Comments on: Discuss Dollhouse season two episode 12

By: Heather

Heather — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 07:17:00 +0000

I think that by Topher referring to Whiskey as Saunders is just Topher’s way of referring to her. Note that he still calls Priya and Anthony by their Doll names, Sierra and Victor. It’s just his way of naming them. So when he tells Paul that he got “Saunders” out, he’s referring to her body – she’s physically safe.

Yeah, I”m still mourning Bennett. I mean, she spent practically her whole life feeling like a wallflower, underappreciated as a girl and friend. She found Caroline as a friend and then gets betrayed. She finds love and friendship and m mutual intelligence and appreciation and then gets shot in the head. I’m only able to take comfort in the fact that her death was so sudden that she didn’t have time to process it and she died with a smile on her face from the thought of being loved.

By: MzKiKi

MzKiKi — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:38:56 +0000

Cyndee..i’d really like to believe that Boyd wasn’t blown up simply because he’s African-American. I’d like to believe that if a white character had been chosen to be the baddest dude in the room, Joss would’ve had that dude blown up too. I mean, i know some of you all get deep, but damn..that’s a bit much.

PS..it’s not like i don’t understand. I’m Black.

By: MzKiKi

MzKiKi — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:30:36 +0000

OK..i am not a Whedonite (although i was thinking about it), but i will say this..That Joss serves up one hell of a story !!
Honey..when Boyd looked up and said “did i fall asleep ?”..WOOO honey..i yelled out loud “WOOOOOOO..BOYD’S A DOLL !!??? NOOOOOOOO !!” ! You could’ve knocked me over with a feather !
Just so you know..i know my neighbors think i’m REAL crazy because of this show. I only yell at the TV during football games and “Dollhouse”. Well, i guess it’s only gonna be football games now. Damn.

By: Kristin

Kristin — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:12:30 +0000

Uhhh So WHEN is the dollhouse going to be on again? I see it is canceled because of the Haiti concert!

By: bobby

bobby — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 05:01:03 +0000

im glad i was wrong about all my little theories, u gotta admit i loved every minute of this ep and yes whedonesquers are just being whiners. I believe if season 3 would of began, u would see more of a caroline vs echo situation everyone is clamoring for except for me, i think they are one in the same. I just wish my last couple of questions could of been answered: why adelle and topher wound up in the dollhouse; who claire really was; and a new one, what would happen in season three. Dollhouses at war with eachother, that would of been cool.

By: patrick

patrick — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:21:53 +0000

Did you see Epitaph One? Topher explains the mechanism behind civilization ending in that episode. But basically the issue is that Boyd was right, the tech is out there and can’t be uninvented. Even assuming Rossum didn’t have backups to what they lost when Boyd blew up, there are all sorts of people who worked for Rossum who know how the tech works. All they have to do is start another corporation or get nabbed by some existing corporation or state, and all the sudden you have something just as bad as Rossum.

By: stephanie

stephanie — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 07:13:50 +0000

OT but i think it’s funny that you’re one of my friends on myspace, lol. Small world. … dramachicx

By: Cyndee

Cyndee — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 01:17:46 +0000

This gets into the area of mind/body split, and the devaluation of the body. I would associate ‘soul” on this level with “consciousness” and so then dolls would have a soul. But I think the writers and creators of DH are playing with this idea that when you take away the mind, there is still something there that is pretty basic and stripped away but still aware and sensitive. I don’t think it is an accident that Caroline got involved with Rossum initially over investigation of animal rights. The entire show investigates the issue not of what it means to be human, but what it means to be aware.

Also, the body has habitually been associated with women and African Americans, or people of non-dominant races. So it is interesting that Boyd, an African-American man, gets returned to this state of being little more than a conscious body and then is erased.

By: patrick

patrick — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 01:04:05 +0000

I don’t think so. Those cats at Whedonesque are just being whiners.

By: patrick

patrick — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 01:00:41 +0000

I think Jason merely meant to be pointing out that they are purely fictional entities, not that they do not exist within the fictional universe of Dollhouse.

That said in his defense, I am not sure there is anything that corresponds to a soul, as he understand it. I don’t think it is at all likely that there are any distinctive behavioral or cognitive traits that we have since birth. That said you don’t have to be a theist to believe in souls. Plenty of people believe in reincarnation, which I think pretty clearly commits you to believing in something like a soul, but don’t believe in God. There are kinds of buddhists for whom these are orthodox beliefs.

I teach philosophy, and I really think I am going to start using Dollhouse as class materials. It really gets into the thickets of the philosophy of personal identity literature. If what makes you who you are is your personality traits and memories then by hypothesis Boyd died when Topher hit him with the remote whipper. That means that the Doll Echo/Caroline killed just was not Boyd anymore, and so doesn’t deserve to be punished for Boyd’s crimes. But I get the feeling lots of people are really skeptical of the claim that all there is to being who you are is the collection of your personality traits and memories.