I'm revisiting it now, mainly because it bothers me to leave this review blog one post short of completion. Most of what follows is a polish of what I wrote at the time, but it's also supplemented by my thoughts on the series today.
Note that the "Characters" section has been left out of this review. That was the one section in which I had written virtually nothing four years ago... And I suspect a lack of ideas as to what to write about the characters in this episode was a large part of why I found myself unable to finish the review.
So with no further ado, I present... The semi-reconstructed, vaguely abridged, mildly touched-up Special Edition of my lost and incomplete Dollhouse review... Epitaph Two - The Return!
THE PLOT
Picking up where Epitaph One left off, we find Mag (Felicia Day), and the young girl imprinted with Echo's personality (Adair Tishler) finally reach their goal, and are united with the surviving Dollhouse crew. But things are far from over. In a recent raid to the Rossum headquarters of Neuropolis (formerly Tucson), Echo has discovered that Rossum is forcing Topher to build a new technology, one which will wipe the entire world in one blow. But Topher is putting his own spin on the assignment: Rather than wipe everyone, he is planning to adjust the tech so that it resets the original personality and memory of everyone who was ever wiped, putting an end to Rossum's "dolls" forever!
To achieve this, Echo and Adelle will need the help of their new refugees to guide them back to the Dollhouse. There, they can get the tech Topher needs, and wait underground so that their personalities are not reset along with the rest of the world's. However, not everyone making the trip has the same agenda. Echo may just be able to save the world - but doing so will come at a cost...
THOUGHTS
As the title implies, writers Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon return to the post-apocalyptic world of Epitaph One and, along with writer Andrew Chambliss, create an epilogue to the series. This might work better if they weren't burdened with having to salvage dropped threads from the somewhat botched finale that was The Hollow Men. Like too much of Season Two, it is so busy hitting obligatory plot notes that it never is able to match the haunting atmosphere of Epitaph One, which may well be my favorite Dollhouse episode.
With some distance from the series, I find myself wondering if it wasn't a bad creative decision to spend Season Two filling in the gaps between the "highlights" glimpsed in Epitaph One. Instead of chasing plot points, I think a Season Two that stuck with the post-apocalyptic world could have made for something atmospheric. It would have been a sharp break from what had been seen, but the gap between Season One and the apocalypse could have provided good opportunities for backstory as we revisited the characters now, without the obligation of connecting every single dot in 12 episodes.
Certainly, I found it interesting to revisit Harding and Ambrose, both of whom were largely forgotten by the last part of Season Two. These Rossum bigwigs have shuttered themselves up in one city, living a life of luxury among slaves. Even so, as Ambrose observes, they are themselves declining. They may be lords of a small section of the wasteland, but they actually had better lives before the fall... something Ambrose seems to be aware of, though Harding seems content enough with his lot.
The conclusion feels a touch overly-pat, but it does a better job of closing out the series than the rushed action movie heroics of The Hollow Men did. But revisiting it, I can't help but feel something more interesting lay in the shadows of the entire second season. I understand why many fans prefer Season Two, with its tightly-linked arc and twists and turns. But I preferred the atmosphere of the first season, which I felt all but vanished in the second. The need to cram too much story into too little time left it all feeling a bit rushed... Which is probably why, despite quite enjoying this episode, I just couldn't find the will to finish the review then.
So for the sake of completeness, here is my final Dollhouse review. It's a positive review, as it should be said was true of most of my reviews of the series... But that doesn't stop me from seeing the entire second season as a bit of a near-miss... Interesting, well-made and well-acted, but ultimately not as compelling as it feels like it should be.
Rating for Epitaph Two: 8/10.
Previous Episode: The Hollow Men
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