Alpha has escaped from the Dollhouse again, this time with Echo in tow. As Adelle pulls her staff together to figure out what has happened and how to deal with it, she learns that Alpha has removed the implants that allow them to track and monitor Echo. She enlists Ballard's aid in locating the madman, and the FBI agent plays a hunch that Alpha's "pre-Dollhouse" persona, may be the key to finding him.
Alpha took one more thing when he left. He took the original imprint of Caroline, Echo's true personality, and smashed Topher's backup copy. If Ballard and the resources of the Dollhouse cannot locate them before Alpha destroys the original imprint, then Caroline will be truly dead.
CHARACTERS
Echo: Before her wipe, Caroline was given a tour of the Dollhouse. She did not like what she saw, comparing the residents to "zombies," and commenting that her trip to Topher's chair felt like a walk to the gallows. Though we never see the final step connecting her flight from Rossum to her signing of the contract, we do get confirmation that she did indeed sign voluntarily.
Alpha: In flashbacks, we see some of the events leading up to Alpha's "composite event." His growing awareness does share similarities with Echo's, particularly his shifting between being a blank slate and suddenly looking up at the Dollhouse staff with a sharp awareness. But it's not quite the same. Alpha fixated on Echo, from the moment she first came into the house as Caroline. That fixation was what led to his violent outburst... and when we find out who Alpha was before, we realize that the core of who he was influenced his development, in exactly the way we've seen certain traits of Caroline through all of her personas.
The Ice Queen: Adelle quashes the squabbling among Ballard, Topher, and Langton, focusing all of them on the urgency of catching Alpha as soon as possible. She uses Ballard's instincts, trusting him not so much for himself, as she tells Langton, as she trusts that she knows what he wants. She does become impressed with Ballard as the episode progresses, which could lead to some interesting future developments.
The Genius: We've seen a lot of sides to Topher, many of them unpleasant. But this is the first episode where we see him feeling truly guilty. His scenes near the end of the episode, first opposite Claire, then opposite Echo, see Fran Kranz's best acting all season - and Kranz has been consistently strong in every episode, so that's saying something.
The FBI Agent: Ballard went into the Dollhouse in order to get himself and Caroline back out again. The last thing he expected was to work with them. But once he learns what has happened - what he's been duped into doing - he leads the investigation. It's his instincts that lead him to follow up on Alpha's original actions, and that ends up being the key to saving Echo.
THOUGHTS
Though there was actually one further episode produced for the season (not counting the unaired pilot), Omega was aired as the season finale, and functions as such. All the threads running through the season are touched on. Ballard gets to rescue the girl, if not quite in the way he had pictured. Alpha's plan comes to fruition, and we learn why Alpha went violently crazy. Echo's evolution intersects with Alpha's story, in a way that's dramatically satisfying. We even learn why Alpha carved up Claire's face but left her alive, when he killed almost every other Dollhouse person he came into contact with.
The episode is compelling throughout, with good moments for pretty much everyone. Amy Acker has been terrific throughout the season as Claire, and did some splendid acting last episode when confronted with Alpha. She is even better here, reeling from the shock of Alpha's attack on Victor and his confrontation with her. The fallout results in some compelling scenes, from her cold treatment of Victor as she treats his wounds to her final conversation with Topher. Given that her story is very much a subplot, making up less than 20 minutes of this 50 minute episode, it's almost surprising how much she does with every moment she has on camera.
I don't think Omega ends up being as strong as Briar Rose. The first half, following up on the previous episode's ending, is terrific. But the momentum comes to a screeching halt around the middle of the episode, as Alpha and Echo debate each other for far too long. Then Echo apparently has her brain fall out when she fails to at least restrain Alpha once he's down. Instead, she effectively forgets about him for several minutes while she (literally) talks to herself. "Gee, what could go wrong in this scenario?"
It all springs back to life for an effective climax, and the tag scenes involving Claire, Victor, Topher, and finally Echo are just splendid. Had the series been cancelled, the story would have felt reasonably complete here - though enough is left open-ended to allow for the series' continuation without it having to start over from zero.
Since I gather that Epitaph One is more of a sidestep, with any direct continuation waiting for next season, I will say that Omega is a terrific "end of chapter," for a season that has become steadily more and more gripping as it's gone. I look forward to the next couple of sidesteps - first with Epitaph One, then with the original, unaired pilot. But I also very much look forward to seeing where these characters will be taken next.
Rating: 8/10.
Previous Episode: Briar Rose
Next Episode: Epitaph One
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