Living the Fictional Dream

Did you watch the premier of Dollhouse, the latest bit of television by the incredible Joss Whedon, last Friday night? If not, what were you thinking? At least set the DVR/TiVo/VCR! C’mon… it’s Joss! It also stars Eliza Dushku, who is both an amazing actress and gorgeous.

If you haven’t heard about the show (and Joss and Eliza alone aren’t enough to pull you in), here’s the concept. A mysterious company has developed a system that allows a person’s mind to be completely wiped and reprogrammed with another personality. By what seems to be nefarious methods, the company has assembled a group of “dolls” (a.k.a., actives) who, if you have enough money to pay for it, can literally be whoever you want them to be.

In the first episode, Echo (played by Eliza) is both a guy’s weekend dream date and a negotiator specializing in the return of kidnapped children. And, in between the two, we meet Echo herself. Echo seems quiet and bidable, but there is a glimmer of intelligence behind that passive face, as she questions her doctor about injuries that she no longer remembers getting and stumbles upon the rather painful looking creation of a new active. We even got a couple of brief glimpses of Caroline — the woman Echo was before signing up with the company — an idealistic college graduate who wanted to change the world and got involved in something that turned out really, really badly.

This role will give Eliza a ton of room to stretch her acting chops, as she goes from role to role as an active. The thing that makes Echo stand out from the crowd, though, is that she’s beginning to remember things from previous incarnations. For example, the negotiator remembered something that only Echo should have known. So, it seems as if eventually Echo’s questioning nature will take a more investigative turn.

In addition to Echo, we have a group of interesting characters peopling the Dollhouse world. Her handler is a new guy (possibly an ex-cop). He wants to right wrongs, but the company just wants him to get Echo back in one piece and, if possible, get what the client wants done completed, as well.

There is also a mysterious person from Caroline’s past who’s trying to find her. This mystery person might or might not be the FBI agent played by the guy who was Helo on the new Battlestar Galactica who is investigating the existence of the company that everyone else thinks is rumors and myth.

The snippy little computer programmer who makes the personalities for the actives is appropriately despicable. He cares more about the work than the human beings/actives involved. Though, I thought there could be a potential ally there — I guess it depends on what Echo does.

Amy Acker plays an intriguing character who serves as the actives’ physician. The first thing you notice about her are the sinister scars that mar her face. Did she used to be an active herself? She obviously knows some of what is going on, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out that she used to be an active and when her scars/injuries made field work impractical, she was implanted with the medical knowledge so she could continue to be useful. Or, is there some other reason that she took the job deep underground in the bowels of the company? It could go either way at this point.

And the head of the company (or at least the highest ranking member we’ve seen so far) is a hard-as-nails woman who seems to care only for turning a profit. But, come on — it’s a Joss show. She must have some deeper motivation that that!

The first episode was a bit of an information dump, I will admit. There was a lot of back story and set up to get through, as well as a lot of characters to meet. But I really enjoyed the premise of the show, and I think it has great potential. If FOX actually allows the show a chance to flourish, I think Joss can develop it into something exciting (of course, this is FOX we’re talking about here, so I’m not holding my breath).

Not to be too much of a fangirl, but I have high hopes for anything Joss writes. His characters are always so multi-layered and his plots so intricate, whether they are on television, in a movie, or in a comic book. I would love to be as good of a writer as Joss Whedon when I grow up!

So, if you missed out on the pilot last week, you should definitely tune in tonight. I think you’ll be glad you did.