A Rebuttal, Dollhouse, and Nature vs. Nurture [SPOILERS]

Step One: Read This Article

Step Two: Watch me rant

“Considering everything, I was hopeful that Dollhouse might finally live up to its potential. Whedon himself wrote and directed the second-season premiere, and it looked promising. But the second episode sucked, and far too literally. Echo was imprinted to be the mother of a newborn baby, complete with nursing the baby. Echo goes nuts and kidnaps the baby and … who cares? It was that episode that may well have sealed Dollhouse‘s fate.”

Whatever. Or, more indicative of how I feel, What (the fuck) ever. OK, so that episode probably did seal Dollhouse‘s fate, but not really. The stupidity of Americans who don’t understand genius when they see it are really to blame.

1. The nursing was explained. And it was explained VERY well I might add.  (Background: Breastfeeding didn’t just happen because she was magically imprinted as a new mother. Topher had to work really hard to make that happen, because it was highly unusual. He did it because it was necessary for her or anybody else to believe that she really was a new mother. Also, the chemicals released during breastfeeding deepen the bond between mother and child. I think that’s a very sufficient explanation).

2.  Learn how to write, you idiot.

“Echo was imprinted to be the mother of a newborn baby, complete with nursing the baby.”

The correct way to make that sentence happen is: ‘Echo’s imprint was a new mother and even came with the actual ability to nurse.’

3. Echo doesn’t go nuts! (A little louder now…) ECHO DIDN’T GO NUTS! I’m sorry, but if you thought someone was trying to steal your baby and kill it (and possibly you), what would you do!? If you’re going to argue that her imprint was justified, but Echo (the doll) was crazy then you’d be wandering into my next point. See below.

4. “…who cares?” Who cares? Who cares!? I FUCKING CARE! Or, at least, I did when the episode aired. I cared, because that episode (more than any prior episodes) showed how Echo was evolving. And I mean “how” in every sense. It showed the rate at which she evolved. The aspect of her that allowed her to evolve (the ability to retain imprints after being wiped). In what way she was evolving (i.e. the affect that this ability to retain imprints was having on her emotionally). How deeply she felt these imprints. So Echo didn’t go crazy. She had a breakthrough in evolution.

Most importantly, it showed what she was evolving into and inspired some profound questions about the nature of humanity itself. That might sound a bit extreme to most people, but true Joss Whedon fans should be well aware of Joss’ willingness to go to the most extreme places in order to advance dialogue and philosophy regarding the deepest aspects and dilemmas of the human condition. My brain exploded after that episode. Things bouncing around my brain included (but are not limited too): Are we all, in some sense, products of our environment? If we could remove extensive personal histories from our brain would we be the same people we once were? How much does my subconscious influence who I am? How much of “me” is my subconscious? Am I really a student? Am I really my gender? Am I really a writer? An actor? Are any of these things who I really am? How deep do these traits exist? How much of identity is a surface construction, and how much of it is an unchanging part of who you are?

The episode was a gift to TV. And it was wrapped in irony and tied with a bow of wit. No joke. It was brilliant exploration of the nature vs. nurture debate. The episode’s storyline mirrored the exploration itself. Playing the role of “nature” was the concept of the deep bond between mother and child. Playing the role of “nurture” was the awareness of a false environment brought to courtesy of The Dollhouse. Playing the gray area in between were the characters of Echo and ‘her’ baby. Both represent human souls who have only briefly been exposed to an environment. How many times have we all looked at baby and thought, My gosh. It’s so innocent.When did that innocence go away, and why did it have to take away that unique contentment, optimism, and altruism that came with it? Why did I lose that. Even if you don’t think that when you look at a baby, something else deep inside of you does.

Some people look at people like me (Whedonites) and they just…don’t get it. “You’re over-thinking it.” “Weirdo.” “Whatever. Who cares?” All of these are thoughts that non-Whedonites might (and have) thought. Maybe the questions that I have aren’t the ones Joss intended for me to ask. Maybe I missed the point entirely. But one thing that I am 100% sure of is that Joss did intend for me to ask questions. He did intend to make a point. I may have mis-thunk (I just made that word up) it, but I definitely didn’t over-think it. I don’t even remember if Joss himself wrote the episode. But its irrelevant, because I know he oversees and approves the plot-lines to all of the episodes of his shows.

Joss wanted his viewers to learn something about themselves. Dollhouse was a wonderful concept, because it challenged his viewers to delve deep and discover something about their truest selves. It is only through this type of discovery and awareness that the world can become a better place. I truly believe that. Whether or not that was Joss’ intention is meaningless, because it’s the truth. And, you know what? I did learn something about myself on that deep level. I learned something, because that episode inspired me to talk with my mother about something. I don’t remember what our conversation was about, but I learned that I don’t cry when I’m sad. I don’t cry when I’m happy. I cry when I’m frustrated, angry, stressed, disappointed, disillusioned, surprised, or confused. When I’m sad, I feel a self-loathing that is steeped in bleakness and spiced with just a hint of numbed detachment. When I’m happy, I want to talk (A LOT). I want to jump around. I want to kiss somebody. I want the ability to fly, and I feel like I have it. But I don’t want to cry in either case. Sometimes I might wanna hurl, but not cry. I felt so victorious after I figured that out about myself, because it was a feature truly indicative of me. I felt like I knew myself better. This realization and awareness made me more confident as a human being in ways that I can’t express in words. After this realization, I changed. Like he did so many times with episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly, and with his films, Joss Whedon succeeded in changing my life and making me a more caring, complete person. And he did it while entertaining me.

So, yeah. I fucking cared. And if stupid American viewers were willing to use their brains to do the thinking G-d intended them for, they would fucking care too. Instead, they saw what they always see: the surface of their lives. They see the imprint, not the person buried underneath. Until you see the imprint, you are the imprint.

5. On the story-writing front, it was the extremeness with which Echo acted that allowed her status as Caroline’s subconscious to morph into that of Echo: the human being. Also, it aligned Paul’s goals with Echo’s. It brought him one step closer to finding Caroline, while adding more steps to finding her.

As an aside, the article also contained these words:

“Whedon and his writers began truly embracing what Dollhouse had the potential to be: a story about what might happen if the technology to control people got loose in the world.”

The show was about the humanity of identity. The exploration was fueled by technology. (BTW: I’m not grasping at straws. Joss has confirmed this in the special-release DVDs of the first season. Unfortunately, I don’t own these DVDs. My friend does, so I can’t give you the word-for-word, but the DVDs come with a letter that basically says, “People are always saying that they wish they could get inside my head. Dollhouse takes you there, to the deep, philosphical, dark-twisty places that exist in my soul. Any questions you have about me or the things I think are in this series.”

The episode was brilliant. The article was idiotic. If I were Joss, I would have been combative, too.

In short: SciFi Wire can kiss my ass. Also, they can suck it (the “it” is the proverbial ‘it,’ not my ass).

P.S. Ignore my previous post. The idea I had before was dumb.