Dollhouse

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Transmitted:	February 2009 - January 2010
Country of origin:	USA
Genre:	Personality alterations, Sci-fi technology, Ensemble cast
Starring:	Eliza Dushku, Tahmoh Penikett, Olivia Williams, Harry Lennix, Fran Kranz, Dichen Lachman, Enver Gjokaj, Amy Acker
Rating:	5/5
No. of seasons:	2

Joss Whedon must be well and truly sick and tired of TV executives. There he goes, unleashing yet another intriguing, imaginative, highly creative concept onto the unsuspecting public, only for the execs to pull the plug just as it starts to get really interesting. As with his earlier creation, Firefly, Dollhouse is complex and surprising and, just perhaps, a tad too 'out there' for the comfort of the dribbling masses.
The plot: Dollhouse, a secret organisation which takes young, attractive people whose real lives have become pointless or ruined, and reprograms them, converting them into Actives. With total control over every aspect of the Actives, Dollhouse then employs them as bodies for hire, playthings for the wealthy, no matter the request. The series follows Echo (Eliza Dushku) through her various missions.
With a poor start to the series, this truly took a little patience down here at Smell The Cult H.Q. and it was only reassurance from several trusted sources that kept us going, the formulaic nature of the opening few episodes very taxing, a real hark back to the bad old days of The A Team and The Fall Guy. But things soon pick up, particularly arc-wise, as tantalising glimpses of the truth about Dollhouse are revealed piece by piece.
Intelligent, thought-provoking and quite unlike, anything else American TV has ever produced, this has inevitably picked up quite the cult audience, and it is easy to see why. Though we are yet to see Season 2 at time of writing, if it is as strong as the second half of season 1, we are in for a treat.
Recommended.

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