Fans of Dollhouse were happy to see the series back for a second season, but from the season premiere it’s still been struggling with the ratings. We don’t understand why people wouldn’t tune in just to see Eliza Dushku in the latest outfit too hot for network TV, but as long as Dollhouse hangs in there, so will she. She also produces the show. 

Q: How are you playing Echo post-Alpha? 

Eliza Dushku: It’s a little more interesting for me playing Echo in the doll state because even in the doll state she’s remembering. She’s more aware of certain things so it’s like that third dimension. We were sort of two-dimensional creatures in the house last year and this year, looking around and identifying people and things, Echo is reading books and it’s more interesting for me to play because she’s starting to sort of form her own understanding and of course starts working with agent Ballard and starts to not just feel when she’s glitching, but that this is wrong. She starts growing conscious that this is something that she wants to tear down and be free from. 

Q: How does this new knowledge influence her? 

Eliza Dushku: Well, we will find out. 

Q: As a producer on the series, have you felt the effect of Fox leaving Joss alone? 

Eliza Dushku: I think Joss and the writers are definitely doing their thing and they’re not as censored as maybe they have been or maybe are used to being by a network. They’re inclined to push the envelope in a lot of ways and I think that back by fan demand was a big teller that people want what they, what Joss has to say. People want to hear what he has to say and see it unfold and revealed the way he wants it revealed so that’s what they’re giving them. I think it’s really cool. 

Q: Are there still plans to refer back to Epitaph One? 

Eliza Dushku: I don't know if there are still plans. I think the first episode that you saw is pretty locked but it’s a complicated thing because that was done maybe with in mind that there might not be a follow-up. Now we’re trying to not ignore that it exists but also try and work it in but not confuse people that haven’t seen it or new viewers. It’s a work in progress I think.  

Q: How is this season different from last? 

Eliza Dushku: Well, there’s so much being cracked open and explored, especially with Echo having this new place that she’s in, in terms of what we picked up from last year.  She had all of the personalities downloaded into her in one swift punch, and they’re not going away.  So every pickup this year, she’s still tapping into these personalities.  Sometimes not in her control, and other times it is.   But, overall, she’s just, she’s really absorbing things from her engagements, and from the dollhouse, and she’s really becoming self-aware, but not necessarily as Caroline, but as Echo, as her own person.  So it’s definitely complicated.  It’s a little darker all around.  We’ll explore the origins of some of the other dolls and the other characters and then bringing in a bunch of guest stars and fabulous people coming in, so there’s a lot of exciting stuff happening with those things as well.   

Q: What trouble with Echo run into in her attempts to save everyone? 

Eliza Dushku: I’m sure every kind and all kinds because it’s a Joss Whedon show. We’re starting episode seven, and there are so many directions and so many layers. It’s all over the map.  Of course, a main story line is Agent Ballard, who spent last season trying to get into the dollhouse, and now that he’s in and Echo’s handler, he’s working with her, and they may possibly be trying to bring the dollhouse down from the inside out.  Also, we get some back story with, for Dell and her superiors, and other dollhouses around the country and around the world, and just to give you an idea of how big the Rossum Corporation is. Summer Glau will join us and play a programmer from the D.C. dollhouse, and we’ll get an idea of the way the other houses are being run. 

Q: How did you become Joss Whedon’s muse? 

Eliza Dushku: I have no idea.  I literally remember when I made my audition tape for Buffy.  I went to the Arsenal Mall.  And I got my outfit at Contempo Casuals in the Arsenal Mall, and put some safety pins in my jeans.  I remember telling whoever the clerk was that I was making a tape for Buffy, and they were so excited.  Then I was actually emancipated by a Boston judge who was also a Buffy fan, so I could go out to LA and shoot Buffy, which obviously dealt with vampires who come out at night.  I was still technically a minor, so I had a great judge that emancipated me so that I could come and do the show.  I was already out of high school at that time.  I guess I always have gotten by with a little help from my friends. 

Q: Since the ratings continue to struggle, do you think they should move you from Friday night? 

Eliza Dushku: Well, I think they realized last year that people who want to find the show did, and obviously there’s been a lot of talk about DVR and Tivo and how we really are alive for a second season because of that in a major way.  So I can see how they would say the people that found the show last year, and so we’re just going to leave it where it is, and hope that that continues. Also, ratings are obviously important, but having a professor for a mother, she always taught us about qualitative versus quantitative research. I know that we’re making a quality show and that we have quality fans and people that come to experience something different and out of the ordinary, and there are so many shows on TV that are instant hits. We’re not that, but we have a core following, and I think that people that check the show out and aren’t intimidated by it, find themselves being sucked in pretty easily.  I mean, it’s sharp, intelligent, fun.  It’s sometimes off-the-wall and I know that when I’m spending an hour of my life sitting down to watch the boob-tube, I love getting a rich experience out of it. I’ve always found that with Joss in particular and, in particular, his shows.  So we do our thing, and given the second season, we’re just so grateful to the fans, and we’re grateful to Fox for giving us another chance. We’re making the most of it.  We keep doing what we were doing. 

Q: What is it like to work with another Joss regular, Summer Glau this year? 

Eliza Dushku: She’s great.  I love her.  We’ve had such a good time the last two episodes.  She just has come in with her A game, and she’s just a sweet, positive, fun actress.  She’s great to play off of.  Our characters have some back story that we have to fight out, and so that's a lot of fun. Also anyone that sort of is from Joss’ past and he’s bringing back, I assume he had a great working relationship with them.  He wouldn’t bring any bad eggs into our house, so I always can pretty much safely know that we’re going to have the cream of the crop coming back and coming in.