Dollhouse

So, recently I rewatched Dollhouse, a series created by Joss Whedon aired on Fox between 2009 and 2010.  I had watched the original run of the first season and stopped midway through the second season because life got a tad bit hectic and I didn't really have time for it.  I remember having mixed feelings about it when it originally aired because supposedly feminist Joss Whedon created a show about people who are brainwashed into essentially being the perfect whores.  For some reason that didn't sit well with me, what do you think?

The story itself is a bit deeper than that because it's Joss Whedon and he's pretty good about adding depth and layers to stories though I think this one had the most depth which made it difficult for the average audience to really latch onto and love it.  In another person's hands they could've probably handled it better to get the audience to connect with the story more, but so much of the story would've been sacrificed that it wouldn't have been worth it for more than shock value.

So, what's this story about?

It's about a girl called Echo who works at a facility called "The Dollhouse", a secret underground organization with the business of giving people "what they need".  However, their method is a little high-tech and different from the average "giving you what you need" organization.  Most of the people who work at the Dollhouse can be placed into two categories: actives and handlers.  Actives are people who's brains have been wiped of all memories and experiences, thus living in a permanent tabula rasa state until they are sent out on an assignment (called "engagements") at which time personality, memories, and knowledge are uploaded into their minded the way you would upload files on the computer.  Handlers are people who haven't been wiped who take care of the actives.  For every active there is a handler.  Echo is an active and her handler at the beginning of the story is Boyd.  Not only is she an active, but she's the number one active who gets the most requests for engagements.

So, if you're a man and you're lonely, you can hire a girl from the Dollhouse to be you're perfect mate.  On the other hand, if you're a woman and you're lonely you can do the same thing with a nice guy.  If your child is kidnapped and held ransom, you can get the best hostage negotiator ever to get that child back.  If you're pregnant and you want a natural birth, you can get the best home birther ever.  If you need an undercover operative to blow a case wide-open, you can hire an active to do that too. The possibilities are endless.  At one point, a woman even hires the Dollhouse to imprint herself into a body after she dies so she can solve her own murder and then she happily gives the body up once everyone has closure.

So, the story isn't just about a whorehouse.  It's about slavery because these people, these actives don't know what their doing!  Yes, they freely chose to sign their bodies away to the Dollhouse for a five-year period.  That's how long each contract lasts.  At the end of the five years, they get their body back and a really nice retirement plan.  However, within those five years, they could be doing anything and they don't know because their minds have been erased!

And the cool part is that the point I mentioned above?  That's not the only thing they play with!  Joss and company don't just touch on the ethical issues of a company like this existing, that's just the tip of the iceberg.   They also cover the question of identity.  What makes you really you as opposed to, say, me?  Is it your memories, personality and the things you know or does it go deeper than that? OR is there something deeper than that? Something that can't be touched by the brain? Could whatever it is not even be affected by the brain?

If you have the memories of fifty people in your head, which set of memories is the real you and what in the bloody hell are those other forty-nine doing in there?

It was really fascinating and interesting to me.  Then again, as you've seen in previous posts, I like stuff that plays with your mind and perceptions of reality.

Now, what was wrong with the show?  Well, the pacing was a bit uneven to me.  All the episodes were about the same length: one hour.  However, some of them seemed to drag on and on and on. Meanwhile, other episodes seemed to go so fast you really didn't know what just happened. like the last two episodes of season one that were aired on TV, Briar Rose and Omega.  Briar Rose had so much going on in it simultaneous, that I think I barely breathed the whole episode.  Omega had the same problem.  Then there were other episodes where I was flat out bored, like Stage Fright and Vows. It was just uneven.  Joss Whedon is usually really good at building the tension for a big bad throughout a season and then having a season finale that really rocks, but even in Buffy and Angel, I noticed that the episodes that don't lend a whole lot to the plot sometimes suck.  However, Vows was the premier for season two so I shouldn't have been bored! There's no excuse!

Now, I'm not going to give anything away, but if you want a definate, certifiable happy ending, you need to not watch the Epitaph episodes because they're downright depressing, but if you end on season two, episode twelve, there is a definite, unmitigated happy ending with only a couple of really sad spots.  I'm telling you this because Epitaph Two made me cry like a baby that had just been smacked with a frying pan.

Sweet Dreams!