The Dollhouse / Rossum Corporation:

Just to emphasize why I feel the premise is disturbed! The Dollhouse is secret subsidiary organization and illegal offshoot of the Rossum Corporation, a powerful drug and technology conglomerate. The Rossum Corporation owns, funds, and uses the Dollhouses (active in over 48 locations worldwide) to develop technology for global control and personal immortality. The Dollhouse is not independent, it answers to the Rossum Corporation. Rossum Corporation designed the mind-wiping and imprinting drugs (such as N-7316) that make the "Active" technology possible. The "Attic", a place where problematic dolls or enemies are sent, functions as a living server for the Rossum mainframe. It links the neural connections of its prisoners to store data and enhance Rossum’s processing power. Rossum uses the Dollhouse technology to imprint the personas of their own wealthy executives into new bodies (Actives), effectively allowing them to live forever. Rossum operates the Dollhouses to gain political control. In essence, the Dollhouse is the testing ground and operational arm for Rossum's ultimate goal of creating a docile, controllable society by controlling the human mind. (with help from Google)

Characters:

Echo (real name Caroline), played by Eliza Dushku, is the number one doll, she is the most popular, with the clientele. Echo begins to remember her past engagements. Adelle DeWitt, played by Olivia Williams is management of the Dollhouse LA, you can perhaps also see her as a Madam! Topher Brink, played by Fran Kranz, he is a genius programmer who is responsible for imprinting and the wiping of the actives, also called dolls. Boyd Langton, played by Harry Lennix, is Echo’s handler in the first season, he makes sure nothing happens to her during her engagements. He is very protective of Echo. Laurence Dominic, played by Reed Diamond, is the head of security of the Los Angelos Dollhouse. He basically is an a-hole and later also turns out to be a spy. Dr. Claire Saunders, played by Amy Acker. She takes care of the actives during their off time, her face is scarred, done by Alpha, an active gone rogue, played by Alan Tudyk. He did this when Dr. Claire Saunders was also an active called Whiskey. She was the number one doll, Alpha however was obsessed with Echo and wanted to make her the number one doll, hence the scarring. Only at the end of the first season Dr. Claire Saunders becomes aware she actually was Whiskey and that she had been imprinted also. Paul Ballard, played by Tahmoh Penikett, an FBI agent who thinks the Dollhouse is real and wants to bring it down. His colleagues makes fun of him because of his believes. Other actives: Mellie (Miracle Laurie), who was spying on Ballard, Sierra (Dichen Lachman), Victor (Enver Gjokaj). As you can see, a very strong, experienced and capable cast, most of them still have active TV and movie credits up to the current times.

Some interesting first season guest stars:

Matt Keesler (The Middleman), Patton Oswalt (Agents of Shield), Mark Sheppard (Supernatural, Firefly, Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica), Kevin Kilner (Earth: Final Conflict), Vincent Ventresca (The Invisible Man), Felicia Day (Eureka), Ian Anthony Dale (The Event, Surface, Salvation, Day Break), Anson Mount (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds), Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica), Tony Amendola (Stargate SG-1, Continuum) and most likely even more I didn’t mention.

Season One:

When the show starts it seems like the active Echo is not much more than a very expensive hooker. Often the stories where Echo is on assignment, are not the most interesting part of the episode, usually it is what happens in the Dollhouse, the politics behind it. Also Ballard searching for the Dollhouse, making more and more headway. From episode 5 onto episode 13 I graded one 6.5/10, “Haunted” and one 7.5/10, “Echoes” and the others ones all an 8/10 or (much) higher! It really becomes interesting when Echo holds on to memories of previous engagements. This does not only happen to Echo but also to other actives like Mellie, Victor and Sierra. Apha, who had escaped, returns with Paul Ballard to the Dollhouse and causes a lot of havoc and mayhem. The season one finale gives a look 10 years into the future where the world is in ruins and the Rossum Corporation and the Dollhouse are the cause of this. Again, it is quite disturbing when you think of the reason why the Dollhouse exists, but it does make very good TV, not so much perhaps what happens when an active is on assignment, but more about the ins and outs of the Dollhouse and the Rossum Corporation. On the day I wrote this, I watched a Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D season 4 episode of when the team is in the framework, led by the Android Aida. It made me think that although it is different from the Dollhouse, it also has some uncanny similarities about Aida wanting to put her android conscious into a humanoid body. As said, not the same, but has similarities and yes, both a Whedon is involved in the creation process. Perhaps they know more about this? 😊

Final Word:

It was 10 years since I last saw Dollhouse, and again I enjoyed it, although my viewpoint has changed a bit, where in the past I saw this as pure entertainment, but with IA and the fact that what is possible these days on a technological level, I watch a show like this with different eyes! I mean, inventions were done in the past on what was seen in Star Trek…! Perhaps my mind goes too far right now, but I would not be surprised if this already was possible and executed in some form!

Screencaps taken from: cap-that.com