[Dollhouse] More on the big bad
Jan. 14th, 2010 11:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lightcastleTheories on the big bad. Working on the "Whedon is kind of predictable" meter of "you aren't supposed to expect it", "it breaks TV rules", and "its supposed to be a gut punch" here are my guesses.
This is working on the assumption of main cast. It is very easy for it to be someone innocuous suddenly becoming the big villain. (Ivy, for example, or some last-minute "power behind the throne" that Rossum is just a front for.)
1) Caroline is the big bad. Bennet is crazy, but she's right that Caroline is dangerous. Echo even fears Caroline coming back. Caroline as leading a composite like Omega was intended to be, with a serial killer brain and such? Nasty.
Pros: Total mindfuck and takes one of the cardinal rules (we are on the side of our main character) and screws with it.
Cons: Epitaph One pretty heavily implies that's not the case. Ballard and Caroline seem to be fighting to stop the tech and save people. But Caroline does mention Alpha is manning Haven, so maybe it is a "they threw the rest of the world under the bus" thing.
2) Saunders is the big bad. Or rather, whoever Whiskey was before. Saunders herself could be an interesting big bad, and if Alpha got to her then maybe he spiked the composite event in her. Saunders having decided who she is and turning could be good, but that makes little sense. Far more likely - and consistent with "all actives have the architecture still there" - is Saunders coming back and being triggered by the bad guy. We all like Saunders, and her finding peace with herself, then doing something like shooting Boyd when he says he loves her would be very Joss. Sure, he already did it with Millie, but this just makes it worse since you think he won't do it again.
Pros: We like her and that would hurt. It gives a good reason to be the totally wiped Whiskey we see in Epitaph One.
Cons: As above, unless she gets an Alpha upgrade, she's too easy to stop and I expect her more likely to be a secondary tool of badness as that seems more consistent.
3) Priya or Antony/Sierra or Victor. Eh. You can do the same thing as Saunders and have them triggered but it would be hard to make them evil themselves. We do see Victor taken over by the higher ups in Rossom (I forget the name) in Epitaph One, so you can lose him to that of course. Priya seems unlikely because we've seen her back story and she has the first "birth mark" tattoo on her in Epitaph One. They seem unlikely choices.
4) Ballard. All the mindfuck advantages of Caroline, but makes far less sense. We've been privy (We think) to enough of his backstory and personal life that it would be difficult to justify. OF course, one of the premises is that ANYONE can be an active, so now that we've established houses will run secret manipulations on one another, it opens up the possibility of Ballard as a long-term mole. They would have to explain how he wasn't hit by the Disruptor, of course, and that would be hard. I think this one unlikely.
5) Topher. Discussed earlier. Not my first choice, but doable.
6) DeWitt. Also benefits from the "failed redemption" arc, but has always been less sympathetic. We also see her pretty much leading the struggle to make the LA Dollhouse a safe haven. I can't see this one, although we can certainly get a reveal on some terrible past indiscretion.
7) Rossum is not the bad guy, someone else is. I'm still fond of this one. Rossum is fighting aliens/another government/etc. The company really isn't the bad guy, or didn't start that way and elements are still fighting... something like that. Dominic and the NSA spying could be a clue that Rossum is actually not the ones in charge.
8) Boyd. I'm really fond of this one for the same reasons as Caroline and Ballard. He was our intro and our moral compass in Season One. Make him the big bad and it's nasty. Of course, he's been pushed more rear guard in Season Two and also has become less the "voice in the wilderness" for morality, so it would be less effective. Still, you can make an argument for it. He leaves *before* everything goes down in Epitaph One, so he isn't on the more obvious "side of the angels" there. He also has a mysterious past (unlike Ballard). (Of course, so do lots of people on the show). Given his strong moral compass, it is hard to justify, though. Of course, he can be a doll (although again I think they would need to explain his immunity to the disruptor.)
He did join right after the Alpha incident, and while that was explained as personnel openings due to the massacre, if he was involved with the Alpha incident in some way, it is the perfect time to get in and look for the new Alpha. (Actually, given his fondness for Echo and his encouraging of her making her own identity, you could argue the Alpha thing was an accident an then he's been trying to recreate it since and so chose to come in and follow Echo closely.)
That's pretty weak sauce for motivation, though. Caroline is a better choice in some ways. I can give Boyd an Echo/anti-Dollhouse agenda, but nothing comes to mind as to how to make him Big Bad. (Well, unless you go with the "Rossum was once good" or "Rossum was the victim of a power usurpation" story, in which case he can be from the people who were ousted trying to get back in. Tough to explain why no one recognizes him, then, though.)
If I had to pick? Personally I would choose Caroline, because that's the best mind fuck and does have some in-text reasons to back it up. I don't think he could get the network to sign off on it, though, and assuming the series was supposed to go on and he found out fairly late it really was done, I can't see Eliza going for it either. Too bad, though, it would be awesome.
That being the case, the next best gut punch is Boyd. (Only because I find Ballard boring and so won't care if he goes evil.)
OK fine, the next best is Ballard and that's probably who I should vote for. It doesn't seem to track well story wise, but it would be shocking and Joss obviously likes the actor more than I do.
I'm fond of the Boyd theory, though. It's sneaky, and doesn't seem to contradict anything we've seen. I'm hard pressed to come up with a motive other than "secret creator of Alpha" or "Rival of Rossum Corp" though. (And I think Alpha attacks him at the end of Season One, so that seems out.)
I'll officially vote Ballard, though, if it is a main cast member.
This is working on the assumption of main cast. It is very easy for it to be someone innocuous suddenly becoming the big villain. (Ivy, for example, or some last-minute "power behind the throne" that Rossum is just a front for.)
1) Caroline is the big bad. Bennet is crazy, but she's right that Caroline is dangerous. Echo even fears Caroline coming back. Caroline as leading a composite like Omega was intended to be, with a serial killer brain and such? Nasty.
Pros: Total mindfuck and takes one of the cardinal rules (we are on the side of our main character) and screws with it.
Cons: Epitaph One pretty heavily implies that's not the case. Ballard and Caroline seem to be fighting to stop the tech and save people. But Caroline does mention Alpha is manning Haven, so maybe it is a "they threw the rest of the world under the bus" thing.
2) Saunders is the big bad. Or rather, whoever Whiskey was before. Saunders herself could be an interesting big bad, and if Alpha got to her then maybe he spiked the composite event in her. Saunders having decided who she is and turning could be good, but that makes little sense. Far more likely - and consistent with "all actives have the architecture still there" - is Saunders coming back and being triggered by the bad guy. We all like Saunders, and her finding peace with herself, then doing something like shooting Boyd when he says he loves her would be very Joss. Sure, he already did it with Millie, but this just makes it worse since you think he won't do it again.
Pros: We like her and that would hurt. It gives a good reason to be the totally wiped Whiskey we see in Epitaph One.
Cons: As above, unless she gets an Alpha upgrade, she's too easy to stop and I expect her more likely to be a secondary tool of badness as that seems more consistent.
3) Priya or Antony/Sierra or Victor. Eh. You can do the same thing as Saunders and have them triggered but it would be hard to make them evil themselves. We do see Victor taken over by the higher ups in Rossom (I forget the name) in Epitaph One, so you can lose him to that of course. Priya seems unlikely because we've seen her back story and she has the first "birth mark" tattoo on her in Epitaph One. They seem unlikely choices.
4) Ballard. All the mindfuck advantages of Caroline, but makes far less sense. We've been privy (We think) to enough of his backstory and personal life that it would be difficult to justify. OF course, one of the premises is that ANYONE can be an active, so now that we've established houses will run secret manipulations on one another, it opens up the possibility of Ballard as a long-term mole. They would have to explain how he wasn't hit by the Disruptor, of course, and that would be hard. I think this one unlikely.
5) Topher. Discussed earlier. Not my first choice, but doable.
6) DeWitt. Also benefits from the "failed redemption" arc, but has always been less sympathetic. We also see her pretty much leading the struggle to make the LA Dollhouse a safe haven. I can't see this one, although we can certainly get a reveal on some terrible past indiscretion.
7) Rossum is not the bad guy, someone else is. I'm still fond of this one. Rossum is fighting aliens/another government/etc. The company really isn't the bad guy, or didn't start that way and elements are still fighting... something like that. Dominic and the NSA spying could be a clue that Rossum is actually not the ones in charge.
8) Boyd. I'm really fond of this one for the same reasons as Caroline and Ballard. He was our intro and our moral compass in Season One. Make him the big bad and it's nasty. Of course, he's been pushed more rear guard in Season Two and also has become less the "voice in the wilderness" for morality, so it would be less effective. Still, you can make an argument for it. He leaves *before* everything goes down in Epitaph One, so he isn't on the more obvious "side of the angels" there. He also has a mysterious past (unlike Ballard). (Of course, so do lots of people on the show). Given his strong moral compass, it is hard to justify, though. Of course, he can be a doll (although again I think they would need to explain his immunity to the disruptor.)
He did join right after the Alpha incident, and while that was explained as personnel openings due to the massacre, if he was involved with the Alpha incident in some way, it is the perfect time to get in and look for the new Alpha. (Actually, given his fondness for Echo and his encouraging of her making her own identity, you could argue the Alpha thing was an accident an then he's been trying to recreate it since and so chose to come in and follow Echo closely.)
That's pretty weak sauce for motivation, though. Caroline is a better choice in some ways. I can give Boyd an Echo/anti-Dollhouse agenda, but nothing comes to mind as to how to make him Big Bad. (Well, unless you go with the "Rossum was once good" or "Rossum was the victim of a power usurpation" story, in which case he can be from the people who were ousted trying to get back in. Tough to explain why no one recognizes him, then, though.)
If I had to pick? Personally I would choose Caroline, because that's the best mind fuck and does have some in-text reasons to back it up. I don't think he could get the network to sign off on it, though, and assuming the series was supposed to go on and he found out fairly late it really was done, I can't see Eliza going for it either. Too bad, though, it would be awesome.
That being the case, the next best gut punch is Boyd. (Only because I find Ballard boring and so won't care if he goes evil.)
OK fine, the next best is Ballard and that's probably who I should vote for. It doesn't seem to track well story wise, but it would be shocking and Joss obviously likes the actor more than I do.
I'm fond of the Boyd theory, though. It's sneaky, and doesn't seem to contradict anything we've seen. I'm hard pressed to come up with a motive other than "secret creator of Alpha" or "Rival of Rossum Corp" though. (And I think Alpha attacks him at the end of Season One, so that seems out.)
I'll officially vote Ballard, though, if it is a main cast member.
