spacing hack
I finished Dollhouse last night and I must say I'm kinda bummed.
Halfway through season 2, Dollhouse really started to pick up the pace and became must watch TV for me (which is somewhat moot when you're watching it on a DVD, of course).
I can't help but think that if all of Dollhouse had been like season 2.5, it would've never been on the brink of cancellation. But then part of me thinks that a large reason why it got so good is that they were fairly certain they were going to get cancelled so they decided to go out in spectacular fashion.
I do chalk up a lot of the problem to the fact that Echo was supposed to be the main character, but for a long time, she had absolutely no progression as a character. As per the premise, she would completely reset and become a new person for each episode. And I think that made it hard for there to be any real sense of connection between the audience and Echo's character. And there was also not any real sense of movement; things weren't building. I remember season 1 feeling like a bunch of individual set pieces that weren't really connected.
But all of that really changed midway through season 2. I just wish they had gone that route sooner.
So, though Dollhouse was flawed in the beginning, I will fondly remember their great exit.
And I can forever dream that all cancelled shows get the chance to be wrapped up properly.