I LOVE Dollhouse. I love one of the themes: the indomitable spirit of a fearless leader showing itself over and over again, despite everything her handlers do to supress her. I also love how the show takes on the lack of ethics that client of prostitutes have. And I believe that the hostility toward Dushko parallels the garden variety misogyny the show examines: a beautiful, young women is not to be taken seriously. Echo is my hero.

that a joke?

"we have a black president????"

As a devout sci-fan and Whedon fan I've tried over and over to like this show enough to make it regular viewing.

Sorry...no can do.

I do look forward to either Josh being able to save/fix the problems with this show if it does come back. But I'm looking more forward to seeing what Josh does next. They all cant be winnners. And compared to his other body of work...DOLLHOUSE certainly is not.

If they had brought Alpha in earlier or maybe even fill us in some other mysteries earlier...it could have been a better show. Too little to late.

Sorry, the chick is not hot enough to grab the attention of the nerdlish ones.

With such a dearth of scripted programming on network TV, I for one will not complain about being able to watch a show that delves into all facets of a nice juicy science fiction concept. In the last half of the season, we dig into what it's all about, including the potential for immortality. Sure, this was already touched on ages ago by an episode of the Twilight Zone, but ok then, that's stealing from something good (let alone all the literature preceding that).

I agree that Dushku is kind of weak, but I do like her as the hard ass investigator. She seems to do dark and hard well, maybe she's that way in real life considering that she wrangled this deal with FOX in the first place.

Also agree with mdschill that SMG was a stronger performer than people usually give her credit for. In later Buffy seasons she could really deliver on the sense of a person who grew over the years and also got emotionally torn apart in various ways, but came out of it all stronger than ever. And unlike Dushku (surprisingly) she actually could handle some of the more athletic stuff -- she could actually run like an athlete, or so it seemed anyway (and when not obviously covered by a stunt double), whereas we see Dushku looking girly at this, even when her character is programmed to be athletic.

Some of the Dollhouse criticism is odd. It's not like people haven't liked shows with morally ambiguous characters and institutions before. Remember the Sopranos, in it Tony strangled a man with his bare hands, ordered hits, and generally wallowed in his callous misbehavior. A thoroughly repugnant character, but despite that he was admired and even loved by the show’s fans. So I think it’s more than the ick factor that makes people dislike Dollhouse. What really rubs people the wrong way is what Whedon is attempting to say about social conditioning, free will, and a society where man isn’t the measure of all things, but raw material. (Mind you , I think that’s what’s being said, it’s just that I’m not sure the writing always gets those points across well.) At least with the Sopranos, people could get vicarious thrills out of watching Tony act like tool. Maybe that plays into the old fashioned idea that outlaws are really the only free men left in a heavily bureaucratic world. It’s a crock of course, but an emotionally satisfying one. Dollhouse was never going to give you those types of emotional payoffs. In the Dollhouse world, even the bad guys have organizational charts.

I do agree that Dushku was a major problem with the show. She’s good when she can kick, punch or grind on someone. She is a very physical actor who can play the girl with a big gun role. Unfortunately, to make the Echo role work you needed someone who could create an entire new persona with just a subtle change in posture, accent, and vocal inflection. There were certainly actors in Dollhouse more than capable of pulling that off, but Dushku isn’t one of them. And because she couldn’t make Echo believable, there wasn’t anyone we can really root for and in the muddled Dollhouse world.

I also understand why so many viewers bailed after the first couple of episodes. I think Fox and Whedon wanted to broaden the shows appeal and pull in more than the fanatical Whedon fanbase. ( Holds up hand.) But the first episodes came off as this weird sci-fi Charlie’s Angels with crappy dialogue. The casual viewer got bored and the Whedon fan reacted with a collective “huh”. The show did improve dramatically after episode six, but by then most people had abandoned ship. So the stand alone strategy was a classic programming debacle.

Finally, the sex slave issue. I think Whedon was trying for something a little more subtle here. None of the actives were aware they were being exploited. Each of them, because of their imprints, believed they were genuinely attracted to their “clients.” Again, the writers are playing around with ideas of social conditioning, freedom, and desire. How can you recognize your lack of freedom if you’re completely unaware of it? (Again, I’m not sure the writing always got those ideas across.)

I grew to like Dollhouse and wish it was coming back, but I know the numbers aren’t there. Dollhouse was a failed experiment and I’m glad Joss tried it. Maybe a second season would have lead to a more consistently good show, but now we will never know.

I can see that some people wouldn't like it because they think it is an allegory on modern corporate life - you give up your own will for a few years and get paid well in return. If TV shows make you feel uncomfortable about your life, then maybe it's not the TV show's fault...

Dollhouse just takes the notion of selling your soul to the corporate behemoth to the next level, using some familiar science fiction themes that have been seen a few times before - Blade Runner, for example. Also, if you liked Dollhouse at all and can stomach anime, the Ghost in the Shell TV series (Japan) and movies touch on many of the same themes - human puppets and free will questions.

Another plus is that their biochemical explanations at least try to be realistic - bad science fiction is really bad - but they don't overdo it. Their action scenes and plot twists tend to put it in the spy thriller category, with a lot of good writing.

The one thing about Ms. Havrilesky's review that is worth looking at is the comment she makes about the show's premise being unethical.

Did Ms. Havrilesky ever watch Dallas or The Sopranos, I wonder? Dollhouse draws a similar fascination, but not with oil money, or mob money - rather, with the money to be made off of people's dreams and fantasies....but maybe that hits a little too close to home for the press to feel all that comfortable with...

Making me wonder: Could Heather Havrilesky actually be a doll? What other dolls are populating the media landscape?