Dollhouse 2.05-2.06

[hazelk]

I know this story, I served with it, I was its friend. The Manchurian Candidate is the kind of movie that shouldn’t be remade lightly and, to be honest, these two episodes did a much better job than Jonathan Demme. The plot is the plot but the more memorable thing was the atmosphere. Surreal paranoia with incestuous trimmings, check. Cold war subtext - the DC Dollhouse could be everything McCarthy feared from brain-washed presidential assassins to pod-people taking over the world. But the actual apocalypse began in capitalist LA (not as bad as the badder bad guys, well they would think that wouldn’t they). Some room for doubt about whether Perrin let himself be reprogrammed after the deliberately abrupt ending to that scene, we never did hear whether he trusted Echo/Caroline. After Priya and Madeleine, he would be the third doll in a row to find death not sex the truly unforgivable violation. But earlier when he and Echo had a plan it was to go back not run and there’s the ambition which now defines him.

To the latter day viewer The Manchurian Candidate looks like its alluding to Kennedy’s assasination but it was released two year before that happened and some conspiracy theorist claim it inspired Lee Harvey Oswald, not the other way round. No room for any such timey-wimey possibilities here but the Dubaya allusions were still funny.

Caroline left Bennett, Echo’s instinctive response was to leave Cindi behind twice (although she was evil the first time and dead the second). But let's talk about Bennett. If Topher is the child who looks after his playthings, Bennett really doesn’t. She’s like Sid in Toy Story (Whedon’s first hit movie script), which I can relate to. I dunked my Cindy’s hair in bleach and cut the ears off a rabbit doll (to see if it would make her look more human). For all they call him a scientist, Topher’s an engineer, he does stuff just to see if he can, not to see what it tells him about the underlying mechanism. Bennett has theories. That the human brain can contain multitudes. I wonder if she’s been upgrading herself some – it might explain the migraines and the alpha-talk when we first met her. Right now I wish they’d made Dollhouse about her rather than Echo, DC not LA. With backstory. Caroline/Echo and her dangerous charisma might work better as a nemesis than a lead (although I like Echo and I think the story does need a doll focus).

Comments

[yourlibrarian]

I wonder if she’s been upgrading herself some – it might explain the migraines and the alpha-talk when we first met her.

Hmm! And I liked your comparison of Topher and Bennett re: their dolls.

[hazelk]

Well she did survive the 'taser' so no cigar on that one. Although it's something I could see Bennett doing - unlike Topher she knows she needs fixing.