the ‘obvious’ vice versa.
All in all, it’s kinda an exploration into what makes us human;what makes us us – but in my personal opinion, whilst it’s definitely worth a watch, Battlestar Galactica and Supernatural both do those themes better.
Screen time- Brief
Accent- American
Mark’s character- Tanaka is a hard-boiled senior FBI officer who is utterly sceptical about the ‘urban legend’ that is Dollhouses. He’s sexist, he’s very crude, he’s a bit of a dick and he’s a coward. In short, he is simple, straightforward and easy to dislike. I’d like to have seen what he’d have turned out like if he’d had chance for a bit more character development, as I think he could have ended up with a lot more depth - as a character he has promise. It could’ve been even more interesting because apparently Mark wasn’t first choice for the role, but when he got it (Whedon wanted him in the series, apparently) he apparently asked to keep the (clearly Japanese) name. I wanna know that in-character backstory. As it is, Mr S plays him excellently and looks great as ever in a smart suit. But he doesn’t get a whole lotta airtime and is mainly used as a device to inconvenience Ballard.
Highlight- Ballard beating the cake out of Tanaka and nearly breaking his arm.
That final ‘shoulder to the wheel’ gesture in ‘The Target’, oof.
“Maybe she’s broken” – when Sierra is crying. OOF ONCE AGAIN.
“I’m sorry for your loss. It doesn’t make you any less of a predator.” Well, at least THAT is acknowledged.
Some of those twists, though.
‘In dreams’ in ‘Omega’ is some truly chilling music usage.
“I’m just the porchlight, waiting for you.” That gave me slight feels.
