Dollhouse: Needs - Echo and her Active pals have needs, skips Dollhouse. Post comments here.

POSTED BY: Haken
UPDATED: Monday, April 6, 2009 17:06
VIEWED: 5438
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HAKEN

Saturday, April 4, 2009 2:23 AM

Dollhouse Ep. 108 - "NEEDS"

Echo and her pals, Sierra and Victor, regain their original memories and decide to leave the Dollhouse not so nicely.

Lots of hype during the past few weeks about this one. Will "Needs" fulfill our needs? And more importantly, the needs for the rating to go up so that this isn't some one night stand with the Actives and we end up with only a single season?

Well, post your comments here after the episode and find out where the consensus is.

SHINYGOODGUY

Saturday, April 4, 2009 3:08 AM

I think they oversold the "Awakening" or, better put, they hyped the wrong premise. It should have been "What happens when an Active becomes aware?"
That would have kept us guessing as to what was going on.

IMO Joss made some poor choices "showing" us that DeWitt and company were controlling this whole thing. I figured it out about halfway through the first 30 minutes of the show. They were letting the actives act out to satisfy the "itch", so to speak.

I was not happy with the choices Joss made here to allow us, the audience, to see the DH execs moves in the background. It didn't leave much to the imagination. I felt kind of cheated in a way. I wanted another ep that came totally out of left field like "flowers in the vase" ep.

Now it did leave us a little nugget at the end with the message to Ballard, but it just didn't have that umph I was expecting from all the hype about the Awakening. I even thought this ep would be called Awakenings. It felt as though there was more set up rather than a moving forward of the story line. Except, of course, the backstories of November and Sierra. I wanted more of that.

What you think Haken?

SGG

Tawabawho?

PHYRELIGHT

Saturday, April 4, 2009 3:17 AM

I'm with SGG. They should have left the audience completely in the dark about the Dewitt & Co.'s movements until the very end.

NCBROWNCOAT

Saturday, April 4, 2009 3:20 AM

I agree too.

http://fireflyfaninnc.livejournal.com/

CUDA77

Saturday, April 4, 2009 4:43 AM

I also concur about how it would have been much better had there not been any showing of the Dollhouse brass carrying this out. I still felt it was pretty strong but as said, it could have been better.

CELLARDOOR

Saturday, April 4, 2009 5:08 PM

Spoilers a-plenty (though I'm still trying to be slightly subtle where I can stand to be):

I liked the return of the ensemble cast in the episode and continued in my apathy towards Echo/Eliza--I did like her scene in the imprint room though, heeee... I almost wish Topher had wet himself or something, the amoral "I'm just the science guy!" loser! I wonder how many WWII-era German scientists said the same thing...

Victor was the highlight in the episode as far as I'm concerned. His acting was better, he was witty and interesting, and that military training he seems to have came out fairly convincingly (cool that it was a part of his ingrained knowledge, like speech and general knowledge, instead of wiped with his memories of identity and such! Is that like the saying, "There's no such thing as an EX-marine"?)

I can't remember Boyd's quip at the end to Dr. Saunders (something like "I'll try to work on that" with being satisfied by the bigger picture and greater good, does anyone remember?), but it seemed like a twist on the normal, stock response. Bah, I can't recall. Regardless, Boyd is great!

Sierra/Priya.... *cry* poor girl! I didn't think her acting was that great, given, but how horrifying for her character. I was waiting for the reveal of which one (or more) actives is there against her or his will. It made Victor's protectiveness even more endearing.

Mellie/November surprised me quite a bit. Her's seems like a unique variation from the others' stories, but I guess we still don't know a lot of background. Oh, and my female opinion: I really like that she's got a more normal body-type. They're not all supermodels in the Dollhouse, though admittedly she isn't exactly on regular engagements like the supermodel-types are (I'm absolutely glad for her sake. I'm kinda creeped out by the fact that Joss' work caused it momentarily to occur to me that she's missing out on the fun--the Dollhouse is NOT fun, CellarDoor, duh).

Well, it's looking like a cancellation is sure, but... I still thought it was a good episode.

PHOENIXROSE

Saturday, April 4, 2009 6:04 PM

It started out super entertaining, when they first woke up. It was interesting to learn more about the actives, in general. It was kind of disappointing that it wasn't actually the strength of their own wills pulling them out of their stupor. The message seemed to be that the Dollhouse has total control and you just can't beat them. That makes me sad. There's still Alpha, though, who apparently beat them and is working against them...

Quote:
Originally posted by CellarDoor:
I really like that she's got a more normal body-type.

November is a hottie! Gotta love the curves.

[/sig]

EVILDINOSAUR

Saturday, April 4, 2009 6:43 PM

I loved this episode, I didn't see any promos or hype, I don't watch much fox, so maybe that helped. But I continue to be in love with this show.

"Haha, mine is an evil laugh."

ASARIAN

Saturday, April 4, 2009 8:43 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by CellarDoor:
Mellie/November surprised me quite a bit. Her's seems like a unique variation from the others' stories, but I guess we still don't know a lot of background. Oh, and my female opinion: I really like that she's got a more normal body-type. They're not all supermodels in the Dollhouse, though admittedly she isn't exactly on regular engagements like the supermodel-types are (I'm absolutely glad for her sake. I'm kinda creeped out by the fact that Joss' work caused it momentarily to occur to me that she's missing out on the fun--the Dollhouse is NOT fun, CellarDoor, duh).

Actually, much like PhoenixRose feels somewhat dubbed on the whole 'impulse from within' thingy (or lack thereof, rather), I likewise feel cheated - or perhaps 'conned' even -- with Mellie's story: it smacks ostentatiously of moral justification for what they're doing. But lest we forget, Caroline is just a young girl being pimped out to every Internet fatso with a big wallet. For sex, really (after all, like the fat guy said: 'It is a fantasy'). So, DeWitt can sell her pitch elsewhere, cuz I'm not buying. LOL, I'm actually getting upset as I type this. :) Point is, don't try and sell it for anything else than it is. I can't stand that. Yes, "The lie of it."

Dr. Saunders continues to confound me. So pretty! And so kind-hearted... it seems. And yet, uncharacteristically cold in a way (or maybe I just want it to be 'uncharacteristic', which is where my confusion about her comes in?). Victor played well. The actor can truly play entirely different characters (unlike Eliza, for whom I nonetheless continue to have a soft-spot).

And like PhoenixRose, I was kinda hoping that somehow this show would, erm, show, that the human spirit triumphs, even when highly surpressed/oppressed. And now, not so much.

Also, after the very first show, I believe, I said something like Topher's philosophical musings never really clicking with me. I strongly felt that same sense of off-ness again this time, what with the whole premise of it being in the Actives best interest for them not to remember/suffer. For all the absurd womanizing the man did, Kirk got it spot-on right for a change in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, when he said:

Damn it, Bones, you're a doctor. You know that pain and guilt can't be taken away with a wave of a magic wand. They're the things we carry with us, the things that make us who we are. If we lose them, we lose ourselves. I don't want my pain taken away! I need my pain!

So does Mellie.

--
"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam

YINYANG

Saturday, April 4, 2009 10:18 PM

There are a few things in this episode that really stood out for me:

1) The way they remembered things could have been smoother, I thought. I guess maybe those types of things wouldn't have been smooth necessarily, but I could see the hand of the writers. "Look, we'll put a baby carriage here so November can remember her kid (and we can save time)!"

2) Dr. Saunders didn't come off too favorably at the end, there.

3) It's weird, but now I actually don't like the Ballard story line, because it's mostly a distraction from the main one. The dream scene in the beginning with him was alright, though I was worried it was real until November suddenly appeared the way she did.

4) They really should have saved the reveal that DeWitt was in on it, and Dr. Saunders thought of it, for the end. Would have been way cooler.

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