I'll be brief. Episode 2 is really more of a warning to any future billionaires that want to run a mysterious company that provides custom, personality-infused people (dolls) to ridiculously wealthy clients.
The moral of the story is: Do your homework on the client. I mean really, really, really do your homework. He/she might turn out to be the type of person that likes to hunt human beings. Or at the very least, update your contract so that there's a hefty fee involved for personally murdering the product.
Also, note to self: It's probably a bad idea to do an image search for a show that you're only two episodes into even though it's already completed the first season. There's a phenomenally high chance that you will see something in those pictures that will spoil future episodes. (and I'm not just talking about wardrobe choices)
Showing posts with label season 1. Show all posts
Showing posts with label season 1. Show all posts
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
How I First Met How I Met Your Mother (Season 1, Episode 1)
So, roughly 3 months after fellow Cold Openings blogger Jon sent me 4 seasons of How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM), it arrived in my pigeonhole and I got to acquaint myself with this show that is so legen - yes, wait for it, wait hold on can I use this joke if I'm only one episode in, oh well anyway - dary amongst my friends and acquaintances. Go postal service.
I digress. I was planning to do a marathon of the first half of the first season tonight but that was not meant to be. I did however manage to watch the first episode and here is my short report, based on my impressions of the characters.
1. Marshall
Oh Jason Segel. He's so sweet! Isn't he so sweet? I love him, he's like a puppy. I could take him being a total sap in a laugh-tracked sitcom, so that's good.
2. Lily
Alyson Hannigan will have my goodwill forever because of Buffy. And in HIMYM, Marshall's sappy lovableness spills over to her and makes her slightly more than a bland girlfriend type. I can see myself being annoyed by Lily in the future (for whatever reason), but we shall see. She's good for now.
3. Barney
OH MAH GAWD NEIL PATRICK HARRIS CAN DO NO WRONG. Suit up! De - wait for it - nied! Laser tag! Meet me in the bar in 15 minutes! That line in the cab about the olives! LOLOLOLOL forever, basically. Although my boundless love for the man causes a bit of worry, I'm scared this will turn into Gossip Girl Season 2 onward for me where I only care for Chuck and Blair and absolutely hated the other characters which essentially meant I couldn't watch the show anymore. If I'm to be riveted and watching 4 seasons of this show, I'm going to need to be emotionally invested in more than one person.
4. Ted
Which brings us to this guy. UGH. This guy. Who is this guy, even? I do not care and I will not Google him. I'm sure he's perfectly nice, but weakest link for me. Although I acknowledge that this may be because he's so overshadowed (in my eyes) by Marshall and Barney. But his face! Seriously, his face. And he's too much on this side of sap. Marshall is just right. Ted is not. He's that limp noodle who can't kiss a girl even when she gives him the signal (the only bit with Ted I liked was when he stole the blue French horn, but he didn't follow through after. I wish he had just kissed her the minute she opened the door for him or whatever. Then they wouldn't have that whole heart to heart and the revelation of "I think I love you" and the olives, you say. WELL GOOD) and yes, that's usually what makes a hero in TV shows these days but ugh. prove yourself Ted. Do not become another Dan Humphrey. Or worse, Rufus Humphrey. Just keep yourself out of the TV Humphreys gene pool!
5. Robin
I want to like her, and I sort of did at times (I liked her when she was reporting on that jumper?) but I found that she was overly smirky? For me, anyway. I'm giving her a pass because I want to like the girls on this show and she hasn't given me enough reason to straight up downgrade her to a sell. WE SHALL SEE.
6. The laugh track
Not saying the laugh track is "pervasive enough to be another character" (I'm not writing an essay here - because I would seriously write that in an essay, no questions asked) but it's been a long time since I watched Everybody Loves Raymond for enjoyment, so the first few moments of the show were jarring to me. It was like, oh a joke OH MY GOD WHY IS THERE A SOUND OF PEOPLE LAUGHING IN THEIR APARTMENT AND WHY ARE THEY NOT HORRIFIED? I'm too used to shows like The Office and 30 Rock, I guess.
I'm excited to get into HIMYM (even though I find the conceit truly laughable. I don't care who Ted married! I hope I will though! Emotional investment!) and I hope I can catch up on Season 1 fast enough so that next week I can give a more extensive report. And I'm out!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Dollhouse Season 1, Episode 1
Ok, the best way to describe this show so far is that it makes me pee. What does that mean, you ask? Well, it could mean that I like Joss Whedon so much that every time he does something, the little girl inside me loses all bladder control and I wet my pants. (Not a bad guess) Or, it could mean that the show is well done and tense.
Sorry to disappoint everyone, but the second answer is the correct one. Of course, I do love me some Joss. Firefly was one of my favorite shows for that whole season that it was on.
So episode 1 of Dollhouse starts of with a confusing interview between two people we don't know at all yet and they don't seem to use names or anything to help us out. Thanks. The gist of the interview is that Eliza Dushku (who I'm sick of being told is attractive. I can't quite put my finger on it, but her face bothers me. I'll keep you posted as I work on better articulating my dislike for her face.) did something bad and she's facing the consequences, but anonymous-older-lady is offering her a way out with a tone that suggests major strings are attached.
Next thing you know, we're in the midst of a motorcycle "race." I put "race" in quotes because in spite of the director's best efforts, they are clearly moving along at the break neck pace of 3-5 miles per hour (that's 4-8 kilometers per hour for everyone else not in the US.). At one point, Eliza dumps her bike, no doubt because it's hard to keep those things upright when moving along at the pace of a two legged horse, then tosses off her helmet because that's obviously why she couldn't execute a ninety degree turn at top speed. This kind of devil may care attitude is clearly being used to show us that she no longer has to deal with the consequences of making poor choices. I can dig it. She takes off after the other motorcycle with hair all flowing in the wind. (by the way, anyone ever ridden a motorcycle before? Yeah, pretty much anything over 20 mph and you can barely keep your eyes open, much less race. But she's not subject to real world consequences, so no helmet it is! This kind of activity is heavily frowned on by my family. Sorry Eliza, just one of the many, many reasons it never would have worked out between us.)
After that, she has to go get her treatment. (I'm glossing over some stuff here because as your about to find out, it really doesn't matter.) We find out that "getting her treatment" basically means that her memory is erased. Seems normal enough. Everyone is calling her Echo now, so that must be her name. I can live with that. She gets released into a house where she has access to what I can only assume is top quality medical care. Being that I'm underemployed, I haven't been to a doctor in forever, so maybe things have changed. In any case, I get it, this is the dollhouse. It's a house full of dolls. Got it.
The rest of the show reveals what will likely play out for the rest of the series. Echo is a "doll" that gets programmed for "engagements." (don't call them missions!) She is given new personalities depending on what the client needs. These needs seem to range all the way from a romantic encounter to negotiating for the release of a kidnapped victim. I won't spoil too much, but it looks like Echo is having some issues with these memory wipes and there's a potential for someone (probably not a main character) to die in every episode. I'm ok with that.
That's not all though, we also have Battlestar Galactica's Helo (I'm not going to pretend like I know how to pronounce his real name) playing the part of Paul Ballard. He's a cop (probably not totally stable) who has been assigned the task of uncovering this Dollhouse, an assignment his superiors seem to think is a bit of a joke. I like him, but he seems like he could end up getting involved with one of these "Dolls" in the future which makes me think if he's not careful, he's always going to get typecast as the human that falls for the evil engineered beings on the other side.
So far, I'm enjoying this show. I like Joss. I like his style. I'm waiting for the musical episode. There's a few other characters on the show that I haven't gotten to yet, but I'm sure I'll get to know them better as the show goes on. Unless they die. Joss likes to kill important people in shows and I like that.
Sorry to disappoint everyone, but the second answer is the correct one. Of course, I do love me some Joss. Firefly was one of my favorite shows for that whole season that it was on.
So episode 1 of Dollhouse starts of with a confusing interview between two people we don't know at all yet and they don't seem to use names or anything to help us out. Thanks. The gist of the interview is that Eliza Dushku (who I'm sick of being told is attractive. I can't quite put my finger on it, but her face bothers me. I'll keep you posted as I work on better articulating my dislike for her face.) did something bad and she's facing the consequences, but anonymous-older-lady is offering her a way out with a tone that suggests major strings are attached.
Next thing you know, we're in the midst of a motorcycle "race." I put "race" in quotes because in spite of the director's best efforts, they are clearly moving along at the break neck pace of 3-5 miles per hour (that's 4-8 kilometers per hour for everyone else not in the US.). At one point, Eliza dumps her bike, no doubt because it's hard to keep those things upright when moving along at the pace of a two legged horse, then tosses off her helmet because that's obviously why she couldn't execute a ninety degree turn at top speed. This kind of devil may care attitude is clearly being used to show us that she no longer has to deal with the consequences of making poor choices. I can dig it. She takes off after the other motorcycle with hair all flowing in the wind. (by the way, anyone ever ridden a motorcycle before? Yeah, pretty much anything over 20 mph and you can barely keep your eyes open, much less race. But she's not subject to real world consequences, so no helmet it is! This kind of activity is heavily frowned on by my family. Sorry Eliza, just one of the many, many reasons it never would have worked out between us.)
After that, she has to go get her treatment. (I'm glossing over some stuff here because as your about to find out, it really doesn't matter.) We find out that "getting her treatment" basically means that her memory is erased. Seems normal enough. Everyone is calling her Echo now, so that must be her name. I can live with that. She gets released into a house where she has access to what I can only assume is top quality medical care. Being that I'm underemployed, I haven't been to a doctor in forever, so maybe things have changed. In any case, I get it, this is the dollhouse. It's a house full of dolls. Got it.
The rest of the show reveals what will likely play out for the rest of the series. Echo is a "doll" that gets programmed for "engagements." (don't call them missions!) She is given new personalities depending on what the client needs. These needs seem to range all the way from a romantic encounter to negotiating for the release of a kidnapped victim. I won't spoil too much, but it looks like Echo is having some issues with these memory wipes and there's a potential for someone (probably not a main character) to die in every episode. I'm ok with that.
That's not all though, we also have Battlestar Galactica's Helo (I'm not going to pretend like I know how to pronounce his real name) playing the part of Paul Ballard. He's a cop (probably not totally stable) who has been assigned the task of uncovering this Dollhouse, an assignment his superiors seem to think is a bit of a joke. I like him, but he seems like he could end up getting involved with one of these "Dolls" in the future which makes me think if he's not careful, he's always going to get typecast as the human that falls for the evil engineered beings on the other side.
So far, I'm enjoying this show. I like Joss. I like his style. I'm waiting for the musical episode. There's a few other characters on the show that I haven't gotten to yet, but I'm sure I'll get to know them better as the show goes on. Unless they die. Joss likes to kill important people in shows and I like that.
