Thoughts on Dollhouse's "Belonging"
Oct. 24th, 2009 06:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
okelayI absolutely loved this episode. quite possibly the best ever. I only missed Dr.Saunders.
the back story was handled very well, and it was nicely told.
it was a pretty much perfect episode. the writing,the story,the acting,the directing, it was all rather brilliant.
I've seen some other episodes Frakes has directed and he is very talented and I'd love to see him direct Dollhouse again.
Topher has been my favourite from the beginning and I am enjoying this journey he has embarked in immensely. I don't think his moral compass has just sprung up.
He's had some qualms before, and I think it's gotten to a point where he can't ignore them anymore. can't justify them, he has to pay attention.
Things are changing, and fast and he's not equipped for it. He's facing the real and its problems and consequences while he's used to staying in the lab, where he doesn't see them and doesn't have to deal with them. in this episode, he literally has to abandon the house, he goes out, into the field. this is is the first we see a hands-on approach from him.
I don't think Topher's done much thinking, I think he's sort of going with his gut, with what feels right and wrong, and I think he's never done that before because he could always explain his work to himself, excuse it, find some logic in it to make it make sense except things now are changing too fast and he can't and they're too gruesome and it is like a punch in the stomach and he is simply reacting to it all.I think he is falling from grace. we all know he is incredibly smart. and very good at his job. but I think that's about it. and he knows that. his job is all he has. and while he is a god on his field, outside of it, he's lost. he knows that he's severely lacking as a human being, mostly out of practice, I think. like Adelle said, he's always thought of other persons as toys. things to play with which he understood how they worked but not how to interact with them. he buried himself in his work and rose high but now his creation are being thrown back in his face, from Alpha to Saunder and now Prya, he's being confronted by them and that has caused a rupture in the image he has of himself, and he has begun to deal with these new events not as a scientist but as a human. and he doesn't know what to do. he's shocked,tired,confused. and we know things don't improve for him.
Things won't get better around the dollhouse, we know what, they'll only get worse.
Adelle is suffering a similar problem, but she has an advantage, she has a much more clear idea of herself. of who she is and what she's willing to do, where her lines are. and now those are being questioned and bent or even broken and I'm thinking she felt rather disgusted with herself this episode.
I don't know why she started working at the dollhouse or why or what she's done before, although I would bet it was all in a morally grey area.
When she started working, she may have thought it would be different, I'm sure she found a way of justifying it to herself. but now she finds herself questioning the dollhouse and Rossum and their lack of ethics. I think she's wondering how far they'll go and if they'll ever stop.she's finding she has less power than she thought and that she may not be able to protect her house. and I think that scares her.
I was wondering if they'd go ahead with the permanent imprint or if there would be a last-minute save but then it struck me than, for dollhouse, going ahead made much more sense than saving her. and technically they went ahead and saved her at the last second.
I was surprised by Topher's rebellion, I never saw it coming.
I think this episode is definitely a breaking point for Topher. he'll no doubt remember this for ever.
I like seeing more of his relationship with Adelle, and how she treated him. he really does seem to look up to her, as more than a boss. and I think she sees him as part of her responsability as the leader of the dollhouse. I think she sees him as a boy, a genius one, but still a boy, still someone in need of care and protection.
which is what I think scares her. what Rossum could do to the staff.
I wonder if the early-retirement plan includes the attic. and if they ever want to attic topher, who would do it ? and who runs the technical aspect of other dollhouses?
who trained them?
I also thought the bit where Saunder wrote the bad man was Topher was indeed projecting. she hates topher, sees him as the source of the dollhouse's evil or something and therefore feels the active can or should be afraid of him. maybe for her it's logical, it's the only thing that makes sense.
I'm not surer Topher knew they were sending Prya back to her doctor for romantic engagements. they knew they kept sending her back to the same guy, but I don't think Topher knew/remembered the guy
Adelle knew him, maybe she knew he was her doctor, but to her eyes, he's another client, paying for a pretty girl.
nobody looked closed and they should have.
as to why they took her as a doll, I assume it's part of the research, to see if they can cure her illness and if they can, she gets to live a normal life again. after her time as a doll, which isn't a bad deal. and I think prya going back to the dollhouse at the end is part of her giving informed consent. more or less informed. she knows what they do. she also doesn't remember what they made her do. and she knows she'll wake up with no memories and be able to move on and I don't think that is looking too bad for her.
the situation is messy and complicated and painful and like many dolls,she doesn't want to live with it.
I find the idea of V and S falling in love while in their doll state to be most intriguing. specially since it translates to their actual personalities. she remembered him. somehow. how did that happen?
Boyd was all kinds of brilliant. I like how he's looking after Echo, worried about her, but in a father-figure way, not in a stalker-with-a-crush way like Ballard.who I didn't miss at all, by the way.
Someone mentioned Boyd being like shepherd book and it is not a bad comparison to make, but I actually a backstory this time. I want to know why and how did he,topher and adelle ended up at the dollhouse.
my mind is still kind of blown from the awesomeness of this ep but I remember hearing so many lines I liked.
the morals, adelle's description of topher and topher's line about the secret, it is so quotable.
I love how this episode referenced many others, I specially liked the callback to Sierra's and Topher's celebration from Haunted, which won't ever feel the same again. He won't be able to use Sierra and I'm not sure he'll want to do it again. it may all feel too fake.
It seems wrong somehow to use words such as 'liked' and 'loved' but I can't think of any others.
the back story was handled very well, and it was nicely told.
it was a pretty much perfect episode. the writing,the story,the acting,the directing, it was all rather brilliant.
I've seen some other episodes Frakes has directed and he is very talented and I'd love to see him direct Dollhouse again.
Topher has been my favourite from the beginning and I am enjoying this journey he has embarked in immensely. I don't think his moral compass has just sprung up.
He's had some qualms before, and I think it's gotten to a point where he can't ignore them anymore. can't justify them, he has to pay attention.
Things are changing, and fast and he's not equipped for it. He's facing the real and its problems and consequences while he's used to staying in the lab, where he doesn't see them and doesn't have to deal with them. in this episode, he literally has to abandon the house, he goes out, into the field. this is is the first we see a hands-on approach from him.
I don't think Topher's done much thinking, I think he's sort of going with his gut, with what feels right and wrong, and I think he's never done that before because he could always explain his work to himself, excuse it, find some logic in it to make it make sense except things now are changing too fast and he can't and they're too gruesome and it is like a punch in the stomach and he is simply reacting to it all.I think he is falling from grace. we all know he is incredibly smart. and very good at his job. but I think that's about it. and he knows that. his job is all he has. and while he is a god on his field, outside of it, he's lost. he knows that he's severely lacking as a human being, mostly out of practice, I think. like Adelle said, he's always thought of other persons as toys. things to play with which he understood how they worked but not how to interact with them. he buried himself in his work and rose high but now his creation are being thrown back in his face, from Alpha to Saunder and now Prya, he's being confronted by them and that has caused a rupture in the image he has of himself, and he has begun to deal with these new events not as a scientist but as a human. and he doesn't know what to do. he's shocked,tired,confused. and we know things don't improve for him.
Things won't get better around the dollhouse, we know what, they'll only get worse.
Adelle is suffering a similar problem, but she has an advantage, she has a much more clear idea of herself. of who she is and what she's willing to do, where her lines are. and now those are being questioned and bent or even broken and I'm thinking she felt rather disgusted with herself this episode.
I don't know why she started working at the dollhouse or why or what she's done before, although I would bet it was all in a morally grey area.
When she started working, she may have thought it would be different, I'm sure she found a way of justifying it to herself. but now she finds herself questioning the dollhouse and Rossum and their lack of ethics. I think she's wondering how far they'll go and if they'll ever stop.she's finding she has less power than she thought and that she may not be able to protect her house. and I think that scares her.
I was wondering if they'd go ahead with the permanent imprint or if there would be a last-minute save but then it struck me than, for dollhouse, going ahead made much more sense than saving her. and technically they went ahead and saved her at the last second.
I was surprised by Topher's rebellion, I never saw it coming.
I think this episode is definitely a breaking point for Topher. he'll no doubt remember this for ever.
I like seeing more of his relationship with Adelle, and how she treated him. he really does seem to look up to her, as more than a boss. and I think she sees him as part of her responsability as the leader of the dollhouse. I think she sees him as a boy, a genius one, but still a boy, still someone in need of care and protection.
which is what I think scares her. what Rossum could do to the staff.
I wonder if the early-retirement plan includes the attic. and if they ever want to attic topher, who would do it ? and who runs the technical aspect of other dollhouses?
who trained them?
I also thought the bit where Saunder wrote the bad man was Topher was indeed projecting. she hates topher, sees him as the source of the dollhouse's evil or something and therefore feels the active can or should be afraid of him. maybe for her it's logical, it's the only thing that makes sense.
I'm not surer Topher knew they were sending Prya back to her doctor for romantic engagements. they knew they kept sending her back to the same guy, but I don't think Topher knew/remembered the guy
Adelle knew him, maybe she knew he was her doctor, but to her eyes, he's another client, paying for a pretty girl.
nobody looked closed and they should have.
as to why they took her as a doll, I assume it's part of the research, to see if they can cure her illness and if they can, she gets to live a normal life again. after her time as a doll, which isn't a bad deal. and I think prya going back to the dollhouse at the end is part of her giving informed consent. more or less informed. she knows what they do. she also doesn't remember what they made her do. and she knows she'll wake up with no memories and be able to move on and I don't think that is looking too bad for her.
the situation is messy and complicated and painful and like many dolls,she doesn't want to live with it.
I find the idea of V and S falling in love while in their doll state to be most intriguing. specially since it translates to their actual personalities. she remembered him. somehow. how did that happen?
Boyd was all kinds of brilliant. I like how he's looking after Echo, worried about her, but in a father-figure way, not in a stalker-with-a-crush way like Ballard.who I didn't miss at all, by the way.
Someone mentioned Boyd being like shepherd book and it is not a bad comparison to make, but I actually a backstory this time. I want to know why and how did he,topher and adelle ended up at the dollhouse.
my mind is still kind of blown from the awesomeness of this ep but I remember hearing so many lines I liked.
the morals, adelle's description of topher and topher's line about the secret, it is so quotable.
I love how this episode referenced many others, I specially liked the callback to Sierra's and Topher's celebration from Haunted, which won't ever feel the same again. He won't be able to use Sierra and I'm not sure he'll want to do it again. it may all feel too fake.
It seems wrong somehow to use words such as 'liked' and 'loved' but I can't think of any others.
