Dollhouse A Show Of Two Halves

Time Magazine ’s James Poniewozik has get a line the first episode of Joss Whedon ’s turbulent Dollhouse and – appropriately for a show about characters with multiple personalities – he ca n’t quite make up his mind about how good it is .

Poniewozik ’s brushup is cautiously optimistic about the show ’s possible –

It was both better and worse than I expected , in unlike ways … Yes , this is certainly Joss Whedon trying to do What People Think Works on Broadcast TV Today — the legendary consecutive - procedural hybrid . But the first episode — in which Echo is imprinted with a kidnapping - negotiator ’s personality to secure the return of a rich man ’s abducted daughter — is well enough written to be absorbing . Writing a criminal offence 60 minutes does n’t seem like Whedon ’s thing , but the episode is tight , suspenseful , with challenging psychological twist and flashes of Whedonesque humor .

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– but also entirely aware of the potential drawbacks of the series :

Dollhouse as conceived ( a heroine plays a different “ person ” every workweek ) is less a series conception than an actress ’ vitrine , a kind of extreme version of an Alias undercover premise . ( In fact , the reports of how the show was conceived have said that Dushku essentially broached the idea as a showcase . ) And the actress being showcased is Eliza Dushku . Now , I have nothing against Dushku . I think she was fine on Buffy . But she ’s not exactly Toni Collette ( who ’s playing a multiple - personality case on Showtime ’s The United States of Tara , which I have not see to it ) . Watching her inhabit her imprinted “ personality”—a tough treater with orphic exposure — I did not see her becoming another person . I thought : Oh , look ! There ’s Eliza Dushku with glasses and her hair in a bun !

As someone who endure through as much Tru Calling as I could manage ( That ’d be about ten minutes , if you ’re odd ) , I have to concede Poniewozik ’s power point . After all the back - and - forth about photograph time lag because of scripts not being good enough , will its star ultimately be its undoing ?

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