Whedon’s Dollhouse promising despite flaws

by Loretta Wiatr, 3L
Law Weekly
March 3, 2009

Okay, I should probably start by saying I'm a total fangirl. Joss Whedon opens his mouth, or lifts up his pen, or even does the Dance of Joy like in that one episode of Angel, and I'm squealing like an excited schoolgirl. TV, movies, comic books-I can't get enough. So when I first heard about the development of Dollhouse, which would become the first Whedonesque foray back into the magic land of television in five years (and his first new series in seven), I was very excited.

As new details about the series began to emerge, however, I grew a tad concerned. First of all, it was going to be on FOX, a network which, through the use of erratic programming and executive interference, managed to bring about the (far too) early demise of Firefly, Whedon's last series. And, as could be expected, FOX began messing with the works of Dollhouse pretty regularly as it was being filmed last summer and fall. Stories of forced rewrites and FOX dissatisfaction made their way through the blogosphere, and I was concerned.

Nonetheless, on the night of the premiere, about two weeks back, I was excited. Like, really excited. So excited, I threw a party.

Yes, my dear readers, I hosted a Dollhouse dinner party, attended by two of my fellow Law Weekly staffers. (No, I won't tell you who it was. Just that one of them writes the horoscopes to the right, and one wrote the column to the left. Oh, that gave away who it was? Oops, my bad.)

So, over Thai take-out, mimosas, and cupcakes, we settled down for the first new Whedon TV offering in five years.

The premise of the show is this: our heroine, Echo (played by Eliza Dushku) got herself into some kind of trouble bad enough that she opted to escape from it by having her entire personality and memory erased to function as an "active" in the so-called "Dollhouse." As an "active," she takes on the personalities requested by her clients, and serves them in various ways.

Does it sound like she's some kind of high-priced escort? Well, yep, that's pretty much true.

And herein lies (one of) the problem(s) with the show. The very first assignment we see Echo on has her functioning as a client's dream date for a wild weekend. Implanted with the personality of this man’s ideal woman, she begins to develop real feelings for him, only to have her memory wiped shortly thereafter. At this point, her chosen career is beginning to look less like sex work and more like sex slavery, in that conscious choice is no longer a part of the equation for our protagonist. Whedon is known for his feminist take on old paradigms (see Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for example), so I found myself surprised that this would be the theme of his new series.

Nonetheless, early indicators suggest that, while a type of sex slavery will be occurring in Dollhouse, this slavery will not go unexamined. The individuals who run the Dollhouse and perform the memory wipes are portrayed as being immoral, if not amoral. Her "handler," a former cop who accompanies her surreptitiously on all her assignments, played by Harry Lennix, clearly displays his distaste for what is done at the Dollhouse, but fulfills his role as Echo's protector out of what seems to be a genuine concern for her wellbeing. And an FBI agent, played by Tahmoh Penikett (Helo from Battlestar Galactica), is trying to bring the elusive Dollhouse down.

Still, I found myself wishing during the first episode that a more critical eye was being turned on the Dollhouse.

The second episode (easily the best of the three that I have seen so far) begins to solve this problem by having one of Echo's "romantic" assignments attempt to hunt her using a bow and arrow, emphasizing the danger that the "actives" are placed in every time they go on an assignment. Moreover, the second episode reveals the ramifications of what happens when one of the "actives" is psychologically damaged by the "wiping" process. In typical Whedon-fashion, bloodshed and mayhem ensue, externalizing the internal damage done to the "active."

The third episode was nothing spectacular -- Echo acts as a bodyguard for a Pussycat Dolls-esque singer/diva type. If nothing else, this episode emphasizes one point made in the first episode -- many of Echo's assignments will have her functioning as an expert in various fields, rather than as a sex worker.

Whedon and Dushku have both said in interviews that the series will begin to fall into place around the sixth episode, admitting, without saying as much, that the first few episodes have given the series a somewhat rocky start. Despite, however, this rocky beginning, I've found myself drawn to the show, especially after watching the so-far-best-of-the-series second episode. As I said at the beginning, I'm a fangirl. I have faith that my moral qualms about what exactly is going on in the Dollhouse will be addressed as the series unfolds. Besides, Joss Whedon at his worst is still better than many other TV producers at their best.

This sentiment is best illustrated by a moment from my premiere-watching party. After the credits rolled, my friends and I burst into applause simply to hear the "Grr! Argh!" of the Mutant Enemy monster as he marched his way across my TV screen. I figure that a TV creator who can inspire that much devotion from his fans can be entrusted to make a watchable hour of TV every week.