Dollhouse Wiki
Register
Advertisement
This article is about the secret facility. For the TV series of the same name see Dollhouse (series).


The Dollhouse is a secret global operation consisting of at least 23 branches, while maintaining its cover as a regional office for The Rossum Corporation. The LA branch is run by Adelle DeWitt.

Dollhouses are the home to the Actives whose fantasy-fulfillment services are sold at exorbitant prices. It serves as an office for the staff and as a kind of maintenance facility for Actives not out on engagements. They live, eat, sleep, shower and train together there.[1] The Dollhouse can be contacted by "shifty and rich" clients for the purpose of engaging a Doll for assignments, although the Actives occasionally also do pro bono work.[2] The Dollhouse is very selective about its clientele and performs thorough background checks.[1]

According to a leaked and since discarded pilot script, each assignment is supposed to last only 10 hours; engagements seen on-screen have lasted as long as three days. Each Doll supposedly voluntarily gives up five years of his/her life to work for the Dollhouse after which they get "a ridiculously large sum of money and no memory of anything they did for the Dollhouse."[1] However, a former Active will still have "Active architecture" in their brain. Dolls that do not perform satisfactorily are "sent to the Attic", like other people Rossum is unhappy with. According to the urban legend that surrounds the Dollhouse, it has been around in Los Angeles since the 1980s.

Dollhouse Standard Operating Procedures[]

All clients are vetted and all proposed engagements, while confidential, are subject to a risk assessment on behalf of the Doll. After payment has been discussed (a substantial surcharge is added for risk to Actives), programmers such as Topher Brink assemble an appropriate personality and parameter and imprints it on a Doll. All Dolls sent out on engagements are monitored by their handlers. Handler intervention in an engagement triggers and immediate debriefing to determine if the Dollhouse has been exposed, and ends the engagement. Otherwise, an engagement ends when a specified time interval has passed, at which point the Active goes to find their handler, or with the completion of an objective, in which case the handler will approach the active and mention the word "treatment." The Active then returns to the Dollhouse to be wiped and to receive medical treatment for any injuries suffered during the engagement.

Organization[]

While DeWitt is in charge of the Dollhouse in Los Angeles, she is not the ultimate authority of the organization. There are at least twenty similar facilities worldwide, including Manhattan, Washington D.C. and Dubai, which are all part of the same organization. Their business is fantasy fulfillment, but their purpose is shrouded in mystery. DeWitt mentioned that profits from the Dollhouse fund "research." The assumed headquarters or "the Center" of the organization was mentioned in Briar Rose and said to be in Tucson, AZ.

The Dollhouse has an unspecified arrangement with the pharmaceutical firm Rossum Corporation.

Dollhouse Locations[]

There are 23 Dollhouse locations worldwide. (S2: "A Love Supreme")

Confirmed Locations:

Dollhouse LA Branch - Rossum Corporation Disbanded[]

At some time prior to the year 2019 the LA branch of the Dollhouse had severed ties with the rest of the organization and had become a safe house for former Actives. Adelle DeWitt who did not share the organization's low regard for the Actives became a de facto leader for the group/facility. The facility was later abandoned for an unknown purpose, but not before several Actives were backed-up (it is unknown if non-actives were backed-up as well) and hidden within the kitchen. The Dollhouse then remained presumably undisturbed until the year 2019 when a group of Actuals found the facility and decided to set up their base of operations there. They later met Claire Saunders, who had now reverted to Whiskey, who gave them instructions for a location known as Safe Haven.

Background[]

As seen on screen, the Dollhouse seems to serve a set of specific purposes, mainly to develop the technology necessary to bring about Rossum's ultimate agenda. However, the branches on screen seem to also serve as a specific purpose unique to the branch. As seen throughout the series, the Los Angeles branch, the L.A. Dollhouse, seems to be a general "go to" branch, with actives frequently sent on "errands" at the behest of Rossum or it's allies. The D.C. Dollhouse, the Washington, D.C. branch of Dollhouse has been portrayed to operate on achieving the political aspect of Rossum's agenda, such as modifying the personality of Daniel Perrin to ultimately clear and perhaps eventually, pass laws in favor of Rossum.

In continuation of above, with only twenty three branches worldwide, the Dollhouse branches seem to be more of a regional facility, covering certain territory, rather than a city or state. This can be assumed by the fact that the Rossum Corporation itself, or rather several of its executives, employ the L.A. branch and it's actives to their own merit rather than any that could potentially exist in Arizona.

Interestingly, despite the fact that they serve the same ultimate purpose and are operated under the watch of the same parent organization, the Dollhouse branches seem to be rivals, rather than allies, in their policies and operations.

As noted within the article, the Actives of each branch (at least the D.C. and L.A, Branches) use a different set of names; likely to stress the differences between each branch and for the purposes of programming. As witnessed at L.A., however, names can be recycled and used on multiple actives, although likely not at once.

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 10 Facts about Dollhouse - Spoiler Alert!. pinkraygun.com (2008-05-15). Retrieved on 2008-09-23.
  2. Spelling, Ian (2008-06-02). Joss Whedon offers a sneak peak at his brand-new Dollhouse. Sci Fi Weekly. scifi.com. Retrieved on 2008-09-23.
Advertisement