'Dollhouse' Fans, Achtung

The second season of 'Dollhouse' premieres on Friday night, so this post should give you all plenty of time to rush off to the video store and pick up the first season DVD in order to get a look at 'Epitaph One.' Or, I guess, you could find it online, but I would never endorse such illicit actions. What would Lars Ullrich think?

'Epitaph One' is the special extra episode of Dollhouse's first season, created as a DVD set filler-outer since one of the 13 episodes originally contracted from Fox ended up being a re-shot pilot. Joss Whedon (not one to half-ass anything....well, except the last season of Buffy) decided to make 'Epitaph One' not just a throw-away, but rather an epic, series-altering episode that could've served as the series finale in case the series had been canceled. It's an absolutely must-see for any Dollhouse fan. I'm not even sure how you could comprehend what the second season is going to look like without seeing this episode. Imagine if you just started watching LOST, saw the first four episodes and then immediately jumped to the fifth season finale. You wouldn't know what the hell was going on. Similarly, 'Epitaph One' takes things in such a crazy direction that it almost feels like Whedon sent this episode back in time after Dollhouse had been on the air for, like, four years or something.

Apparently the main characters of 'Epitaph One' (Felicia Day and Zack Ward) will be occasionally popping up during Season Two, in little flash-forwards that advance Epitaph One's plot. It also wouldn't surprise me if we see 'Epitaph Two' as the next season finale, and the finales from here on in Dollhouse's run will examine the future timeline until the actual show catches up to the future. You may remember Ward from his immortal role as the bully who Ralphie beats to within an inch of his life in 'A Christmas Story,' while Day is best known for her role in Whedon's online writer's strike project, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. She is also immortalized by her hilarious reaction to this one off-colour question from some jackass at this year's Comic-Con.



So yeah, get out and watch 'Epitaph One' so you can be all up to speed by the time the season season premiere rolls around on Friday. Then again, I guess you could also just TiVo the premiere or find it online too in order to watch it at a later date, since who really stays in to watch TV on a Friday night? Even I'm going be out on Friday and my social calendar has more open dates than the product line at a stuffed date factory that just saw its workers go on strike in mid-shift. I think they're striking over health benefits. They have a point, since the factory's employee health plan is sadly out of 'date.'

Joke of the century.