Dollhouse Rewatch: "Vows" (2.1)

[VisionGirl]

So...who's ready for season 2?! 😀

It's been nearly five months since Alpha's escape, and Echo is back to work, seemingly wiped of all 36 personalities Alpha imprinted her with. Ballard must deal with his growing feelings for Echo as he uses the Dollhouse for his own ends, hiring Echo on a long-term engagement as the 'wife' of major arms dealer Martin Klar (Jamie Bamber), who Ballard could never capture during his days in the FBI. The engagement becomes complicated when Echo, struck by Klar in a jealous rage after he discovers her "cheating" on him with Ballard, begins to glitch, losing not only her current imprint but recalling past ones. Ballard saves the day by invoking the assassin imprint he encountered in "Man on the Street," allowing both of them to fight their way out. DeWitt invites Paul to become Echo's handler, pointing out that he noticed Echo's glitching before her current handler did, and when he finds out that Echo has reached self-awareness even in her blank state, he agrees. Subplots include Claire Saunders' inability to handle the knowledge that she was once the number one Active, Whiskey, before being repurposed by Topher, taking her rage out on him before fleeing the Dollhouse permanently, and the introduction of Senator Daniel Perrin (Alexis Denisof), who begins a public investigation of the Rossum Corporation.

Source

My thoughts:
- I know everybody's supposed to think "Oh, Adelle's hair!", but I was like "Wow, Adelle's dress!"
-Seeing Jamie Bamber and Tahmoh together on screen again was a total geek-out moment for this BSG fan!
-So funny seeing Jamie Bamber have a (real) British accent onscreen (he had an American accent on BSG), and Alexis Denisof use his American accent when we're so used to hearing him with a British accent as Wesley.
-Sierra doesn't like "orientals": ooookaaay....
-Topher is afraid of the dark and rats, check.
-"What if she went over your head?" "I'm very tall" Funny line, plus

Spoiler

the foreshadowing

.
-That is a gorgeous wedding dress.
-Hahaha, Paul doing push-ups, poor guy!
-Ah, Paul's the client. That's what he meant in a former episode (Omega maybe).
-"I was creating a person not a robot". All of these scenes with Topher & Saunders were really poignant. Yes it was a great development that wiped Echo remembers the imprinted personalities, but I thought that Saunders storyline was deeper & more interesting.
-"We are lost but we are not gone"

---------- Post added at 04:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:40 PM ----------

Here's some info about season 2 production in general:

Fox renewed Dollhouse for a second season, although the show received a dramatic budget cut.[11] For this reason, four out of the seven lead actors do not appear in every episode of the season. Harry Lennix and Enver Gjokaj are both absent from two, while Tahmoh Penikett and Dichen Lachman are both absent from three. Amy Acker, whom Joss Whedon had intended to be a prominent component of the season, only appeared in three episodes due to the budget cut and her commitment to the short lived series, Happy Town....

Whedon had originally intended to film scenes of the apocalyptic future from "Epitaph One" throughout the season but under the opinion of both the studio and network decided to drop the idea—instead having the series finale be entirely set in said storyline. He in fact filmed scenes starring the three actors (Felicia Day, Zack Ward and Adair Tishler) for the first episode but these were later added to the beginning of "Epitaph Two: Return" because, as Whedon notes; "We didn't have the money to shoot an entire episode."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollhouse_(season_2)

 

[Washburne]

I was so disappointed with this episode. Why? That the show got a second season surprised more or less everyone. The second half of the season had been awesome but it was too late. Viewers had already stopped watching. With the buzz for the later episodes the hope was that viewers would give the show another chance. What do we get? Not an episode that come close to the greatness it needed. In my mind. The show got cancelled but for once whedonites can be thankful to FOX. They allowed Joss & co to finish the show instead of just cutting it short.

DeWitt still hasn't got over Victor. Can you blame her?

Jamie Bamber. More BSG.

Still the focus in the opening credit is 100% focused on Eliza. Come on! Ensambles are what you do best Joss. Show it.

Sierra coming for a treatment on her own. Hmmm. "I'm not comfortable with oriental." Ivy's look. "Your culture isn't really the thing is it?" I don't get that one. "In fact, if you were to tie me down and spank me. I could hardly be expected to resist, could I?" 😀

They get imprints from scans made by Rossum and they have all they need. No matter if it's physical skills, behavior/manners or anything to handle every fantasy possible. So they can see all that from a brain scan? Technology is "awesome".

"Clearly somebody knew." Poor Topher. Or maybe he needs this. Saunders are getting very creepy. Especially with the advances she makes on him.

"What if she went over your head.
I'm very tall." Sure is.

"Every person I know is pretty poorly constructed. Everyone has an excuse for not dealing."

Swedish lesson. Klar means done/finished/ready.
Hund on the other hand means dog.

Poor Paul. Can't imagine how he feels.

"They're just bodies." Talking like a spokesperson for the dollhouse.

Yes I'm shallow. I like the Echo/Whiskey assignment flashback. So sue me. Their conversation about the past is creepy though. How much do Whiskey know really. She remember being number one and that Alpha cutting her (ok that's not hard to figure out even if you don't remember). How long has she known? Or has she looked in her file now. As [MENTION=9799]Taake[/MENTION] have been saying

Spoiler

She seems to have been more aware than it first seemed.

Alexis Denisof!

"That is the minority vote." Having a man reaction are we.

"Who did they make me this time?"

Topher and Whiskey. Lots of interesting stuff.

The ending. Now we seem to seriously be getting somewhere.

After my harsh words in the beginning let me say that as far as information, moral questions and development it's definitely more than good enough. As an episode to hook more viewers that either gave up the show or to attract new viewers. Not so much.

 

[Valjavertjinn]

I'm a fan of "Vows." I was totally bummed to see Saunders leave when I first saw it, but her scenes with Boyd and Topher were both very poigant.

In other news, I really thought that Echo would be able to get away with snooping around her husband until she slipped up with the name. She said the name of the first imprint we saw her in, Eleanor Penn, if anyone didn't notice that or couldn't recall the name.

I also never really understood the logistics of this episode, what with the marriage and all. Had Echo been repeatedly assigned to this man until he felt like he had to marry her? Had this been going on only during the hiatus, or behind the scenes of Season One?
Or did he just take her for a pretend wedding? And how did he fool the guests?

Maybe I'm missing something, but all of this confused me.

 

[Washburne]

I also never really understood the logistics of this episode, what with the marriage and all. Had Echo been repeatedly assigned to this man until he felt like he had to marry her? Had this been going on only during the hiatus, or behind the scenes of Season One?
Or did he just take her for a pretend wedding? And how did he fool the guests?

Maybe I'm missing something, but all of this confused me.

Since her assignment is as Pauls partner going under cover it must have been going on after Omega. It felt like it should have been going on for quite some time. What bugs me most is the timing of the photos of her and Paul. How perfect that they show up after the wedding. Fiction logic.

 

[Vamp Jenny]

Okay, onto season 2!

-Adele touching Victor's face lovingly... You can tell how much she misses him. Aww
-Echo getting married.. so weird to marry a doll.
-"The Jonas Brothers are back in town" XD They have imprints for the Jonas Brothers? LMAO!
-Woah, Topher/Saunders war... she's playing rough!
-It's cute how Boyd cares for Dr. Saunders 🙂
-I don't care they're on an engagement, Paul rubbing Echo's feet <3 🙂
-I feel sad for Saunders, she's so bitter.
-Alexis!! 😀
-"Why shouldn't I love you, aren't you loveable? Aren't you Big Brother?" Wouah, 1984 flashback!
-Seeing Elizah kicking the bad guy's ass, I would root for her if she ever were to be in a police show!!
-Topher's really starting to taking his job hard... Foreshadowing what we saw in Epitaph One??
-Paul as Echo's handler. I ship them so hard!!!

 

[Washburne]

Once again I have to wonder about how they select their clients. The Jonas brothers can be trusted (I don't care about that) but the wealthy (= can afford the dolls) senator Perrin is expected to be clueless about the dollhouse.

 

[VisionGirl]

I assumed that the Jonas Bros comment was about rich people needing dates to go to the concert or any related festivities. But I could be wrong.

Still the focus in the opening credit is 100% focused on Eliza. Come on! Ensambles are what you do best Joss. Show it.

Yes, this bothered me too. It bothered me in season 1 and when I saw we had a new credit sequence, I was hoping for inclusion of the other characters. This is his only show thusfar that he does this, and it's disappointing.

I just want to say that this is not because I dislike Eliza's performances in this series. I hear people complaining about that, but I really think she does a good job, especially with the variety of engagements and personalities. I just agree with Washburne that one of the strengths of Joss' work is the characters as a whole, interacting with each other, and the focus on interesting side characters that you didn't think about that much.

"Every person I know is pretty poorly constructed. Everyone has an excuse for not dealing."

Love this quote! I think I'm changing my status. 🙂

 

[Taake]

Sooo here's what I'm wondering about Boyd and Saunders.... Is he genuinely intereseted in her or is him pushing her to adapt to the knowledge of being a Doll some kind of weird experiment???

Ugh at the opening credits. If there was gonna be changes it should have been less ECHOOO the amazing

Forgot; the "who did they make me this time" is sooo creepy

 

[Jules]

So if Paul's comment in 1.10 was that he was the client, I dont get how that's even possible. He clearly cant afford to be a client. He's not working for any kind of law enforcement so how has he got Echo to be an Active. The only thing I can think of is that the Dollhouse, even at this stage had plans to try and lure Paul into being a handler. Why else would they do this?

I liked it as an opening episode. You've got Echo who is a doll that is remembering things when she isnt imprinted and you have Dr Saunder's who knows he's an imprint. It brings up lots of interesting discussions. Firstly, if a personality is imprinted onto a doll then is Dr Saunder's gay or is that relationship with Boyd not romantic. Or does your personality have nothing to do with your gender preference. Plus Dr Saunder's reaction is a little like Dominics but to a somewhat lesser degree. When Dominic realises he's in Victor's body he flips, Dr Saunder's is going equally as crazy.

Also Dr Saunder's is one of the character's who seems to care about the Dolls the most, yet the Dr admits that he's scared to give back Whisky's body because he doesnt want to die. If a character of that moral high ground doesnt want to give up a body then the powerful rich people are even less likely to.

I've listened to the Commentary by Joss.

The credits were done with shots of Eliza to hopefully help any new viewers catch up on the show. They did try adding other characters to the credits but it took away the timeline of events and made it unclear.

Olivia Williams had cut her hair for a film she had done and was ready to put extensions in when shooting season 2 but Joss saw her hair and loved it, so told her she could leave it.

The break down that Dr Saunder's had was supposed to happen over the series but due to budget cuts they had to do it in 3 scenes.

 

[Washburne]

So if Paul's comment in 1.10 was that he was the client, I dont get how that's even possible. He clearly cant afford to be a client. He's not working for any kind of law enforcement so how has he got Echo to be an Active. The only thing I can think of is that the Dollhouse, even at this stage had plans to try and lure Paul into being a handler. Why else would they do this?

In 1.10 he hasn't even found the dollhouse. I stick with what I said earlier. He's using Mellie/ a doll hence he's a "client". Maybe I'm wrong.

As for hiring Echo maybe it's just a favour for his help in Omega.

you have Dr Saunder's who knows he's an imprint. It brings up lots of interesting discussions. Firstly, if a personality is imprinted onto a doll then is Dr Saunder's gay or is that relationship with Boyd not romantic. Or does your personality have nothing to do with your gender preference.

If they can make an active to fall in love with a client I bet sexual preferences isn't that difficult to programe. The imprints never react to how different they look (compared to what ever they're used to) so the question is if gender ever comes into play as such. I think they're programed to accept the body they're in. Or something like that.

 

[Jules]

If they can make an active to fall in love with a client I bet sexual preferences isn't that difficult to programe. The imprints never react to how different they look (compared to what ever they're used to) so the question is if gender ever comes into play as such. I think they're programed to accept the body they're in. Or something like that.

Yea, I can see were your coming from, but if their programed to accept the body their in then Dominic shouldnt have reacted the way he did when he found out he was in Victor's body. Or maybe that was different because he was aware of the proceedure before hand.

Dr Saunder's is the only personality to be put into a body with a different gender. Maybe there's a reason they dont do it very often.

 

[Washburne]

Yea, I can see were your coming from, but if their programed to accept the body their in then Dominic shouldnt have reacted the way he did when he found out he was in Victor's body. Or maybe that was different because he was aware of the proceedure before hand.

Good point. Maybe they skipped that process that time... Yes I'm grabbing for straws. Or it's just one of all logical mistakes that are common in Whedon shows. Like "Make a good scene. Logic/continuum (probably not the right word to use but I hope you get what I mean.) isn't the most important thing." Dominics scene get more interesting/fun because of him freaking out.

 

[VisionGirl]

The mystery of the wedding dress of the wehas been solved! I'm listening to Joss' commentary on "Vows" and he says that costume designer Shawna Trpcic (costume designer for the entire series) designed the wedding dress worn by her imprinted personality in that episode.