After months of speculation, script rewrites, and anticipation of just how FOX executives would screw the pooch, Dollhouse has finally arrived. Having become a more recent convert to Joss Whedon, I wasn’t 100% blinded by fan loyalty. I knew that Joss would deliver a compelling story, draped in one liners. But his casting choice is what made me just a tad bit worried. As always I’ll preface this with a statement. Eliza Dushku is a talented actress and was fantastic in her role in Buffy The Vampire Slayer. However Eliza reminds me a lot of Michelle Rodriguez, who is very convincing in a role meant for her, but otherwise leaves you wanting. In Dollhouse this feeling is exacerbated by the show’s premise.

The Dollhouse is an organization that wipes people of their personalities and imprints them with new, specially crafted personalities to fit a particular mission or objective. In the pilot we see Dushku play the role of badass party girl, a role she is very comfortable in, and that of a hostage negotiator. Many of you are probably chuckling under your breath at the thought of Dushku as a hostage negotiator, but she was much better than I would have imagined. Despite this apparent cosmic aberration, I wouldn’t count on it being a regular event.

The premise of the show centers around versatility. The character Echo will embody close to thirty personalities a season. That’s thirty different characters she’s going to need to play. I’ve only seen Dushku play one kind of character, two if we decide to throw in the hostage negotiator. Does she have that range? Is she capable of being a different character each episode? I know that she’s struggling to sell me on the Echo personality, which is essentially someone devoid of personality. This is the part where all the Knights of Eliza rise to her defense claiming that it’s supposed to be devoid of emotion because the character doesn’t have any. I call bullshit. I spent seven years watching a television show with an android who was emotionally absent, yet the performance and the character itself was still enticing. (Of course I speak of Data from Star Trek) A lack of emotion isn’t a justification for a bland performance.

Jennifer Gardner is a perfect example as to the type of actress you need. Gardner was in a similar situation in the show Alias and pulled it off beautifully. In all fairness, Whedon’s style of dialogue is more “campish” than that of the Alias writers, but again this is no excuse. You know the type of show your going to write and you have to cast accordingly. If Dushku doesn’t work out, I wouldn’t call it a failing on her part but on the part of Whedon.

The show itself has a lot of potential. I’m not quite ready to give up on Dushku just yet, but this role will test her range as an actress. I’m not sure if she actually has any or if she’s just another hot girl that can throw punches and not look retarded doing it. Either way I’m sure viewers have a lot more patience than FOX executives do, and their the only ones that truly matter.

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