Last Tuesday on a 45 minute train ride home, I pulled out the iPhone and began watching Dollhouse’s unaired 13th episode, Epitaph One. The train arrived with about 5 or 6 minutes of the show left and I sat in the train station and finished it off. I don’t know how I could give it any higher praise than that. I really wasn’t expecting anything much of it which is why I didn’t watch it on the train ride out (I confess, I watched a breezy episode of The Closer).
It winds up seeming ironic that FOX never aired the episode, because in my opinion it was the best episode of Dollhouse by a wide margin. If you lined up all the Dollhouse episodes in a 100 yard dash, for me, this episode beat its closest competitor by at least 50 yards. It blew the field away. It was a great hour or at least close to 50 minutes of television. I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t have been as compelling as a stand-alone episode because understanding some of the Dollhouse mythology was definitely important, but I really enjoyed the episode.
I’m going with the theory that Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen who wrote the episode were tasked with writing a series finale and did a wonderful, wonderful job of it. Everything was going according to script too. I think the forecasted script must have been: 1.) FOX wasn’t going to air the 13th episode, 2.) FOX would cancel Dollhouse, and 3.) the DVD would come out, and fans would absolutely rave about the episode and damn FOX for cancelling the show and extending the legacy (perhaps purely mythological) that Joss Whedon always gets screwed over by FOX.
And everything was going exactly according to plan until FOX screwed the whole thing up by renewing Dollhouse. I’m already wondering about over/under 1000 “Dollhouse was cancelled because FOX screwed up and never aired Epitaph One! Damn you FOX!” comments within the first three days of whenever Dollhouse is ultimately cancelled.
FOX could head that off at the pass too. What a remarkable thing it would be if they actually, you know, aired the season two premiere of Dollhouse as a two hour special that had Epitaph One in the first hour. Sure, for that to happen FOX broadcast’s sibling Fox Studios would likely need to give their sibling the episode for free. Blasphemy, I know, but they probably should do just that. Even among fans of the show, some very significant portion will never have seen Epitaph One. Why not give the loyal fans, even the ones who didn’t spring for the DVD a treat. It’s not like FOX would have to announce they were doing that until the DVD had been out for six weeks…
I’m not a Whedon fanboy, and though I saw every episode of Dollhouse, I wouldn’t consider myself a huge fan of the show either. It could be that my reaction is exaggerated because I didn’t really have high expectations, but you can mark me down as a huge fan of Epitaph One. It was a great episode.
Meanwhile the Internet will fill up with posts about what does it mean for season two that Epitaph One even exists at all? I’ll leave it for others to navel gaze over that, my navel gazing preference is to ponder whether the ultimate series finale can come anywhere close to topping Epitaph One.
The bar has been set pretty high.
The DVD for Dollhouse season one, including the unaired Epitaph One goes on sale this Tuesday, July 28.
just saw Epitaph One a couple hours ago. It was definitely by far the best Dollhouse episode since Stage Fright. This episode was definitely risky in my opinion. They gave away so much so fast. I remember reading that Joss wanted this to work as a series finale if the show ended up being cancelled and thus we have this episode that is just packed with too many spoilers. I can’t imagine season 2 being before Epitaph One’s timeline. It just wouldn’t work because we know how everything would end up in the end. Definitely a risky episode and can’t wait to see how season 2 plays out. Forget about Man on the Street being a game changer for the series, Epitaph One completely throws everything off balance. Can’t wait to see what’s in store!!
Season 2 takes place after season 1 / long before Epitagh One and we will be back to “second half of season 1 style” Dr Saunders will only be in 3 episodes due to her commitment to Happy Town, Laurence Dominic is also heavily limited by his schedule, and Mille/November is actually coming back!
From another site, some recap of the Dollhouse panel at Comic Con:
Whedon was asked if the episode could be considered a “second pilot” for the series.
“I wouldn’t call it a second pilot but it is definitely a different vision and it will contain a lot of things about the characters and who they are and where they’re heading that people might not have seen or expected,” Whedon said.
There are a lot of developments expected more specifically for the character of Echo, portrayed by Eliza Dushku. When asked if it was somehow the case that the other dolls and the other characters in the show were somehow “projecting” onto Echo, Joss replied, “Yes, you’re very right to say that they’re projecting on her. A lot of her life, not just because she’s a doll, but also just in general, has to do with the fact that people become obsessive about her. But we are going to learn and starting in this season that they’re not wrong, that there is something truly special about her and that she is going to be a major in factor in what happens to Dollhouse over the next few years.”
Tahmoh Penikett’s Paul Ballard, an FBI agent who was focused on finding the Dollhouse and eventually did, (In fact, at the end of the first season he appeared to be joining the Dollhouse in some capacity) is another character facing some changes for the new season.
“We had always intended for Paul to find the Dollhouse and for his interaction to change because we didn’t want him to be like the reporter in ‘The Hulk,’ showing up too late every episode,” Whedon said of the Ballard character. “And now they’ve been working on him from the outside with November and his alliance with Echo is going to be really tested, because he’s going to be in there with her partially to protect her but also to find out what’s really going on. You know you can gaze into the abyss or you can actually live in it, it’s going to affect you. so we are going to see that while (Echo) is starting to grow, we’re going to see that everybody else really starting to come apart a little bit.”
“Dollhouse” is certainly a kind of abyss — without a doubt, it is the only show on television to so brazenly portray such ethically questionable and morally deep actions and situations. This is not lost on Whedon.
“I think with this show, I want to say to the people who have, you know, felt a connection with me, that maybe you want to back away and avoid eye contact,” he said. “That maybe there’s something horribly wrong with me, and this is my very poetical way of expressing that. I think of it as a work that actually frightens me at times in a way that my shows seldom got to. At the same time I have that sort of jolly love of everything that’s going on and have to be reminded that what I’m doing is reprehensible. So it’s a mature work in the sense that I grew up and went insane.”
Felicia Day is coming back in S2. Epitaph One I think is “suggestive”, meaning that it happens but is not the complete truth. Eye of the beholder…the “Could Be” future.
And dude. If you are going to watch the DVD: Original ep 1st, then 2nd, 4th; jump to ep 6, then watch it until the 13th. If you do that for me, I’ll stalk Bill like he stalks JBF like he stalks Joss.
buffywrestling – Personally I’d recommend the 5th over the 4th, and avoid the 1st, but in any case, isn’t it ironic that the problem with Dollhouse is that Fox actually showed all the episodes, and screened them in the right order, unlike a certain other Whedon show?
The Epitaph One future, is A future. Not necessarily the real one, just a posible one.
Actually the Epitaph One future IS THE future. What could be not real are possibly the episode’s flashbacks: memories are subjective, personal, thy are not THE truth, but a part of it, a vision of it. At least this is Whedon’s explaination.
I thought it was definitely the best episode. The other eps of the show I would give at least an A- are 7-9.
Generally, the first season was disappointing (especially in the end) but good. Epitaph One gives me the hope that S2 might be what I expect from the creator of Btvs.
Having watched “Echo”–the original, unaired pilot–and “Epitaph One” back to back, they present a really intriguing microseason of what might have been without network intervention, and although the second half of the season did produce excellent episodes, the two that were unaired pretty much blew the majority of what they did broadcast for season one right out of the water.
That said, I can see why the network demanded changes, because as a pilot, “Echo” had ‘cult audience’ written all over it. But it is kinda ironic that “Epitaph One” is exactly the type of thing the network was nervous about producing, considering it was used as a sales tool for a second season order.
“since Stage Fright”?
That was the worst episode of the series. Losing Amy Acker means I’m not interested in season two, especially if budget cuts means more Eliza and less of the supporting cast (which all act better than her.)
So funny because I do the same thing sometimes. Ride Caltrain 45 minutes to Mountainview every evening and finish watching shows in the station!
Couldn’t agree with you more on “Epitah”
~Lanie~
Robert I was wondering how did u watch the unaired episode. Was of available on the itunes store??
Guybrush:
Nope, it’s the future, Joss said so.
Loved the episode. Agree with all your points completely. It’s one hell of a teaser for Season 2.
The last thing anyone should worry about is anyone not seeing this episode. I have been confidently assured by multiple Whedon-bots that demand for the Dollhouse DVD is going to make the internet explode.
Do not be fooled by the fact that the Dollhouse DVD is currently number 140 on the Amazon sales chart. Get your online affairs in order, on Wednesday the internet is going to be gone.
Yes this was a great episode, but then Dushku wasn’t that much in it was she
@Anthony
“Nope, it’s the future, Joss said so.”
Only now is – what was was, and what will be can be changed, regardless of what joss said. This is a possible future, and the short term future can change that – regardless of what he wants to do now.
Are you kidding? Dushku’s a great actress!
Adding my nod here. Epitaph one was fantastic – if season one was convoluted and at times seemed aimless, this ep definitely renewed my interest in the show. I was left wondering, though, where do we go from here, knowing what’s in store, be it a decade into the future.
Looking forward to season two. Friday nights are heating up this fall!
so they have one roll over episode from last season? will it air along with the 13 episodes second season?
Dollhouse is the only TV show that will even approach the DVD sales of True Blood.
Twin Peaks, I say no. It’d be either The Office in September or Lost in I think December.
By the way, that’s a great pic of Olivia. She’s my favorite on the show. I love “cool but hot” Brits! She reminds me so much of Kate Beckinsale.
Richard, shouldn’t that be the other way around? Kate is great, but she can only aspire to one day achieve a similar screen presence.
“I’m not a Whedon fanboy”
Despite that, you’re still good people.
I have not seen Epitaph One, but being the best episode wouldn’t be that hard since the episodes of Dollhouse that I saw were not located even in the slums of Good.
I’m not a Whedon basher. I thought Firefly fans had a point.
Dollhouse? Not so much.
I am a fan of Whedon, and have been gradually warming to Dollhouse once the first few, fairly banal episodes were out of the way. Season 1 was in fact quite good by the end of the Season.
But Epitaph One?
Having seen it, and where the show could be headed, I am now definitely looking forward to a second season. The Dollhouse seems to be heading in a more interesting direction. I suppose we’ll still have to put up with a few, more-or-less standalone episodes to keep the doddering old men of the networks happy, but as long as we can still see the actual series plot taking precedence, that could be bearable.
I’m also going to be watching out for Fran Kranz in future serious dramatic roles (so far he’s had more comedic roles than anything else), as the scene where he is standing in the kitchen, absorbing the conversation in front of him, silently confronting the potential consequences of his actions, is priceless. He shows promise.
The only thing that could make me want to watch the next season any more, is if it were still in a double-slot with TSCC!
Hey Robert, hottie Maurissa “She could do so much better than Jed” Tancharoen write of Dollhouse and just before the credits in Epitaph One singer, is reading your site *g*
I just read her tweet, too. She’s brilliant, and simply adorable.
I think the unaired pilot was WAY better than the one they aired. Yes, it has “cult” written all over it, but so what? What’s wrong with having a cult show? There’re quite few on TV right now. Probably two.
I wanted something to be excited about every week, not just to pass the time. FOX really screw it over. They made Joss change the pilot and then it was hard to pick it up from there. I hope the writers get more freedom on the 2nd season, the network needs to have some faith.
Although, it is probably true that the Dollhouse audience are all Joss Whedon’s die-hard fans, or the vast majority. So i can understand why the network wanted something like the aired pilot rather than the original one.
On the other hand, Epitaph One was bloody fantastic! It was interesting, well-written, spoilery… it had everything a Whedon fan would expect. And i want more like that!
I don’t even think the original pilot was that culty – but it certainly was better than what aired.
What the original pilot has going for it the most is the fact that it pretty much covers the first five episodes worth of the “meat” of the show. The network stretched it out and added filler that no one liked.
Does anyone else think that Felicia Day should become a regular? I <3 her.
Well, I’ve just watched Epitaph One. Very interesting.
However, it was a bit claustrophobic since it takes place pretty much entirely within the confines of the Dollhouse. If this is what Joss means by how season 2 will look, it means the budget cuts are going to be drastic and very rarely will we see any location shooting as we did in season one. That’s going to be VERY claustrophobic VERY quickly.
My next question would be: is it Joss’ intention to weave back and forth from the present to the dystopian future? If so, he’d best be careful. This is one area where you can completely screw up – ask Josh Friedman. It’s nearly as bad as using time travel.
It would be far more preferable to keep everything in the present but give hints of how such a dystopian future could occur based on people’s actions in the present.
Also, there are two kinds of dystopias one can produce. You could call one the “disaster future”, where most people are dead or zombies or whatever, there is no economy or society per se, and there is little resources the heroes can draw on to survive. The other is the “cyberpunk” future where things are basically worse than they are now but there is still technology, some sort of economy (even if it’s all black market), and some sort of society, and the heroes have options other than scrounging for food and water. Not since the Mad Max movies have I bothered to be interested in scenario one, since they generally treat the future as hopeless. Scenario two is the only future I bother to consider watching. As a Transhumanist, I consider scenario one to be unacceptable, while scenario two is actually probable and pregnant with possibility.
So I would hope Whedon isn’t heading for scenario one, although Epitaph One certainly looked like it.
Finally, I thought the Caroline in Epitaph One was very different from the Echo we saw throughout season one, and much preferable. And it was nice to see Amy Acker without the scars.
It was a nice little coda that is rendered rather moot since they renewed the show, something I’m convinced Whedon never expected to happen based on this.
They give you the entire “plan” for the show in 49 minutes. The fun now will be watching them furiously trying to backpedal and call this one possible future or some such gubbins. Still being an Apocalypse junkie I enjoyed it.
Steven Hack wrote – Also, there are two kinds of dystopias one can produce. You could call one the “disaster future”, where most people are dead or zombies or whatever, there is no economy or society per se, and there is little resources the heroes can draw on to survive. The other is the “cyberpunk” future where things are basically worse than they are now but there is still technology, some sort of economy (even if it’s all black market), and some sort of society, and the heroes have options other than scrounging for food and water. Not since the Mad Max movies have I bothered to be interested in scenario one, since they generally treat the future as hopeless. Scenario two is the only future I bother to consider watching. As a Transhumanist, I consider scenario one to be unacceptable, while scenario two is actually probable and pregnant with possibility.
The first scenario worked in Threads pretty believable as well, and comically in A Boy and his Dog. Although most films/shows that follow that route can be a tad goofy and hard to accept like you said. 2019, After the Fall of New York for example.
Saw the un-aired pilot last night. I have to agree that it would have been a better first episode than the one that aired. It moved the story along much faster than the first few episodes that aired. Caroline/Echo was more interesting.
Interesting that the segment with Adelle talking to the client ended up in Epitaph One.
I can’t remember – was it ever explained in the last episodes WHO was sending the information out to Ballard from within the Dollhouse via Echo’s and November’s programming?
Not to mention, as I did previously, that Olivia looked particularly gorgeous in that scene, from which the pic above was taken.
I also think the original pilot was far more compelling and coherent than the first episode that was aired. Then they took the pilot, chopped up the mythology and sprinkled it throughout the first 6 episodes.
Very similar to Firefly- the ep they showed as the “pilot” was more lame and unfocused than the original Joss had made.
Virtually every review I’ve read of the unaired Dollhouse pilot finds it a huge improvement over what was aired. Is there a faint hope that Fox might learn from this? To trust Joss, and more importantly, to give the audience a little credit? To trust us, too? Because their meddling really messed with the flow of the show.
Interestingly, in the special features of the DVD, there is a bit where Tahmoh (Ballard) is confused at what point in the timeline he is acting in- because they filmed the episodes out of order! Joss is explaining the sequence of events to him- ditching the pilot actually confused everyone, as they weren’t sure what was being jettisoned, and what was being left in the mythology of the show. Joss was sort of apologetic at how Tahmoh’s character was being revised on the fly.
Well, watched EO, and thought it was “OK” rather than something amazing. But I’m wierd like that, I didn’t think Firefly was everything it was cracked up to be either. Disliked the format (it felt like a clip show) and felt they tried to cram so many concepts into that episode that in the end the underlying “This is what happened in the end” part just ended up being confusing. I’m pretty sure they’re trying to imply (*SPOILER*) that Topher invented the technology that ended up destroying civilization, presumably with Rossum pressing the button (*END SPOILER*) but I’m still a little confused.
I also really don’t like the “This isn’t just about imprinting personalities, but making other people be you” thing that was started by Haunted.
Not the best episode ever. It’s OK, but I’d say that if it had been one of the first five, then it would have been one of the better episodes, but compared to the series as a whole, it was fairly middling.
(Tried to post this yesterday but the posting didn’t go through)
Yeah, check “Spy in the house of love”. (*SPOILER*) Dominic is an NSA agent, did the reprogramming, and ends up being caught and sent to the attic. (*END SPOILER*)