Oh, I'm loving the show now. This last episode was largely really, really good. Dichen Lachman (Sierra/Priya) was amazing, and your Jonathan Frakes did a great job as director. The bit after she does ... something violent and ends up standing up shakily, in silhouette against that particular painting, was a very cool choice I thought.

I don't know about Echo having disappeared -- she featured heavily in the first two episodes, and was pretty significant in the third. This one she had a smaller part, but you can see them moving the story arc forward with her. I think it's a combination of shifting to a more ensemble sort of focus, and getting pieces in place for the big two parter coming up (featuring Summer Glau and some revelations concerning the series "mythology").

By all accounts, Fox is burning off the show in December after pulling it from sweeps. They say they'll run two episodes back-to-back on Friday nights until it's done, and Whedon and others are basically saying it'll take a ratings miracle for it to get the back nine.

I don't know what's going on with Dushku, but I've enjoyed seeing the greater emphasis on other actors; many of her co-stars are more convincing than she is. It's obvious that Whedon likes her, but Acker, Gyokai, and Lachmann have all given superior performances. I particularly liked the episode where Gyokai's character got imprinted with the girly persona from Dushku's character.

I hope we get a full second season out of this. Unlike you, I love it; it has an actual science fiction premise, and one that Whedon is using to explore both the technological possibilities and the human significances. I'm tooling up to start a transhumanist horror campaign next year, and watching Dollhouse is giving me inspiration.

I completely agree that the co-stars are far better actors than Dushku, and Frakes is a very good director. But Dushku has disappeared. She's an executive producer on this show, and I've never met an actor who voluntarily gives up screen time. Yes, there are hints that Echo is up to something, but she is MIA on screen, and that usually indicates problems. Also, bringing in a heart throb like Summer Glau also suggests they are not happy with their leading lady.

I would agree that the last two episodes have been better in terms of telling somewhat interesting stories, but it's the underlying tone and themes that are making me, as a woman, crazy. If he's making a point about how society objectifies women, okay, great, we got it after only a couple of episodes. Now go somewhere with this.

Another problem for me is that you can't really connect with Sierra or Echo because you don't know the core personality, and the personae they were are often loathsome or irritating.

Of the characters who don't keep downloading new people into their heads -- they are just plain loathsome. There needs to be at least one character in a show that I actually like.

Perhaps an exploration of gender issues and how people don "roles" would be interesting, but it might have worked better as a movie or a mini-series where you see some resolution of these issues.

Insofar as your reaction to Dollhouse turns on emotionally flinching at it, there's nothing to be said on my behalf. But I do disagree with one substantive point you make: the comment that you can't connect with Sierra or Echo because you don't know the core personality. Having watched every episode, I feel that I do know the core personalities of Sierra, Echo, Victor, and Whiskey, and that those core personalities persist and express themselves at a level deeper than the memories, skills, and self-concepts that are downloaded into them . . . and that persistence is in fact the main theme of the series. Topher's idea that he completely controls everything that goes into an active's brain and can predict everything they will do is wrong, so wrong that even Topher is figuring it out. And those persistent core personalities of the actives are the people I actually like in the show.