Television Review - Dollhouse Episode 2: The Target

Dollhouse Episode 2: The Target

What a beauty!

A little late on the review, I know, since we're already about 5 episodes into the series, but it's better late than never.

"The Target" has our protagonist doll, Echo (Eliza Dushku), taking on the persona of outdoorswoman, where she spends an afternoon with a new client to the Dollhouse corporation. Rather than a nice, calm day at the pond, though, Echo finds that her "friend" Richard, (Matt Keesler), actually wants to slice and dice her with his compound bow and arrow. While she tries to make her way out of the woods alive, her handler, Boyd Langton (Henry J. Lennix), is assaulted by Richard's henchman, and after realizing that Echo is most probably in danger, shambles off to her rescue. Through the course of the episode, we get a little bit of backstory about how Boyd came to be Echo's handler, and an even smaller segment where detective Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett) continues to search for clues about Dollhouse.

The second episode of Joss Whedon's series continues to maintain a different storyline that was hinted at in the premier of the show. While the setup allows the show to go in a different direction each episode, I feel like it is important that the show establishes a long-running arc to really draw in viewers. Right now, the plot does not feel very cohesive, rarely referencing the episode before it. While it's not necessary, I think that the show needs to identify its main theme soon.

Dushku remains her typical self here, and while it seems natural for her to be a normal girl in this episode, I haven't seen much out of her that tells me she'll be good at taking on drastically different characters. She does a good job in "The Target," but the point of her taking on this job as outdoorswoman seems hidden or ambiguous.

Dollhouse has done a good job of putting us in the present of the situation, but not much has been explained to us as to the origins of the company. The exposition that is focused on in this episode is interesting, but not as important as, say, the more technical matters of the corporation. However, I can see how Detective Ballard's investigation will give us more insight into Dollhouse's background. 

The problem that I have with melding the investigation and Echo's assignments is that too much time is spent on Echo and not enough time on Ballard, making it very uneven. Ballard barely gets time to find a clue and then we are shifted back to Echo and her escape from some dangerous situation. These first two episodes have taken on almost exactly the same plot setup as well, which makes me wonder about how the show can switch things up as it progresses.

The show is still pretty interesting, however, and one should set aside all qualms until the show really heats up. I'm hoping that it will build momentum as it goes and is just having a rough time getting into the action. It shows promise, but there's a lot of repetition going on that has me worried for the future of the series. I just pray the public tunes in so that FOX doesn't cancel the show in its infancy.