Having recently seen the series finale of Joss Whedon's programmable-humans-for-rent series, Dollhouse, I believe another edition of The Mikies is due. That's right, it's time for the Michael Awards for Excellence in Whatever He Darn Well Feels Like, Dollhouse Edition.
- Best actor, regular: Enver Gjokaj. Gjokaj showed himself to be the most versatile actor on the show, and thus made Victor the most believable doll on the series. In particular, his portrayal of Victor-imprinted-with-Topher was uncannily accurate.
- Best actor, guest or recurring: Alan Tudyk. Tudyk has an amazing ability to follow creepiness or pathos almost instantly with hilarity. This skill is especially useful in Whedon's projects, which frequently juxtapose drama and comedy. Honorable mention goes to Amy Acker, whose Whiskey would have made a much more multi-faceted and convincing central character than Eliza Dusku's Echo.
- Creepiest villain: Alpha.
- Dollhouse discovery most likely to appear in 50% of Whedon's following projects: Enver Gjokaj.
- Most unexpected death: Bennett Halverson.
- Most surprising escape from seemingly certain death: Mellie.
- Most unexpected revelation of dollhood: November.
- Cheapest and least justified death: November/Mellie/Madeline.
- Funniest character: Topher Brink. Even when imprinted on Victor, Dr Brink had all the best lines.
- Recurring character whose story I would most like to see elaborated upon: Whiskey.
- Most sympathetic client: Joel Mynor.
- Battlestar Galactica cast member whose acting improved the most since Galactica: Tamoh Penikett. Maybe it was just that Karl Agathon was only called on to express one or two emotions, but I never found Helo that interesting. Paul Ballard, however, seemed to be at least a couple-fold more nuanced. Oh, and this category wasn't as much of a cake walk as you might think; 3 other Battlestar alumni also appeared in the show: Jamie Bamber, Michael Hogan, and Mark Sheppard.
- Total number of Whedon alumni in the cast: 8. (I'm counting Amy Acker, Felicia Day, Alexis Denisof, Eliza Dushku, Summer Glau, Mark Sheppard, Maurissa Tancheroen, and Alan Tudyk. Let me know if I missed any.) OK, this isn't an really award, but I thought I should point out that, once you work for Joss Whedon, you likely have a gig for life. (I'm only counting cast here, by the way, there was certainly a lot of re-use of crew as well.)
- Brilliant-but-insane character most like the brilliant-but-insane character played by the same actor in another Whedon series: Bennett Halverson. Between these two roles and Cameron in the Terminator series, I'm really starting to worry that Summer Glau must have a rather severe psychological disorder.
- Actor who has been beaten up by another actor in the cast in the largest number of Whedon series: Alexis Denisof (by Eliza Dushku).
- Best couple: Topher Brink and Bennet Halverson. Nope, I'm not going for the overly sappy choice of Victor and Sierra/Tony and Priya.
- Law offices most closely resembling the Dollhouse, architecturally: Wolfram & Hart.
- Skinniest character who was supposed to be fat: Mellie/November/Madeline. Seriously, she was described as "heavy" in the casting sheets.
- Best episode, aired: "Man on the Street." This was the episode that showed where Whedon and company were going to go with this concept. It was the first episode that really surprised me, and the episode that hooked me on the series.
- Best episode, unaired: "Epitaph One." This ep, tagged on at the end of Season One for contractual reasons, was designed to give the fans some closer in the very likely event that the series would not be renewed. It achieved its goal, and more, by showing how imprinting technology could bring about the thoughtpocalypse. Plus, it introduced Felicia Day to the series. (OK, there were only two unaired eps, this one and the pilot, wo there's no real justification for this category. However, I couldn't decide where I like this episode or MotS better, so I created categories that each of them could win.)
- Most interesting character: Topher Brink. Over the show's two seasons, Topher evolved from childish and amoral, to nascently ethical, to insane and remorseful. Plus, he somehow managed to be funny the whole time.
- Most attractive character: Mellie.
