SPOILER ALERT: Before you read the rest of this post, stop time with your freeze ray and watch the final installment of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.
My thoughts after Act One still stand, but after watching the wrap-up over the weekend—it’s no longer free, but you can shell out for it at iTunes—here are my final thoughts:
* Sad as the ending was, it’s not surprising Whedon went the tragic route. Penny’s death reminded me a little of Tara’s death by gunshot on Buffy the Vampire Slayer—a show on which, for all the magic and creature drama, the most affecting deaths were often the most mundane (Tara’s and Buffy’s mom’s in particular).
* If I have one quibble about the ending, I wish Dr. Horrible’s final song were as strong as some of the others. On the other hand, getting to see Bad Horse in the flesh made it all worth it. And in a way, I think the rough edges of this project just endeared me more to it. The three parts only hold up better on re-watching, and this is probably the single TV comedy that will stick with me, looking back on summer 2008, the same way that, say, I think of Flight of the Conchords when I think of last summer.
* One thing that occurred to me but that I didn’t mention in my review of Act One was that part of what works so well about Dr. Horrible is how it mashes up genres that in retrospect seem perfect together. Blogs are a notoriously confessional, oversharing medium; musicals are about characters suddenly opening up and singing their innermost thoughts; and what do comic-book villains like to do? Monologue!
* It’s worth going back and freeze-framing the credits to see the Whedon associates cast in supporting roles, including Buffy writer-producers David Fury and Marni Noxon as the news reporters. It’s a great day to be homeless!
* So do you want to see more? (Talking to Maureen Ryan and Alan Sepinwall at the TCA press tour, Neil Patrick Harris held out future Dr. H iterations out as at least a possibility.) On the one hand, I sort of want this to remain an isolated, perfect thing, and it’s hard to imagine where the story would go next, having taken such a dark turn at the end. On the other hand, it does potentially set up a redemption storyline, and—who am I kidding? Bring it on! But tell me if you disagree. It’s not enough to bash in heads; you’ve got to bash in minds.