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Whedon, J. (2009). Dollhouse. US: Fox Broadcasting Company.

“If I think I can figure things out, is that curiosity or arrogance?” – Topher Brink (3 min clip from “Epitaph One”)

* NOTE: Contains spoiler for the Dollhouse TV show.

The Dollhouse is an underground organization (owned by Rossum Corporation) that employs various individuals as “Actives”, wipe their minds and then program them to do whatever mission is needed at that time. These missions can include sexual encounters, negotiation, friendship, and so on. When the Actives are not “imprinted” with a memory, they spend their time in a calm, spa-like environment and mostly have the intelligence of a child.

When the show first started, similar to Adelle DeWitt (highest ranking official of the L.A. branch Dollhouse), I was able to rationalize the morality behind such an organization. Each Actives signed a contract to work with the Dollhouse for 5 years and at the end of the contract they get paid a large sum of money. Some were recruited as an alternative to spending their life in prison, while others possibly just wanted to escape their past. In general it was a win-win situation for the Actives and the Dollhouse.

It was unclear whether the Dollhouse would honour their contract however, since once you’re wiped, ideally you won’t even remember entering this contract in the first place. Later in the season, it was revealed to the audiences that some Actives were actually forced into this job. Some were also sexually abused (either in the state of imprint or not) by the Dollhouse staff. The ethic became murky in an instance. The Actives may have signed up to do any mission, including those sexual in nature, but to be taken advantage of by staff was another matter. With that trust broken, you can’t pretend to be righteous anymore.

It wasn’t until the last episode of the season “Epitaph One” (not broacasted, only available on Season 1 DVD) that Rossum’s ulterior motive was finally revealed. By imprinting someone else with your own memory, essentially there would be immortality as you can live on in another body once your old body dies. It’s a good question whether you consider this immortality in the first place, but something else is more important. Not only was the contract broken (ie. Active gets to return to their own lives after 5 years), but you can claim that the Actives, even though their body is still alive, living as another mentally, are essentially dead, “murdered”. The problem became even worse as the episode revealed, but I will refrain from disclosing more of the plot in case anyone would like to watch the show.

This “take-over-the-world” plan, unintentially, was hatched due to Topher Brink’s (scientist at L.A. branch) advancement of the imprint technology. In this last episode, Topher, now mentally unstable from his guilt, said “If I think I can figure things out, is that curiosity or arrogance?” Even though scientist have the knowledge to do something, does it mean they should apply them? Specifically, was it wrong to invent nuclear bombs? Should we clone human and other animals? I don’t think technology and invention need to be stifled because we as human beings are innately programmed to be competitive and to survive (sometimes destroy ourselves in the process). If it were, we wouldn’t have cars as transportation due to so many accidents or knives to cut food as it can be used to stab people. Whether to use something for the good of society or for nefarious reasons should ultimately be left to individual decision. The scientists should not be blamed for how other people use their invention. In fact, war and military-funded research have advanced many technology we enjoy today.

Tags: dollhouse, joss whedon