That's the initial reaction, two episodes into the new ABC series starring Whedon alum (and personal favorite) Amy Acker. Since I've enacted what I like to call the "Dollhouse Rule"1 into my viewing habits, Happy Town has until the sixth episode to grab my attention. Now... Twin Peaks2.
So far, this is playing like one big, sloppy homage to Twin Peaks but without the attention to obscure detail or David Lynch's whimsy. That's right: whimsy. They've had a main character come from Snoqualmie, WA -- a primary filming location for TP. They've alluded to a "man with one hand," which is close enough to a "one armed man." The coffee. Tapioca instead of cherry pie. Golden eagle in lieu of owls. It's not even trying to make a departure. It's a Canal Street version of Twin Peaks. I swear, if the Magic Man turns out to be an entity...
Anyway, there's the rant. The two-episode-judgment is that Amy Acker, Sam Neill, Frances Conroy, and Steven Weber are slumming it, and it annoys me that this is the reason that we had next to none of Dr. Saunders in the second season of Dollhouse, a show that managed to convince me of its worth within six episodes. I suspect that Happy Town will not succeed in the same way, but I'm trying to keep an open mind.
1 Dollhouse really took off with "Man On the Street" (DH1006). Had I judged the series on the first five episodes alone, I would have given up by "The Target."
2I wasn't allowed to watch Twin Peaks when it aired on television as I was only 9 years old. I was finally able to see it in college when I studied Angelo Badalamenti for my film score class. Love at first sight.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
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Really? I think it took me much longer to get into Dollhouse. I felt that the progression of Echo was a little slow, and that on the whole the fact that so many other characters(and their relationships - I'm looking at you Priya and Anthony) eclipsed her really took away from the show. It also didn't help that Tahmoh Penikett never wowed me, nor did he and Echos epic love. In fact, had it not been specifically a Joss Whedon Show,I most likely would have dropped it.
ReplyDeleteIf I stopped considering Echo and Ballard as the show's focus, then it became much more interesting. The entire concept of Dollhouse finally clicked with my by the sixth episode. With "Man On the Street," I went, "Oh, yeah! Okay, Joss Whedon really is on the same page as me on this. Cool."
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