YMMV / Dollhouse

• Angst Aversion: In the months leading up to the show's premiere, a number of Joss Whedon fans seemed to wonder whether it would be worth getting into a show that, considering its creator's track record, would likely put all its likable characters through hell; or, as it's on Fox, would have time to put its characters through Purgatory and then be cancelled.
• Ass Pull: Joss has admitted that Boyd being the Big Bad was one, as after being given just a few more episodes to wrap the show up, he needed a villain who could be defeated quickly.
• Audience-Alienating Premise: Big time. Many, many fans of earlier Whedon shows never got past the premise of "the central character gets metaphorically (and sometimes literally) raped every episode".
• Better on DVD: Leaving aside the fact that it's got fairly fast-paced plot and character arc development from one episode to the next even in the early "stand-alone" episodes, anyone who's used Hulu or iTunes to watch an episode a second or even third time will probably tell you that with additional viewings you tend to catch things you missed the first time.
• Broken Base: On whether or not Eliza Dushku was good in the lead role. A lot of people felt that having to play such diverse characters in every episode only showed how limited she was - but then others had a She Really Can Act reaction.
• Complete Monster:
  • "Ghost": The unnamed, pedophilic kidnapper is a Serial Rapist and killer of little girls. When twelve-year-old Davina Crestejo is abducted by him and his cohorts, the doll, Echo, is implanted with the artificially constructed personality of a hostage negotiator named Eleanor Penn, and sent by the Dollhouse to negotiate Davina's release. The personality of Ms. Penn was constructed partially from the memories of a negotiator who was kidnapped as a child herself. When the time comes for the kidnappers to collect the ransom, however, Ms. Penn has a nervous breakdown upon seeing the face of one of the kidnappers and recognizing him as the same man who kidnapped her as a child. She then reveals this kidnapper's modus operandi. Kidnapping little girls, he ransoms them to their parents, then, after the money arrives, murders his partners and keeps the girls as his Sex Slaves, killing them when they grow too old for his tastes. When Echo informs his fellow kidnappers about what their partner's planning for Davina, they are so disgusted that they immediately try to kill him before allowing Echo to leave with Davina.
  • "Stage Fright" & "Man on the Street": Joe Hearn is The Handler for the Active Sierra, and at first seems nothing more than a callous Jerkass who doesn't care when the Actives under his care die. He proves himself to be far more evil, however, when it's revealed that he's been taking advantage of the blind trust Actives are implanted with towards their handlers and, while Sierra is in her neutral child-like state, has repeatedly forced her to have sex with him. His crimes close to being discovered, he tries to convince his superiors that the Active, Victor, is the true perpetrator and argues to have him sent to the Attic. When Hearn himself is revealed to be the culprit, his boss Adelle DeWitt issues him an ultimatum, either be sent to the Attic himself, or murder Paul Ballard's girlfriend Mellie to deter him from investigating the Dollhouse. Hearn chooses the latter, and sets to the task with apparent glee. However, it turns out to be a set-up planned by DeWitt who was so repulsed by Hearn's actions that she had arranged it so Hearn would be killed by Mellie, who is an Active herself.
  • "Needs" & "Belonging": Nolan Kinnard was one of the corrupt corporate executives behind the Dollhouse program, and a psychotic Yandere who formed a disturbing obsession with a young artist named Priya Tsetsang. When his increasingly expensive attempts to seduce her fail, he tries, and fails, to flat-out rape her instead. In retribution for Priya's rejection, he arranges for her to be abducted, imprisoned in his hospital and regularly pumped her full of drugs which stopped her brain from producing adequate amounts of serotonin and dopamine. This caused Priya to suffer from visual and aural hallucinations, making her seem to the outside world like a paranoid schizophrenic. He then convinces the Dollhouse to take Priya on as an "altruistic" charity case, turning her into the doll Sierra, and, once they do, Kinnard frequently hires her out, having her imprinted with a personality that was hopelessly in love with him. He then uses this imprint to rape her over and over again, taking a picture of her after each engagement as a trophy of what he's done to her. When DeWitt and Topher Brink discover the truth behind Priya's transformation into the doll, Sierra, they are horrified and try to keep her away from Kinnard, only for him to use his pull with the Dollhouse to order her permanently imprinted with the love-struck personality to keep as his Sex Slave for the rest of her life. When Sierra is "delivered" to him, however, she reveals that she is imprinted with her original personality, slaps him across the face and tells him how much she hates him. In retribution, Kinnard beats her and comes after her with a knife, only stopping when Priya kills him in self-defense.
• Creator's Pet: Time and again various characters talk about how "special" Echo is; most viewers, on the other hand, ended up liking other characters more.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: Bennett Halverson has poor social skills, obsessive control issues, and is emotionally closed off. Whether that is a result of the trauma she experience or was always like this is not specified.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Bennett. She only appeared in three episodes and later giving instructions on a screen in "Epitaph Two, but the fan reaction has been enthusiastic.
  • Ivy is quite beloved for her Servile Snarker persona, and sometimes seeming like the Only Sane Man.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: The series has a Bittersweet Ending at best, but some people are divided on the "Happy Ending" for Echo and Paul, in which Paul dies, but Alpha makes an imprint of Paul's personality for Echo to upload into herself. Questions whether it would be so great to share a body with your true love, if Paul would be more significant than the other hundred or so personalities inside Echo, and some just didn't like the pairing, which started out as Paul Loving a Shadow and The Dulcinea Effect and became serious offscreen during a three-month Time Skip.
• The Firefly Effect
  • It's hard to tell if the poor ratings were caused by this, the Friday Night Death Slot, the retooled pilot and initial episodes, a bad premise and an actress with limited range, or some combination of the above.
  • On the other hand, it was still picked up for a second season despite abysmal ratings and a decidedly uneven critical reaction. This was an acknowledgment of the Firefly effect; Fox's president of entertainment was quoted as saying that "if we'd canceled Joss' show I'd probably have 110 million e-mails this morning from the fans." Could it be that Firefly actually taught them something? Apparently not, since they aren't showing any shows during November sweeps even after putting a Press Release out that they will.
  • But on the other other hand, season two's ratings kept diving from the already abysmal season one numbers. It may just be a victim of excessive bleakness taken to its logical endpoint.
• Foe Romance Subtext:
  • An odd example: Mellie/November and Ballard. And Ballard and Echo, though that's unidirectional.
  • Also unidirectional: Alpha—>Echo
  • Another weird one: Whiskey/Saunders and Topher.
  • Adelle and Howard Lippman, the head of the D.C. Dollhouse. At least, until she grabs him by the goolies.
  • Topher and Bennett have tons of this in 2x06, which blossoms into a full-fledged relationship when she has her Heel–Face Turn in 2x11. And then she gets shot in the head.
  • At least on the fanfic side of things, Dewitt/Dominic seems to be quite a popular pairing.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • "Man on the Street" (1x06) guest star Patton Oswalt plays an internet mogul whose wife died just before he became a success. He pays to have Echo programmed with his wife's personality so he can show her the new house he bought that his wife never never got to see. In April 2016, Patton's wife Michele McNamara died suddenly at the age of 47.
  • "A Spy In The House of Love" (1x09). The conversation between Topher and Boyd about the possibility that there is a spy in the dollhouse becomes much harsher in hindsight after Boyd is outed as The Chessmaster and Big Bad of the series. Particularly because of the incredulous way he asks "And you think I'm the spy?".
  • In "Epitaph One" we see that Whiskey is still waiting for Boyd, who (thanks to The End of the World as We Know It) is probably not coming back. Her devotion to him is all the more poignant in light of 2x12, now that we know where he went (and, for that matter, what-all has happened to her since then).
  • All the rape implications of the Dollhouse became even more uncomfortable when Eliza Dushku revealed in 2018 that she'd been sexually abused at age 12 by the stunt coordinator on True Lies.
  • And of course the series opens with Caroline basically having to sign away her life for five years, leaving her open to whatever the Dollhouse wants her to do; including sexual arrangements. Eliza Dushku would suffer multiple counts of sexual harassment on the series Bull and be fired after confronting one of her co-stars about it. She later discovered that an 'arbitration' clause in her contract she didn't know about even prevented her from taking the case to court, eerily paralleling the corruption in the Dollhouse.
  • In one of the flashbacks in "The Target" (1x02), we see Topher carrying out the handler-active imprint between Boyd and Echo, giving Boyd a script and saying "Alright, Brando, let's see what you got." Then it turns out Boyd has been a magnificent actor throught the entire damn series...
  • The general messed-up power dynamics at the show's core that made the show so unpalatable for even many in his most loyal audience are themselves significantly more uncomfortable now that creator and showrunner Joss Whedon's own history of sexual improprieties and abusive behavior has significantly tarnished his legacy.
• Growing the Beard: Happens at "Man on the Street" (1x06). This is the point Joss got more freedom to tell the story as he wanted to, and it shows. Specifically, the whole "Porn" exchange and everything that happens around it. Patton Oswalt was basically the Beard Carrier for the show.
• Hollywood Homely: At the beginning of "Getting Closer", we see flashbacks of a nerdy Bennett being victimized by a pair of Alpha Bitches until Caroline intervenes. Of course, even with the thick Nerd Glasses, Bennett was still the most beautiful thing on the screen, because she's played by Summer freakin' Glau.
• Hollywood Pudgy: Averted. Mellie, who's larger than the Hollywood norm, is considered just as gorgeous as any other girl. Although, she is self-conscious about this.
• Ho Yay:
  • Ballard has a thing for pushing Lubov against walls and leaning in close.
  • Ballard with Kiki!Victor = OTP!
  • Ballard may just have a thing for Imprinted!Victor at this point.
  • Topher has his moments with almost every male he comes in contact with. Including Victor-as-himself. He fully admits to having had a crush on Bennett before he met her and found out that she was a girl. For some reason when he first goes to see her, he does ask "Bennett, where is she?", even though he supposedly had no idea about her gender. He seemed more inclined to assume that she'd be much older and less attractive.
• Like You Would Really Do It:
  • Subverted in "A Love Supreme" (2x08). They actually blew an innocent man to bits on network TV. =Holy. Shit. Whedon is the King of subverting this trope. Ask Tara. (Oddly enough, in the same broadcast week, Bones blew a innocent guy to bits onscreen, on network TV. Maybe there was a bet going on for Christmas...)
  • And in "Getting Closer" (2x11) they killed Bennett! How could they do that?
• Misaimed Fandom: The series was intended partially as an Eliza Dushku vehicle, but it seems a lot of fans and critics now know about Enver Gjokaj's excellent acting skills. Given what happened to the people in Joss' last series, his prospects are pretty good.
• Moe: the fact that Benett can be Moe while being an Axe-Crazy Cold-Blooded Torture Technician is ... well, pretty amazing.
• Moral Event Horizon: In 2x11, "Getting Closer," Whiskey/Doctor Saunders murders the show's newly minted Woobie, Bennett Halverson, in front of Topher Brink, probably the only man to ever love her, mere minutes after their first kiss. Why? Because Boyd implanted Clyde, his second in command and personal assasin into Whiskey's head.
• Paranoia Fuel:
  • The Dollhouse is everywhere, and anyone can be an Active. Including your next-door neighbor. Even better, you could be an Active. That family you just saw yesterday? Artificial constructs of memory. The lifelong friend you're having lunch with? Someone who hired you to be his buddy, and you just met. Your partner, who you love more than anything and want to spend the rest of your life with? You only met this morning, and you won't remember them in a few hours.
  • "Epitaph One" takes this to a horrifying extreme: Remote imprinting is now possible and those who control the technology can send out a signal to Mind Wipe an entire area. In other words, you could be walking down the street minding your own business, only to suddenly lose your memory, your identities, and everything that makes you you...and there is no way to predict or prevent it.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • Dominic. Observe, for example, Television Without Pity's response to his presence in "The Target" (1x02), compared to the response in "Epitaph One" (1x13). Not to mention his transformation from Echo's would-be killer to her protector in the Attic's nightmare world (2x10) - and his willingness to stay there (for the moment) and hold down the fort rather than escape with Echo. In light of this, his post-Attic confrontation with DeWitt in "Epitaph One" has much more justification than viewers knew at the time.
  • Topher as well, using the same evidence.
  • Caroline is far more interesting as a manipulative self-aware terrorist than a whiney Granola Girl.
• Retroactive Recognition: One of the guest stars was Mehcad Brooks, years before he became famous as James Olsen on Supergirl. Another episode featured Janina Gavankar, from Sleepy Hollow, Arrow, and The Morning Show, among other series.
• Shocking Moments:
  • Hey, it's Alan "Wash" Tudyk being adorably goofy! This is going to be fun — wait what's — Holy shit.
  • Echo in "Belle Chose" (2x03).
  • Sierra in "Belonging" (2x04). Oh good, we're finally seeing Sierra's backstory. Wait, that's the creepy guy who wanted to rape her— drawer full of pictures— what the hell, Topher— * head explodes*
  • Yay, it's Summer Glau! No... what are you doing? Stop!
  • Did Adelle just give the world to Rossum on a silver platter to return to her status quo?! No wonder Topher called her a bitch!
  • Wait... Victor? Sierra? How...? It's All Just a Dream taken up to eleven.
  • Holy— Echo just took a bullet to the gut! And now Victor? What did you just do to Sierra? That bloody knife... is the escape from The Attic going to work?
  • Dr. Saunders has a heartfelt conversation about Topher with Bennett, wherein Bennett finally starts looking like something other than a psycho thanks to Topher's obvious admiration and infatuation with her. And then Saunders shoots Bennett in the head when lovestruck Topher walks in.
  • And then Boyd is revealed as the mysterious mastermind behind Rossum.
  • Ballard getting shot in the head halfway through the series finale.
• So Okay, It's Average: The general consensus on the show compared compared to Whedon's other projects.
• Special Effects Failure: The explosion at the end of "The Hollow Men."
• Squick:
  • Alpha. And, oh yeah, the whole premise.
  • People are frequently imprinted to think they're the actual significant others of their clients.
  • In "Haunted" (1x10) Nicholas Bashford tries to kiss Echo, who is imprinted with the personality and memories of his deceased mother, Margaret. In fairness, he doesn't know.
  • Taken to a whole other level in "Belle Chose" (2x03), with an Oedipal serial killer and a pathetic college professor who wants to have sex with a student.
  • Being forced to cart around a dead arm should certainly qualify. And later, Echo is forced to cart around the false memory of it happening to her.
  • The Japanese businessman in the Attic who is forced to endlessly “enjoy himself”. Nausea Fuel much?
• Spiritual Successor: Could pretty easily be seen as a western take on Ghost in the Shell. If Whedon didn't at least know about GITS beforehand, then it's a massive coincidence.
  • Could also be one to Gunslinger Girl, except using older women instead of younger girls.
• Strawman Has a Point:
  • The Big Bad's entire Evil Plan is about exploiting Echo's natural resistance to mind-wiping until he can develop an immunization. The "point" he is working from is the belief that imprinting tech, now that it exists, will inevitably be abused. And, aside from the slight oversight of offering that immunization only to folks he personally likes, it should be pointed out that his working premise is basically the Aesop of the entire series. Especially since, even after they kill him and "save the world," the Bad Future he predicted still occurs.
  • To counter that, note that, Rossum is at the forefront of imprinting technology. No one else likely has it. Rossum pushed its development and used it in ways that broke the Moral Event Horizon ten ways to Sunday. 'He' is abusing the imprinting tech, under a philosophy of Do Unto Others Before They Do Unto You. He is right in that once the tech has been invented, it won't be un-invented, but there were less insanely evil ways of going about to try to make the best of this situation. This is an equivalent of a scientist figuring out how to build a nuclear bomb and then forcing development until the world blows itself to hell, with a select contingent of 'worthies' protected from the fallout, because the nuclear apocalypse is inevitable.
• Tainted by the Preview: A borderline case, but a significant group of the potential viewing audience, even Joss Whedon fans, were unimpressed by the relatively lackluster couple of opening episodes and didn't stick with it beyond.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: Even compared to other examples of this trope, this show stands out. It's essentially a Crapsack World of horrible people where anyone even remotely sympathetic is mentally (and sometimes physically) raped every episode. The main protagonists are, essentially, broken dolls and the people in control of them...did we mention they are horrible people? Their clients run the gauntlet of pedophiles, serial killers, rapists, leading to some viewers to use the Eight Deadly Words to describe it.
• Values Dissonance:
  • Some viewers are contemptuous of Caroline's activism, especially her outrage at inhumane treatment of test animals. Probably not quite the intended response.
  • For others it's the fact that experimenting on fetuses is illegal, and all Caroline has to say about it is "I told you Rossum was evil" then she goes back to coo over the puppies, when she now has more than enough evidence to take Rossum down.
• The Woobie:
  • Sierra pretty much outdoes everyone else in "Belonging" (2x04). Yeah, poor girl. Let's not forget that before we learned everything about her backstory we still had her being raped in a vaguely child-abuse sort of way by her handler, who's supposed to be a person she can trust implicitly. She definitely gets more than her fair share.
  • Mellie, first when Paul breaks up with her in "Briar Rose" (1x11) and again when she commits suicide in front of him during "The Hollow Men" (2x12).
  • Lastly, Echo herself, when her suppressed grief over Paul's death comes out spectacularly in "Epitaph Two: Return" (2x13).

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