Dollhouse (2009 — 2010)

The story follows Echo, a “doll” or “Active” for the Los Angeles “Dollhouse”, one of several facilities, called “Houses”, run by a company which hires out human beings to wealthy clients. These “engagements” range from romantic interludes to high-risk criminal enterprises. Each Active has their original memories wiped and exists in a childlike blank state until programmed via the insertion of new memories and personalities for each mission. Actives such as Echo are ostensibly volunteers who have surrendered their minds and bodies to the organization for five-year stints, during which their original personalities are saved on hard drives, in exchange for vast amounts of money and solutions to any other problematic circumstances in their lives.

Echo is unique, however, in that she remembers small amounts even after personality “wipes”, and gradually develops an increasingly cognizant self-awareness and personality that’s resistant to erasure. This concept allows the series to examine the notions of identity and personhood. Within The House, opinions on such matters are divided. Dollhouse director Adelle DeWitt sees her role as merely giving people what they need; programmer Topher Brink is initially entirely scientific and amoral, apart from brief flashes of moral quandary; while Echo’s mentor in The House or “handler”, Boyd Langton, an ex-cop with an unknown past, expresses concern with the ethical and theological implications of the Dollhouse’s technology, using his inside role as an opportunity to limit any collateral damage.