List of Dollhouse episodes

Dollhouse is an American television drama which premiered on Fox on February 13, 2009 in the United States.

Dollhouse focuses around Echo (Eliza Dushku), a member of a group of people known as "Actives" or "Dolls." The Dolls have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas, including memory, muscle memory, skills, and language, for different assignments. They are then hired out for particular jobs, crimes, fantasies, and occasional good deeds. On missions, Actives are monitored internally (and remotely) by Handlers. In between tasks, they are mind-wiped into a child-like state and live in a futuristic dormitory/laboratory, a hidden facility nicknamed "The Dollhouse", run by Adelle DeWitt (Olivia Williams) as part of an international network of similar facilities. The story follows Echo, who begins, in her mind-wiped state, to become self-aware.

Besides Echo, the show revolves around the people who run the mysterious "Dollhouse" and the other "Dolls", including the newest addition to the Dollhouse, Sierra (Dichen Lachman), who becomes friendly with Echo. Although the Actives are ostensibly volunteers, the operation is highly illegal and under constant threat from various entities, such as Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett), a former federal agent determined to uncover the Dollhouse, from one end, and an insane rogue Active on the other.

As of 5 October, 2024, 13 original episodes have aired with the exception of Epitaph One having never been aired in the US. It was later made available on DVD and Blu-Ray releases.

Series overview

Season		Episodes	Season premiere	Season finale	DVD release dates
					Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
	1	13	February 13, 2009	May 8, 2009	July 28, 2009	September 7, 2009	–
	2	13	September 25, 2009	TBA	–	–	–

Seasons

Original Pilot

Season #	Series #	Title	Directed by	Written by	Viewers (in millions)	Original airdate
Pilot	Pilot	"Echo"	Joss Whedon	Joss Whedon	N/A	Unaired
Agent Ballard gets new wind in his investigation of the Dollhouse when he receives a photo of Echo. DeWitt and the handlers become nervous when the Actives begin to exhibit signs of self-awareness. This episode was originally intended to be the on-air series pilot, but after test audiences found it "too confusing and dark," Joss Whedon decided to shoot a new pilot, "Ghost," to better introduce the story and characters to the viewing audience. It was originally reported that "Echo" was going to be aired second, after "Ghost," but when it proved impossible to salvage (even after reshoots), Whedon decided to shelve the episode completely and instead scrapped footage from it for inclusion in later episodes.. The episode was included on the DVD and Bluray season sets released on July 28, 2009.

Season 1: 2009

Season #	Series #	Title	Directed by	Written by	Viewers (in millions)	Original airdate
1	1	"Ghost"	Joss Whedon	Joss Whedon	4.715	February 13, 2009 (2009-02-13)
Echo is introduced as one of the "Actives" in the Dollhouse. The Dollhouse scientist Topher Brink wipes her mind and reprograms her as a ruthlessly efficient kidnapping negotiator. Echo's new personality incorporates memories from another woman who was molested as a child, and it turns out the molester is one of the kidnappers she must now negotiate with. She crumbles in fear during the ransom exchange, nearly getting their client killed. But she is allowed to confront the kidnappers, turning them against each other and rescuing the kidnapped girl. Meanwhile, FBI Agent Paul Ballard struggles with his assignment to uncover information on the Dollhouse, which has destroyed his marriage and is wrecking his career.
2	2	"The Target"	Steven S. DeKnight	Steven S. DeKnight	4.22	February 20, 2009 (2009-02-20)
Echo's latest imprint has her as the perfect date for Richard, an outdoorsman, who takes her on a romantic wilderness adventure. The experience takes a turn for the worse when Richard indicates he will conclude the "date" by hunting her for sport. Although Echo is imprinted with absolute trust in Boyd, he is unable to do more than deliver a weapon to her, and she must kill Richard on her own. Afterward the Dollhouse team discovers the handiwork of Alpha, a rogue doll, on the corpse of an unknown assassin. It was Alpha who had maimed Dr. Saunders and butchered the handler Boyd was hired to replace. Agent Ballard receives an anonymous package concerning Echo's previous identity as a woman named Caroline, and continues his search.
3	3	"Stage Fright"	David Solomon	Maurissa Tancharoen & Jed Whedon	4.13	February 27, 2009 (2009-02-27)
Echo goes undercover as a backup singer to protect volatile pop star Rayna Russell from an obsessed fan. Fellow Active, Sierra, also goes undercover as a fan who wins a contest and gets to spend an evening with Rayna. Getting closer to Rayna, Echo discovers that Rayna is in collusion with her stalker and welcomes death. Sierra is kidnapped when Echo thwarts a shooting and Echo must save Sierra from the stalker and Rayna from herself. Meanwhile, Lubov is revealed to be an Active ("Victor") and Agent Paul Ballard is led to an abandoned basement where he is attacked by three Russian agents.
4	4	"Gray Hour"	Rod Hardy	Sarah Fain & Elizabeth Craft	3.55	March 6, 2009 (2009-03-06)
Echo is sent on a high-tech heist to recover stolen art for the Greek government, but the job goes bad when one of her accomplices double crosses them. It gets worse when, during a phone conversation with Boyd, she is remotely "wiped" by an unknown party and returns to her child-like state without any of the skills she had been imprinted with. With help from Sierra and Boyd, Echo barely manages to escape. Topher suspects only Alpha could have managed the remote wipe, and finally DeWitt confides to him that her security had indeed failed to kill Alpha.
5	5	"True Believer"	Allan Kroeker	Tim Minear	4.3	March 13, 2009 (2009-03-13)
Imprinted as a visually impaired woman, Echo must infiltrate a heavily guarded cult in order to rescue someone being held against their will. Echo's eyes transmit what they see to government agents watching the compound, though she herself is blind. Echo's imprint is not someone trying to get into the cult to help agents, she fully believes she has been brought there in a vision by the cult's leader, a former felon. Paul Ballard continues his search for Caroline, using facial recognition software. Dominic begins to reveal how much he dislikes Echo. Topher and Dr. Saunders observe a surprising (and supposedly impossible) reaction between two of the actives in their doll states: evidently, Victor finds Sierra attractive.
6	6	"Man on the Street"	David Straiton	Joss Whedon	4.13	March 20, 2009 (2009-03-20)
One of Echo's engagements is disrupted by Agent Ballard. Ballard's interrogation of the client (guest star Patton Oswalt) first makes Paul aware that his interest in disrupting the Dollhouse is becoming obsessive. Paul defies this by beginning a relationship with Mellie, but is further shaken when Echo is sent to assassinate him—only to go catatonic and recite a message from a spy inside the Dollhouse. Meanwhile, Sierra begins to show signs of trauma, and Victor is implicated as her assailant. However, Boyd stages a sting operation and discovers that Sierra's handler, Hearn, has been raping her. DeWitt sends Hearn to kill Mellie, only to reveal that she is a "sleeper Active" by activating her latent combat training, which she uses to eliminate Hearn with ease. Finally, acts are bookended by clips of a TV reporter preparing an exposé on the Dollhouse.
7	7	"Echoes"	James Contner	Elizabeth Craft & Sarah Fain	3.87	March 27, 2009 (2009-03-27)
A psychotropic drug is accidentally released in a college research lab owned by the Rossum Corporation, causing the afflicted to behave drunkenly and in one case, suicidally. Rossum, which owns the Dollhouse, mobilizes all of DeWitt's Actives, who should be immune to the drug because they have no inhibitions. This turns out to be false, as the drug causes the Actives to remember past experiences. Sierra relives her rape experiences and Victor remembers a traumatic experience he underwent as a soldier (whether this is his real life or a previous engagement is unclear). Echo, on an unrelated assignment, sees news of the outbreak on TV and goes "off-mission" to "help him", despite having no idea who "he" is (or indeed who she is). Her flashbacks reveal her past as Caroline Farrell and chronicle the events leading directly to her employment at the Dollhouse. The corporate spy who started the outbreak is seen facing DeWitt in a similar manner as the episode closes.
8	8	"Needs"	Felix Alcalá	Tracy Bellomo	3.49	April 3, 2009 (2009-04-03)
Echo, Sierra, Victor and November awake with most of their original personalities intact, and Echo attempts to escape from the Dollhouse with her fellow Actives, reclaiming bits and pieces of their past as they do so. Sierra discovers that she was forced to become a Doll after turning down sexual advances from a well-connected man; Victor is finally able to act on his attraction to her; November grieves over her dead infant daughter, Katie; and Echo, after guaranteeing the other three have escaped, re-enters to the Dollhouse and forces DeWitt, at gunpoint, to release all remaining Actives. Thereafter all four "escapees" fall asleep due to subliminal programming; the entire process is revealed to have been masterminded by DeWitt and Dr. Saunders, allowing their Actives to achieve closure on their personal issues before putting them back to work.
9	9	"Spy in the House of Love"	David Solomon	Andrew Chambliss	3.56	April 10, 2009 (2009-04-10)
While DeWitt is away on business, Topher discovers evidence a spy is in the Dollhouse, and four Actives are dispatched to deal with the problem. "Mellie" is sent to pacify Paul Ballard, but goes temporarily catatonic to deliver another warning from inside the Dollhouse. Sierra goes undercover at the National Security Agency, attempting to raid their databases for the spy's identity. Victor is dispatched on another "Lonely Hearts" gig; the recipient is revealed to be DeWitt. Finally, Echo volunteers to undergo imprinting to help with the investigation; after Topher turns her into a counter-intelligence agent, she helps Lawrence Dominic, the head of security, interview employees. She discovers the mole is Dominic himself, planted by the NSA to keep the Dollhouse (and its dangerous technology) from becoming common knowledge, particularly by staving off Paul Ballard. Dominic's personality is downloaded into Topher's database, and his body sent to "The Attic," to be employed whenever the NSA needs pacifying.
10	10	"Haunted"	Elodie Keene	Jane Espenson & Maurissa Tancharoen & Jed Whedon	2.99	April 24, 2009 (2009-04-24)
A wealthy woman named Margaret has been uploading her personality to the Dollhouse every month in case she is murdered. When she actually is murdered, DeWitt, who has since befriended her, imprints her onto Echo as part of her will; Margaret, posing as a pen-pal named Julia, decides to solve the case during her second chance. Margaret's prized horses turn out to be the key; with a little help from Boyd, who imprints Victor as a racehorse-owner, she solves the case and helps her family achieve some closure. Meanwhile, Topher signs Sierra out for an intensive "benchmark" imprint, which turns out to be that of a fellow gamer, nerd and friend. Finally, Ballard brings November's prints into the FBI; when he attempts to ascertain her identity, their computer spews out a multitude of names and then goes blank in the presence of another agent.
11	11	"Briar Rose"	Dwight Little	Jane Espenson	3.1	May 1, 2009 (2009-05-01)
Echo helps a young girl deal with her traumatic past, using the fairy tale of Briar Rose as a vehicle; a corpse apparently slain by Alpha turns up in Tucson, Arizona, with Sierra imprinted as an FBI forensics expert to investigate; and a thumb drive arrives for Dominic, who is imprinted onto Victor's body for questioning. Ballard's investigation leads him to the Dollhouse's agoraphobic, pothead architect, Stephen Kepler (guest star Alan Tudyk), and with his forced assistance manages to sneak into the Dollhouse. Though Ballard finds Caroline, Boyd manages to detain him; he takes Ballard to DeWitt for questioning, where they learn from Sierra that the Tucson corpse is that of the real Stephen Kepler. Ballard's helper is actually Alpha, who reveals himself by attacking Victor and Dr. Saunders. Alpha imprints Echo with a memory that makes her recognize him; with Sleeping Beauty now awakened, the lovers escape the Dollhouse together.
12	12	"Omega"	Tim Minear	Tim Minear	2.75	May 8, 2009 (2009-05-08)
Alpha, with Echo's help, kidnaps a girl named Wendy and takes both of them back to his evil lab; meanwhile, Dr. Saunders tends to Victor, Ballard assists the Dollhouse staff in tracking down Alpha, and a series of flashbacks depict Alpha's time at the Dollhouse, revealing that he has a long-standing crush on Echo and that Dr. Saunders is herself an Active, codenamed Whiskey, who was imprinted with the "Dr. Saunders" personality after Alpha killed the original one during his escape; she (or at least the imprint on her) becomes aware of this during the episode. Alpha imprints Wendy with Echo's original personality, Caroline Farrell; he then initiates a composite event on Echo, creating a new personality he calls "Omega". He expects Omega to kill Wendy/Caroline as part of her ascension to Übermensch, but instead she turns on Alpha himself. Alpha escapes by killing Wendy and then putting the "wedge" containing the Caroline imprint at risk, but DeWitt remains confident that they can catch him—especially with the help of their new security consultant, Paul Ballard. Amongst Ballard's hiring conditions are that November, AKA Madeline Costley, be released from her contract as though she had fulfilled it.
13	13	"Epitaph One" "The Future Project (Australia)"	David Solomon	Maurissa Tancharoen & Jed Whedon (teleplay) Joss Whedon (story)	N/A	Unaired (US) August 11, 2009(UK)
It's 2019 and the Dollhouse technology has been abused, causing the world to fall into a post-apocalyptic state. A group of people who call themselves the 'Actuals', hide underground in the now abandoned Dollhouse in search of the place called Safe Haven.

Season 2: 2009-2010

FOX has renewed Dollhouse for a 13-episode second season to begin broadcast on September 25, 2009. Season two of Dollhouse began filming on July 22, 2009.

Season #	Series #	Title	Directed by	Written by	Viewers (in millions)	Original airdate
1	14	"Vows"	Joss Whedon	Joss Whedon	TBA	September 25, 2009 (2009-09-25)
It has been several months since Alpha's reign of terror and Echo, who is now randomly picking up flashes of past engagements, weds a British businessman who has ties to one of Ballard's open FBI cases. Topher becomes the target of Dr. Saunder's aggression after she finds out that she is actually a doll named Whiskey. Boyd takes on a risky venture and mixes business with pleasure, while DeWitt makes Ballard an irresistable offer. (Alexis Denisof guest stars).
2	15	"Belle Chose"	David Solomon	Tim Minear	TBA	October 2, 2009 (2009-10-02)
3	16	"Instinct"	Unknown	Michele Fazekas & Tara Butters	TBA	October 9, 2009 (2009-10-09)
4	17	"Belonging"	Jonathan Frakes	Maurissa Tancharoen & Jed Whedon	TBA	October 16, 2009 (2009-10-16)
5	18	"The Public Eye"	Unknown	Andrew Chambliss	TBA	October 23, 2009 (2009-10-23)
Summer Glau guest stars.

External links

• List of Dollhouse episodes at IMDb
• List of Dollhouse episodes at Dollhouse Wiki