This is getting old.

Dollhouse, Week 6

There's no porn! Oh it would've been much more interesting if there were. That said, the pretty people are doing nothing for me.

Ballard: He's an asshole and I don't care. The only good part of him kissing Mellie was that he finally shut the fuck up. Also: he is the worst FBI agent ever - Sidney Bristow would mock him. And kick his ass. She's twice Eliza's size...

And Echo is, well, a non-entity. The good thing about her this ep is that she took a back seat to the overall plot. Joss (read: Patton and/or Mellie, depending on the scene) was heavily pushing Ballard's obsession with Echo/Caroline...and I just wasn't buying it. Obsessed with the organization? Yes - hell, if Ballard asks anybody 'where's the Dollhouse' one more time I'm gonna reach through the screen and punch him in the nuts - but Caroline is just the key that gets him there. But now it's about Caroline? If this is supposed to be about Ballard chasing just Caroline, Joss might as well go full Mamet* and have him keep repeating 'where's the girl' until he reaches Olivia's door.

Patton is a tiny, tiny man. I've actually seen him live, in person, and up close. But I was drunk at a bar and sitting down, so clearly I didn't realize he was a PocketPatton. Eliza is taller than he is. Still, his performance was a highlight. You really don't get that sort of material on King of Queens...

Can Patton, NotFred, Olivia, and Boyd stay and the rest leave? Okay, Topher still amuses me in his snide, creepy way... Does his assistant have a name yet?

Moral spankitude! While the issues of identity and prostitution and free will and human nature are all fun to ponder, pedantic/didactic Joss makes my eyes roll. And the idiot-on-the-street interviews were both poorly written and poorly acted.** Make me think, but don't lecture me. And, for the love of Giles, don't lecture me badly.

The Sierra/Victor/Handler McRapey story at least had some ActionBoyd to make it entertaining...

Ma'am, do you have an exit strategy? Well, do you, Joss? There were no surprises here: Mellie's a doll?! Oh, it wasn't telegraphed from the get-go and they didn't have her callsign on IMDB for the last month or anything... And I still had to watch her get assaulted and strangled. I'm so tired of predatory white dudes assaulting young women. I know the point Joss is trying to make, but that doesn't make it easier to watch.

This was the first time I actually flipped to FNL rather than wait to watch online the next day. Coach calling a ref a 'sonofabitch' and getting thrown out of the game was ten times more awesome than Ballard's post-coital banter. So much for the game-changer super awesome episode....


*I saw Redbelt the other day, and while Chiwetel Ejiofor (The Operative!) and Emily Mortimer were marvelous (as usual), it was quite plain that Mamet has become a parody of himself. One can only stand so many stilted conversations regarding manliness and honor before you just need someone kick somebody's, anybody's ass.
**It's true! Joss can produce sucky scripts!