TVSquad

Really? I kind of think she acts the same, no matter what she's acting like. She's an okay actress, but not the caliber it would take to propel a show like this into awards territory, which is where it would be heading if what you claim were to be true.

The show is getting better, but its downfall, I'm afraid, will always be her acting. She is only about as good as Jennifer Gardner was in Alias.

http://makeasitcom.com

I totally agree. The actress playing Sierra is much better than Dushku who plays about the same character with only slight variations.

Yeah I was going to argue the whole "voluntary" aspect of it. So we'll presume they are voluntary, although I think that's a pretty big assumption and if it wasn't voluntary then you have one clear reason right there for why this is illegal.

The only thing I would add (in playing devil's advocate here) is that perhaps because they never ask the dolls again? Assuming this is a life-time membership and they're not reinstated with their original personality each year to renew contracts, the dolls have no way of deciding they have had enough and wanting to leave.

Also I'm assuming (hey I can do that too right?) much later in the show we'll learn the effects of this erasing and imprinting are not completely benign in nature and that the company is covering up the true dangers of the whole process.

Who owns this company? If it's private sector, tax evasion and/or money laundering seems to be necessary right? Am I right or wrong, lawyer-man? Aren't DOD and CIA contractors required to pay taxes? Wouldn't the surveillance be illegal as well, since they exist hidden from the courts?

If the second sperm hits an egg and that is life in the eyes of many in America and putting stem cells in a petri dish is illegal (until Monday), you can bet harvesting and storing personalities for later use would be illegal.

In this case the argument would be slavery because they are property that can be terminated at will (another potential charge), their rights are stripped, and they are purposefully held in an incapacitated state. The fact that they signed a contract would be a moot point, that would just rule out abduction. I know the past 8 years seem to have made it ok to kill soldiers and civilians, but it is still illegal.

I work in medicine and only have a loose understanding of the law, but I've accepted your comment as a challenge. When I wake up tonight, I'm going to have this in the back of mind for the whole day.

Joseph:

It's not clear what the nature of the relationship between the dolls and the dollhouse is, but assuming that the dolls knowingly volunteer and fully understand the risks and what will be done to them (i.e. informed consent), there is nothing inately illegal under existing law about wiping someone's mind and reprogramming them to be someone else. Of course, the reason it's not currently illegal is because it's not currently possible. I assume in the world of Dollhouse it's common knowledge that such technology exists and as such, some right-wing Christian GOP fascist congressman got some law passed to make illegal the use of all mind-wiping/reprogramming machines (except for the government of course).

If the Dollhouse company is breaching the contracts between them and their dolls, then there could be some illegalities. If the contract is for a five-year term of "doll service" in exchange for whatever sort of remuneration, with original memory to be restored at the end of the five years, and the dollhouse keeps them perpetually, never restoring their memories and never paying them, of course it would be illegal. We don't know the exact nature of the relationship between the dolls and the dollhouse. They've stressed that it's voluntary, so until we see differently, I'll assume that's true for purposes of this discussion.

Merely working for someone else in a risky job does not equate to slavery. They're treated like property to an extent, but so are soldiers by the military. Of course a contract to be someone's slave would not be a legally enforceable contract, but a contract to do work for X amount of time, in exchange for food and shelter, and whatever else, would be legal. The dollhouse provide good food ("perfect lettuce") and what seems to be a very nice shelter with every amenity possible to the dolls. They're not being abused. They may go on risky missions, but that's voluntary as long as there was informed consent at the outset, and they take great care to protect the dolls from any harm, as we've seen in every episode. They never treat the dolls as exposable - they will refuse certain clients and while the fee is commensurate with the risk of the mission, it's clear they would not take on a client with a "suicide mission" for one of the dolls. They're too valuable.

Incidentally, this fact provides additional evidence that the relationship is, in fact, voluntary. If they were just snatching people off the streets, they wouldn't care so much about protecting them. I think we can assume that people willing to volunteer to be dolls are few and fare between. We also saw scenes in the pilot with Echo talking about becoming a doll, before she was one.

The impression I got was that Echo/Caroline was coerced into becoming an Active. It sounded like it was blackmail: either she agrees to their terms or they turn her over to the police for some undisclosed (to the audience) illegal activity she had been a part of. DeWitt does say something to the effect of “We can take care of this mess.” while trying to convince Echo to join.

It’s possible all the Actives (and possibly some of the other personnel) are there under similar arrangements: work for the Dollhouse and they’ll cover up whatever you did.

maybe in this reality they have outlawed it based on moral issues, a parallel view to what many would have done with genetic research. anyway, just throwing it out there.

Just because you agree to being someone's slave doesn't make that slavery legal, you know.

No they've explicitly said, in the pilot, that it is highly illegal. That's why the FBI (Ballard) is after them.

I still don't understand how customers (1) learn about and (2) locate the Dollhouse to hire actives, while the FBI can't even prove the place exists, let alone find it. If someone can logically explain that to me, I'm all ears.

I'll disagree on the worst actor bit. The 'bison' line had me chuckling for quite a while. He's the 'Wash' character on the show, and the deadpan is quite close to bland in lots of cases. Sometimes it hits, sometimes it misses.

And the midwife can be explained by: rich people living in the mountains wanting their baby born there, but can't get a good quality midwife to get out there.

As for the show, it's not Firefly quality yet, but that may mean it lasts longer. The lack of western themes and gratuitous skin may also help. :)