Epitaph One Shakes up Dollhouse
Could Season Two be Heading in a Whole New Direction?
It was apparently the tweet heard around the world. When actor Felicia Day posted a simple message on Twitter in April 2009 about how the Dollhouse episode she guest-starred in would only appear on DVD it kicked off furious debate among the fan community over whether this signified the imminent cancellation of the show. Fortunately for the fans, the show has been granted a second season, with filming starting in late July 2009. The mythical DVD-only episode that concludes Dollhouse's first season, "Epitaph One", has now been devoured by the fanbase and as well as being widely regarded as one of the show's finest episodes could have huge implications for the future of Dollhouse.
Building the Dollhouse; Joss Whedon Returns to Television Seven Years After Firefly
For the uninitiated, Dollhouse is the latest show from genre favourite Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly. Starring former Buffy actor Eliza Dushku, Dollhouse tells the tale of a young woman named Caroline who signs away five years of her life in order to become Echo, one of a group of "actives" or "Dolls" who can be implanted with false memories ands abilities. These Dolls can then be hired by elite clientele, for astronomical sums of money, and sent on engagements ranging from bank heists to dates. Once the mission is over, the memories are wiped and the actives return to the Dollhouse where they live in a state of vacant luxury. The first season follows Echo as she begins to remember fragments of her previous engagements, as well as her true persona, and the efforts of the Dollhouse staff to handle this risky new element in their midst.
Epitaph One, however, leaps ahead 10 years from the action in the preceding episodes and lands the viewer in a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles where the imprinting technology has been adapted into a weapon, with devastating effects. As a group of survivors stumble upon the Dollhouse whilst searching for a hiding place, they are able to read the memories of various Dollhouse staff, giving the audience an insight into how this nightmarish situation came about.
How Much Will Epitaph One Affect Dollhouse Season Two?
Initially, there was a certain degree of assumption amongst Whedonverse fans that Epitaph One would be the stylistic cousin of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode Restless. Coming at the end of Buffy's fourth season, after the main story arc had already been resolved, Restless served as a sort of coda. With the mystery of rogue doll Alpha resolved in Dollhouse's penultimate episode, it is easy to see why fans fell into this trap.
Epitaph One is far from a standalone episode; whilst Joss Whedon admitted at Comic-Con 2009 that the flashbacks presented to the audience in the episode may not be entirely accurate, the very fact that the audience have now potentially been handed a multitude of spoilers for how the show may progress is intriguing. It remains to be seen just how strictly the writers of Dollhouse adhere to the progression of events depicted in Epitaph One, but the very fact that three of the stars of the episode are due to appear in the opening episode of the second season suggests that we haven't seen the last of this particular storyline.
In terms of a truly game-changing episode of a television series, many sci-fi fans have likened Epitaph One to the Battlestar Galactica episode Lay Down Your Burdens, which jumps ahead one entire year and stays there; could Dollhouse play the same card and move the action ten years into the future? It seems unlikely, given the groundwork established in the first season and the clues laid out in Epitaph One. But, if Dollhouse's survival past it's ratings-troubled first season can prove anything, it's to expect the unexpected.
What Does Epitaph One Mean for Dollhouse Season 2?
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