#epitaph one

[film-book]

TV Review: Dollhouse Season 1, Ep. 13: Epitaph One

https://film-book.com/tv-review-dollhouse-season-1-ep-13/?fsp_sid=84859

[pass-the-bechdel]

Dollhouse s01e13 ‘Epitaph One’

Does it pass the Bechdel Test?

Yes, nine times.

How many female characters (with names and lines) are there?

Nine (56.25% of cast).

How many male characters (with names and lines) are there?

Seven.

Positive Content Rating:

Three.

General Episode Quality:

Shakes things up. Seriously.

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) UNDER THE CUT:

Passing the Bechdel:

Mag asks ‘Iris’ if she needs to pee. Lynn and ‘Iris’ find the showers. Mag explains birthmarks to ‘Iris’. Mag speaks to Whiskey, twice. Echo talks with Saunders. Adelle asks Echo about her plans. Caroline greets Whiskey. Mag asks Caroline about Whiskey.

Female characters:

Mag.

Lynn.

Adelle DeWitt.

‘Iris Miller’.

Echo.

Claire Saunders.

Whiskey.

Priya Tsetsang.

Caroline Farrell.

Male characters:

Zone.

Griff.

Topher Brink.

Laurence Dominic.

Paul Ballard.

Boyd Langton.

Clive Ambrose.

OTHER NOTES:

This episode is set in the future of 2019. Wild.

“Don’t get all...womanly” oh, yay. It certainly is another episode of this show.

Flashback guy is quick to assure us that he’s straight. Also yay.

The survival instincts of this ragtag band of, um, survivors are pretty poor. I sure am seeing a lot of dumbfuck decisions.

The confrontation scene between Dominic and DeWitt is the highlight of this episode, not unlike in ‘A Spy In The House Of Love’. Not all of the flashback scenes to our usual characters are useful to the plot, but most of them are strong; nothing beats DeWitt/Dominic, though.

Oh, I nearly forgot: Echo is barely in this episode, and she manages not to get beat up by anyone in that time, however she does 1) experience debilitatingly painful headaches, and 2) show up the worse for wear and need stitches for a nasty cut (cause of injuries, unknown). So, she never survived a single episode without suffering pain/injury/attack of some kind, but she only got physically assaulted in ten of the thirteen episodes this season. If you wanna call that ‘only’. 

As far as Hail Mary plays go, this is a pretty intense way to drum up support for your show; present a series of vignettes leading to a terrifying futurescape which the audience must then stick around for the rest of the series in order to fully understand and receive a payoff. It’s definitely not a bad idea for this show, either, since the central plot of the first season suggested vaguely at some ideas but did not actually construct much of a mission statement, so this sense of clear direction is a big benefit. It does seem a tad ambitious, though, and considering that the show was already performing abysmally in the ratings (breaking my no-BTS rule, but at the time this show was the lowest-rated series to ever receive a second-season renewal), the fact that the series didn’t survive beyond two seasons is not much of a shock, and as such this finale promises far more than the show can deliver. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s talk about why this season performed abysmally in the ratings over in the full season review, and then we’ll get on to finding out which opportunities they squandered in season two. YAY.

[7deadlycinderellas]

I haven’t been this mad at FOX since they refused to air Epitaph One

[nothing-is-manageable]

Hope seems almost cruel at this point.

Priya Tsetsang, Dollhouse, “Epitaph One”

[lovepirate77]

I love Dollhouse in general, but the Epitaph episodes are so so so good, creative, clever, and different. It's like a completely different show, but it also ties into the rest of the series and its themes so perfectly. And the performances are great, too!

[paintthemoonred]

Adelle DeWitt: 'Mr. Dominic is my eyes and ears.' Topher Brink: 'Can I be your nose and throat?'

Dollhouse, S1E13 - Epitaph One

[sorry-mr-great]

The Dollhouse season 1 finale is probably the most confusing thing I've ever watched.

[apaulinglanguage]

Holy shit. What? Where did this show come from and why aren't there 100 seasons of it?!