Top Five Imprints: Victor (Dollhouse)

Half the fun of Dollhouse is scrutinizing the performances by the actors playing the Dolls, and as Victor, Enver Gjokaj is tremendous.  He quickly became one of my biggest incentives to watch, and ever since, I get excited when I notice his name in the credits for a film or a show.  Of the many characters he brought quite specifically to life on Dollhouse, these are my favorites.

Anton Lubov

We first meet Victor as Lubov, a low-level mobster meant to throw Paul off the Dollhouse scent.  Lubov thinks he’s harder, more suave, and more important than he really is, and he’s a lot of fun as Paul’s unwilling informant.  Plus, I love imprints discussing the Dollhouse without knowing they’re Actives – nice dramatic irony (retroactively here, since it’s after Lubov describes the Dollhouse as an “alligators in the sewers” conspiracy theory that we learn he’s a Doll.)

Agent Tom Voran

This imprint isn’t as flashy as many of Gjokaj’s roles – there’s no accent, and it’s not a dead-on impression of a castmate – but I like it.  Tom is 100% sleek NSA efficiency, buttoned-up and highly tactical.  After jittery Lubov and innocent Doll-state Victor, Tom’s low-key, self-assured authority is a big change.  Plus, we get tons of interaction with Dominic, who barely bothers to hide his contempt for Actives and visibly rankles when he finds he’s been outranked by a Doll.

Drew Chilton

This is a small role in a middling episode, but I’m sort of stunned by it.  Though the part itself isn’t much – an intelligent horse-breeder – Gjokaj’s physicality is the major take-away here.  Despite having the exact same 20-something body that he does with every other imprint, you’d swear Chilton’s in his 40s, at least.  His measured walk and careful, deliberating thoughtfulness suggest someone much older, and I have no idea how he does it, but his body seems more gone-to-seed.  It’s not, clearly, but it feels like it is, just from his posture and his gait.  So impressive.

Topher Brink

No-brainer here.  When I first saw the slow pan up to Victor as Topher in “The Left Hand,” the voice was so perfect that I was convinced I was watching Fran Kranz in a flashback.  The writing is maybe a bit more forced-jokey than it usually is for Topher, but Gjokaj has the Dollhouse programmer down flat.  The voice, the energy, the easy distractedness, the anxiety, the probing intellect – it’s all there, to the letter.  One of the best things the series ever did, no question.

Dr. Golson

Another small role I like.  As the in-house psychologist with a strong Jewish vibe and Freudian views on sex, it’s broadly drawn, but Gjokaj does it well.  I like his drive-by assessment of Sierra and his on-the-nose lecture to Adele; though he’s been imprinted to examine Echo, he shifts to “diagnosing” Adele’s issue with her, like he just can’t help himself from psychoanalyzing.