Welcome to the Dollhouse

"Forget morality. Imagine it's true. Imagine this technology being used. Now imagine it being used, on you. Everything you believe, gone. Everyone you love, strangers. Maybe enemies. Every part of you that makes you more than a walking cluster of neurons, dissolved at someone elses whim. If that technology exists, it'll be used. It'll be abused. It'll be global! And we will be over. As a species, we will cease to matter. I don't know. Maybe we should?"


***

It has been a long time since I've last followed a TV series religiously. Every since "ANGEL" ended on the now defunct WB, I've given up on television with the exception of my new addiction to TVDVD's. But five years later, I've returned to the tube because Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse" has finally hit the airwaves.

For those of you who haven't heard, "Dollhouse" is Joss Whedon's (creator of "Buffy", "ANGEL" and "Firefly") latest television prodigy. The premise of the series is this: A secret organization, the Dollhouse, houses a numerous amount of 'Actives,' people who have had their personalities wiped clean, leaving them in a tabula-rasa'd like state. Clients then come to the Dollhouse and for a large amount of money, an active is imprinted with all of the desired traits and abilities that the client wants. They are then able to walk away with the perfect thief, the perfect assassin, or the perfect lover.

The show focuses primarily on Echo (Eliza Dushku), an active who starts becoming more self aware after every engagement, and Paul Ballard, the FBI cop who is hell-bent on uncovering the legend of the Dollhouse. Rounding up the ensemble is Adele Dewitt (Olivia Williams), the lead official who will do anything and everything to protect the Dollhouse, and two other actives, Sierra (Dichen Lachman) and Victor (Enver Gjovak) who are drawn to Echo.

After tonight's episode, I'm officially in for the long haul. Ever since this project began, FOX, who tapped Whedon to develop a new series for their network, has been interfering with the creative process of the series. Having penned an apparently mind-blowing pilot episode, FOX ordered him to re-write it in an effort to dumb it down in order to make the show more accessible to viewers. However, their efforts failed as the ratings have been bubbling below FOX's standards, which puts the series in cancellation jeopardy (which is what happened to Firefly, another one of Whedon's genius creations).

And now after tonight's sixth episode, Whedon believes that the series is gearing back towrds his original vision. He can tell the stories that he wants to tell and "Dollhouse" is finally ready to show how much it kicks ass. So if you guys have the chance, check it out every Friday night on FOX, at 9 pm.

***


"If you could have somebody be the perfect person, the moment you wish for, that you know you're never going to get.... and someone, signed on to do that, to help you. I think, that could be okay. I think that could be...maybe, beautiful."