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Blu-ray Review: Dollhouse: Season Two

Echo (Eliza Dushku) returns for more adventures in Dollhouse: Season Two! Paul Ballard has learned the truth about the existence of Dollhouse and helped the house face off against the murderous Alpha. Now Ballard has joined the Dollhouse to help Echo and take down the house from the inside. Will the disastrous future that we saw in the first season finale come to pass? Can Echo save the world before everyone becomes a doll? Secrets will be revealed in the final 13 episodes of Joss Whedon’s hit series. Now Dollhouse: Season Two is now available on Blu-ray!

Episodes:

“Vows”: Echo (aka Caroline) gets married! Tasked with bringing down an arms dealer (Battlestar Galactica’s Jamie Bamber), Echo goes into her long term engagement only to find that her imprint is becoming unstable. It seems like it is only a matter of time before all of her previous imprints will become one single composite. Will Echo become the next Alpha? This episode also focuses on Claire Sanders (aka Whiskey), who found out that she herself was a doll and that she had been imprinted with the life of the previous Dr. Sanders. Can she find a way to live with this new knowledge? Meanwhile, what is the Rossum Corporation, the mysterious entity behind the Dollhouse technology, up to? And who is trying to find out more about this organization?

“The Public Eye”: Throughout the season, Senator Perrin has been getting closer and closer to the secrets of the Dollhouse and now those secrets may cost him his life. Perrin is determined to use Madeline (aka the former doll known as November) to prove the existence of the house, but his plans soon backfire on him. Now Echo must step in and try and safe Perrin, but it might be too late as the house might be closer than he thinks…as Perrin’s own wife might be a doll! This episode also features Summer Glau as genius programmer Bennett who has a past connection with Caroline.

“The Left Hand”: Bennett’s past connection with Echo and the truth about her injury comes to light. How did Bennett loose the use of her arm? Echo and Perrin escape from the house, more determined than ever to bring down Rossum and the corruption of the Dollhouse. The true highlight of this episode is Topher imprinting Victor with his own personality, and seeing Victor doing a fantastic impression of Topher. This was easily one of the best moments of the season.

“The Attic”: The truth behind the mysterious Attic is finally revealed. What happens to people sent to the Attic? Echo, Sierra, and Victor are all sent to the Attic where they are forced to live in a virtual nightmare world. With help from former Head of Security Laurence Dominic (Reed Diamond), they are able to find Clyde, who is actually one of the co-founders of Rossum! Clyde had been sent to the Attic by the other co-founder (who is left unnamed), and fears that the future will soon come to look like the one briefly seen in “Epitaph: One”. Can our heroes escape their virtual prison?

“Getting Closer”: This must watch episode explains the history of the Dollhouse and really explains Caroline’s motives behind joining the organization. Glimpses from the future seen in “Epitaph: One” seem to be happening one at a time, and it might be too late to stop Rossum from creating an apocalyptic future. The true face behind the Dollhouse is revealed in the biggest game changing moment of the series, and no one could possibly have guessed who it was.

“Epitaph: Two”: The future is now. A year has passed since the events of “Epitaph: One” and Echo has found the remaining Actives (including Dr. Horrible’s Felicia Day) and has determined that if she can find Topher she can restore the world. With a little help from her friends, Echo must find a way into the Corporation in Los Angeles, where Topher is being held. Along the way the group encounters Alpha, who has had a drastic change of heart since the last time we saw him. What will it take to fix the sins of the past? Sacrifices will be made in this amazing series finale.

Special Features:

-Defining Moments: A Retrospective with Joss Whedon
-Looking Back: Roundtable with Joss Whedon and Cast
-Commentaries on Select Episodes
-Deleted Scenes and Outtakes
-1080p Video
-English 5.1 DTS HD Audio

Overall:

Over the course of Season Two, we got to see some truly spectacular work from the cast and crew. Eliza Dushku stepped up her performance and takes Echo and Caroline into a new darker, and more focused direction. Fran Kranz (Topher) stands out as providing some of the best comedic moments of the show. The development of the relationship between Sierra (Dichen Lachman) and Victor (Enver Gjokaj) takes a very pleasant turn and allowed for these two actors to shine. Summer Glau’s appearances as Bennett provided a nice foil for Topher and Echo.

One of the most interesting components of this series was the techno-thriller aspect: a world where our own technology has caused the downfall of society as we know it. We briefly got a glimpse of a dark future in the first season finale, and throughout the series we slowly got to see what could happen if technology is placed in the wrong hands. We have all heard that power corrupts, and these days, technology is power. In the world that Whedon has created in Dollhouse, a person’s entire life or soul can be removed from their body and replaced by another within a matter of seconds. It is easy to believe that this newfound technology can be corrupted for evil purposes.

With the possibility of cancellation looming on the horizon, Whedon and his team found a way to conclude this series in an amazing way. In order to wrap up the show in a satisfying manner, Whedon and crew had to cram a few of the larger story arcs into the remaining episodes, but this allowed for some impressive and mind blowing revelations to come sooner than fans could have hoped. Filled with action and surprising plot twists, the final episodes of Dollhouse proved to be some of the best moments of the 2009-2010 television season.

ComicsOnline gives Dollhouse: Season Two on Blu-ray 5 out of 5 Joss Whedon series that we will miss.

Get your copy of Dollhouse: Season Two on Blu-ray at Amazon.
 
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(Managing Editor/Director of Media Relations) Matt interviewed MacGyver once (true story), and was invited on a submarine to the Arctic. It hasn't happened yet, but Matt hopes that some day he will get the call and he and Richard Dean Anderson will go off and have a wacky adventure.