Go Watch Dollhouse!

I have a new obsession.

In the lethargy and carefree of Winter break I caught up all the television and pop culture that couldn't fit between classes and socialization. I watched Chuck (what I deem Seth Cohen as a secret agent). Sang along with the New Directions Glee Club. My friends tried to get me into Rome and the rise of Caesar.

But it was on a trip to California that I watched a couple episodes of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse that I became hooked.

The premise is pretty straightforward: a secret organization possesses the technology to erase and upload whole personalities into people, called actives. These agents provide clients with whatever service necessary because of their malleability and adaptability-- need a safe breaker just imprint an active with the skills and the mind of a thief. Outside of jobs they're wiped clean and reduced to childlike states with no recollection of their actions.


These dolls can become anything the clients want from psychological profilers to lovers. They're all very attractive. It's creepy and raises a lot of ethical questions, but that's what Whedon wants. For example, the actives themselves are incapable of consenting to any of their actions since they're imprinted to want it and don't make the decision themselves. Is that rape or coercion? Since all of the actives were volunteers in the first place and it is a job, does their initial agreement encompass consent to all subsequent behavior? How are we supposed to feel about the man who imprints a stranger with his dead wife's mind every anniversary so they can spend at least one day together? Wrong? Endearing? Morals aren't force feed and there are no real lessons to take away at the end of every episode, just topics and questions to mull over should you please.

Obviously the television show delves into the possibility of a core consciousness--if we peel away memories and personality traits is there something that's so sticky and personal that we can call it ourselves? Whedon's decided that there is something fundamental with the main character, Echo, who is deemed "special" since she can ::spoilers:: remember personas and keep a consistent consciousness even when she's wiped clean.

There are some stretches however. It's not possible to healthily "wipe" someone's mind Eternal Sunshine style--that's called brain damage. Memories are a network of neurons that rely on billions of connections. It's not like a series of pegs where one can isolate and remove a memory--it's more like a house of cards and all the diamonds used are one memory--you can't change one cluster without affecting others. It's a complaint that my friend and I (both psychology majors, she a proper neuroscience major) raise all the time. It's just a TV show we're constantly reminded.

The series is winding down soon because of low ratings (it's on Fridays)and I expect Joss Whedon will kill off all the characters because that's what he always does with his canceled series but if you're a Whedon fan, want to check out his current work (many of the actors were in his other work), and have some time to kill check out Dollhouse on Fox or on Hulu.

Also the actor who plays Topher is a recent Yale grad. Go alums!