AZM Ally Samurai Art Guy has some thoughts on the announcement that Dollhouse will not be picked up for a third season:
So yes, like Firefly before it, FOX has indeed canceled Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse. This was not exactly a SURPRISE.
Honestly, as soon as I saw the November Sweeps Hiatus, I knew the show was toast. Between that and the dodgy ratings, and FOX no longer pushing the show most of this season, I knew they were just waiting to jettison the series.
It remains to be seen if FOX will hold to their tenuous and questionable word on the airing the remaining episodes. Or will they bail at the end, like they did with Firefly, yanking the season prematurely, leaving episodes unaired? I guess we’ll see, won’t we? But at least with some warning, Joss and crew can write some closure into the last episodes and not leave it hanging with a season cliffhanger. That always suks. …
I’m still kind of surprised Dollhouse got a second season to begin with.
I think one of the chief reasons the show never really found its audience is that the viewing public is generally against the idea of renting people. The morality of renting people out for sex was never really addressed in the first season. And if it was never touched upon in the second, I dare say I would have forgotten it all together. And then, Sierra’s episode came along.
“Belonging” is Sierra’s origin story. I don’t want to reveal any details of the episode because I don’t want to spoil it, but I truly think that this episode embodies the true potential of what the show could be. Dichen Lachman, who plays Sierra, has been my favorite active from the very first time I saw her on screen in season 1 and this Belonging ensures that I will follow her to whatever series she’s cast in next (well, unless it’s as someone on Hanna Montana. Then all bets are off). Dichen shows an amazing range of vulnerability and strength and it’s really a shame she isn’t the star of the show. Much more than Eliza Dushku, I think Dichen can actually carry the show. We also see a lot of growth from Topher in this episode. Up until now, he’s treated the Actives as his play things. Here, we actually see his conscience kick in. He begins to question what he’s doing and we start to see him as more than just the heartless techy nerd. We see why it made sense that Topher chose Sierra to geek out with last season when Adelle let him play with one of the Actives for a day.
There’s so much good in this episode that it makes me mad that there aren’t more Dollhouse episodes that are this strong and that we won’t get to see the show rise to its full potential.
That’s the other thing that annoys me. There’s so much potential for this show to kick some major ass and yet it always seems to fall short.
Here’s the episode I like so bad for those of you in a country that Hulu likes. I’ll be watching Dollhouse until it ends. I’m sad to see it go, but only a little. I’ll support Dichen in whatever she does next because I think she’s good enough to star in something awesome. But I won’t be signing any petitions or anything like that. It had a decent run, more than it may have deserved.
