Dollhouse Winding Up

Watched the latest episode of Dollhouse yesterday. All I can say is...

Dude.

I'm sad that Dollhouse is ending after this season. But one perhaps-positive side-effect is that it has forced Joss Whedon to get his story moving. So many shows with an overall mystery arc pad and stretch that story unbearably, hoping to make it last for as long as the show needs to last.

The first halves of both seasons of Dollhouse had touches of that. In a sense, we needed that gradual build-up, especially in the first season, to ingrain the basic concepts in us and let us get to know and like the characters before it started hitting us with all the action later. The first half of this season slowed down some, and it's necessary to slow down sometimes. And maybe Whedon thought he had time to take it easy. Maybe he thought that the word-of-mouth buzz that saved the show late in the first season would let him continue for a good long while.

But it didn't happen. Fox announced they were canceling the show, and now Whedon is rushing through the second half of the season, trying to wrap up the story he meant to tell over a period of maybe years.

And in one sense, maybe it's going a little too fast. But in another sense, you wish other shows had felt the same type of urgency (I'm looking at you, Prison Break--yeah, don't try to hide in the back, you know I'm right). And I've got to admit, the ride is exhilarating.

Oh, yeah, and Chuck returns tonight. I'm afraid the shark, she has been jumped with this one, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.