by Sarah Michelson

Created on: June 06, 2009   Last Updated: June 07, 2009

Dollhouse is a science fiction/drama show that has just finished its first season on Fox. Written by Joss Whedon, the revered creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Dr.Horrible's Sing Along Blog, and the ill-fated Firefly, it had a large number of Whedon devotees both excited and nervous, though most checked it out.

Despite a slow start, the show decidedly improved as the season progressed. It received potentially low ratings, partially from airing in the 'Friday night death slot', or Friday nights at nine, when those with lives leave the house. Others sit pastily in front of the T.V., watching reruns of Buffy. Many fans were frightened to get invested in this series, after Fox cancelled one of Whedon's earlier creations, Firefly, only eleven episodes in. Early rumors boded ill for Dollhouse as well, with a redone pilot, delayed airdate, and never to be aired thirteenth episode. However, against all odds, the series has been renewed.

The show is centered around the Dollhouse, a mysterious facilty housing people whose personalities have been replaced. The focus of the show is one of these 'dolls', called Echo, played by Eliza Dushku. These 'dolls' are imprinted with new personalities to be sent on assignments, ranging from the perfect date to a bank robber. Part of the show's appeal, as put by the lab technician, Topher (Fran Kranz), is that its "cutting edge science, in a house full of hot chicks." Indeed, in order to be a doll, you seem to need to be under thirty and beautiful. Then again, you need that to do anything on T.V. As the season progressed, the show became less 'mission of the week' based, and revealed significantly more about the characters. This is difficult to do, when a large percentage of your cast has their personalities changed on a regular basis.

Echo, the show's protagonist, seems to be rapidly approaching a 'composite event,' in which she will remember and access all of her previous personalities. This has happened once before, with deadly consequences. Alpha (the dolls are named based on the NATO phonetic alphabet), played by Alan Tudyk, went a bit mad upon gaining access to his dozens of personalities, and essentially became Jack-the-multi-personalitied-insanely-skillfull-ripp er, massacreing many of the members of the dollhouse. He then escaped, and has evaded the Dollhouse's grasp. FBI agent Paul Ballard is, however, tasked with finding the Dollhouse. His coworkers believe him to be investigating an urban legend, and, halfway through the season, he is suspended. However, his determination to find Echo does not waver, and the Dollhouse is not oblivious, sending in a variety of actives to control various aspects of his life. The end of the season brings all of these crashing together, leaving the Dollhouse alive, but bleeding.

The turning point for this show was likely the sixth episode, Man on the Street, notably also when Fox gave Whedon significantly more freedom. Given this show's steep learning curve, its likley they will have a very impressive second season.

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