tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18810878.post8794304124783606778..comments2023-09-24T04:58:25.149-04:00Comments on Team Grondul: The Mikies, Dollhouse EdMichaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00251721824712434255noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18810878.post-8370137947697030682010-02-05T10:23:55.570-05:002010-02-05T10:23:55.570-05:00She could be the ultimate fake-out on V. The audi...She could be the ultimate fake-out on V. The audience would think, "It's Summer Glau. She's got to be a Visitor, and I'll be she'll be an insane one, too. You just wait." Then she could spend a lot of time shopping with her girlfriends, having nice meals with her boyfriend, and playing with her puppy. Then WHAM, nothing. She keeps on doing all those things,and never turns out to be anything other than she seemed.Michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00251721824712434255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18810878.post-46553492388356228502010-02-05T10:14:13.818-05:002010-02-05T10:14:13.818-05:00I forgot to mention yesterday that I shared your c...I forgot to mention yesterday that I shared your concern for Summer Glau's real-world mental well-being. At this point, I think that casting her as a normal, well-adjusted person might be just about the most disturbing thing you could do. She's been so typecast that the audience would just be waiting for her to start violently murdering people, or have an alien hatch from her or something. Perhaps they might have a use for her over on "V"?Nicholas Condonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13425895105081617926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18810878.post-6541868028400624922010-02-05T10:10:20.146-05:002010-02-05T10:10:20.146-05:00"I had thought that the "She's a gir..."I had thought that the "She's a girl, Mag" plot element was a bit of an in-joke, but I hadn't considered the possibility of an extended love scene. Now I'm annoyed that they didn't film it. I can only hope it will show up as a deleted scene on the DVD."<br /><br />Now there's a way to put the S2 DVDs to the top of the bestseller lists...Nicholas Condonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13425895105081617926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18810878.post-19996173103748548342010-02-04T13:31:11.187-05:002010-02-04T13:31:11.187-05:00Nick,
I didn't notice Jed at the table, but I...Nick,<br /><br />I didn't notice Jed at the table, but I certainly took note of Maurissa as Kilo. ("I love it when a doll's name is so on-the-nose.") I had thought that the "She's a girl, Mag" plot element was a bit of an in-joke, but I hadn't considered the possibility of an extended love scene. Now I'm annoyed that they didn't film it. I can only hope it will show up as a deleted scene on the DVD.<br /><br />I agree that Whedon and company handle death scenes better than most. The very fact that they are willing to kill off major characters makes you, the viewer, worry that the hero might die when trouble arises. On most shows, you'd think, "of course they'll all come out fine." <br /><br />Unfortunately, the meaningfulness of a character's death was watered down a bit in Buffy and Angel by the resurrections of---spoilers!---Buffy and Spike.<br /><br />Yeah, Wash's death in Serenity was certainly the most affecting of the sudden ones. I'm fairly sure I gasped out loud, but, like you said, it was hard to tell, what with all the crying out. I agree that Wesley's death was one of the more touching of the more drawn-out ones, but, for my money, Fred's death evoked the most pathos. "Please, Wesley, why can't I stay?" Chokes me up every time. In all three cases, I think the acting---Gina Torres, Amy Acker, and Alexis Denishof---really raised those moments to heights that the scripts wouldn't have reached on their own. (Come to think of it Fred died in Wesley's arms, and Wesley died in "Fred's." Quite the roll-reversal for Acker and Denisof.<br /><br />I also agree Epitach Two was a much better episode than the previous one. The penultimate ep felt very rushed, as if half a season's plot were shoe-horned into 42 minutes. Plus, some of the dialog and plot twists seemed quite hackneyed. That ep wasn't as good as it should have been, given its importance in the overall arch of the show.<br /><br />Thopher's evolution could have been much more satisfying with 5 years. Still, I really enjoyed what we saw in just 2 short seasons.<br /><br />Thanks for your comments.Michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00251721824712434255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18810878.post-27909467597049401072010-02-04T11:38:46.913-05:002010-02-04T11:38:46.913-05:00As for the last episode itself, I loved it. I tho...As for the last episode itself, I loved it. I thought it was the strongest episode of the second season (by far), and was a far better sendoff for the series than the last "regular" episode.<br /><br />You could tell that the cast and crew were relaxed and simply enjoying working on the show one last time. The extras at the table when everyone laughed at Ballard for his corny, "The world still needs heroes," line included at least one of the writers (Jed Whedon), and might have included several more, so they were essentially having a little fun at their own expense. The genuine and unforced nature of the laughter actually made me think of a blooper reel rather than a real scene.<br /><br />The banter between Mag (Felicia Day) and Zone about Kilo (Maurissa Tancharoen) was pretty amusing, given that Felicia and Maurissa are friends in real life, and even more so given that Maurissa's husband probably wrote the whole thing. No element of wish fulfillment/wishful thinking there on Jed's part, nosiree bob. I wonder if there was an extended love scene between them in the orignal draft of the script?Nicholas Condonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13425895105081617926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18810878.post-47246975425599696782010-02-04T11:25:48.727-05:002010-02-04T11:25:48.727-05:00I, of course agree with you about the quality of E...I, of course agree with you about the quality of Enver Gjokraj's work on the show. He can do the "big" acting, like pretending to be a dippy party girl or imitating Topher, better than anyone else in the cast, but he can do the little stuff really well, too. The scene where Priya introduces little Tony to his dad just about killed me, and a lot of the reason it worked was because of how precisely Gjokraj underplayed the scene. (N.B. My impending fatherhood may be making me a teensy bit prone to being emotionally manipulated by portrayals of father-son interaction; YMMV.)<br /><br />Topher represents the biggest missed opportunity of the show. I really wish I could live in an alternate universwe where Whedon had been given the five seasons he deserved to slowly develop Topher's story.Nicholas Condonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13425895105081617926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18810878.post-22456624307416302962010-02-04T11:17:11.683-05:002010-02-04T11:17:11.683-05:00I just finished the series last night. I have to ...I just finished the series last night. I have to say that Ballard's death caught me totally by surprise, almost as much as Bennett's. I don't know if "like" is the right word, but I appreciate how Whedon chooses to kill off sympathetic characters. While he takes the slower route sometimes (Topher, Wesley) many of his major-character deaths have been sudden, and they've been more effective because of it. The deaths of Bennett and Ballard literally made me gasp, as did the death of Anya in BtVS, and I think I may have actually cried out when Wash died in "Serenity." (I'm not sure if I did or not, since I couldn't hear myself over everyone else in the theatre crying out.) And Buffy finding her mother dead is still one of the most horrifying things I've ever seen in a TV show or move. When a writer or director spends a long time working up to a death, with heavy foreshadowing or anticipation (say, by making a secondary character the focus of the episode in which they die), the audience (or at least the part of the audience that includes me) has time to come to terms with the death beforehand and builds up some emotional distance. By making the deaths sudden and sharp, Whedon forces the audience to feel the charcter's death for an instant before their limiters kick in. He also may be making the point that death in the real world is rarely as neatly dramatic as it is in TV.<br /><br />Wow, that was long. Sorry.Nicholas Condonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13425895105081617926noreply@blogger.com