Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

Dollhouse: “Ghost”

Eliza Dushku of Buffy fame returns in a new Joss Whedon show that I'm tempted to describe as a Faith-based initiative.

Apparently, Ms. Dushku plays Echo, a member of a secret organization called the Dollhouse that may or may not be legitimate. Okay, there's no real maybe about the legitimacy part but the head people tend to profess humanitarian motives, so who knows?

First scene shows Echo negotiating with a female VIP of the Dollhouse, a negotiation which -- the show makes quite obvious -- is not being done from a position of strength.

Next scene shows Echo riding on a motorcycle with a guy she really, really likes, only to have all memories of said guy stripped away from her when she returns to the Dollhouse for her “treatment.”

The main plot involves Echo having a different personality “downloaded” into her each week, a personality that is later stripped away with supposedly no trace left behind. In this episode, the personality is that of a hostage negotiator, sent by the Dollhouse to help negotiate the release of a young Mexican girl from Mexican kidnappers. A subplot involves a rogue FBI agent named Paul Ballard who is doing his damnedest to track down the Dollhouse.

Plus the show tempts us with the possibility that Echo might not be forgetting as much of her past personalities as the Dollhouse's head honchos would prefer.

Is the show as good as past Joss Whedon shows? It's too early to tell, but the generic quality of this week's kidnapping plot doesn't bode well. Hopefully, it's just a misstep.