Dollhouse (TV)/YMMV

"Topher: "You know that feeling you get when a name's on the tip of your tongue? That's what the Attic is like, only with every thought you never have."
 * Alas, Poor Villain -- "I try to be my best."
 * And the Fandom Rejoiced -- Take your pick, Joss Whedon, Eliza Dushku, Amy Acker, Tahmoh Penikett, Jamie Bamber, Michael Hogan, Summer Glau, Alexis Denisof, Alan Tudyk, you get the idea.
 * Angst Aversion: In the months leading up to the show's premiere, a number of Joss Whedon fans seemed to wonder whether it would be worth getting into a show that, considering its creator's track record, would likely put all its likable characters through hell. Or, as it's on Fox, would have time to put its characters through Purgatory and then be cancelled.
 * Better on DVD - Leaving aside the fact that it's got fairly fast-paced plot and character arc development from one episode to the next even in the early "stand-alone" episodes, anyone who's used Hulu or iTunes to watch an episode a second or even third time will probably tell you that with additional viewings you tend to catch things you missed the first time.
 * Break the Cutie: 'Belonging' is essentially detailing the process of breaking Priya.
 * Complete Monster: A good Black and Gray Morality setting requires a good Moral Event Horizon or two, as well as some really evil bastards to interact with the story's morally questionable protagonists -- and Dollhouse follows this philosophy with enthusiasm:
 * The men in Sierra's life who are coitus-related psychopaths: Joe Hearn (the rapist handler) and Nolan (who is just the personification of Squick).
 * Terry, who makes looking at Victor all kinds of difficult.
 * Alpha
 * Contractual Purity -- It's mentioned that Rayna was singing for "The Mouse". Her stage outfit however suggests she's broken free of this "curse", and into another.
 * Crazy Awesome: Alpha
 * Creator's Pet: Time and again various characters talk about how "special" Echo is; most viewers, on the other hand, ended up liking other characters more.
 * Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy
 * Designated Protagonist Syndrome: Some feel this way about Echo.
 * Ear Worm -- The theme tune. Oh God, the theme tune. Also a Real Song Theme Tune, by Jonatha Brooke.
 * Ensemble Darkhorse:
 * Victor and to a lesser extent Sierra and Topher.
 * Bennett. She only appeared in three episodes, but the fan reaction has been enthusiastic.
 * Ivy
 * Fan Service -- The series has some for everyone. See especially the Season 2 opening credits, which is nothing but lingering shots of Echo from all over the first two seasons.
 * Fail O'Suckyname -- The Dolls are named after the letters in the NATO phonetic alphabet, which gives the main Dolls pretty cool names (Alpha, Echo, November). But there are way more Dolls in the House than just the main characters, implying that there are Dolls named Golf, Papa, X-Ray or Yankee.
 * Yankee turns up in one of the Epitaph episodes.
 * Fetish Fuel Station Attendant -- All actives, but especially Echo.
 * Fetish Retardant --
 * The Firefly Effect
 * It's hard to tell if the poor ratings were caused by this, the Friday Night Death Slot, the retooled pilot and initial episodes, flaws within the show itself, or some combination of the above.
 * On the other hand, it was still picked up for a second season despite abysmal ratings and a decidedly uneven critical reaction. This was an acknowledgment of the Firefly effect; Fox's president of entertainment was quoted as saying that "if we'd canceled Joss' show I'd probably have 110 million e-mails this morning from the fans." Could it be that Firefly actually taught them something? Apparently not, since they aren't showing any shows during November sweeps even after putting a Press Release out that they will.
 * Foe Yay
 * An odd example: . And Ballard and Echo, though that's unidirectional.
 * Also unidirectional: Alpha-->Echo
 * Another weird one:
 * Adelle and  At least, until she
 * Topher and Bennett have tons of this in 2x06, which blossoms into a full-fledged relationship when she has her Heel Face Turn in 2x11.
 * Fridge Brilliance: At the end of the series,  That's surprisingly cheering after all the other possible implications of the denouement.
 * Joss reveal about Boyd's original arc as of Comic Con,  Was because, prior to changes in Season two, he really was.
 * Fridge Horror: In "Getting Closer",, which at first seems noble… until you realize
 * Which is actually a case of Fridge Brilliance, when you realize that this is probably a large part of.
 * In the flashbacks in "The Target", Topher says that "Dr. Saunders looks like a jigsaw puzzle". After finishing Season 1, this doesn't make sense at first-  * shudders* Fridge Brilliance, too, but... what exactly happened to him?
 * In season one it is noted Adelle likes Echo, who at the time was just an active who has moments of hypercompancy. Then in season two we learn she hated Caroline, Echo's original personailty, which makes the earlier fondness of the hollowed out shell of her former enemy rather creepy.
 * Funny Aneurysm Moment: well, not really funny, but: In "Epitaph One" we see that Whiskey is still waiting for Boyd, who (thanks to The End of the World as We Know It) is probably not coming back. Her devotion to him is all the more poignant in light of 2x12, now that we know where he went (and, for that matter, what-all has happened to her since then).
 * Another Boyd-related moment:
 * Growing the Beard -- Happens at "Man on the Street" (1x06). This is the point Joss got more freedom to tell the story as he wanted to, and it shows.
 * Specifically, the whole "Porn" exchange and everything that happens around it. Patton Oswalt was basically the Beard Carrier for the show.
 * It Gets Worse.
 * In "Vows" (2x01), Whiskey starts to experience an in-universe version of Nightmare Fuel and brings Topher in on the fun.
 * In a meta-example, Victor's actor's ability to channel Terry. Creeepy as all get out.
 * The Attic.

"Bennett: I wish I could see your amygdala.
 * In "The Attic" we get to see what it's like. Turns out it's not at all what Topher described. It's much, much worse.
 * The man in the business suit Echo encountered in the Attic, who has to stay in a sushi restaurant "until I enjoy myself." While
 * Hollywood Homely: At the beginning of "Getting Closer", we see flashbacks of a nerdy Bennett being victimized by a pair of Alpha Bitches until Caroline intervenes. Of course, even with the thick Nerd Glasses, Bennett was still the most beautiful thing on the screen, because she's played by Summer freakin' Glau.
 * Ho Yay:
 * Ballard has a thing for pushing Lubov against walls and leaning in close... though this doubles as Foe Yay.
 * Ballard with Kiki!Victor = OTP!
 * Ballard may just have a thing for Imprinted!Victor at this point.
 * Topher has his moments with almost every male he comes in contact with. He fully admits to having had a crush on Bennett before he met her and found out that she was a girl. For some reason when he first goes to see her, he does ask "Bennett, where is she?", even though he supposedly had no idea about her gender. He seemed more inclined to assume that she'd be much older and less attractive.
 * Given that Whiskey/Claire turns out to be  might qualify for this trope.
 * Bennett and Caroline have plenty of this in the flashbacks:

Caroline: You'd have to buy me dinner, first."

"DeWitt: If you don't return my Active, I will send someone to cut these off. You will be killed, horribly, over a long period and never found. Now look me in my eyes, Stewart, and tell me if I've learned how to bluff."
 * HSQ:
 * Hey, it's Alan "Wash" Tudyk being adorably goofy! This is going to be fun -- wait what's -- Holy shit.
 * Echo in.
 * Sierra in "Belonging" (2x04). Oh good, we're finally seeing Sierra's backstory. Wait, that's the creepy guy who wanted to rape her-- drawer full of pictures-- what the hell, Topher-- * head explodes*
 * Yay, it's Summer Glau!
 * Did Adelle just
 * Wait... Victor? Sierra? How...?.
 * Holy-- Echo just And now Victor? What did you just do to Sierra?
 * Dr. Saunders has a heartfelt conversation about Topher with Bennett, wherein Bennett finally starts looking like something other than a psycho thanks to Topher's obvious admiration and infatuation with her. And then
 * And then is revealed as the mysterious mastermind behind Rossum.
 * Ballard halfway through the series finale.
 * Hype Backlash: This was the first Whedon project that attracted vocal, large-scale criticism from the internet, even among fans of his other work. Penny Arcade sums up the reaction nicely.
 * Not to be outdone by his friendly rivals, Scott Kurtz joined in on the fun.
 * Internet Backdraft -- apparently you can only either hate it or worship it. Both camps aren't exactly keen on the other. There is also quite a bit of hatred from fans of The Sarah Connor Chronicles, who blame Dollhouse for their show's cancelation and took every opportunity to blow raspberries every time the subject of cancellation came up, this being a prime example
 * I tweeted with one of the directors for "The Sarah Connor Chronicles" and he told me that Joss Whedon thought Fox was insane for keeping Dollhouse over T:TSCC.
 * Les Yay: In "Vows" (2x01),
 * In "Meet Jane Doe", Echo casually mentions to Ballard that she's been "at least seven times gay," so the offscreen Les Yay in this series is off the charts (confirmed in the earlier "A Spy In The House Of Love"). This is reinforced in the next episode, "A Love Supreme." Alpha methodically hunts and kills all those who hired Echo on romantic engagements - including a woman who actually married Echo in San Francisco (before the series' beginning, since Proposition 8 banned same-sex marriage in California in November 2008, three months before the show's debut).
 * Adelle sure seems to enjoy getting up close and whispering in Echo's ear.
 * And apparently, Caroline and Bennett were pretty close back in college, although they may have been verging more toward being Heterosexual Life Partners.
 * In the series finale "Epitaph Two: Return,"
 * Like You Would Really Do It --
 * Subverted hard in "A Love Supreme" (2x08). Holy. Shit. Whedon is the King of subverting this trope. Ask Tara. (Oddly enough, in the same broadcast week, Bones blew a innocent guy to bits onscreen, on network TV. Maybe there was a bet going on for Christmas...)
 * And in "Getting Closer" (2x11) they killed ! How could they do that?
 * Magnificent Bastard -- Adelle DeWitt, especially as of her Badass Boast in "The Left Hand" that is made, slowly and sweetly, while delivering one continuous Groin Attack:

""This is a scenario I never thought of before. Rigor mortis... the new Viagra."
 * Alpha seems to have been established as one during the course of a single episode!
 * It's said that the difference between a Chessmaster and a Magnificent Bastard is that the latter is his own greatest piece.
 * Misaimed Fandom -- The series was intended partially as an Eliza Dushku vehicle, but it seems a lot of fans and critics now know about Enver Gjokaj's excellent acting skills. Given what happened to the people in Joss' last series, his prospects are pretty good.
 * Moe: the fact that Benett can be Moe while being an Axe Crazy Cold-Blooded Torture Technician is ... well, pretty amazing.
 * Moral Event Horizon:  Possibly subverted in that
 * Please.  You want a real Moral Event Horizon? In 2x11, "Getting Closer,"
 * Nightmare Fuel:
 * Alpha. He killed a man, in approximately eight seconds, with surgically precise strikes. The man had a gun, and was on alert and fully conscious. Alpha had a knife. Shiver. Let's kick it up a notch, shall we? Similar moves are actually possible in real life.
 * "I understand hell now."
 * memory being erased. And restored. In Victor. "Whose hands are these? Whose body am I in?!"
 * The imprint chair looks a little too much like something from a dentist's office for comfort.
 * Really, the premise of the show is terrifying if you think about it for any amount of time. This is Lampshaded by half the cast at least once per episode. It's the ultimate in Paranoia Fuel. Anyone could be an Active. Your wife, your girlfriend, your boss, your tennis partner. They would not know. Nor would you. Your memories could all be fiction. You can be wiped with a simple tone. This is aside from the super happy fun mind control programming you to calmly follow and trust total strangers and believe anything they want.
 * Don't forget all of the episode "The Attic." Yes, all of it. But especially
 * Don't forget all of the episode "The Attic." Yes, all of it. But especially

Audience: runs for bathroom."


 * Paranoia Fuel -- the Dollhouse is everywhere, and anyone can be an Active.  Even better, you could be an Active. That family you just saw yesterday? Artificial constructs of memory. The lifelong friend you're having lunch with? Someone who hired you to be his buddy, and you just met. Your partner, who you love more than anything and want to spend the rest of your life with? You only met this morning, and you won't remember them in a few hours.
 * Rescued From the Scrappy Heap: Dominic. Observe, for example, Television Without Pity's response to his presence in "The Target" (1x02), compared to the response in Not to mention
 * Topher as well, using the same evidence.
 * Rescued From the Scrappy Heap: Caroline is far more interesting as a than a whiney Granola Girl.
 * Laurence went from being a Scrappy in the first few episodes to something of an Ensemble Darkhorse somewhere around "Echoes".
 * Special Effects Failure -- The explosion at the end of "The Hollow Men."
 * Squick:
 * Alpha. And, oh yeah, the whole premise.
 * People are frequently imprinted to think they're the actual significant others of their clients.
 * In "Haunted" (1x10) Nicholas Bashford tries to kiss Echo, who is imprinted with the personality and memories of his deceased mother, Margaret. In fairness, he doesn't know.
 * Taken to a whole other level in "Belle Chose" (2x03), with an Oedipal serial killer and a pathetic college professor who wants to have sex with a student.
 * Being forced to cart around should certainly qualify. And later, Echo is forced to.
 * "Belonging" outright stated Mathew had sex with Echo on multipule occasions.
 * Straw Man Has a Point -- the Big Bad's entire Xanatos Gambit is about exploiting Echo's natural resistance to mind-wiping until he can develop an immunization. The "point" he is working from is the belief that imprinting tech, now that it exists, will inevitably be abused. And, aside from the slight oversight of offering that immunization only to folks he personally likes, it should be pointed out that his working premise is basically the Aesop of the entire series.
 * Especially since, even after they kill him and "save the world," the Crapsack Future he predicted still occurs.
 * Tainted by the Preview: A borderline case, but a significant group of the potential viewing audience, even Joss Whedon fans, were unimpressed by the relatively lackluster couple of opening episodes and didn't stick with it beyond. Considering this is Fox, this pretty much meant eventual death for the show.
 * Tear Jerker -- Has its own page.
 * Unfortunate Implications -- This is pretty much the point of the entire series. Viewers are supposed to recognize them and be disturbed by it.
 * Unpopular Popular Character: Topher Brink.
 * Values Dissonance:
 * Some viewers are contemptuous of Caroline's activism, especially her outrage at inhumane treatment of test animals. Probably not quite the intended response.
 * I just think even her blank-slate state is more interesting. I mean, vegetarian animal activist? Done to death.
 * For some, it's less the reason why so much as the way she acts, reacts, and approaches her outrage.
 * For others it's the fact that experimenting on fetuses is illegal, and all Caroline has to say about it is "I told you Rossum was evil" then she goes back to coo over the puppies, when she now has more than enough evidence to take Rossum down.
 * What an Idiot! -- A client requires a competent negotiator to facilitate an exchange between himself and the men who have kidnapped his daughter... so he makes Echo question whether she's a negotiator at all? Fantastic idea, sir. It's especially bad because DeWitt herself explicitly told him to not challenge the Actives' identities or their perception of self, as that would confuse and potentially render them useless.
 * The Woobie
 * Nearly every major character and some minor characters stray into this territory throughout the season. It may be a testament to the writing that morally ambiguous characters like DeWitt and Topher can be considered this at times.
 * Victor gets more than his fair share.
 * Sierra pretty much outdoes everyone else in "Belonging" (2x04). Yeah, poor girl. Let's not forget that before we learned everything about her backstory we still had her being . She definitely gets more than her fair share.
 * Mellie, first when Paul breaks up with her in "Briar Rose" (1x11) and
 * Dr. Claire
 * Bennet
 * Lastly,
 * All in all, as The Woobie page itself points out, the series should be renamed Woobiehouse; everyone who isn't a villain - and a few who are - qualify.