That's more like it! After two OK but fairly forgettable episodes ("Vows" - "Instinct"), which made the same basic point and contained only one truly great scene each, the second season of "Dollhouse" starts improving with "Belle Chose", an episode that offers something different, something we haven't seen before in the show: exchange of imprints in the middle of engagements (due to an attempted remote wipe by Topher). So Victor becomes a giggly, fun loving college girl (!), and Echo becomes a serial killer. In addition to this unusual development, which allows for a mix of the funny and the disturbing, "Belle Chose" also marks a turning point in the course of the series: by taking a strong moral stance against a Rossum shareholder and his sicko nephew, Adelle distances herself from the true bad guys; she also comes closer to both Topher and Paul. Best line belongs to Boyd: "Topher has an ethical problem. Topher!". *** out of 4.
5 Reviews
Funny for such a dark subject matter
Joxerlives15 January 2012
Warning: Spoilers
BELLE CHOSE
The good; Ballard and the other handler consoling one another whist waiting for their charges to select clothes makes me laugh out loud every time. Victor's girly dancing/Terry act is great (Enver the best actor in the cast). I like the fact that Victor's chip is missing due to bureaucratic oversight, very realistic. Echo/Terry stabbing the professor is a real shocker.
The bad; You can see the human statues move slightly but you would expect that, they're not real statues they're paralysed women and the drugs are wearing off. Why not just let a chipped Victor go and track him? How does a guy as lamely dressed as Terry get into a trendy club? Terry's victims seem to accept the Dollhouse tactical team awfully easily, they don't even have 'Police' written on their overalls.
Best line; Boyd; "Topher has ethical problems. TOPHER!" plus Dollhouse fashion guru; "Not exactly a rocket scientist. Normally that's irony but around here you never know" and Echo/Kiki; "I mean how hard can it be, it's medi-eaval, it's not even advanced eaval"
Kinky dinky; The villain appears to be a fan of ASFR, that is a fetish for transforming people into statues/living waxworks/robots. (I know what you're thinking, "Girl, now you're just making this stuff up" but I'm really not, just type ASFR into your search engine and you'll see what I mean. Seems to have been started by the Wonder Woman ep 'The Fine Art of Crime' since re-edited into YouTube ASFR clip 'The Finer Art of Crime') The shower scenes are back, the fans must have complained that they missed them. Echo comments 'I'm wet' when appearing naked in front of Ballard but she probably means from the shower. Kiki is hot to trot and is delectable in her mini-skirt and knee socks, lovely sexy dance she does for the prof. Nice analogy of female power in Kiki's discussion with the Professor of Chaucer and interesting use of the term 'whippe', Echo/Kiki also seems a fan of wearing spurs "Nasty!" (where would this assignment have gone had it continued?).
Capt subtext; Topher once again worries that he's creating a 'man reaction' in another male. The head of the Dollhouse clothing department is extremely fey and obviously in his dream job (I originally thought that this might be Harry Groener, Mayor Wilkins from Buffy but it's not). Victor/Kiki and Paul make a rather cute gay couple "Gotta a problem?".
This weeks fantasy; Echo AND Victor are Kiki, a scatterbrained but kinky and adorable fun-loving student. Victor/Echo are also the villain, creepy dweeb Terry Karrens.
What do we think of the client? The prof wants to have an affair with one of his students but rather than do it for real he hires Echo, getting to live the dream without tarnishing his professional ethics. I guess that's actually OK. The Uncle also seems not a bad guy, keen to rescue his nephew but also wanting to save his victims.
Total number personalities; 2 for Victor and Echo Echo; 27 Sierra; 12 Victor; 9 November; 3
Subverting the Hollywood cliché; . Victor/Kiki goes from gaybashed to bigotbasher. The captured girls are actually escaping on their own rather than needing to be rescued "We're not his toys".
Dolls injured; Poor Echo get's seriously roughed up by the escapers and the guy in the bar tries to punch Victor.
Happy hookers; Misogynist creep Terry refers to 'Whores' (is he related to Mal Reynolds?)
Know the face? Maybe I should start listing BSG alumni, Michael Hogan the 4th
Guantanamo; Freed from FBI rules Ballard takes great joy in roughing up Terry.
Fanfic; All the ASFR you can shake a human mannequin at in the Legacy of Timeless Beauty Archive
Missing scenes;. I heard that the original scene between Ballard and Adele at the end was supposed to go a little differently; Ballard; "You think there's any chance he's ever going to wake up?" Adele; (hard as nails) "I wouldn't let him leave here if I did"
Reminds me off; The concept is a little reminiscent of the Angel eps 'Just desserts' and 'Billy' and the Buffy ep 'Ted'.
Breaking the programming; Echo rebels against Terry
Questions and observations; Topher can diagnose psychopaths just by looking at their brainscans. Well this seems a useful skill, let's do that with everyone.Rather creepy ending implying that the villain lives on inside Echo's mind but I guess Eleanor Penn, Esther from True Believer, Margeret from Haunted, the mom from 'Instinct', the Dominatrix, the midwife etc inside her can keep him outnumbered and pinned down. Why not just have Terry hire out Echo, Sierra and co to act out his fantasies, no one would get hurt and it might help him regain his sanity? No Sierra whatsoever.
7/10,
The good; Ballard and the other handler consoling one another whist waiting for their charges to select clothes makes me laugh out loud every time. Victor's girly dancing/Terry act is great (Enver the best actor in the cast). I like the fact that Victor's chip is missing due to bureaucratic oversight, very realistic. Echo/Terry stabbing the professor is a real shocker.
The bad; You can see the human statues move slightly but you would expect that, they're not real statues they're paralysed women and the drugs are wearing off. Why not just let a chipped Victor go and track him? How does a guy as lamely dressed as Terry get into a trendy club? Terry's victims seem to accept the Dollhouse tactical team awfully easily, they don't even have 'Police' written on their overalls.
Best line; Boyd; "Topher has ethical problems. TOPHER!" plus Dollhouse fashion guru; "Not exactly a rocket scientist. Normally that's irony but around here you never know" and Echo/Kiki; "I mean how hard can it be, it's medi-eaval, it's not even advanced eaval"
Kinky dinky; The villain appears to be a fan of ASFR, that is a fetish for transforming people into statues/living waxworks/robots. (I know what you're thinking, "Girl, now you're just making this stuff up" but I'm really not, just type ASFR into your search engine and you'll see what I mean. Seems to have been started by the Wonder Woman ep 'The Fine Art of Crime' since re-edited into YouTube ASFR clip 'The Finer Art of Crime') The shower scenes are back, the fans must have complained that they missed them. Echo comments 'I'm wet' when appearing naked in front of Ballard but she probably means from the shower. Kiki is hot to trot and is delectable in her mini-skirt and knee socks, lovely sexy dance she does for the prof. Nice analogy of female power in Kiki's discussion with the Professor of Chaucer and interesting use of the term 'whippe', Echo/Kiki also seems a fan of wearing spurs "Nasty!" (where would this assignment have gone had it continued?).
Capt subtext; Topher once again worries that he's creating a 'man reaction' in another male. The head of the Dollhouse clothing department is extremely fey and obviously in his dream job (I originally thought that this might be Harry Groener, Mayor Wilkins from Buffy but it's not). Victor/Kiki and Paul make a rather cute gay couple "Gotta a problem?".
This weeks fantasy; Echo AND Victor are Kiki, a scatterbrained but kinky and adorable fun-loving student. Victor/Echo are also the villain, creepy dweeb Terry Karrens.
What do we think of the client? The prof wants to have an affair with one of his students but rather than do it for real he hires Echo, getting to live the dream without tarnishing his professional ethics. I guess that's actually OK. The Uncle also seems not a bad guy, keen to rescue his nephew but also wanting to save his victims.
Total number personalities; 2 for Victor and Echo Echo; 27 Sierra; 12 Victor; 9 November; 3
Subverting the Hollywood cliché; . Victor/Kiki goes from gaybashed to bigotbasher. The captured girls are actually escaping on their own rather than needing to be rescued "We're not his toys".
Dolls injured; Poor Echo get's seriously roughed up by the escapers and the guy in the bar tries to punch Victor.
Happy hookers; Misogynist creep Terry refers to 'Whores' (is he related to Mal Reynolds?)
Know the face? Maybe I should start listing BSG alumni, Michael Hogan the 4th
Guantanamo; Freed from FBI rules Ballard takes great joy in roughing up Terry.
Fanfic; All the ASFR you can shake a human mannequin at in the Legacy of Timeless Beauty Archive
Missing scenes;. I heard that the original scene between Ballard and Adele at the end was supposed to go a little differently; Ballard; "You think there's any chance he's ever going to wake up?" Adele; (hard as nails) "I wouldn't let him leave here if I did"
Reminds me off; The concept is a little reminiscent of the Angel eps 'Just desserts' and 'Billy' and the Buffy ep 'Ted'.
Breaking the programming; Echo rebels against Terry
Questions and observations; Topher can diagnose psychopaths just by looking at their brainscans. Well this seems a useful skill, let's do that with everyone.Rather creepy ending implying that the villain lives on inside Echo's mind but I guess Eleanor Penn, Esther from True Believer, Margeret from Haunted, the mom from 'Instinct', the Dominatrix, the midwife etc inside her can keep him outnumbered and pinned down. Why not just have Terry hire out Echo, Sierra and co to act out his fantasies, no one would get hurt and it might help him regain his sanity? No Sierra whatsoever.
7/10,
Putting the mind of a potential serial killer into a doll
Tweekums16 January 2019
As this episode opens we see a man, Terry Karrens, playing his own version of dollhouse... he has four drugged women that he addresses as though they are family. When one of them tries to fight back he kills her and goes out trying to find a replacement. He is promptly hit by a car; ending up in a coma. His uncle, a major contributor to the Rossum Corporation has him taken to the Dollhouse hoping Topher can do something to bring him out of his coma. A scan reveals that he has the mind of a serial killer; only then does his uncle inform Adelle that he thinks Terry is involved in the disappearance of four women. In an attempt to find them Terry's mind is put into Victor so he can be questioned. Things somewhat inevitably go very wrong. While this is going on Echo has been turned into Kiki; a fun-loving, but failing college student, so her professor can be seduced by her to get an 'A'.
As this episode got started I wasn't sure that I would enjoy this as Terry and his 'human statue' captives seemed a bit far-fetched even for a sci-fi series... but it soon got interesting and proved to be a fine episode with plenty of twists and turns and some character development. Once Terry is put into Victor things initially go as expected in a way that raises the tension nicely. There are further problems that are explained in an interesting way; this also serves to tell the viewer that Dr Saunders has gone missing rather than merely not featuring in the episodes. It was interesting to see Echo taking a relatively minor role, at least for most of the episode. The plot is clearly quite dark but that doesn't mean there aren't lighter moments... without going into details the scene with Victor in a dance club proved to be one of the funniest in the series to date. Enver Gjokaj was on really great form as Victor with his various imprinted personas. Overall a really solid episode which turned out much better than I expected.
As this episode got started I wasn't sure that I would enjoy this as Terry and his 'human statue' captives seemed a bit far-fetched even for a sci-fi series... but it soon got interesting and proved to be a fine episode with plenty of twists and turns and some character development. Once Terry is put into Victor things initially go as expected in a way that raises the tension nicely. There are further problems that are explained in an interesting way; this also serves to tell the viewer that Dr Saunders has gone missing rather than merely not featuring in the episodes. It was interesting to see Echo taking a relatively minor role, at least for most of the episode. The plot is clearly quite dark but that doesn't mean there aren't lighter moments... without going into details the scene with Victor in a dance club proved to be one of the funniest in the series to date. Enver Gjokaj was on really great form as Victor with his various imprinted personas. Overall a really solid episode which turned out much better than I expected.
Dollhouse 'Belle Chose' Review
maine_31022 October 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Sometimes it takes a little crazy to truly spell Nuts and boy oh boy was Alpha missed here. Who knew out of all the tasks Victor could perform, he could also play crazy. Out of all the psycho Luney, Echo was the least believable, probably because Echo has taken on a personality of her own, even in her imprinted state she still goes back to Echo format.
At least we know for sure that Dr. Saunders is not forgotten and that DeWitt is probably making it her goal to get her back, but it isn't really her first priority.
Among the silly in 'Belle Chose' Victor's attempt to dance like a girl came off disturbing. He presented himself more like a man trying to dance like a girl as opposed to a girl dancing like a girl. Didn't he realize his change in body chemistry?
From the onset of 'Instinct' and Eliza Dushku's stellar performance, I expected 'Belle Chose' to up a grade, but it presented a certain mediocrity to it. I did appreciate the guest stars who resembled the actual manikin, but they out numbered Echo and could have easily taken her down.
Paul's anxiety towards Echo was no surprise, probably had a lot to do with seeing he naked in the shower. To any extent DeWitt must be aware of his fascination with Echo, she seems to give him more than he can actually chew. How good was he as a detective; it wasn't really established, so did he have the capability to interrogate a psychopath. I am sure DeWitt could have saved herself the trouble and just follow one of her dolls with their tracking devices still implanted (That's new) to the scene and just raid on their parade.
I barely tolerated Echo's engagement with the professor, it really added a yawn that we really could have done without. Maybe Sierra could give it a spin, Madeline also gave it an essential twist. On the other hand not my favorite storyline.
Lexa Reviews
http://lexabuti.blogspot.com
____________
Three Stars
Grade C-
____________
At least we know for sure that Dr. Saunders is not forgotten and that DeWitt is probably making it her goal to get her back, but it isn't really her first priority.
Among the silly in 'Belle Chose' Victor's attempt to dance like a girl came off disturbing. He presented himself more like a man trying to dance like a girl as opposed to a girl dancing like a girl. Didn't he realize his change in body chemistry?
From the onset of 'Instinct' and Eliza Dushku's stellar performance, I expected 'Belle Chose' to up a grade, but it presented a certain mediocrity to it. I did appreciate the guest stars who resembled the actual manikin, but they out numbered Echo and could have easily taken her down.
Paul's anxiety towards Echo was no surprise, probably had a lot to do with seeing he naked in the shower. To any extent DeWitt must be aware of his fascination with Echo, she seems to give him more than he can actually chew. How good was he as a detective; it wasn't really established, so did he have the capability to interrogate a psychopath. I am sure DeWitt could have saved herself the trouble and just follow one of her dolls with their tracking devices still implanted (That's new) to the scene and just raid on their parade.
I barely tolerated Echo's engagement with the professor, it really added a yawn that we really could have done without. Maybe Sierra could give it a spin, Madeline also gave it an essential twist. On the other hand not my favorite storyline.
Lexa Reviews
http://lexabuti.blogspot.com
____________
Three Stars
Grade C-
____________
i get it
nunsutch1 January 2010
This is for Joss Whedon.
Most of them won't get it, but i'm glad you are out there 'getting' it. And that i can partake in it.
With regards to season 2 episode, "Belle chose", i think Alister Crowley said it best: "This is the Mystery of Babylon, the Mother of Abominations, and this is the mystery of her adulteries, for she hath yielded up herself to everything that liveth, and hath become a partaker in its mystery. And because she hath made her self the servant of each, therefore is she become the mistress of all. Not as yet canst thou comprehend her glory.
"Beautiful art thou, O Babylon, and desirable, for thou hast given thyself to everything that liveth, and thy weakness hath subdued their strength. For in that union thou didst understand. Therefore art thou called Understanding, O Babylon, Lady of the Night!" keep it up: enough of us love it.
d.
Most of them won't get it, but i'm glad you are out there 'getting' it. And that i can partake in it.
With regards to season 2 episode, "Belle chose", i think Alister Crowley said it best: "This is the Mystery of Babylon, the Mother of Abominations, and this is the mystery of her adulteries, for she hath yielded up herself to everything that liveth, and hath become a partaker in its mystery. And because she hath made her self the servant of each, therefore is she become the mistress of all. Not as yet canst thou comprehend her glory.
"Beautiful art thou, O Babylon, and desirable, for thou hast given thyself to everything that liveth, and thy weakness hath subdued their strength. For in that union thou didst understand. Therefore art thou called Understanding, O Babylon, Lady of the Night!" keep it up: enough of us love it.
d.
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