Dollhouse- “Ghost”
Written & Directed by Joss Whedon
Let me just start by saying that I am, like many, a big Joss Whedon fan. While I never really got into Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I was a huge fan of Angel and as of last summer became a fan of Firefly. Up until this point I’d consider this man a genius with hundreds of great ideas floating around in the “Jossverse” that is his brain. Dollhouse is his new series about the taking away of peoples personalities (the people in question are known as actives) and implanting them with new ones. Though the pilot is written and directed by Whedon, it somehow manages to lack that Whedon spark his other shows have had. It leaves the audience questioning how long the show can go on with its current plot. To be fair, this pilot is not the original (which from what I read was much better) but instead the re-shot and re-written version and it shows. Whedon claims that it was his decision and that Fox had nothing to do with scrapping the original. Early reviews said that the first pilot was much darker and that it left the audience “wanting more” at the end. Sadly, that’s not the case with “Ghost”. The writing seemed at least to me to be dumbed down from Whedon’s usual wit and the overall story was a bore. I’ve also read a complaint in many reviews saying that rooting for a character who has no personality will make the show tough to watch. In essence, there’s no hook to keep the audience watching.