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There is, of course, a catch. Both shows will undergo budget cuts and possible short seasons. TV Squad conjured that one of the Chuck cast members might have to go. While budget concessions could really effect both shows, especially the futuristic-esq Dollhouse, a renewal is a very good thing.

While re-watching a few episodes of Firefly earlier today I realized that the final moments of both Dollhouse and Chuck are equivalent to when River Tam kills a number of security guards and proclaims “no power in the verse can stop me.” I like game changing moments in TV. TV, unlike movies, allow many hours of learning about a character and getting to like them. Then when something completely contrary to what you know happens, it’s really great and completely unexpected. While River’s full potential wasn’t realized on the small screen, I’m glad that Dollhouse and Chuck will at least have the opportunity.

In the finale it was revealed that Alpha, brilliantly played by Alan Tudyk aka Firefly‘s Wash, became self-aware — more or less — and started reacting based on memories and other instances. We had seen this a few times throughout the season, once with Victor’s attraction to Sierra, and on multiple occasions with Echo. As if self-awareness that wasn’t enough, Alpha accidentally had all forty-two of his prior personalities loaded into his head all at once. To top it all off, Alpha was a former prisoner and generally bad guy. All of this combined to turn Alpha into the lunatic that cut up half the staff and escaped the Dollhouse.

When Alpha comes back to the Dollhouse and steals Echo and puts her through the same process he went through, loading all of her previously used personalities into her head at once. The idea seemed to be that Alpha and Omega could rule as gods doing whatever they pleased. The difference, is that Echo’s true personality shined through and showed her just how twisted Alpha had become. So she fought back.

At the end of the episode, after Echo had been re-whiped and returned to the Dollhouse, in the last second of the show, it’s true greatness was exposed: Echo has become self-aware. The implications for this could be awesome, though much like Chuck, these may not be realized do to possible cancelation. It’s sad really, because Dollhouse and Chuck are great shows that deserve to be renewed and ended in potentially game changing ways. Whereas shows that absolutely suck will have no problem getting renewed and a horrible talkshow host will get a daily hour long slot. Pretty ridiculous if you ask me.

I’m off on a tangent. Bottom line is that Dollhouse had an enjoyable freshmen season and I hope to see what it produces in year two.