Move on, silly complainy people...

[deird_lj]

Okay. Mini-rant for you.


Still not sure where I stand on Dollhouse, but I keep seeing people complaining about it, saying that there are "so many plotholes".
By which they apparently mean "How can the Actives be programmed like that?" and "Why would they be brilliant at what they're hired to do?" and "Why would someone hire an Active at all?"

Those aren't plotholes. They're premise-holes.

For our studio audience: the premise of Dollhouse is that there are all these Actives who are programmed to be brilliant at different things, and people hire them for all sorts of stuff.
That's the show.

Okay, if you don't like that premise, you don't have to. It's fine to say that the basis of the show is stupid.
But when you start complaining about "plotholes" in each individual episode (always the same complaints every time), it starts sounding ridiculous.

When you complain "How could they program Echo to be the world's best hostage negotiator?" and then "How could they program Echo to be the world's best girlfriend?" and then "How could they program Echo to be the world's best backup-singer-slash-bodyguard?" and then "How could they program Echo to be the world's best thief?", those are not new and different complaints. They're exactly the same complaint. And they're not a problem you're having with the plot - they're a problem with the premise.


You might as well complain that "people wouldn't imbue a girl with supernatural strength and send her out to hunt vampires", or that "all the cool medical cases wouldn't end up with the same diagnostic team", or that "six people wouldn't spend all their time hanging out at the same coffee house together", or that "an alien with the powers of time-travel wouldn't fly around in a glorified phone-booth".

Comments

[mymatedave.livejournal.com]

Thank you! So very true.

[brutti-ma-buoni.livejournal.com]

"people wouldn't imbue a girl with supernatural strength and send her out to hunt vampires", or that "all the cool medical cases wouldn't end up with the same diagnostic team", or that "six people wouldn't spend all their time hanging out at the same coffee house together", or that "an alien with the powers of time-travel wouldn't fly around in a glorified phone-booth". So true. Except the Tardis, which is in disguise (or so we are assured...)

See also "it isn't likely that every employee of an emergency room will have a life-threatening emergent crisis during their working life there" or indeed "a vampire with a soul. How lame is that?"

That said, not sure I like the premise, but that's another story.

[lavastar.livejournal.com]

Huh. Hadn't heard that complaint, but you're right - those aren't plot holes.

Even though I'm already pretty much a fan of the show, I do wonder why one would bother buying a very expensive, very illegal, and very morally BAD TO HAVE Active when all their skills/memories come from real people (or so it's been implied). Especially for some of the crap they've had Echo doing - like, seriously, a midwife? Really? They couldn't just find one?

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

I agree and diagree. Buffy was a show clearly set in a supernatural realm, for example. So, if I accept the premise that there are demons running around then it's not that big a stretch to believe that someone has to have powers to fight them.

Dollhouse is supposedly talking place in the real world. And, fine, maybe I can accept that there is some kind of mind wipe program to give people totally new abilities and personalities. But I haven't seen any convincing arguement on the show as to why you'd hire such a person. And why can't the FBI find this place when every Tom, Dick and Harry seems to have no problem finding it and hiring "dolls".

[snickfic]

Word. Especially this: And why can't the FBI find this place when every Tom, Dick and Harry seems to have no problem finding it and hiring "dolls".

Unless, of course, the folks at the top of the FBI are making sure their agenst don't find anything. /conspiracy theory

Besides, even given the premise, some uses for actives make a whole lot more sense than others. The "parameter" idea, in which actives unconsciously want to do something, would be a pretty powerful and useful tool if the Dollhouse folks could be sure of it working properly. The midwife thing, on the other hand...

random commenter

[rowanda380.livejournal.com]

lol, so right, not that I am having that premise problem or anything. Really the show grows on me more and more each time I watch it.

[gabrielleabelle.livejournal.com]

Well-said. I'm not too hung-up on the premise, actually. I can suspend my disbelief on a lot of the iffier stuff.

My main problem right now is that it's lacking in the character department. I loved Buffy because I adored the characters from episode 1. I feel very apathetic towards all the characters on Dollhouse right now (Probably why I haven't gotten off my ass to watch the past couple episode).

[mistress-tien.livejournal.com]

That's my complaint. The only character I am interested in is Echo's handler. The rest are just cardboard cutouts. There are no good back stories to look forward to learning and the big mystery is whether or not the FBI can find something that actually does exist.

I compare Dollhouse to, say, Leverage. Both have sometimes silly plots that make no logical sense. But Leverage has a cast of interesting characters that I want to learn more about. So, I overlook plot in favor of wanting to find out more about the people.

I really expected more from Joss. He's the King of Characters--Firefly is the perfect example. He could have run off of back story on the Firefly crew for seven years without batting an eye.

That said, I wish Dollhouse well, but I don't think I'm going to be the one watching it.