By now, the whole internet has read tomorrow’s obituary in which Palm is valued at $0.00 by many analysts following a gruesome earnings call. There is a glut of unsold Pres and Pixis, and no hope for a new device to pull them out of this spiral of doom for at least a few more months. So what could Palm do to patch itself up? Continue reading
It will go down as one of his most controversial and perhaps his gutsiest. But in the end even he had to go back to the oldest of tropes with white hats versus black hats. Moral ambivalence can only go so far in network television.
In fact starting out I was more than a little concerned with Dollhouse’s second season. It was a tired story with a wink-wink guest star in Jamie Bamber (Helo and Apollo together again!) The producers soon discovered (and trusted) that the show works best when we see the doll tech being used in seriously fucked up ways. Take the remote wipe and activation that put a serial killer personality in Echo in the episode “Briar Rose.” Strangely enough, that episode also had BSG-alum Michael Hogan playing one of Rossum’s cronies.
The show also worked best in exploring the history behind the current actives. The most affecting episode revealed Sierra’s origins. It’s the closest Dollhouse has ever come to Sopranos in getting rid of a bad guy, but it leads to something that becomes a twisted calling card. Thanks to the Sopranos knockoff, it gives Sierra even more incentive to return to the Dollhouse. The place of their greatest transgressions can sometimes be the dolls’ only safe haven and refuge.
So the rest of the season brought the house under attack. First by a resilient and charismatic senator played by Alexis Denisof who turned out to be a doll created and funded by Rossum. Great twist as it stands but what with the recent Supreme Court ruling, I’ll be damned if it wasn’t prescient. As if Joss doesn’t get enough titles now he has to be a prophet.
But it was also one of those episodes that give me that masochistic creepifying nauseated vibe I get when we saw poor November pulled back in because she went against Rossum. It’s a sobering scene to see her face in defeated tears as she is turned back into an active. In a sense how her journey ultimately ends later on in the season is a mercy.
From there we get a build up of momentum leading to the Dollhouse taking on those that created them. In the process, Echo becomes able to control and access all the different personalities that have been imprinted in her. For instance, she can access a master thief if she needs to break in, or a weapons expert if she’s blowing up bad guys real good. So in essence she’s like the current incarnation of Chuck without the endearing nerdiness.
That falls to Topher who undoubtedly had the most compelling arc of any character of the show. In “Epitaph One”, the “bonus” episode available on the first season DVD, we discovered that Topher went insane from what at first appeared to be guilt from being the main architect in the human race’s destruction. But the writers were smart enough to trigger this collapse with something a bit more intimate and personal. So naturally Topher has to fall in love with his intellectually equivalent but attractively much, much better foil played by Summer Glau. Dead arm and all, she’s still hot. I don’t know if it was the intention of Joss but I automatically thought of Dr. Strangelove with Glau’s character, Bennett. Cerebral and cold, she’s the brilliant yang to Topher’s yin. And just like that symbol they find harmonious balance in the middle. Briefly before she is taken cruelly away. By Whiskey of all actives.
Dollhouse saved some of its best stuff for last giving viewers privy to the deepest areas within the house. None deeper than the dreaded Attic where defective actives are sent. At first, I thought it was a place of permanent stasis where brain activity is taken down to the essentials: breathing, sensory perception, basic cognitive function. But it’s worse. The brain is set at constant hyperactivity with the actives reliving their worst nightmare over and over, increasing their adrenal levels and in consequence their brain power. The Attic isn’t just a detainment center…it’s a power plant. But powering what?
That’s what Echo is sent to investigate by the Dollhouse owner, Adelle, no less. In it Echo discovers the first founder of the Dollhouse technology and how he was banished to the Attic by his greedy partner. We also meet up with Dominic, the poor undercover CIA-spook turned virtual guerilla fighter in the Attic’s nightmare world. At the end Echo and the others are safely taken out of the Attic, but more importantly they finally have an inside track into Rossum’s inner walls.
Where they end up leading was a point of contention for fans, but for myself I wasn’t surprised Whedon went there. He did the same thing in his comic book, Fray, which focused on the Vampire Slayer of the future, Melaka Fray—betrayal from one of her closest allies. So when it happened, it didn’t faze me. What did surprise me, though, was the anger from fans and critics alike at how out of left field it was. Perhaps. But Angel losing his soul was pretty far in the outfield, too. And we’re talking about the bastard that killed Hoban Wash.
So Echo and her staunch Dollhouse crew destroy that which spawned them thanks to a bit of cruel karmic justice. But like Ian Malcolm says, life finds a way. That is if life consists of nefarious technology that robs you of that independent life. And so that sets the stage for ten years later and “Epitaph Two.”
Longwinded way to get there, no doubt. But also I think a clear example of how overloaded with info the season turned out to be. Of course, impending cancellation kind of encourages some abridgement of plotlines, character arcs, and the like.
Ideally, it would have been fascinating to see each season show how the choices and consequences from decisions in the present day impacted the season finales with how the future apocalypse of worldwide wipes and actives came about. Each season would present a through line thematically and plotwise to the season finale over at best five or six seasons. The narrative would have developed more organically. But you take what you can get from clusterFox.
So in critiquing the finale I would rank it as the least of Joss Whedon’s series enders, but still pretty effective if pat in its resolutions. I got a bit of delayed satisfaction in seeing Tamoh Penkitt’s character finally and suddenly buying it. Again, no surprise. He killed off Anya in Buffy and Hoban Wash…it still hurts.
We also get the token Whedon sacrifice with Topher. I really, really loved the maternal relationship Adelle developed with him. The way she defended Topher’s brilliance despite his incoherent musings showed a lioness fiercely protecting her cub. And even if Adelle found new sustaining redemption in being an earth mother, she could still be cruelly defensive if she had to be.
Along with the deaths we got the surprising dysfunction, none more so than the emotional divide separating Sierra and Victor. While Sierra had recovered her original personality of Priya, Victor voluntarily remained Victor much to Priya’s chagrin.
Victor joined a resistance movement of actives. Believing the only way to fight fire is with fire, he kept his Dollhouse architecture in tact. So while he’s off playing John Connor, Priya is at the safe zone–alone–raising their son–angrily alone.
It wouldn’t be a Whedon finale without the cameo appearance. Buffy’s finale brought back Buffy’s brooding love, Angel, played by David Boreanaz. Here Alan Tudyk returns as a reformed Alpha. Fans kind of cried foul at this as well, but rationalize it as not being as fun being a raging psycho when the human race has become nothing but raging psychos.
Finally, we have the token Whedon hero in Echo. It’s nice seeing Eliza Dushku as a badass babe again with probably her best job emoting since her guest spot on Angel as Faith the Vampire Slayer. There’s kind of a bittersweet resolution to her overall arc and wonders of wonders things end somewhat happily for the survivors.
But I’ll be honest I’ve gotten a lot of emotional catharsis from Joss Whedon’s finales in the past. Spike going out a hero and getting loving admiration from Buffy was the emotional high point of Buffy’s finale. I wept like crazy when Wesley went out asking Illyria to lie to him by bringing back “Fred” one more time. And, of course, leaf on the wind…watch how I soar…squish. But this one left me feeling fairly numb, and I think a lot of it was the inconsistency Dollhouse has always had. It tried to do too much in the limited time it had. But with the proper premise and support I really think the show would have been something special.
Surely it put Dichen Lachman and Enver Gjokaj on the acting map. And it’s always nice to see Joss Whedon back on the tube. But the show in looking back seems more like a favor to Eliza Dushku than anything he was really passionate about. Maybe it’s not a fair comparison, but there are still comic books coming out set in the Buffy and Angelverses and Firefly/Serenity. Whedon’s pretty much said all he has to say on Dollhouse. So hopefully whenever we do see Joss again after his side trip to Dr. Horrible 2 , we’ll see a television show with some real passion and verve behind it supported by a network (preferably cable) that will help him bring his vision to a reality. J.J.’s the hitman right now. It’s time for Joss to get a taste.
TallGent
I shall begin my rant-tastic rant by stating two things:
1. – Thank you Engadget for being vital to this post (I shall be using liberal links to their various stories on the matter).
2. – It is impossible to be exhaustive about this topic, so I’ll TRY to be as concise as possible during said rant.
The “straw” for this back-breaking article is this article posted on Engadget this week (the result of a Q&A session at the MIX conference). In short, it states that the new Windows Phone 7 Series phones will not have copy/paste functionality, nor will they have true multitasking (a la the card system found on the Palm Pre). SAD. PANDA. Continue reading
But at its heart and soul, Chuck has been about transcending the physical for the emotional and the heart of the hour belonged to Chuck and Sarah. His lady is still hurting and it was painfully funny to see Chuck trying to make things right with her. Sometimes it was a bit overdone. I thought Chuck trying to clear the air with Sarah in the middle of a mission–like literally during their cover–was a bit much. But the sentiment behind it was real, and I’ve always admired shows where the emotion feels genuine.
The show also understands subversion in that it does not always have to be happy, jokey stuff. That’s a mistake a lot of programs make when they try to be edgy for the sake of cool. This show used the old gag where two characters feeling animosity toward each other, have it out physically and work themselves up into hormone bombs of unreleased sexual energy. Hell, I was one of ‘em. I couldn’t wait for Sarah and Chuck to get their freak on with their bos.
But instead we got a heartbreaking scene where Sarah attacked Chuck to get him to shut off his emotions and use the intersect as a weapon as intended. A cold, reactionary tool. And Chuck is too in love with Sarah to ever hurt her–even in training. We truly saw the depth of Sarah’s pain at Chuck’s choice in the scene. She doesn’t just want to ignore her feelings for him; she wants to kill them. But in that very act she’s proving to him and herself how much she still loves him. Because as hurt as she is the reason she’s doing it is for the only reason that it’s been since she’s met him. To keep him alive.
I really like how the creators seem to have a set piece or two devoted to Chuck’s surprising abilities with the intersect upgrade, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that Chuck saves the day because of the upgrade. Here we get a glimpse as Chuck’s empathy and resourcefulness vanquishing the foe. While the gun runner’s first and foremost a badass ruthless bad guy, he’s also heartbroken by Carina’s betrayal and Chuck picks up on that, even directing some of his empathy to Sarah. But what it comes down to is Chuck throwing a torch in some alcoholic concoction that Lester makes which takes out most of the apartment courtyard.
But the ending really reminds me of why I’ve come to love Chuck. Carina takes off but not before giving Sarah something she needs to see. Not spy stuff she finds out, but what Chuck said when he thought he was going to die. About why he wanted to become a spy and break her heart. Because of her. Because of what she taught him about not thinking of himself but others. To use his abilities to help others and to make a real difference out in the world. To be the hero she believed he could be. He became a spy and broke up with her because he loves her. To paraphrase one of my favorite quotes from Veronica Mars, it’s hard to hate someone who breaks up with you because of wanting to become a better person.
After this I got the sense that Sarah finally forgives Chuck, but it’s gonna take longer to forgive herself. And Yvonne Strahovski reminds me yet again why she’s the secret weapon to the show. Seeing Sarah’s dawning realization and proud sadness of her nerdy Padawan spy broke my heart.
Three Words may not be the ultimate Chuck episode, but it is representative of what the show offers. As long as the balance between goofy and gallant is maintained then this season is off to a pretty nice start.
Rating: * * * ½
TallGent
So with all this potential for spy and espionage success we get failure and dejection. Chuck wallowing in a ratty bath robe developing a concerning addiction for cheese balls as he finds himself kicked out of spy school. As an aforementioned fan, it was uncomfortable at the very least seeing Chuck floundering adrift in loser land.
That’s not the half of it, though. Getting kicked out of training is one thing. Sacrificing the love of your life to be all you can be is something else. Through flashback, we discover why things are chilly now between Chuck and his lady fair of fisticuffs, Sarah Walker. Apparently Sarah already had a future in mind for Chuck away from the spy world, but with the upgrade Chuck can’t pass up the opportunity to become someone who matters. If you got the chance to be a super spy–or hero–most people probably wouldn’t pass that up either. And while the scene itself may have rubbed some fans the wrong way, it made sense to me. After all how often in real life can we eloquently explain why we do what we do? But the bottom line is that Chuck done broke Sarah’s heart.
The chill has even expanded into the show itself. A shocking death gives indication that for Chuck and for the show the kid gloves are off. There’s danger out there, and while Chuck may have the Force he cannot control it. His erratic emotions cause the intersect to fail at the worst times. Like William Katt in The Greatest American Hero, he‘s discovering his new abilities on the job and it leads to awkwardly funny moments . It’s painful to see Chuck blow a sting operation so badly and to see his staunchest allies, Sarah and Casey, angrily dismiss him.
But in a nice parallel, Chuck is faced with the same scenario that got him handed the pink slip in the first place with one significant difference–Sarah. And that turns out to be the key for Chuck to get the intersect under control. When his lady love’s life is threatened, that’s when our boy buckles down and kicks butt. Guy’s so in the zone he even uses a zip line flawlessly.
So Chuck is back with the gang, both the real gang and his cover gang with the Buy More. Even Morgan returns from his aborted attempt to be a Benihana chef. The episode does its job at getting the audience back to square one. And perhaps something to look at with a mini-theme that might bear riper fruit as the season goes along. As remarkable as Chuck can be with the enhancement of the intersect, he truly needs his friends and family to function at his potential. Kind of seems a bit foreboding if he somehow ends up isolated. But to speculate on such things seems kind of silly with one episode having aired.
Chuck is back, friends. That’s good enough for now.
Review: * * *
TallGent
Picking up where I left off, the three shows I am most looking forward to in the next couple months. Counting down to most anticipated.
Well, it’s that time of year again. Yes. Reruns. We’re at the midway season in television land folks which means that we won’t have anything new on the horizon until after the ball drops–the one in New York not a metaphor for a bad omen of boom goes the dynamite.
So here then is a small summary, analysis, and wishes for the TV shows I have kept up with since they premiered in September. In retrospect they are amazingly slim pickings, but things should ramp up nicely come 2010 which will also be addressed in more detail. But here’s a hint. How the Cylons came to be, a final season, and an intersect is back and it’s badass. Continue reading
I will start this rant with a disclaimer: I really, REALLY love me some Dead Space. Visceral Games (the developer for both Dead Space and Dante’s Inferno) created a really freaky, memorable and engrossing video game experience; it really is one of my favorite games this generation, easily competing with Gears of War 2 and Bioshock.
One of my favorite games of LAST generation has unequivocally got to be God of War 2. I have not owned a single Sony console in my life, but I did borrow a PS2 from The DLB and worked my way through the entire game, a full two years after the launch of the Xbox 360. While the God of War series isn’t really a poster child for subtlety and restraint, the execution of the action, the breathtaking boss battles, and the ever-changing-but-always-well-delivered set pieces made me feel like we had actually moved the ball forward to the endzone known as True Cinematic Gaming™.
You can imagine, then, that I had (perhaps unreasonably) high hopes for Dante’s Inferno. A combination of God of War-style gameplay and a studio that created one of this generation’s coolest games? Instant win, yes? Continue reading
Ever since Geometry Wars on the Xbox 360 (or as my friend Tony calls it: Math Attack!), the dual stick shooter has been a mainstay in casual gaming. The genre lends itself particularly well to the Iphone as the lack of hardware buttons is easily forgiven by games where you only need to drag your fat thumbs along the screen. Today I’m looking at 3 dual stick shooters that I’ve recently discovered and enjoyed.