Dollhouse: Season 1, Episode 4: "Grey Hour"

“Dollhouse”
1.4 “Grey Hour”
Grade: C
So we still have not broken the high point of the series so far which was Episode 2. This episode was a decline for me. There were definitely aspects of it that I liked. I actually really like Eliza Dushku’s acting when Echo is tabula rasa. Yes I can tell she is acting but it is in a stylized way which actually works for me in this aspect.

I did not get AT ALL about the midwife thing at the beginning. I have no idea why anyone would pay that much money for a midwife when they could just hire one. Also I thought that the main plot got old after a while. I enjoyed the idea of her being wiped mid engagement but honestly I felt like we were kind of watching the same scene over and over. I did really like seeing Adele and Topher try to figure out what was going on but I hate hate HATE HATE HATE Topher so I can really only enjoy that storyline so much. Of course it was Alpha you nimrod. Secondly right when we actually get to the interesting part of the episode (“I’ll tell you everything I know about Alpha”) the episode ends…uuuggghhh.

What I liked:
-Echo in tabula rasa state.
- Sierra as Taffy also. Ok this is an example of why they should have cast in unknown in the states actress like Dichan to play Echo (even though this was always Eliza’s project from the start); because her personalities are more interesting and believable. This episode provides great example of that.
- While Taffy was essentially a bit of a rehash of Faith I thought that Taffy was her own character so I give Eliza props for hitting some of the same notes but doing something different with them.
- I liked that Echo trying to drill the door did not work. It was realistic. It was probably my favorite scene in the episode.
- Yeah that’s about it for this episode. I thought it was a bit all over the place and could not hold my interest for 50 minutes which is how long the episodes are with limited commercial interruption.

Did not Like:
- I have no idea what is going on with Ballard, what he is trying to do, what Adele is trying to do with Victor in place as Lubov and I am honestly totally confused about motivations for this entire story from all perspectives.
- Topher. Did I mention I hate Topher?
- No Amy Acker
- The sloppiness of the episode.
- So the climax was Echo running or slumping through a smoky hall? Yeah because that really would have happened. Uuuggghhh.
- Also what’s with all of the violence against women on this show? Every episode I swear Echo has been hit by a man. Joss you are a self proclaimed feminist and I absolutely worship you for that and for your commitment and awareness of in imbalance in society but I do not get what the point of it is because it’s so consistent and its happening next week too.

I really enjoy it for many reasons mainly in that I see potential and because I just love Joss so much that I’m so happy to have new Joss even if it’s very subpar Joss. But I hope next week is better. I know it’s supposed to get much better soon but it looks like they basically gave away the entire plotline for this next episode coming up. Nice job FOX; way to entice people to watch your show. Imbeciles.