"The human brain is kind of like Van Halen. If you keep removing and replacing one piece, the whole thing degrades."

Like most of Joss' work, this seemingly unimportant episode is the groundwork for something bigger that's going to come back and bite the Dollhouse in the ass. It's the emotional commitment that the dolls are experiencing with every personality that's the problem.

"and her handler Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett) comes in and gets her. From there, they talk and the show ends."

Obviously from reading your review, this is the first time you've even watched an episode of Dollhouse. That talk at the end between Ballard and Echo was very important. But only to people who have actually watched the show and not just glossed over it so they could write a mediocre article.

"Whedon’s strength is sweeping, multi-episode story arcs that he did on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel"

Yes, this is true, but if you actually think back to Buffy and Angel, the second episode of the season was almost never obviously important to the overall season arc.  While he makes serialized dramas, Whedon has never been of the Lost/24 school of thought that states every episode must be central to the plot.  You could occassionally miss an episode of Buffy and (depending on the episode) be alright, whereas in modern serialized drama this is rarely the case.  And honestly, TV networks probably prefer Whedon's model to the LOST one, because we all know the ABC show has a hell of a time attracting new viewers because every episode is essential viewing.  Not everyone has a DVR, you know.

All that said, I admit to not having actually watched this particular episode, so for all I know it may merit the C- it was given.

I just dunno about this show. I wanna like it but it's not hooking me for some reason.

 to say whedon's strength is his ability to do huge multi-episode arcs is like saying shakespeare's strength is to do 5-act plays in iambic pentameter. whedon writes unique characters who play against type in a sea of cliche and the man can turn a phrase. dollhouse asks some interesting questions about identity, and though not all of them are going to be home runs, it still has a lot of ground to cover before dismissing that core premise. more power to the ghost of the week episodes!

and when is mania going to adapt its numbered lists to its reviews? i really think this article would be easier to follow if you called it 5 review points from dollhouse as identified by a hack.

Did anybody else watch the original pilot episode on the DVD?  One of the sub-plots that was introduced was Dr. Saunders having select Actives (the three primaries) engage in 'pro-bono' missions where they would help certain people.  These were not paid jobs and I don't know the criteria used to pick the missions but Saunders was making a big deal about how the Dolls that had gone on those missions performed better overall than the Dolls that did not go on such missions.  The implication being that doing good things had positive impact even after the Dolls were wiped. 

That seems to be what Joss is hinting at with both Topher's line about modifying the mind and Echo's speech at the end about how the emotions/feelings are what resonate within her. 

BTW - Am I the only one who thought the original pilot was FAR superior to the Fox modified pilot that ended up on the air?  It did a much better jjob of laying out the rules of the Dollhouse and setting up the characters.  It looks like Fox, in an effort to make Dollhouse more 'Lost' like told Joss to make things more mysterious and vague things up. 

Kurt, did you just fast-forward through the whole episode?  You kind of missed some interesting story progression with former doll, November, and Ballard as well as the introduction to Alexis Denisof's character who is apparently personally investigating the dollhouse.  I have a feeling those two storylines will *somehow* be important to the overall arc of the season/series.  Call it a hunch.

Also, the storyline with Echo being imprinted with not only the maternal instinct but that Topher managed to change her body in some major ways just by tinkering with his "wedges" designs is kinda a major deal that will most certainly play into what those "endless possibilities" are that Topher eluded to at the beginning of the episode.

Anyway, it's a decent start to the new season (can't say the same for this review), though I don't see Fox keeping it around for more than the rest of this season.   

I'm on the fence with this show...which probably doens't matter because with its current rating it might not make it into next year to finish the season.

Ballard was better when he was trying to bring down the dollhouse...i can't figure out who he is trying to rescue?  All these dolls volunteered to be slaves for a few years so its not like they were kidnapped off the street...

i tried to find this show interesting when it started last season.  2 episodes in i dropped it.  my g/f still watches so i ended up seeing part of this episode but i still found it really less than interesting to me.

for those that do like it though, i'll keep my fingers crossed for you that it continues