‘Verse Related Books and Movies Reviews written by AB Browncoats member Pokee.

Inside Joss’ Dollhouse: From Alpha to Rossum
Edited by Jane Espenson with Leah Wilson (2010) (2007)

4.5 out 5 stars

Following fast on the heels of the short-lived, but much loved, series Dollhouse, Inside Joss’ Dollhouse helps the loyal Whedon fandom find the closure so often denied us. Surviving a mere two short seasons (and only because according to Joss, “Fox forgot to cancel my show… Very awkward. They looked and said, ‘Oh, this is our bad. We forgot to cancel your show. You’re going to have to make more’), Dollhouse nonetheless became an instant Whedon classic. Editor Jane Espenson, a familiar name in the Whedon-verse, not only chose the essays using the completely blind method (she had no idea of the names of the people who submitted them), but provides introductions to each selection. The ensuing collection amazes the reader with its range of topics and writers.

One of my personal favourites (and Jane’s too, as it was one of the finalists) was written by Rebecca Levinger, a high school student from Wellesley, Massachusetts, and entitled “Let the Tide Come In: How Claire is the True Representation of Dollhouse’s Premise.” This selection made me rethink a character that I hadn’t truly cared for. Finding out that Saunders was in fact Whiskey, and what this meant for the body of the original inhabitant, was certainly one of the many twists in Dollhouse. But as the show was so short lived, there was nary time to explore it, and her character always felt a little distant to me. But perhaps that was the intention all along, as Levinger points out.

Another excellent selection choice was “Boyd Langton and the Fantasy of Trust” by Christopher Souza. Joss has always played with our trust as viewers, waiting until a character is much loved before brutally ending their run, but to place a character like Boyd so early in the show, and then have it revealed that the devil was in the house all along, showed us a whole new level of his depravity for our trust. Rule number one in the Whedon-verse… don’t fall in love with anyone!

When I learned that the essays were chosen blindly, I had hoped for more entries from regular folks like Levinger, and less of the “clinical” writers we’ve come to expect from these sorts of books. That being said, I found the topics to be diverse and deep, as well as hitting on opinions that I myself carried. They made me wonder about all the ones that didn’t make the cut! I believe that if you enjoyed Dollhouse, you will enjoy this book.