Where Soul Meets Body

A confession. I was disappointed when Dollhouse was renewed for a second season. I wanted it canceled.

While the series had improved over the course of its run, starting with the promised uptick with "Man On the Street," with a really moving performance by Patton Oswalt of all people, and the wonderful reveal of Alan Tudyk as Alpha in the final two episodes, it never changed the fact that I was watching more out of what felt like obligation than actually being entertained or intrigued. But after watching "Epitaph One," the unaired thirteenth episode, I can safely say that I'll be watching next season not only as a Joss Whedon loyalist, but because the show finally has seemed to realize the potential of its premise.

"Epitaph One" skips ahead to 2019 and throws us into a world of actuals versus imprinted. It seems that Rossum Corp., the company behind the Dollhouse technology has let imprint technology rage out of control to a point where those seeking freedom must escape from technology in order to maintain their own personalities.

While I am always a sucker for post-apocalyptic visions of the future (X-Men's Days of Future Past; Buffy's The Wish; Heroes' Five Years Gone) , what makes "Epitaph One" work so well is how over the course of the previous 12 episodes, the groundwork has subtly been laid for this possibly inevitable future. We've seen Topher discuss the possibility of remote wipes and imprints, we've seen the growing bonds between Victor and Sierra, we've been warned that Rossum may have other ideas for the technology other than to serve their rich clients, and in what seemed like just another throwaway standalone, we've seen imprinting used for a sort of immortality as Ms. Dewitt brought her friend back to solve her own murder in "Haunted." "Epitaph One" takes that all to it extreme and logical conclusion.

Finally, the show seems to have realized that instead of leaving us questioning why anyone would hire an imprinted active instead of an actual professional, the real issues the show can delve into are what actually makes us who we are. The technology doesn't just serve the purpose of hiring out the perfect professional with no memory, but the possibility of immortality by moving memories and personalities from body to body. Is there a difference between our memories and personalities that shape who we are and our actual physical bodies and beings? Am I who I am with all my memories and experiences, if I am in a different body? And would I be comfortable living knowing I wasn't in my actual body? There is a real sense of dread presented by Felicia Day's Mag and the rest of the actuals about the idea of being wiped or imprinted over, and ensuring that they stay intact with their bodies.

While I don't know if the show is now going to try to fill in the gaps from Omega to Epitaph One in Season 2, I'll be a little disappointed if it doesn't. It would be a little ridiculous to see our present day characters try to fight a future they don't know exists. Either way, I'm glad to see the show now have larger issues to tackle, and because of it, much larger stakes. While the show is still ultimately about the more personal story of Eliza Dushku's Echo finding Caroline, her true self, it's also about a larger conflict between Rossum Corp. and "actual" humanity itself.