A thoughtful, interesting and very articulate examination of the nuances of feminism, consent and other issues in Dollhouse can be found here.

It's lengthly, but seriously worth a read, and articulates some things that have been swimming around in my brain but I've been unable to verbalize.

Especially:

Lots of parallels have been drawn between the "handler," Boyd, who is a protective father figure to Echo, and Giles, who is a protective father figure to Buffy, and those parallels are correct. However, this time around, Boyd is also directly invested in keeping Echo powerless: he's the guy in the creepy van, who takes her back to the Dollhouse to have her self taken away once she's served her purpose, and if she were a whole person, she might not need him at all. The question of whether he loves her enough to help her free herself is continually raised. Paul Ballard, the FBI agent who wants to "save" Echo, is also implicated: a hero, sure, but also weirdly and sexually preoccupied with "saving" a girl he doesn't know so that she will love him, a person just as involved in projecting his desires onto a blank slate as any Dollhouse client. The show doesn't steer around that fact. You don't hate these men - you love them, in fact - but Whedon is far more willing than ever before to implicate them in the oppression that he condemns. He's toyed with ambiguity and complicity before, but this time around, ambiguity and complicity are what the show is about.

AND, and...

What you hear, when you hear Topher speaking [...] is noted feminist auteur Joss Whedon reflecting, very consciously and very obviously, on his life's work - hiring gorgeous women and making them into who he wants them to be - and saying that sometimes, he feels kind of icky about it. It's a beautiful thing: brave, and self-questioning, and radical in a way that entertainment by dudes - even entertainment by dudes who identify as feminist - very rarely is, and in a way I trust more than I'm used to trusting my entertainment, and in a way that I've come to expect from the show as a whole.

Did I mention it's worth it? Go read. Now.

Dear Joss,

I'm sorry I doubted you. This week's episode of Dollhouse was everything I wanted from you, and so, so much more.

You are still my TV boyfriend.

Devotedly,
Sharolyn

Don't worry -no spoilers!

I feel like Joss kicked it into high gear tonight. The whole thing was a lot more riveting than I've found previous episodes, and the light that was shed into the pasts of the various dolls was really interesting. The twist at the end caught me by surprise. The whole thing left me wanting more, finally.

It also felt like this episode showed more of the feminist side of Joss, which I've been missing thus far in the series. Echo kicked some ass, and we started to see a little more of what she might be capable of.

Very much looking forward to next week.