I’ve watched the first three episodes, and I gotta say that I’ve not been impressed.  It misses so many of the things that have made Joss’ shows in the past riveting, must see viewing.  Things like zippy dialogue and plots that play with the viewers expectations and sympathetic characters.  In fact, for me the lack of character sympathy is the biggest issue I have with the concept.  More than the gender issues, which even as a white male I can see are problematic (the whole sex toy aspect etc). 

It’s impossible for "Echo" to be sympathetic because of what she is.  IT’s impossible for me to be symapthetic towards Echo’s handler because no matter how protective he is of her, he’s involved in the organisation and therefore a man of questionable morals and ethics.  The geeky guy is really annoying.  Paul, the cop, is so up his own arse with his obsession that it’s impossible to see him as the good guy.

So without engaging characters, I’m left with the story.  And the three episodes I’ve seen so far have been rubbish.  Especially the second episode, with all it’s predictable running around in the forest.  Actualy, the third episode might be worse, with it’s famous singer who wants to be killed by her number one fan – which has to be one of the more the more idiotic ideas.

There’s an arc that attempts to give some sort of substance to each of the stand alone stories.  But it’s really just annoying, and it raises questions as to why people think Doll House is a myth considering they sell their services to lots and lots of rich people.  Surely, someone, at some point, must have said something.  Otherwise, how does someone come to know about Dollhouse?

If I wasn’t watching the 12 episodes with a group of mates (for my sins) I’d probably stopped watching after episode 2.  So, it’ll be vaguely interestng to see if the show improves (I hear it does after episode 6) and whether I’ll be in the right frame of mind to notice.

But even if the show does improve and becomes a classic, the sin has already been committed.  Yes, I understand the networks were all over Joss in terms of the pilot and the first few episodes.  And I know he was on a tight schedule to fix things up.  But that doesn’t make thise first three episodes any less awful to watch.

Which is a shame, coz I do like Joss.  I think he’s a half decent writer.  But it’s ideas like Doll House that make you wonder whether he’s lost his mojo.