Even though it has a rocky start and a rushed, break-glass-in-case-of-emergency ending, I love Dollhouse. With terrific Whedon characters, intriguing mythos, adventurous storytelling, and thoughtful thematic work, it’s an ambitious series with a lot to like. Since this is my first Dollhouse-related post, though, I have to go straight to my favorite aspect of the show: the relationship between Victor and Sierra.
Honestly, it’s pairings like this that remind me what a sap I can be. At first glance, you wouldn’t think much of them – they’re both brain-wiped victims, mindless blank slates to be imprinted with personalities at the behest of the rich and powerful. They’re farmed out regularly, equipped with whatever skillful, quirks, or kinks needed for their engagement, and then re-wiped before being dropped back into the Dollhouse. Their own identities are in storage, and their non-engaged everyday personalities are vacant, childlike, and mutedly content.
So why Sierra and Victor? Because their love cuts through all of that. Even they’re only vaguely aware of it themselves and entirely unable to articulate it (when asked to describe how Sierra makes him feel, all Victor can say is, “Better,) a quiet, innocent romance begins to grow between them. Those who run the Dollhouse don’t get it. They call it “grouping,” think it’s a problematic malfunction. They try to fix it – the dolls are scrubbed (wiped more deeply to stamp out any ghosts in the cerebral machine,) and staff are instructed to monitor their behavior, but it doesn’t do any good.
Adele considers these hints of independent thought and feelings to be dangerous, an incursion that could spread to other dolls and pollute the livestock. She’s right to be concerned; as Victor and Sierra grow closer, their feelings for each other (especially Victor’s for Sierra) continue to come through even when they’re imprinted. When they’re both imprinted, their new personalities fall for each other all over again, but they don’t even need to see one another for the imprinted personalities to know they’re in love. Since the Dollhouse is made to cater to its clients’ deepest desires and needs, it’s not exactly ideal to send a doll on a romantic engagement when they love someone else.
Not to mention, I just love how they are with each other. It’s so gentle and sweet, the way they look at one another, the way they hold hands like they invented it. I kind of like that, given the blank-slate nature of their doll personalities, the show can’t simply resort to make-out sessions or smoldering tension. It doesn’t ignore the physical side (the situation first comes to Topher’s attention when he notices Victor in the shower with an erection, a development that surprises Victor at least as much as everyone else,) but it needs to get creative and find other ways to show their affections and burgeoning relationship. I appreciate that. Although Victor in his doll state is utterly powerless, he tries to protect Sierra any way he can by his limited means. Sierra is slower to be very demonstrative with her feelings, but when she does, she starts to look out for him as well. A heart would have to be a great deal colder and harder than mine not to be entirely won over by these two.
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