Dollhouse: The Complete Season 2 (Fox) – The second and final season of Joss Whedon’s high-concept action conspiracy series was less a renewal than a brief reprieve. The low rated show about identity, control and people used as empty vessels for corporate power only got an additional 13 episodes before it was cancelled for good, but they are inventive episodes filled with hidden agendas, double-edged writing and characters the ping-pong between personalities. Eliza Dushku stars as Echo, the star player in the lineup of human “dolls” uploaded with entire personalities and skill sets, and it becomes clear this season that she is holding on to pieces of her imprints as she goes through her assignments. Harry Lennix, her handler in the first season, is promoted to head of security, Tahmoh Penikett the former FBI agent who joins the company as Echo’s new handler and partner in taking it down and Olivia Williams the head of the Los Angeles branch. Meanwhile the supporting cast of doll operatives (Enver Gjokaj, Dichen Lachman, Miracle Laurie and Amy Acker) all evolve and even the resident tech boy nerd genius Topher (Fran Kranz) gets a romantic interest—in guest star Summer Glau (from Whedon’s Firefly).

Welcome to the Dollhouse

Sorting through the motivations and the prime personas working their way through the imprinted personalities gives multiple levels to the drama while the moral implications take on epic proportions when the technology that wipes and imprints personalities is honed to operate at a distance, on civilians as well as dolls. And just wait until you get to finally explore “the attic.” Whedon didn’t have time to create a neat conclusion but he makes the edgy implications of the final episodes zing and caps the show with “Epitaph 2: The Return,” a sequel to the “Dollhouse” apocalypse episode from the first series. The series finale jumps ahead decades and is remarkably satisfying. Though not quite self-contained, the show has a remarkable integrity for being so brief (a mere 26 episodes over two short seasons) and invites repeat viewings.

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Joss Whedon’s new series had a rocky road to TV. The network rejected his original pilot and he created a new one from scratch – same concept, same characters, same cast, even the same sets but a new way into the story – that resembled a more traditional action series. The series was a slow starter as a result and I confess I stuck through largely out of loyalty to Whedon and confidence that he was developing something interesting behind the more conventional episodes. And it paid off: the high-concept show about a (quite literally) underground company that imprints entire personalities and sets of skills onto its otherwise blank roster of operatives developed into one of the most intriguing shows of the 2009 season. Eliza Dushku stars as Echo, the star player in this lineup (they’re called actuals) who are programmed to be everything from sexual fantasies to secret agents, but she may be holding on to pieces of her imprints as she goes through her assignments. Harry Lennix is her handler, protective of his charge and suspicious of the moral implications of the business, and Olivia Williams the company boss, though we discover that she’s merely in charge of this franchise in a covert business with locations all over. The show was a surprise renewal (the higher rated Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles didn’t survive, thanks to its much more lavish budget) and Fox has rewarded the fans who stuck through with a pretty special DVD release.

The Dollhouse cast

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