First ep of Joss Whedon’s new show, Dollhouse. It’s up on Hulu for US viewers, but with some internet jiggery pokery overseasers can also watch it.
I liked it. It felt like chapter one of something longer. Lots of stuff set up.
Most curiously, there was no lead character. The central/star character, Eliza Dushku’s Echo, is deliberately identity-less; she’s kind of haunting, and easy to watch, and clearly going to be at the centre of the series, but she is in no way a lead. It gives the show a weird, uncertain vibe.
It’s clearly intended as a procedural setup – each ep they’ll do a variation on the same theme. I expect this to last for about five episodes before Whedon and crew switch it up and start seriously upending the premise to go someplace else. Remember, Angel was a procedural show too, and by episode nine one of the three core cast was dead and the established pattern had been ditched for good…
There’s more than enough to keep me watching. Cool.