I never was a fan of Joss Whedon by name until I read Astonishing X-Men when he brought back Colossus, one of my favorite X-characters. I thought it was going to be the stupidest shit, because most resurrections are in the comic book universe. Man, I was so happy to be wrong about that one. I’d been a semi-fan of his ever since. Then I watched Firefly and Serenity… and just like that I’m a fanboy of this dude.

Unfortunately, after the first three episodes I can’t recommend watching this.

To me this show exhibits all the reasons I left Hollywood; people erasing my memory and trying to use me as a secret agent/prostitute, getting catty attitudes from pop stars who want to die, and being hunted by a dude with a crossbow.

Okay, I’m making this sound better than it actually is..

The show is addicting and somewhat interesting, but it’s not good by any means. It has its moments and its little hints at plot intricacies that go vastly beyond the surface value and those are the things that are interesting, the plots however, are not. The plots from 2 out of 3 episodes are just fuckin’ silly, which would be fine if there was any bit of humor in it, but there is very little of it to sink your teeth into.

Here’s the premise: There is a covert agency that wipes the minds of people so they’re kind of in this infantile state, they’re called “Actives”, while in this state they are cared for in “The Dollhouse” where they can paint, swim, do Tai Chi and karate. The agency injects memories and traits of dead people into the Actives and they become the perfect whatever you want them to be. When they are done with their task, whether it be a sex filled weekend or an ultimate über assassination, they go back to the Dollhouse using a safe phrase: “Are you ready for your treatment?” And the Actives get their uploaded memory wiped and they go back to their blank slate. Echo (Eliza Dushku) is the main Active and from the last episode I’ve seen, she is questioning herself in the Dollhouse and what the Dollhouse is. Meanwhile, there’s an FBI agent who is trying to find and expose this ‘mythical’ Dollhouse.

The premise even though it sounds convoluted, is fairly cool the way in which it’s depicted. The detailed layers are there if you want to pick up on them. Like I said before though, the things missing are interesting plots and a whole lot of humor. So far plots have ranged from a ransom negotiation to an updated storyline of the Bodyguard starring Whitney Houston. Pencilbot warns you to watch at your own peril, though it is bad, like I said before, it is addicting.