The first season of Dollhouse (four stars) is a great season of TV. It's entertaining, artfully written, and finely acted. It stands alone as a series of stories, but it really comes into its own when seen through the full perspective of season 2 (five stars). Therefore you really have to watch both seasons, or neither.

Dollhouse may have a trope or two you think you've seen before, but here it's done properly. The motivations for things make sense here. There's a huge movie franchise I could mention, the premise of which you might sense echoes of here. But in that franchise the motivation for the premise is infantile. Here, it's been thought out with true intelligence, maturity, and discernment. There are several storytelling elements in Season 2 that are truly delightful, and rarely seen. Whedon is a master of the art.

I almost gave it four stars, but considering they had to pack several seasons worth of story into a single season, Joss and Co. Did a fantastic job. It is a bittersweet watch; you're left with giant gaps in story lines and character arcs in the fast forward to the end. The progressions all make sense (except maybe Alpha) are are all hinted at or semi-explained convincingly, but not being able to experience the journeys left me feeling a little hollow about it all. That isn't Joss's fault though, it's not even Fox's fault. It's yours! (and mine). For watching sterile, unimaginative television like NCIS, or Criminal Minds, or American Idol. Great original storytelling on TV is not often rewarded, and even if our collective ignorance led to the tragic cancelation of one of the best and most unique stories on TV, at least we have 2 small seasons worth to go back and discover. Go and watch these 20-something episodes and appreciate what they were, and mourn a little for what they could have been.

LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS SHOW, the second season was amazing, so many things you wanted to know is revealed and most loose ends are tied up. I bought the entire series on Itunes and my friends can tell you I have watched each episode around 10X and I still plan to buy the actual season two dvd for all the features like commentary and deleted scenes.
Honestly if you didn't watch the series on tv pick it up now, It's so worth the buy.
It has a great cast that is very talented, it has quirky joss humor and Eliza actually shines especially in the episodes her character isn't on an engagement.

Olivia Williams character shows an even more devious evil side and even deals with alcoholism and finds a way to come above it and become the leader in the fight against rossum.

Fran aka Topher plays the quirky science guy and this season he finds love has his heartbroken and he goes insane, can you ask for anything else to see in one season of a show I THINK NOT XD

Enver as victor really just blows you away when he plays topher a fellow cast member and does an amazing job even mimicking his voice and mannerism and plays the best serial killer psycho.

Dichen character Sierra gets her back story revealed and how an obsessive Doctor seen in season one makes her his personal doll and she gets her revenge and gets her personal power back

Alpha is awesome this season, he redeems himself after the omega episode and becomes funny yet devious and even reforms.

Eliza: Her acting in the second season is just amazing, she really shows her chops this season now that her character is self aware and becomes a real person outside of caroline. You even learn about caroline and she is a very likable character many were not sure from the first season because their was only minor tid bits.

The story moves fairly fast but it's a good pace and you get to see that amazing apocalyptic future from epitaph one and THE ATTIC IS REVEALED and it is as weird and creepy as I had hoped.
There is an entire episode that resides in the ominous attic and seems almost like a dark alice in wonderland.

Joss Whedon once again creates and amazing show that just is not advertised correctly. Fox made those commercials that told you nothing about this show so any didn't grasp what it was about so give it a chance You won't regret it.

So with this season not knowing it's fate at the end of season 1 I say the writers did a good job making the story flow seamlessly. The actors do a great job of making all of their characters interesting and this season takes you on just another fast paced adventure the first one did. The only problem is that Fox knew they wouldn't give this show a season 3 so the writers did what they could to tie up loose ends but dollhouse does not close with a perfect little bow. Like most shows that come to an end this one felt the need to kill off as many people as possible but that didn't work in making sure that there wouldn't be any more questions at the end. Still over all this face paced show lives up to the first.

Definitely an underrated work of science fiction. Also a pleasant break from today's headlines as it exudes the complacency of the 90s.