Dr Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog. Some rambling musings.

Spoilers follow.

Last week it was everywhere on the internet. Those of us who are of the mind to follow Joss Whedon’s repetoire where treated to three acts of supervillain musical glory.

Now I’ve read a lot of chat from people who were dissatisfied with the final act. There were also grumbles from folks who were unhappy that Joss killed another likeable character as if this has become his signature.

I can sort of see their point. I’m a fan of Whedon’s work but I’m not blind to his faults (I’m looking at you season six of Buffy and season four of Angel). That said I’ve been thinking about Dr Horrible quite a lot recently.

A lot of the plot revolves around making Dr Horrible a likeable character despite being a villain. Neil Patrick Harris is experiencing a renaissance as a comic actor at the moment which is fantastic and frankly he does a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to selling us Billy as our protaganist. Nathan Fillion helps by playing Captain Hammer as a total “corporate tool” and a huge prat.

That said, the writing team have rooted Dr Horrible’s motivations in frustration with the world around him. He was probably bullied as a child so being victim to Captain Hammer’s humiliation must seem like old hat. This is a guy who’s become so fed up with getting shat on by life he’s turned to the life of a supervillain in attempt to change the status quo. Because as he points out the status is not quo.

That’s true. Joss has similarly seen the worst Hollywood can dish out and has retained enough of his humanity to see that the world is a mess. We can all relate to that. Anyone who has been reading these blogs of mine can see I’m certanly getting fed up with feeling like I’m being trod into the ground by the heel of modern society.

Billy is at pains in Act Two to disregard violence. He wants to be a mad scientist evil villain and reformat the world in his image, not become a psychotic murderer. It’s only when Captain Hammer provokes the jealousy within the Doctor that he vows to kill the superdouche. But even then he hesitates at the final moment.

So perhaps this is Whedon’s message in Dr Horrible. Life shits on you and it will try to make you bitter. You may change your views and embrace a darker path. But you get out of life what you put into it. Or something, Wait, my mobile’s ringing.

Hey Joss. How’s you? Oh, you’ve been reading my latest blog. Uh, how? I haven’t clicked publish yet. Oh, eeep. Is that what Bad Horse’s terrifying death whiny sounds like?

What’s that? We’re reading too much into a 45 minute musical? It’s just something you and your family did as a laugh during the writer’s strike?

Sometimes a dead Wiccan lesbian is just a dead Wiccan lesbian?

Wait, you’re just messing with me aren’t you? Hello? Joss? Hello?

Hmmm, he’s gone.

Well, screw it. I loved Dr Horrible and that’s the moral I’m going to try and derive from the story. If you let the horrible and depressing parts of life grind you down and make you hard you will end up lonelier and bitter.

And you won’t feel.

A thing.