Playing With Dolls: 'Dollhouse'

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"DOLLHOUSE" IS A tricky series to preview, given the duplicity of the show's first season finale: the last episode that aired on Fox last spring ("Omega") was not, in fact, the episode which Joss Whedon intended to close out the season. That episode, "Epitaph One", aired at the Comic Con in San Diego this summer, is part of the first season DVD set, and will air alongside the rest of the show in foreign markets — but is expected never to air on Fox in the US.

Setting aside the obvious question — how much does the average US viewer need to know from "Epitaph One" to enjoy and understand the second season? — for the moment, here's a brief synopsis of the show's premise, followed by where we left off last season and what to expect from Season 2.

The show's premise: The show is about an underground agency that, in essence, makes scenarios come true for its wealthy clients, with the use of "actives" or "dolls". These actives are people who have agreed to have their personalities and memories wiped clean for a period of five years, thus becoming a "blank slate" that can be molded and shaped into any personality ordered up by the Dollhouse's clients. Kidnapping negotiator? Sure! Bank robber? No problem. Surrogate for a late wife? Absolutely.

The actives go by the names in the phonetic alphabet: Echo (Eliza Dushku), Victor, Sierra, Whiskey, November, and so on.; they are managed by Dollhouse head honcho Adelle DeWitt (Olivia Williams), and their personalities are imprinted by computer whiz Topher Brink. Throughout the first season, as we watch these actives go on assignments, an FBI agent named Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett from "Battlestar Galactica") is trying to piece together the whereabouts of a missing girl named Caroline — who happens to be Echo.

Where we left off last season: In the season finale, Echo is kidnapped by Alpha, a rogue active who has wreaked havoc on the Dollhouse previously, and imprints her with all of her previous personalities at once. Ballard has finally infiltrated the Dollhouse and is assisting Adelle and Boyd (the Dollhouse's head of security, masterfully played by Harry Lennix) in finding Echo and Alpha. While the rest of the Dollhouse comes to terms with the implications of Alpha's reappearance (most importantly, Dr. Saunders/Whiskey realizes that she's actually a doll who has been imprinted with the skills to be the in-house physician since she's too scarred from Alpha's previous attack to be fit for assignments), Boyd and Ballard track down Echo and save her — along with her original "Caroline" personality disc — while Alpha escapes. Ballard agrees to work at the Dollhouse in exchange for one of the dolls' freedom. And in yet another one of the show's brilliant little hints that the dolls do have an awareness of their past lives, the episode closes with Echo, safely back at the Dollhouse and wiped clean of all memories, curling up to sleep in her pod and whispering, "Caroline".

What we learned in "Epitaph One": "Epitaph One" is a post-apocalyptic thriller set ten years in the future that makes only sporadic (but crucial) use of the regular cast. Through the eyes of a handful of "actuals" (non-imprinted humans), we learn how the Dollhouse's technology, taken to extreme, led to the downfall of civilization. Like every good Joss Whedon finale, it raises as many questions as it answers; through flashbacks, we see Echo/Caroline and Ballard pulling the wool over the eyes of everyone at the House, we see Boyd fleeing the House, and we learn only tangentially of Alpha's presence in the world. It is a masterful way of adding a 13th episode whose content is alluring for the die-hard fans but not essential for the casual viewer: after all, we may know the destination, 10 years down the line, but we know very little about the journey of how everyone ended up there.

What to expect from this season: The second season carries on similarly to Season 1: Echo is sent out on another assignment, with former-Agent Ballard by her side. But the difference is that Echo is still reeling from the impact of bearing so many imprints at once, an affliction that causes problems for her — and Ballard — on this assignment. While it's interesting to watch Ballard adjust to life within the Dollhouse, the real star of this episode is Whiskey (Amy Acker). Still reeling from the discovery that she's a doll imprinted with doctor skills, she spends much of this episode wrestling with who she is and why she feels the way she does, a struggle which is not so different from what a non-active of her age would be going through, outside the Dollhouse. And when Boyd says to her, "Everyone I know is poorly-constructed.", you know he's not just talking about dolls.

» Fox, Fridays, starting Sept. 25, 9 p.m.

» RELATED: "Whedon's House of Pain: 'Dollhouse' Season One DVD" [Express, Aug. 2009]
» RELATED: "Swing the Hammer: Top Five Joss Whedon Characters" [Express, Feb. 2009]

Written by Express contributor Catherine Lewis
Images courtesy Fox