So much happens, Alpha's scheme is brilliant, The whole Joel Mynor side arc (and how it ties into the plan) does such a good job of portraying grief, Adelle's power struggle with Paul starts ramping up. Topher is hilarious ("I'm obsolete!"). And I'm not a huge Alan Tudyk fan personally. But his portrayal of Alpha is one of the real plusses of this show, and he's only in a handful of episodes. And it's a palate cleanser before the final showdown with Rossum begins. 10/10

...and immediately saw how obviously inspired by the set for Section One the main set of this show was, even before the big sci fi premise was revealed to have been copy-pasted from the LFN episode "Down A Crooked Path"?

Michael: If George wants us dead, why the ruse? Birkoff: He's ordered a neural download first. Michael: They're stealing our minds. Madeline: To extract our expertise. George needs us, but can't risk having us around for fear of insurrection. By harvesting our consciousness, George will be able to build a tactical library. Once he's done, he'll exercise the ultimate power. Nonresistant Section operatives with years of training at the touch of a button.

Seriously, am I the only one to have known where this show's big sci fi premise was copied from?

I know there is a five issue epitaph comic, but I was wondering why dollhouse was not continued through comics since they were aware that they were being cancelled. Do you think it is because the storylines and characters would be too difficult to translate into comics?

“I Know What I Know”

https://youtu.be/2hanjM_IenU?si=QKhEB6aCzLf_t6EY

I've rewatched this show 3 times throughout the years, and everytime I finish I feel a really deep and kind of inexplicable depression, specifically related to Epitaph 2. Obviously the plot is sad but it feels like more than that, although I can never quite put my finger on what it is. I've watched a lot of apocalypse Sci fi, a lot of dark stuff, but this one always hits so different.

Anyone else experience this?

I just thought it was funny that a segment that is supposed to be about conspiracies had a point where you can see “international Jew” in the background.

no spoilers I keep reading that the first few episodes are terrible and it gets better from there on out. But I’ve got to say I’m on episode 4 and I think all the episodes have been really good 😂 can’t wait to see how the plot progresses!

I think Topher and his character development is fascinating.

whoa this sub hasn’t had much activity in a while…

I recently watched and rewatched Dollhouse three times and think it’s amazing and brilliant and love so many characters and stories and details of this show!!! I also think it’s heavy inspiration for Severance and am wondering if Severance tech and Lumon are similar to Rossum and its tech

and that Cobel is def Adelle DeWitt ❤️

I think they’re retellings of the same story

(speaking of retellings - the Briar Rose episode!!!!!)(that and the first season finale amaze me)

anyway, does anyone here see parallels with this show and Severance? I’ve written an essay on it and would love to know your thoughts

also the one question I have that I can’t seem to find an answer to…

how do the names work? like, do they cycle through the NATO alphabet in the L. A. Dollhouse? if Whiskey was there before Alpha and Echo, does that mean there were other Alphas and Echos before and after? and how would Echo know the Sierra and Victor we know from another Sierra or Victor if there was overlap? I’m pretty confused by how that all works, especially when we see the number of photos on the wall in memorium

thanks for reading and any comments 🥰

View Poll

Of the many personas that Echo takes on in the series, which one is your favorite?

The last poll only gave me 6 options so this is part 2.

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For me, Paul Ballard all the way🔥🔥

Just watched this show and I actually really enjoyed it! My big tips before you start watching would be:

1. Pay attention to all of the FACES that you see in the first few episodes. Since there are some actors who play more than one character, it is hard to pay attention and follow what is going on if you don't realise that you are seeing the same faces.
2. Watch Epitaph 1 and Epitaph 2 TOGETHER at the end of the series as if they were a total series finale,

​

Even though it got cancelled, I think it ended really well. Eliza Dushku is also a phenomenal actress.

Final thoughts post-watching pre-deep dive into trivia and lore:

1. I liked that in the epitaph 2 Priya and Anthony had issues. Choosing to forget, always fighting a war is a VERY different mindset from someone who never made that choice. I think ultimately they would be one of those couples who love each other but it's not enough to make a happy family, and I’m glad they showed that they had some difficulties.

2. I think Echo's actor had fantastic acting, but mostly in the dramatic scenes. When Eliza had intense emotions, I felt it. Her regular scenes fell flat for me, and I never felt the true "embodiment" that we see with Viktor/Topher (my favorite scenes). I could not stand Paul (character or acting).

3. While I thought Topher/Adelle was the best part of the show, I thought the shift from S1 to S2 was jarring for Adelle. She went from a cruel, power-hungry must-always-be-in-control to deep down caring about the Actives, which seemed like a jump. And it seems wildly uncharacteristic that she just accepted having never met or seen the director, nor had the slightest hint or curiosity at what her company was planning? She doesn’t seem like she would be happy with “I just work here”.

4. Speaking of character motives, how did Alpha drop those hints to Paul S1? He knew enough to guide him but not enough to solve the puzzle on his own? Why was any of that necessary if all he wanted was to nab Echo? How did he imprint “messages”? Seems like a ridiculous plan in hindsight, lousy with plotholes.

5. I still needed more Boyd/founder backstory. Were they trying to say Caroline's dad is the founder? Like legit family, also maybe Adelle’s "richard" who passed? But then how did she not know? Would that make her Caroline’s mom? But Caroline mentions her mom in the college clip.

And if it was supposed to be a “you guys feel like my family” message, then I have no idea why Caroline had such drive to become a terrorist and bring down Rossum. Her dead ex bf that we saw in a single episode doesn't seem like enough of a reason. Or why the founder didn’t kill her after she started being a personality as Echo, since all he needed was her spinal fluid. I still don’t understand why Paul was so connected to her. Overall I need more backstories and hints towards like a lot of MC’s motivations.

5. Biggest point: the show made by a man focuses on "tech in the wrong hands is scary" and the doomsday of it all. Very reminiscent of Firefly. Very Y2K of Whedon. I think created by a woman, it would have focused more on consent, agency and autonomy, memories and identity, and how frightening it is to not know or have control over what happens to your body.

Apparently this episode was unaired and I’m wondering if it’s worth the time to watch. Does it have any relation to the main plot line or does it not matter if I skip it. Is there a better time I should watch this, like after season 2?

I decided on a fourth rewatch and something bugged me. In Epitaph pt 2, Echo is essentially told that a lot of this started BECAUSE she ‘cut the head off the snake’ in The Hollow Men. But doesn’t explain why. Can someone smarter then me help me figure that out?

Or murder is, when you destroy HDD with someone on it?

Is "soul" of a person digitalised and stored? Or person dies and after reupload is it just a copy of a original self? It's kinda like a teleporter problem in star trek... What do you think?

1. Did Echo consider Topher her friend? Respected him, appreciated, felt sympathy? And how strong?
2. Will Echo tear up Topher? Will you grieve a lot? Will she miss him? Will he be remembered fondly?
3. Echo be offended that Topher didn't say goodbye to her?
4. How would Echo react if Topher came to say goodbye to her? Would she like to hug him? Would she shed a tear? Would she like to talk Topher out of suicide?
5. Why didn't Echo hug Topher when she met him in Neuropolis and thanked him for the plan to save the world? It was a great excuse for the writers to draw a touching scene between Topher and Echo. She did not see her friend for a long time and did not know what the enemies had done to him. Moreover, she found him in an extremely terrible state. He also cheered her up with a plan to save the world. Everything could be shown here. And the joy of Echo, and her tears / grief over the condition of a friend. And friendly hugs. And thanks to a friend for the feat of saving the world.
6. Why did Topher only say goodbye to Adelle? Is he disappointed in his other friends? Or was he afraid that they might interfere with his suicidal feat?
7. Did you feel cheated by the audience when Topher didn't say goodbye to Echo/Sierra/Victor?
8. Why are there almost no touching scenes between Echo and Topher? She seems to be rather cool towards him. She never hugged him, almost never smiled at him affectionately, and so on and so forth. It's weird considering he's done more good for her than the rest of the characters. And also played the biggest role in the fight against Rossum. He took out Boyd, saved Echo's life, saved her friend Sierra, and resurrected Paul Ballard. He sincerely worried about her and considered her his friend. He also saved the world. Participated in delivering the last gift from Alpha.Topher was always polite to Echo, even when she was in a "tabula rasa" state. But despite all this, Echo has always treated him much colder than other positive characters. Topher is the only central character that Echo has never hugged. In the second season, it is impossible to find even a scene where she smiles warmly at him.

Who gave the best / your favorite acting performance in Dollhouse?

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I love this show! I love the characters! But I really dislike one of them. Paul Ballard. In all honesty, I think he's a dick and single minded. It wasn't until Season 1 ep 6, with his encounter with Joel Mynor (bouncy the rat dude) that he made me really dislike him even more.

His single-minded focus and obsession with Caroline was not my issue. It was the fact that he could never admit that he had a single focused obsession over Carolina and using his mission to bring in the Dollhouse as his excuse for his obsession. He kind of comes off as the badge of justice kind of dude. Always think that whatever he does, he's doing it for justice when in reality, he's just using justice as an excuse for his real desire. He does this consistently and continues to think he is above everyone because he's a man of the law and has a strong sense of morale. Even when he joins the Dollhouse, he still acts like he's better than everyone and refuses to acknowledge his desire to be Caroline's knight in shining armor.

I mean, if S1E6, when Joel was telling his story and why he calls on the service of the Dollhouse, Paul doesn't bat an eye. Not an ounce of humanity and just focuses on the "sexual" part of it and dismisses everything else. Which would most likely just offend Joel and cause him to close up more. Isn't the whole point of talking to Joel is to get information about the Dollhouse? But if you keep combatting with someone, they are less likely to give up anything when they feel you are not on the same side. If Paul hadn't had his head up his ass for like two seconds and actually sympathized with the guy then maybe he would've gotten maybe even a tiny bit of information. It maybe would've helped in his case to find the Dollhouse but instead he had to show that he was a better man of morals than Joel because he had a higher calling to "rescue" Caroline.

Maybe some people will dislike my post about him but he was my least likeable character and honestly I think it's a shame to have written his character so 2-dimensional because he lacked depth yet he was one of the main characters.

Dominique, in Victors body, after Devitt tells doctor Saunders to sedate him, „whiskey“ even though they play it off as if he‘d like a drink. I think he called her Whiskey in an attempt to get through to her… In the same episode Alpha is talking to dr Saunders and asks her if she had always wanted to be a doctor. We as the viewer are finding out in Omega that dr Saunders actually is an active herself who had the Codename Whiskey so I think this was a last minute foreshadowing. Are there some more foreshadowings? I wonder at which point dr Saunders realized that she was a doll, that she has not always been dr Saunders? Is it when Alpha talks to her? Is it when she treats Victors wounds?