After casting a surreptitious eye over the money trail from the Crestejo kidnapping, Agent Ballard manages to get a solid lead: Joel Mynor (Patton Oswalt), a pudgy Internet billionaire who manages to turn up at social events with a different "glamorous nobody" on his arm every time. With another likely event coming up, Ballard breaks into Myner's home... and finds himself face-to-face with Echo, who believes herself to be her "client's" wife.
Meanwhile, after Sierra screams when Victor touches her, Dr. Saunders gives her a check-up. She finds evidence that Sierra has been raped. Given the attraction he's demonstrated toward Sierra, Victor is the immediate prime suspect. But Langton isn't sure it's as simple as that.
CHARACTERS
"Echo": Even in her "wiped" state, she seems to take on the leadership role among the trio of herself, Victor, and Sierra. Victor checks with her before acting on his assumption that "Sierra always eats with (them), right?" She is the one who is able to remember that Sierra has been crying at night, and is the one who reports that to Langton and Dr. Saunders. She may be a clean slate, but her reasoning skills are intact.
Doll of the Week: Two dolls. First is Rebecca Mynor, the Internet mogul's loving wife. Second is an apparent assassin. Neither role really has any depth, but I'll mention them for the sake of being complete.
The Ice Queen: An outstanding episode for Olivia Williams. I love the way Adelle reacts to situations without fully reacting. She always stays composed, she's always poised, always "on stage." But there's also just a hint behind the eyes, just a slight pull to her expressions, to let you know when something is seriously bothering her. When the rapist is identified, Adelle faces the man down in chilling form.
The FBI Agent: When Ballard confronts Mynor, you're expecting the upright, if unorthodox, FBI agent to batter the scuzzy client into telling him something. Chances are, you're not expecting the thoughtful conversation that ensues. Joel Mynor's observations indicate that Ballard may not be as purely upright as he thinks he is. This doesn't come across as Hannibal Lecter-style mind games. Mynor's words carry a ring of truth, and are likely to color my perceptions of Ballard from this point out.
THOUGHTS
"They're all broken," Langton says of the dolls. When Mynor tells his story to Ballard, it seems that the dolls aren't the only ones who are "broken" in this arrangement. Mynor has been broken by the tragedy in his past. Mynor sizes up Ballard as a man who's broken in his own way. The entire structure of the Dollhouse is broken by Sierra's rape, a violation that no one can explain... and yet, once Langton finds the explanation, it seems clear enough that in a place such as this, such a violation would inevitably happen, no matter how tight the security.
It was clear throughout Dollhouse's first five episodes that there was a much more interesting series waiting in the wings than the one those episodes represented. All of those episodes, even the weakest of them, provided postcard glimpses of that potential. The Man on the Street finally delivers on those promises.
The real heart of the episode comes early on, in the scene between Mynor and Ballard. It's not only the best scene of the episode, it's the best scene of the series so far. It's already hard to remember how one-dimensional and uninteresting Ballard was in the first couple of episodes. From Stage Fright on, Ballard has become a character with depth, and even a bit of darkness... all of which brings out the best in Tahmoh Penikett, who is finally delivering a performance of the same intensity he displayed in Battlestar Galactica.
The episode offers one ending twist that I saw coming a few episodes back. But that twist is folded within at least one inverted cliche and one new mystery. The Man on the Street is highly successful in that it stands alone as a piece of drama, but opens up avenues for future storylines.
Rating: 10/10.
Previous Episode: True Believer
Next Episode: Echoes
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