cast: Eliza Dushku, Harry Lennix, Fran Kranz, Tahmoh Penikett, Enver Gjokaj, Dichen Lachman, Olivia Williams, Amy Acker

Our rating: 2 out of 5

Rated: TV14

reviewed by: Charity Bishop

Joss Whedon has always pushed boundaries. He was one of the first creators to have an openly homosexual character in a television series and his most recent project, Dollhouse, is a complicated, morally-askew series that challenges us to consider right and wrong while also catering to our innermost desires.

The Dollhouse is an urban legend to most people about a secret organization that programs people to have different personalities based on the needs and desires of their elite client base. But to Echo (Dushku), it actually exists... and she is a part of it. One of the most recent additions to the organization, without being programmed she is emotionless and child-like, innocent and content to do whatever she is told. But whenever anyone asks for her, she goes in for her "treatment" and comes out as anything you want -- from a rock-climbing outdoor girl to a hostage negotiator or a whip-wielding dominatrix. If you can pay for it, she can do it. Her protection is her handler, Boyd (Lennix), who disagrees on principle with what the Dollhouse does but only wants to prevent her from getting hurt -- not always an easy thing when your client takes too far, and goes after you with a high-tech hunting bow in the middle of nowhere.

In charge of the organization is the cunning, mysterious Adelle DeWitt (Williams) and she fears Echo may be retaining some minor aspects of her "Imprints" (various personalities temporarily programmed into her brain). Recently, the Dollhouse had one of their agents snap and go on a slaughtering spree before escaping, and she is determined not to have another such incident. Her agents consist of willing participants who sign five year contracts, usually because they want to escape from their lives. To make matters worse, whispers of the organization have come to the interest of Agent Ballard (Penikett) of the FBI. None of his colleagues believe him but he is determined to expose the Dollhouse and rescue a woman named Caroline from its clutches.

Overall, Dollhouse is one of the most creative programs to hit the airwaves in a long time. The characters have the Whedon flair of never being quite what you anticipate and always being likable, no matter who they are. It's amazing that the Doll have no personality as individuals but the audience comes to like them through their alter-egos (all apart from the main employees of the agency -- Topher in particular is great, a very solitary, lonely computer whiz with a good sense of sarcasm). The cast is great and contains many familiar faces from the producer's former projects. It was a series that kept my attention throughout and had some truly fantastic episodes. Echo takes on the personalities of secret agents, hostage negotiators, budding backup singers, vault robbers, and even a blind girl. Throughout, we learn different things about the characters in an attempt to piece together more of a back story and the bittersweet finale brings both laughter and tears.

Unfortunately, it seems that most clients want from the Dolls is to play out their sexual fantasies. In "The Target," Echo is imprinted with a hiking, camping, rock climbing personality who has sex with her date and then is used for target practice by him. Apparently, he likes a challenge -- and does it to all his girls. That's just the beginning -- Echo dons skimpy outfits and dances her way through various bedrooms in many implied sexual encounters. There is rarely anything graphic (except in the case of Agent Ballard, who engages in some heavy and semi-violent foreplay with a girlfriend) but a lot of implications that left me uncomfortable. It's not just Echo, either. We discover midway through that Victor is the personal boy-toy of DeWitt, and another Doll, Sierra, has been systematically sexually abused by her handler. (We see a brief flashback of him on top of her, and her crying.) The Dolls share open public showers (both male and female) but have no interest in one another -- until one time, Victor stares at Sierra a little long. When it is noticed, an uncomfortable amount of dialogue revolves around erections and his interest in her.

There is a great deal of violence of all varieties -- men and women attack one another with lethal intentions; Echo is thrown around and pummeled in various episodes; men are taken out by rifles, explosions, lead pipes, and arrows. The most gruesome shot is of a man having his eyes squeezed out; blood flows beneath his attacker's fingers. Various characters are slashed across the face with a razor, both in real time and flashbacks. Dead, brutalized bodies are shown in crime scene photos. Some mild language intrudes. On the up side, there are a lot of moral questions raised by Boyd about whether or not their treatment of the Dolls is moral and ethical. The show constantly challenges us to make decisions about what is happening and whether or not it is appropriate. I got the impression that the answer was no, it's not right for fantasies to be played out in human form, but wish the delivery of such moral paradoxes would not have been so heavy-handed.