Like "24" for Gender Studies
I suspect if Andrea Dworkin made a sci-fi show it would bear a surface resemblance to Dollhouse - except hers would be a lot more aware of the nature of a show about mindwiped prostitutes who have been programmed to think they are willingly giving consent.



I mean, come the fuck on.



In this scene a horny blonde chippy won't stop kissing a minor thug character until he shoves her away by the face.



Then there's our FBI agent's slightly heavy neighbor with a crush - desperately lonely, barefoot and holding a casserole.

In this episode not only does Echo end up being hunted by her john but she's drugged to make her easier prey. The analogies are pretty obvious.

Plus there's the extra bonus of 24-style torture, but even more casual, by Echo's handler.

Then there's a scene showing Echo after she's been with an unattractive trick and is talking (as programmed) about being attracted to him.

The episode ends with Echo being completely patronized by a guy, then giving an unconsciously "defiant" reaction. Except that motion is an imitation of a tormentor so even Echo's rebellion is nothing but a reflection of men controlling her.

While I enjoy art which implicates and discomforts the viewer in unsettling concepts, it doesn't seem like all the "what the fuck is that?" was planned. It wavers between intentionally disturbing and unintentional embrace of the disturbing.

The implied critique doesn't seem enough to counter material which seems plucked from the minds of guys who made this Details photospread.

If this is a high risk prolonged prelude to an artful payoff, it's not well done enough to be worth watching. And I don't think it will be that.

The presence of male dolls indicates a fuzzy equivocation for the emphasis on female exploitation. The shift needed to forcefully address the misogyny in the central conceit is too extreme for Fox to have approved. The ads projecting LA onto Dushku's nude form indicate Fox bought something edgy.

Any statement is likely to play as just that - a big speech or two about how wrong it is will seem a moral disclaimer to cover the indulgence in fetish. Dollhouse will say the misogyny cake is very bad for you before slathering on another layer of creepy icing. While any attempt to use this idea might risk that, this network friendly show seems especially pernicious.

It's hard to undo while doing. The Shield spent three seasons depicting how the consequences of actions by the anti-heros kept escalating, the means making a mockery of the ends. Despite doing everything but writing on a wall "ultimately bad cops perpetuate the problem", some viewers came away thinking Vic Mackey was the tits anyway. So I question how a weaker, muddled show is going to deal with the rape culture which it is pointing out.