Dollhouse

[Temporal Death]

They can be anyone you want.

The Dollhouse is a very secret, and very illegal, place where wishes come true. Clients with the right connections and enough money can hire "Actives", people who have been programmed to perfectly fulfill the needs, and desires of their clients.

… More The Actives are people who have chosen, for their own reasons, to surrender their bodies and minds for a five-year stay in the Dollhouse. Now they can be imprinted with any personality, skill, or even muscle memory. They can be the perfect companion, lover, spy, assassin; and when the job is done they forget everything.

But something is wrong with the Active called "Echo". No longer just a blank slate waiting for her next assignment, Echo is remembering flashes of the lives that she has lived and the games she has played, and she is starting to wonder just who she really is...

Dollhouse ran for two seasons; 26 episodes, from Feb 2009 to early Jan 2010.

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Okay, for those of us who have watched the show, we know it's much more than this. The characters, the themes, the plot (in S2 at least). So discuss here, and if you can type up a better summary, PM me with it, I'll edit it into this post.

Anyway, some of you might know that with the S2 DVD, there's a limited edition graphic novel coming out labelled "Epitaphs". This is published by Dark Horse (the same guys that do Buffy S8), and word has it, they're gonna release some more Dollhouse stuff next year.

That's the reason I posted this thread. But feel free to discuss the rest of the show. If we have a healthy discussion going, I might just get Terry to open up our own forum for this, seeing as there is hope of continuation.

[Phoenixlighter]

I started the show recently and finished Season 1, so if anyone discusses Season 2, please use Spoiler brackets. I'm loving it, especially the could-be future of "Epitaph Pt. 1", but I felt like it was a little hard to love Echo since she was an obvious inconsistency. I understand this is the formula of the show, but the little scopes we got to see of her weren't enough to make me love her, just made me curious. Maybe that's okay...? The times I did love her, it was because of Miss Eliza Dushku, so maybe they were banking on people returning every week to see her face despite what personality it was attached to. I know that was the reason I even purchased it in the first place.

I do just love the hell out of Adelle though. Her accent, dialogue, mannerisms are just fantastic. She better make it to the end.

It was great seeing Amy Acker again (another reason I bought the DVDs), although her role wasn't of her loving Fredness or the badassness of Illyria. Still, Dr. Saunders is pretty cool so far in my book.

What were a couple of your favorite personas of any of the Dolls, T.D?

[Temporal Death]

I loved Whiskey, and her prime persona, Dr Saunders. Her relationship with Topher and her tragedy with Alpha was really something that pulled me in, as well her her role in "Epitaph One". That and her innocence. The way Joss integrates the path a prostitute could take after being "free" is really intriguing to me.

For Whiskey, the girl doesn't know who she was, just who she is in the moment, a doctor. When she finds out that she is a doll (for a very long time, might I add), she doesn't want to remember who she was, because she knows who she is. I think that's a general feeling most people with a bad past they have forgotten have. And then in E1 she refuses to leave the place that gave her her new life and protect it, even killing herself in the process (I think, they never really clarified that).

SPOILER: Click to show

We see Echo becoming this super-ego that needs to let her former-self into her brain-bank of personalities, but ultimately evolve into her own person (who isn't Caroline, but Echo). This is similar to Whiskey, but Echo hates the Dollhouse, and only returns to ensure her survival as Echo.

Victor's term ends a few episodes before the series finale, and he finds himself out in the world without a clue of what he should do. After some issues with the military and being rescued by Echo, he helps the Dollhouse to take down the head of Rossum (as his original self, Tony), and all is well. Jump to Epitaph Two, and we have him giving in to the tech again and abusing it. This was interesting, as even though he was free to live a life of his own with Priya, no strings attached, he went back, because he missed it.

Sierra, on the other hand, didn't want to have to do anything with it. She was forced into the Dollhouse (unlike the others we've seen) and after finding her original self, she kept it.

Oh, other personas I liked:

- November's "green flower" Mellie person in S1.
- Victopher.
- Taffy, imprinted on both Echo and Sierra in S1. "Blue skies!"

And I'm sure there are a helluva lot more. What about you?

[Active Engaged]

I'm going to butt in.

Whiskey reminded me of Dawn from Buffy in so many ways. The finding out that you were created, that you aren't in fact real, and having to live with it. Whiskey was more gracious (kinda) about it, and not really bratty.

The things I most liked about the Epitaphs were the flashbacks, and how they eventually incorporated them into the show's second season. I'm sure they were planning on having them in the 5th season and gradually building up to them, but Joss did what he could, and rather well too.

When this show ended, I was devastated. Although most of the characters got the closure they deserved, I began feeling nostalgic straight away.

SPOILER: Click to show

I was especially devastated when Topher died. I know all the characters... are gone. But eh. I still felt awful.

Any news on the comic?