Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse debuts tonight, and you can say this for the series: whatever you think of the time slot Fox gave it, it doesn’t seem to have been stiffed on the publicity and advertising fronts.
My review ran early in TIME, so as a public service, I’ll point you to it again…
Echo (Eliza Dushku) has an endlessly challenging job. On one assignment, she might play a hostage negotiator; on another, a midwife; on still another, a woman in love. Then she gets chauffeured to a treatment at a spalike facility filled with warm light and blond wood. It’s a little like being a Hollywood actress on location.
But not exactly. Echo’s “engagements”–ranging from deadly capers to prostitution–are real. That spa treatment is a sometimes painful process in which her personality and all memory of her missions are erased. And her luxury digs, called the Dollhouse, are the headquarters of a secret illegal business where she and other blank-canvas “actives” are programmed with new personalities to do hush-hush jobs for the superrich. … Read more
Feel free to use this post to discuss the pilot afterward, as I’ll be on vacation next week. Yes, that’s Robo-James charging up on his AC adapter in the background. I couldn’t afford to hire an active to take over the blog.