2-13. Epitaph Two - The Return.

Readers of my reviews will note the lengthy (4+ years) gap between my review of The Hollow Men and this one. There's a simple explanation: I did watch Epitaph Two at the time, and wrote a little over half of the review. I intended to complete that review within a few days... And somehow just never got up the interest to actually do so.

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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2-11. Getting Closer.

THE PLOT

With the L. A. Dollhouse's conspiracy against Rossum now fully assembled, they decide it is time to reintegrate Caroline with Echo, to find out exactly what secret it was that she learned. There's only one hitch: When Ivy goes into the vault to recover Caroline's wedge, she discovers that it's gone!

There is one, fragile hope to recover Caroline. The wedge that Alpha smashed during his infiltration of Rossum still exists, and Topher believes that Bennett (Summer Glau) is skilled enough to reassemble it. Ballard and Victor make a quick raid on the Washington, D. C. Dollhouse and abduct Bennett. But the real challenge is getting her to agree to effectively resurrect Caroline, the friend who so badly betrayed her!


CHARACTERS

Echo: In flashback, the show fills in the backstory between Caroline and Bennett. We discover that, in between her first escape from Rossum and her imprinting, Caroline successfully infiltrated Rossum's L. A. office. She discovered a file on Bennett, whose brilliance attracted Rossum's attention even as she pursued her neuroscience degree. She befriended the girl, then used her to get inside Rossum's labs to blow them up - the action that led to Bennett's maiming and to Caroline's final capture. In the present, Echo dreads the idea of Caroline's return, fearing that she will cease to exist when the original personality is returned. She confesses to Adelle and to Bennett that she considered taking the wedge and considered letting Bennett go - but she knows after what she witnessed in The Attic that the stakes are just too high.

The Ice Queen: Remains very icy, even though she's now revealed to be on the "right" side. Her responses to Bennett's outrage at being abducted are highly amusing, as Bennett attempts to lodge a complaint against Topher for punching her in the face and Adelle responds by gently reminding her that she has been abducted. She is particularly cool after Langton dispatches the Rossum assassins in her office, taking in the scene calmly and then pronouncing that this finishes off her carpet.

The Security Chief: We discover the nature of the "personal business" that had caused Langton to miss work. He's been housing and protecting Claire (Amy Acker), who has returned to L. A. Langton and Claire are now firmly a couple, as Epitaph One indicated they would be. And by developing Langton's "personal" absences in other episodes, it doesn't even feel too forced. We saw the beginnings of Langton's interest in her, and now we bring her back with the relationship having developed over time, just offscreen. It's not ideal, but given Acker's limited availability for Season Two, it does work.

We also get a reminder of Langton's somewhat disturbing skills. When three Rossum officials come to the Dollhouse to "debrief" Adelle (Rossum-speak for "take a ride"), Langton deals with them ruthlessly and efficiently, and his facial expression barely registers a twitch. Harry Lennix is outstanding throughout, in an episode that finally brings his often nebulously-defined character into sharp focus.

The Genius: Receives a shock that precipitates a brief break from reality - reflecting the behavior of the crazed Topher of Epitaph One. He recovers, probably thanks to having a task to focus on, but the joviality is kicked right out of him. Gets a semi-heroic moment, as he urges Ivy not to linger to help him, but instead to escape. "Don't become me," he hisses to her.

The (Ex-) FBI Agent: We learn what was taken from Paul: His deep connection with Echo. Topher acknowledges this to Echo, telling her that he needed to use the most active parts of Ballard's brain for his rewiring, and that those parts were Echo. She seems to forgive him - and honestly, unless she's massively selfish, surely a Ballard who no longer loves her is at least better than a Ballard who is brain dead - but she is clearly hurt at the change.


THOUGHTS

Tim Minear, a veteran of several Joss Whedon shows and particularly noteworthy as the writer of the best episodes of Firefly and Angel, pens this action-heavy installment. Getting Closer crams probably about three episodes' worth of material into 45 minutes: The return of Claire, the "outing" of the L. A. dollhouse's conspiracy, the kidnapping of Bennett, the unmasking of the Rossum head. There's a lot going on. Fortunately, Minear is a good enough writer to take all these threads and deliver an episode that's fast, lean, and intense without making it feel rushed. He juggles all the balls he's been given, and he doesn't drop any of them.

But with so many balls in the air, he can be forgiven one or two slight wobbles. Laurence Dominic (Reed Diamond) is featured again, and this time we get to see both the "new" Dominic and, in flashback, the slickly hateable Dominic of Season One. I particularly enjoyed seeing that version of the character again. However, there's no time to deal with the "new" Dominic, so Minear cuts that plot thread off as cleanly as he can... which unfortunately leaves the arc of one of the series' best recurring characters cut short. Still, it's fun to see the sneering Laurence of the series' beginning again, a reminder that however commendable his actions in The Attic may have been, Laurence Dominic is Not a Nice Man.

Minear does better with the return of Claire. Anyone reading these reviews knows that Claire won me over quickly, and that I found her character arc the most interesting of those on display at the end of Season One/beginning of Season Two. Acker's departure from the bulk of this season meant that Claire's dilemma was never able to receive the attention it was due. But Acker remains splendid, and the way in which she is brought back is effective in keeping the plot consistent with Epitaph One.

The mixing of the present day story with the flashbacks pays off handsomely. We discover the rest of the story of Caroline's harsh abandonment of Bennett, and it casts that scene in a very different light. We also close the episode on a particularly chilling twist - one which makes me re-evaluate some bits from earlier episodes, and also one which makes me wonder exactly what sort of long and twisted game the Rossum heads are playing.

Rating: 9/10.

Previous Episode: The Attic
Next Episode: The Hollow Men


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2-9. Stop-Loss.

THE PLOT

Victor's contract has reached its end date. His original personality is restored, and he is sent back to his life as an ex-soldier, supposedly cured of his PTSD. He doesn't stay free for long, though. His first night in the city, his apartment is attacked by a team of soldiers. He fights back, but is quickly subdued... and awakens to find himself face-to-face with an old combat buddy, who tells him that he's being recruited to be a soldier again. Without even thinking about it, Victor asks, "Where do I sign up?"

It turns out to be another Rossum program, one which has recruited several "retired" Actives. It's an experimental military program, one that uses Rossum technology to create a group that thinks as a single unit. The individual is totally absorbed by the group mind. Topher explains that if Victor is not retrieved soon, then he will be lost forever - prompting Echo, Langton, and Sierra to undertake a desperate rescue mission!

CHARACTERS

Echo: Has fully mastered the range of personalities in her head, to the point at which she can simply slip between them without even having to think about it. She makes the mistake of believing that this puts her on an equal (or better) footing to Adelle, and lays down an ultimatum to choose which side she's on. When she describes herself as "scarier" than Adelle, you just know this is a moment of hubris - No matter how many serial killers may float around in her brain, Eliza Dushku will never be able to be scary in the cold, quiet way that Olivia Williams can do, and a part of me was just as happy to see Echo's arrogance in this scene end up blowing up in her face.

The Ice Queen: "Pain reveals who we really are," Adelle snits. If so, it's saying very bad things about who she is right now. Any question as to why Adelle believed Echo was there to kill her in the Epitaph One future is pretty well answered here. She spends the bulk of the episode in a drunken stupor. When Langton tries to shock her back to her old self - much as he attempted to do in Meet Jane Doe - it backfires spectacularly, as what he succeeds in doing is pushing her self-preservation instinct into overdrive. Olivia Williams is splendid, but this Adelle is jarring given the Adelle DeWitt that we saw in the bulk of the series - as recently as four episodes ago! The lack of transition does hurt a character turn that might have been amazingly compelling, had it been allowed to occur over the length of a season rather than a couple of episodes.

The Security Chief: With Adelle no longer in full control, Langton steps up to act as leader. He fills the leadership role very effectively, using Echo's skills to trace Victor and then coordinating the escape. He is quite strong facing down Adelle. His one weakness is that he still has faith in the Adelle that he knew, and can't quite accept that she's changed so much in so short a time.


THOUGHTS

Topher tells us that Victor has been cured of his PTSD. As with November's trauma, I can't help but wonder: How? The five years passes like it's five seconds. Shouldn't they awaken in more or less exactly the same emotional state as before? I suppose it could be argued that Topher meddles with the original personalities somehow - We know that he promised Priya that she would not remember one horrible day. But it still seems a bit sketchy to me, and it's not made any less sketchy when the reawakened Victor shows signs of PTSD on his first night out.

Stop-Loss is an eventful episode, but I can't help but feel that it doesn't quite work as well it should. It may be slightly too eventful, as there is a sense that the pace is more rushed than would be ideal. Certainly, some of the climax with Echo vs. the Super Soldiers, plays out a little too easily. One soldier is even awakened from the group mind, even though he's evidently been part of it for some time. This seems to break the rules of the episode set forth by Topher, for a bit of "effect" that doesn't honestly add much.

There are still some excellent scenes. Anything involving Adelle is good, particularly her scenes opposite Echo and Langton. The ending is outstanding, with a final visual that leaves me wanting to move to the next episode right now. Really, the entire last ten minutes is superb. It's just a shame so much of the pacing feels "off," leaving Stop-Loss as the weakest of an admittedly very strong run of episodes.


Rating: 6/10.

Previous Episode: A Love Supreme
Next Episode: The Attic


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2-8. A Love Supreme.

THE PLOT

Adelle is certain that Echo is hiding something, and begins rigorously testing her.  But with every test coming back normal, and a repeat client requesting Echo's services, Adelle finally relents and allows her back into the field, even as Langton and Ballard bring Topher into their confidence regarding Echo's evolving nature.

What none of them are counting on is that the engagement is a set up. The client is dead, carefully posed in a chair for Echo, Ballard, and Langton to find. With the body is a note, addressed to Echo. Alpha has returned, and is leaving in his wake a trail of bodies - all of them repeat clients of Echo!


CHARACTERS

Echo: As we saw in the last episode, she can switch between her imprints at will. That doesn't stop her from fully being her imprints when they take control. When she assumes the role of Rebecca in her interactions with Joel (Patton Oswalt), she is Rebecca, and her love for Joel is quite genuine. When, in the guise of another imprint, she discovers the body Alpha left for her, she is inconsolable in her grief. It is only when Langton and Ballard begin picking apart the crime scene that "Echo" reasserts herself.

The Ice Queen: Has never been icier. The brutal coldness Adelle displayed at the end of Meet Jane Doe remains in place here. As she bluntly tells Alpha, she has "moved past chivalry," and is now solely concerned with self-preservation. I suspect this is going to be temporary, the character hitting her moral bottom after the demoralizing experience of being Harding's lackey for three long months. But in the meantime, she is unwittingly putting her best people in opposition to her. And despite Echo's actions aiding her in this episode, the final look she gives as the episode ends suggests that Adelle is far from done with doing damage.

The Security Chief: Langton hates seeing Echo so brutally tested every bit as much as Ballard does. As he sharply reminds Ballard, he was Echo's handler long before Echo ever met the former FBI agent. He has dedicated himself to protecting her throughout the series. What he recognizes, that Ballard does not, is that sometimes protection means staying still. He tells Ballard to "man up" and stop showing his agitation around Adelle. Langton almost acts as a mentor, or at least an older brother, figure to Ballard in this episode - a nice relationship to see between these two characters. A shame it's only evolved to that point this late in the series.

The Genius: Seeing what Echo has become, Topher reacts in a perfectly sensible and rational manner: He freaks out. He doesn't know what Echo's current state means, he doesn't know if she's going to lash out murderously the way Alpha did. He is keenly aware that at least one of Echo's imprints is a serial killer, and isn't reassured at the thought that she's "only a little bit" a serial killer. For all of that, Topher trusts Langton, and his previous trust in Adelle has been shattered. As little as one episode earlier, he would probably have gone to Adelle. Now, he keeps Echo's true state secret even before he talks to Langton.

The (Ex-) FBI Agent: Ballard's obsession with Echo is commented on by several people in the episode: Adelle, Langton, even Alpha. But he is also focused on stopping Alpha from killing any more clients. He deals very effectively with Joel, and he shows resolve in the face of Alpha's interrogation of him.


THOUGHTS

And yet another step toward Epitaph One, as we are introduced to the device that turns the wiped into violent zombies with ninja skills (which sounds like the setup for a pretty cool "B" movie, come to think of it). This leads to an action-heavy last Act of an already really good episode. A tightly-paced, fun-to-watch hour of television.

It almost goes without saying that the most noteworthy element of the episode is the return of Alpha. Alan Tudyk remains terrific, utterly chilling in his scenes opposite Ballard and Adelle. His character has also gained a new wrinkle since we saw him last. He's become a dandy, dressing himself in tailored suits, and preening at the effects of "a little splash of color." Oddly, this makes him even creepier. This is particularly true in the episode's best scene - a confrontation between Alpha and Adelle, which largely consists of Alpha mocking her as she tries to bargain for her life.

It's all extremely well-directed, with both the detective story that makes up the first two-thirds and the action climax effectively shot and edited. Performances are all at their usual level, with Olivia Williams perhaps even slightly above her usual (already excellent) average. All told, a terrifically watchable outing.


Rating: 8/10.

Previous Episode: Meet Jane Doe
Next Episode: Stop-Loss


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2-7. Meet Jane Doe.

THE PLOT

It's been three months since Echo's escape from Rossum, and both she and Paul remain unaccounted for. At the Dollhouse, things have changed - and not for the better. Adelle is no longer in control of the house, Harding (Keith Carradine) having effectively taken over. Harding has given Topher a blank check for extensive research, with no real indication of what the research may be for. Meanwhile, Adelle continues to push Langton to find Echo, "even if it's in a ditch somewhere."

As for Echo, she and Paul have settled into a life on the run. Echo has taken a job as a nurse in a small town in Texas, using the knowledge of one of her old imprints to gain access to the county jail. The jail is run by a particularly cruel sherriff, who along with his guards are abusing Galena (Ana Claudia Talancon), a pretty Spanish-speaking inmate. Echo gains access in order to break the young woman out. But her plan may not take into account her own deteriorating mental state.

CHARACTERS

Echo: Her development now is fully even with the one clip from Epitaph One, with her a full partner with Paul but suffering increasing headaches as a result of the composite memories and personalities. In her confused post-escape state, she got Galena arrested, and now she is making freeing the girl her "training run" to go back into Rossum. The limpse Bennett gave her of Caroline has disturbed her, and she worries that her "real" self is not the person she hoped for.

The Ice Queen: In the wake of Echo's escape and Rossum's increasing ambitions, Adelle is left powerless - something we've never really seen from her before. She has lost control of her own house, and drifts around the halls almost like a ghost, all but flinching in Harding's presence. It's a shame we didn't get a chance to see what happened to take her from the confident Adelle of even the last episode to this cowed version, but I'd guess Harding probably stepped on her hard (metaphorically, if not literally).  erhaps that explains the choice she makes at the end, when she undertakes an act that seems to go against all of the more idealistic shades of the character.

The Security Chief: Langton urges Adelle to take back her house from Harding, and tries to boost her self-confidence to get her to take the chances necessary to do it. When she hesitates, he tells her that "the Adelle (he) knew wouldn't ask" how to do it - She would already know. Though it's a sure bet that Langton likes Adelle a great deal more than he likes Harding, he does a good job of concealing his feelings in Harding's presence, playing the good employee.

The Genius: With Harding elevating Topher to the inner circle and giving Topher anything and everything he needs to advance his research, Topher is the proverbial kid in the candy store. Or at least he seems to be. As we've seen before, Topher really does have more of a moral sense than his surface personality shows, and he's more than smart enough to figure out the shape of a puzzle from a handful of pieces... which leaves him in shock when he figures out the extent of Rossum's true ambitions.

The (Ex-) FBI Agent: Paul finally seems to have what he's been obsessing over. He is sharing an apartment with Echo, and has her complete trust. But while Paul has at times seemed creepily obsessive, he still has moral qualms about taking advantage even when Echo offers herself. To him, it would be wrong to sleep with Echo unless Caroline is present in that body to grant her consent. He sees Echo's deterioration, with the increasing headaches, and worries that if they don't move against Rossum soon, they will miss their chance.

THOUGHTS

I suspect this episode is one of the major points of the season in which the "back nine" not having been picked up becomes visible. I would tend to assume that, had the remaining nine episodes of a 22-episode season been greenlit, there would have been at least a couple of episodes filling in this three-month gap. The script does a good job of giving us the backstory, or at least enough of it for us to make some guesses about what happened in the meantime, but it would have been nice to have seen it. Still, I can suffer one bumpy mid-season transition for the sake of getting a proper ending to the tory - and this episode probably achieves this transition as well as would have been possible.

It's a good episode too, for the most part. Keith Carradine's coldly sinister Harding is always a welcome presence, and this time he gets more than a cameo appearance. Seeing the always collected Adelle reduced to flinching every time he so much as looks at her is very effective shorthand for demonstrating just how formidable he is (though, again - I really wish we could have seen how Harding reduced her to such a point). Really, the Dollhouse scenes are uniformly excellent, with the ending being both effectively shocking and likely representing the point of no return for the future seen in Epitaph One.

The standalone plot, with Echo breaking the girl out of jail, is reasonably entertaining too, and makes good use of both Echo's composite personality and of several of the imprints we've seen in past episodes. Notably referenced are the imprints from Ghost, Gray Hour, and Man on the Street. On the other hand, the sherriff and his deputies are cartoon characters, recycled wholesale from Macon County Jail, and as such are hard to fully take seriously. I can buy a corrupt sherriff. But this sherriff and his deputies have no shades of anything to their characterizations. They're evil, brutish, and stupid: Cartoon baddies designed to make us cheer when Echo unleashes her various imprints on them. The plot is interesting insofar as seeing Echo move through her imprints deliberately, and seeing Echo work on her own initiative toward a goal. But the bad guys make the child molester/kidnapper in Ghost look like a carefully-shaded characterization by comparison.

Still, the episode moves swiftly and represents major developments in the plot. The overall effectiveness is substantially raised by the outstanding scenes involving Harding, Topher, and Adelle. Despite some issues with the standalone plot, a strong episode with a genuinely chilling ending.


Rating: 8/10.

Previous Episode: The Left Hand
Next Episode: A Love Supreme


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2-6. The Left Hand.

THE PLOT

Echo is held captive in a Rossum lab, presided over by Bennett (Summer Glau), a brilliant but unstable scientist.  Bennett has a personal grudge against Echo - or rather, against Caroline - and tortures her mercilessly before imprinting her with a particularly vicious memory. But Adelle has no intention of letting Rossum claim Echo. She has set up a meeting with a Rossum executive (Ray Wise), while directing Topher to meet with Bennett. Adelle uses her particular blend of directness and feminine wiles to get Echo released, while Topher uses his own technical wizardry to figure out what Bennett's been up to.

But Bennett's grudge leads to an unpredictable turn. Soon, Echo and Senator Perrin (Alexis Denisof) are on the run, with Rossum's finest in pursuit. And there's one final twist to Bennett's revenge, one which could turn everyone's plans upside-down!


CHARACTERS

Echo: Before she became an Active, Caroline apparently got into this Rossum lab, sometime after her first foray into Rossum. She was friends with Bennett, whom she probably used to get into the lab. Something Bad happened, resulting in Bennett's arm getting pinned, and Caroline was rather callous about leaving the other girl to her fate rather than trying to help her. In the present, Echo has pretty much become fully aware, as she pushes Perrin to use his position to expose Rossum while at the same time making her own escape. The episode ends with Echo on the loose, with no way for the Dollhouse to track her - a situation that presents a lot of interesting possibilities...

The Ice Queen: Adelle may have been out-manipulated by Harding and Rossum, but she's still a formidable woman. With manipulation no longer an option, when presented with a weak-willed Rossum executive (Ray Wise), she opts for brute force. She's quite skillful at it, and the only reason she doesn't get everything she wants out of the exchange is Bennett's personal baggage taking her off-script.

The Genius: This episode gives us a double-dose of Topher. There's Fran Kranz's usual, entertaining performance, as Topher goes out into the field. His nervous fidgeting in Adelle's limousine is quite funny, as he alternates between behaving like a small child with ADD and admitting, with nice vulnerability, that he is "outside (his) comfort zone" when out of his lab. His attraction to Bennett (Summer Glau) is convincing, and I enjoyed every moment Kranz and Glau shared on-screen. We also get Victor-as-Topher, Topher having duplicated himself in order to work on the problem both in his lab and in person. Scenes in which Topher literally talks to himself are hilarious, as Enver Gjokaj does a fantastic job of imitating Kranz's mannerisms.

THOUGHTS

As a resolution to the cliffhanger posed by The Public Eye, The Left Hand does its job well. It's entertaining, particularly when Topher is center-stage (in either guise), and it moves the plot that little bit closer to the future we saw in Epitaph One.

Really, that's becoming one of the great strenghts of Season Two, now that the season's properly underway. Having seen the future, there is a sense of steadily approaching doom over all of the proceedings. With each new step, from Topher's well-intentioned inventions to Rossum's manipulations, the possible paths for the characters to turn away from disaster are steadily closing down. Now each episode closes off another opportunity to prevent the future, turning a maze of possibilities steadily into a one-way tunnel... one that's heading for a collision with an oncoming train.

The Left Hand is not as strong an episode as The Public Eye, however. It's less compelling, with less of the sense of a thriller hanging over it. It gets where it needs to go, and it's a fun journey to take. But even the ominous note struck by the ending doesn't have the same gut punch to it as the revealtions in the previous episode did. It's a good episode, make no mistake, and yet another episode that leaves me anticipating what's going to come next.  But it just lacks that certain extra "something" that the strongest episodes have, limiting my score to a solid and enjoyable:

Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: The Public Eye
Next Episode: Meet Jane Doe


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2-4. Belonging.

THE PLOT

Noticing that Sierra is troubled, Echo takes a picture Sierra drew in art class to Topher. She tells Topher that Sierra is bothered by "the bad man." Topher's first impulse is to ignore the silly wiped girl. But he's sufficiently intrigued to talk to Langton, and then to look into Dr. Saunders' files. When he discovers that Sierra has drawn similar pictures after each engagement with Nolan Kinnard (Vincent Ventresca), her recurring client. Topher investigates further - and is shocked to discover that Sierra is not a willing Active, but instead was drugged by her "suitor" to be made into a fantasy object after she refused his advances.

Adelle tries to cut Nolan off. But the client goes over her head, and Rossum orders Adelle to imprint Sierra and deliver her to Nolan - permanently. When Adelle conveys the order to Topher, he balks, leading to consequences no one is expecting!


CHARACTERS

Echo: Continues to be protective of Sierra. She is the one who notices that something is bothering her, and she brings that to Topher's attention. She is keeping herself "awake," writing reminders for herself on the inside of her glass "coffin lid" (a good bit to freeze frame, by the way). When Langton confronts her, she tells him that "something bad" is coming, and that "everyone has to wake up."

The Ice Queen: I had wondered, when I watched Needs, if Adelle already knew about Sierra's situation. It seemed to fly in the face of her idealism regarding her work.  Still, Adelle is also a ruthless pragmatist, and might accept such a thing as "a necessary evil." Which seems to be what she resigns herself to, when her superior (Keith Carradine, in what I'm guessing will be the first of multiple appearances) puts her options into stark relief.

The Genius: As much as this is Sierra's episode, it is also Topher's. He's always been fairly blase about the Actives' situation, but that was based on the presumption that they were all volunteers. We have seen hints that he has a moral line before. As far back as Ghost, we saw the sarcasm fade into something human when confronted with some of the more terrible things people can do. Sierra's situation clearly crosses Topher's moral line. Even when Adelle orders him to go through with the procedure, Topher does not do so blindly. That said, his plan is poorly thought through, and heaps yet more guilt onto a man who is unaccustomed to even feeling remorse and yet now is carrying far too much of it.

The Security Chief: I've been lamenting the lack of material for Langton this season. In fact, it has seemed very much that after the first handful of episodes of the series, Langton has receded further and further into the background while Ballard got all the good character material. This episode brings him back into focus. We already knew he had a law enforcement background. Now it seems that this background is probably a bit less than spotless. He certainly knows a lot about covering up a crime, and is very cold-blooded about doing so. He is also aware of Echo's evolution, though he's keeping it to himself... for now.

THOUGHTS

Season One's Needs introduced something in Sierra's backstory that demanded being revisited. Sierra represented the lie in Rossum's sales pitch, an example of someone who did not willingly become an Active but was forced into it by a man with too much money and power and too few moral scruples. I would have been very annoyed if that never was touched on again.

This episode returns to Sierra's situation, and expands upon it. The teaser shows us a lot more detail of the events leading up to Sierra's wipe. These scenes manage the impossible feat of making Nolan even more disturbing and despicable than he was already. Vincent Ventresca does an excellent job at creating the kind of person the audience is guaranteed to hate, without actually going over-the-top into pantomime villainy. Keith Carradine gives us another, colder villain, one who seems likely to be more formidable.  If nothing else, he's the first person to actually leave Adelle cowed after a confrontation.  Usually, it's the other way around.
The episode is well-directed by Jonathan Frakes, and has a very well-structured, well-paced script by Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon - who actually seem to be the writers with the strongest overall feel for this show, even more (far more, in fact) than Joss Whedon himself! The script does a good job with the Claire issue, as well.  In her absence, the spectre of Claire seems to almost be acting as Topher's conscience. When Topher finds his moral sense outraged, his first response isn't that this is wrong, but rather that "Dr. Saunders never would have" sanctioned such a thing. She's also still needling him from afar, as her notes associate Sierra's "bad man" not with Nolan, but with Topher himself.

An excellent episode, one which delivers on the seeds planted in Needs, while at the same time layering in elements for the future.


Rating: 9/10.

Previous Episode: Belle Chose
Next Episode: The Public Eye


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2-1. Vows.

THE PLOT

Echo is getting married, to the wealthy and handsome Martin Klar (Jamie Bamber, using his real accent for a change). It's the most bizarre client fantasy ever, right?

Wrong. Martin is not the client. He's genuinely in love with Echo's imprint, Roma. He's also a tremendously successful international arms dealer against whom Agent Ballard was chronically unable to make a case.

As part of his deal with Adelle for his services, Ballard is the client. Echo has been imprinted as an undercover agent, marrying Martin to find evidence against him. But while the arms dealer may be lost in love, he has a lot of eagle-eyed associates looking out for him. When Echo is called in for a treatment, her cover is compromised - leaving her life in danger!


CHARACTERS

Echo: Though Topher pronounces his wipe of her composite personalities "a clean wipe," Echo's evolution continues. In her wiped state, she still recognizes Claire as "Whiskey," and remembers a flash of a past engagement involving both of them. She also shows independent thought. When a tormented Claire tells her to "go out and be (her) best," Echo blandly replies, "No one's their best here."

Doll of the Week: Roma is an undercover FBI agent, who has been Ballard's partner for three years. She is highly dedicated to apprehending Martin, and thinks nothing of sleeping with him and even marrying him in order to get close enough to do it.

The Genius: Topher remains guilt-ridden by what he did to Claire, or at least by her finding out about it. We learn that he created Claire to be someone who would question him in order to better protect the Actives. He didn't want someone to simply back him up, he wanted someone who would act on her own judgment. When she breaks down in front of him, he blurts out that he thinks she's "better than (him)" - which, combined with his generally frzzled demeanor in this season premiere, makes it seem that he's already taking his first baby-steps toward the destroyed Topher of Epitaph One.

The Security Chief: As Claire sharply observes, Langton suddenly has a lot more time for her now that he knows she's an Active. Claire initially takes that as pity, until Langton asks her out. Which is... interesting. Claire's other, half-joking supposition about "curiosity (or) deviant excitement," might not be as far off the mark as she thinks. At the very least, Langton does seem to be obsessed with seeing the Actives as "all broken" and the Dollhouse as wrong, while at the same time dedicating himself to it. I want to see what Langton's story will end up being. We never did probe very deeply into his character in Season One, the steadiness of Harry Lennix's assured presence aside. I'm hoping Season Two will dig a little deeper.

The (Ex-) FBI Agent: Though this episode sees Ballard using his new association with the Dollhouse to "right old wrongs," that doesn't stop Adelle from questioning his motives. She taunts him with the memory of November, idly wondering why he's never asked about her. She theorizes that he asked for her release, rather than Echo's, because he was finished with her, and would have more time with Echo if November was no longer around to distract him. Ballard uses Echo quite harshly in this episode. But he does apologize for it, prompting her to trust him with her forbidden memories which can no longer be wiped away, and the two end the episode as allies.


THOUGHTS

"I was constructed by a sociopath in a sweater vest!"

While I am happy that Amy Acker's work, here and elsewhere, attracted enough attention to get her a job on another show, I'm extremely sorry that it means that she'll only be in a little of Season Two. I was consistently impressed with her throughout the first season. Her quietly excellent performance eventually made Claire my favorite character, even before the revelation in Omega.

She continues to be my favorite character here. Her digs at Topher are quite funny, particularly the quote about the sweater vest. Beneath the humor, though, is the emotional anguish of a very intelligent woman trying to deal with the revelation that she isn't actually "real." In a pair of outstanding scenes, first Boyd and then Topher effectively tell her that she is real, with it striking Topher as an epiphany when he looks at her and breathes, "You're human."

Claire's story in some ways throws Vows off-balance. The Claire/Topher material is so good, it becomes very difficult to generate much interest in the standalone plot with Echo and the gunrunner. Effectively, the episode cuts between two stories. One probes two of the series' most compelling and well-acted characters, examining serious questions about the nature of identity and humanity. The other... is Charlie's Angels with a science fiction twist. Every time the show cut away to Echo, I just wanted it to return to Claire and Topher.

That's not to say that the Echo/Martin plot is bad. It's ordinary, but it's well enough executed. It's not so much a story in itself as a vehicle for Echo's Season Two development. A little over halfway through the show, something happens that brings Echo to the next step in her evolution. Ballard exploits it, leading to a tag involving the two that seems designed to lead to the situation we saw in Epitaph One. She isn't having the headaches yet. But I'm guessing it won't be long before they start coming.

Overall, Vows is a solid season premiere. It tells a passable standalone story, sets up what looks to be an interesting running plot with a congressman (Alexis Denisof) investigating Rossum, and sets the characters on their paths for the season. Ironically, my final score is pushed down a bit by the Claire/Topher material, which is so good that it makes the rest of this very competent episode look rather ordinary by comparison.


Rating: 6/10.

Previous Episode: Epitaph One
Next Episode: Instinct


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0-0. Echo.

Joss Whedon's original vision for the Dollhouse pilot, before FOX intervened. So is this a second case for Whedon of a brilliant pilot being replaced with something watered-down, ala Firefly? Or did the network actually have it right?


THE PLOT

Agent Paul Ballard is investigating the Dollhouse, but he has few leads. His colleagues consider the case a joke. His informant, Victor, tells him that he is certain the Dollhouse does not exist, and urges him to forget it. Then he receives a package in the mail. A photo of a girl, with a name written on the back: Caroline.

When Ballard has one of his few friends run the photo, it immediately raises flags with Adelle DeWitt. Her security chief, Laurence Dominic, urges her to simply dispose of Ballard, but Adelle considers killing him to be a "last resort." She has Echo imprinted, in order to find out what Ballard knows. But when Echo's behavior proves to be less than perfectly predictable, Adelle wonders if the FBI agent is the only person she needs to watch...


CHARACTERS

Echo: We see substantial evidence of Echo retaining things from previous imprints. She clearly recognizes the girl from her "pro bono" job when she goes into the hospital, and she reacts strongly to the name "Caroline." Though imprinted as an assassin, she is a shockingly ineffective one, likely because Caroline's basic makeup is not that of a killer.

Doll of the Week: When her sister disappeared without a trace, "Shauna" came to Los Angeles to search for her. The police had no answers for her, and as far as she could determine weren't even trying to follow up on any leads. Her search for her missing sister brought her into contact with unsavory types, mentions of the "Dollhouse," and finally brought her face-to-face with Paul Ballard... putting her in a perfect position to find out what Ballard knows.

The Handler: Langton displays no real emotional attachment to Echo in this pilot. If anything, he has more of a bond with Topher in this variant, as most of his scenes are opposite Topher. Langton also appears further removed from the loop here. Adelle passes on orders to Topher and Langton, but they are clearly underlings. There is no discussion, no sense that Langton and Topher even could discuss anything with her.

The Ice Queen: Adelle is much harder-edged here than in the broadcast pilot and series. She has no particular bond with or interest in Echo. As far as we can see, Echo is simply another doll to her. Laurence Dominic's harsh pragmatism about both Ballard and Echo? That was apparently given to Dominic in order to soften Adelle. In this pilot, Adelle is quite willing to kill Ballard, and it's indicated that she's willing to do the same to Echo if necessary.  I prefer the series' Adelle, whose idealism is far more interesting, when contrasted against what she actually is involved in, than this more cold-blooded version. But it is interesting to see how just a slight change made such a big difference to the character. Olivia Williams is a splendid actress, of course, and remains outstanding here.

The Genius: Topher, Version 1... is annoying. From his pet names for Langton ("Man-Friend") and Claire ("The Phantom") to his self-consciously Whedonesque style of speaking ("Rules make me feel oogy"), this Topher just makes me want to reach into the screen and punch him in his chirpy little face. That said, Topher's sheer amorality in this pilot is effective. Confronted with the potential wrongness of what they're doing, Topher's response is an emphatic, "I don't care." Unlike in the broadcast pilot, there is no sign that this is anything other than the truth - a character approach that would have made his guilt in Omega and his breakdown in Epitaph One even more powerful than they ultimately proved to be.

The FBI Agent: It explains a lot that Ballard's first really good scene in the series, his thoughtful moment with Victor in which he talks about splitting the atom and making a bomb, was actually scripted and filmed as his introduction. The one-note Ballard of the first two broadcast episodes was filling time until his plot could reach the point at which Whedon had envisioned it beginning. It doesn't make it any less of a shame that Ballard spent two episodes as a painfully hackneyed cliche before finally becoming a character, but at least it explains it.


THOUGHTS

Well, even a broken clock is right twice a day (or once a day, if you're going by military time). While there are elements of Echo that would have been interesting to start with, on the whole I think this is one of those rare cases in which the network got it right. 

In his commentary for Ghost, Whedon admitted one area in which the broadcast pilot was superior to the original. It was stronger, more powerful, to begin the series with Caroline. Just that glimpse of the real Caroline, smart and scared and defiant, made Echo into somebody real. Echo begins with the doll, its lengthy teaser just laying out the series' basic setup, complete with an expository monologue by Adelle. The teaser feels overpacked, with too much cutting between too many elements, and it's there only to lay out the concept.

Ghost managed to convey the same basic information, more tightly and less frenetically, and then even set up its standalone plot as an episode. The teaser for Ghost had my attention from that opening scene, with Caroline and Adelle. The teaser for Echo had me checking my watch - and probably would have done, even if it had been my introduction to the series.

It is interesting to see all the scenes of this pilot that were used, mostly to better effect, throughout the season. The Victor/Ballard scene, and the revelation about Victor, meant more coming a few episodes into the season, because it was one of the first things telling us that "nothing is as it appears." Here, the entire mini-arc of Victor acting as Ballard's informant is squeezed into less than ten minutes' total screentime. It's the same basic subplot, even with the same basic ending, but it doesn't work as well as those scenes being spread out over a longer period.

Lest I sound too negative, I should say that the episode's "plot," with Echo spying on Ballard, largely works. There are some good scenes between Ballard and "Shauna," and an effective twist late in the episode. But too much of this pilot is pure exposition, and there are several scenes that run far too long. Ghost captured my attention instantly. Had Echo remained the pilot, I would have been far less certain about remaining with the series.

An interesting look at what might have been.  But I think Echo is best regarded as a curiosity piece,  a rough draft of a concept that would be more effectively played in Whedon's second try.

Rating: 5/10.


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1-13. Epitaph One.

THE PLOT

Los Angeles, 2019. Mag (Felicia Day) is among a group of "actuals," humans not imprinted. They need to get underground, "the deeper the better," before another mass-imprint occurs. In the midst of the apocalyptic wreckage of what was once the Rossum building, they find the opening that was once used by Alpha and Ballard, and make their way into the Dollhouse.

At first, they aren't sure what structure it is they've wandered into. Then they discover Topher's chair. Since they conveniently happen to have a wiped person in tow, they begin uploading memories to him. Those memories tell them where they are, and they are flabbergasted that "the tech that kicked the butt of humanity" began life as, essentially, an upscale brothel.

As they explore the house, another disturbing fact becomes clear. They are not alone...


CHARACTERS

Echo: Apparently retains her composite persona, even after Topher's wipe. This is something she keeps secret from everyone except Ballard. The composite does have side effects, though. She complains of headaches that are getting steadily worse.

The Handler: Langton will evidently break with the Dollhouse, with violent consequences. He and Claire will develop a relationship.  Claire will be his one ally when he leaves, promising that he will come back for her.

The Ice Queen: Adelle, the Dollhouse's best saleswoman, will become appalled when the Rossum Corporation takes their technology too far. No longer will Actives simply be leased to clients. They will now be sold, so that clients can achieve immortality by using the bodies of people who, in their view, "don't matter." Adelle will be told that it's time to choose a side. We do not see what choice Adelle ends up making, though we do see her ultimately attempting to manage the Apocalypse with the same iron she has used to manage everything else - only this time, it looks as if the job is beyond her.

The Genius: In a wonderful early scene, we see Topher's first day in the Dollhouse. He's there for less than a minute before he beings his verbal sparring with Laurence Dominic (and it is nice to see Reed Diamond again, by the way). He takes one look at the current, very slow process of imprinting, and instantly sees that the time an imprint takes can be cut down by more than 80% by allowing the brain itself to fill in gaps. A special mention has to be given to Fran Kranz's performance, contrasting this early, blase Topher with the shattered Topher at the end.  Topher's future is heartbreaking, as the grown up little boy playing with his toys realizes the enormity of what he, more than any other single person, has made possible.


THOUGHTS

From what I can gather, Epitaph One was produced to fill out contractual obligations for international markets after the original pilot was scuttled. The DVD commentary indicates that it was made fast and cheap. It's an episode where the regular cast are, with one exception, seen only in flashbacks, while characters we have never seen before are left to carry the action.

It is also the best episode of the season, and I would not be at all surprised if it ended up being the best of the entire series.

I love the overall atmosphere. The "future" scenes, which makes up the bulk of the running time, have a dark texture that recalls a 1980's James Cameron film. I found myself sucked into the world of Mag and her companions very quickly. Their story is basic - a combination of survival, digging through the past, and a bit of slasher movie formula thrown in to generate tension - but it works.

Because it is such a basic main plot, the flashbacks are integrated very smoothly. Mostly, these scenes feel like a teaser for Season Two. It's a bit along the lines of The Deconstruction of Falling Stars in Babylon 5.  We see snippets of what will happen in the rest of the series, but we only receive tantalizing hints of their context. I think it's a shame the series only got one more season (though given the ratings, that second season was basically a gift), as the momentous events that are to come seem like quite a lot to cram into 13 episodes.

It says a lot about how good this show has become that it can offer two vastly different season finales in the space of two episodes, and leave me really wanting to see what happens next with boht strands.  Joss Whedon, director David Solomon, and writers Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen are all to be commended for taking a contractually-obligated cheapie and turning it into the most memorable event in the series thus far.


Rating: 10/10.

Previous Episode: Omega
Next Episode: Vows


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1-12. Omega.

THE PLOT

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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1-10. Haunted.

THE PLOT

When Adelle's friend Margaret (Brenda Bakke) dies of an apparent heart attack, Adelle keeps a promise to her: She uses the brain scans she had made of Margaret to bring her back as a doll. Ostensibly, this was so that Margaret could attend her own funeral and wrap up the loose ends of her life. In reality, the revived Margaret-in-Echo confides to Adelle that she is certain that she was murdered, and she intends to use this extra time to solve her own murder!


CHARACTERS

Doll of the Week: "Julia" is Margaret's persona to attend her own funeral, and to attempt to sniff out the identity of her killer. Her attempts to disguise herself as someone else frequently break down, as she cannot let go of her old mannerisms or her prejudices regarding her children's choices.

The Ice Queen: Adelle is not a woman who shows her emotions easily, but we do get glimpses of how attached she is to Margaret. The scene in which the two of them visit Margaret's funeral together, with Margaret making caustic observations about everything in order to make Adelle laugh, may well be the most relaxed we've seen her - including during last episode's bedroom interval.

The Genius: In an amusing subplot, Topher takes advantage of the relative stillness within the Dollhouse to turn Sierra into a playmate. No, not that kind of playmate - He uploads a videogame/sci fi/laser-tag geek persona into her, and then spends a full day just playing. These scenes are the most purely enjoyable of the episode, as Fran Kranz shows Topher having pure, innocent fun. The coda to this subplot is rather touching, and ties in well with the themes of the standalone plot.


THOUGHTS

After a run of episodes that really moved plot, concept, and characters forward, it was probably time for another standalone. After this episode, it will probably be a run of heavy "arc" episodes to the season finale, so a last chance for a breather is entirely reasonable.

It should be said that Haunted is a competently crafted piece of television.  The story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. It presents a mystery with a reasonable gallery of suspects, and the solution to the mystery makes sense.  It is an absolutely professional, competently-turned hour.

It is also quite dull. It's not the worst episode of the series. I would still give that title to The Target.  But it is the most tedious. The story is nothing that we haven't seen a million times before, albeit with the twist of Margaret actually being present to investigate her own death. And since we only see Eliza Dushku playing Margaret, with no flashes of "Echo" or Caroline, it really does feel like we're spending an hour watching a character in whom we have no ongoing investment. It seems an odd choice to end the previous episode by telling us that Echo is evolving in a way that not even Adelle can predict... and then follow that up by effectively giving us an episode that Echo isn't even in.

Overall, it's entirely passable fare, but more than a little listless. It only really comes to life in the Topher scenes, which Fran Kranz and Dichen Lachman play with an enthusiasm and energy the rest of the show sadly lacks. Thoroughly expendable, and a disappointment after the run of very strong episodes the show has been presenting.


Rating: 4/10.

Previous Episode: A Spy in the House of Love
Next Episode: Briar Rose


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1-9. A Spy in the House of Love.

THE PLOT

Topher is hard at work repairing the damage done to his chair during Claire's experiment. That is how he discovers the security breach. A device, very small, planted in the chair. It can be used to add an extra parameter to a doll - to send messages to an FBI agent, for example.

Adelle has been called away, leaving Laurence Dominic in charge. Dominic and Topher quickly identify the bug as NSA. Dominic orders Topher to program Sierra with "all (his) best spy parts," and dispatches her to the NSA to discover the identity of the spy. He also makes it clear that he holds Topher responsible for this breach.

That's when Echo wanders into Topher's lab, offering to help. "You make people different," she observes. "You can make me help."


CHARACTERS

"Echo": The teaser sees the wiped Echo observing the strained goings-on at the house. She sees both Sierra and November taken to Topher's lab, she sees one of them put into the chair, she sees both of them come out different. And she puts the pieces together. Her awareness is growing, and by the end of the episode Topher, Adelle, Dominic, and Langton are all fully aware that "she's evolving."

Doll of the Week: Echo's imprint is a counterintelligence operative, a sharp, cold-blooded investigator with "a little bit of Sherlock Holmes" programmed into the mix. She's an expert at reading body language, a skill which leads her straight to the identity of the spy.

The Genius: When Topher is interrogated over his reasons for joining the Dollhouse, he makes it clear that he is excited by the science. He's doing work here that would be beyond the imaginations of his old professors. Topher gets to spend virtually the entire episode in panic mode, which brings out the best in Franz Kranz's performance.

The Ice Queen: We get a glimpse at Adelle's feelings of isolation. While away from the Dollhouse, she talks about the work she used to do before - stem cell research - and indicates that she misses the days when she could actually tell people what she does for a living. When she returns to the house to discover that she has been betrayed, she is merciless in dealing with the spy, sending the infiltrator "to the attic" - from which that infiltrator can still be used any time the NSA needs to be told that everything is fine, before being "put back in (his/her) box."

The FBI Agent: Without his job, without support from Mellie, left entirely to himself... Agent Ballard degenerates into a paranoid shut-in, complete with a conspiracy wall chart. His job has already been taken away from him. Now he loses another anchor, as the agent inside the dollhouse sends him a message in the worst possible way.


THOUGHTS

No real points for guessing who the spy is, but the revelation is still well-done. Plus, we finally learn exactly what "The Attic" is, and why being sent there is such a horrific fate. The nature of "The Attic" also means that the guilty party probably isn't being permanently written out of the show. After all, a doll can be taken out for use at any time.

The structure of the episode nods to Crash, as we see the same period of time through multiple viewpoints. Through the first half, each viewpoint gives us a new snippet of information as we follow each of several imprints through the events of the teaser and just a bit beyond. We see two imprints that precede the discovery, November and Victor, both of whose engagements further running plots and characters. We see Sierra's imprint, ordered by Dominic to allow him to identify the spy. Finally, we see Echo's imprint, volunteered in order to help Topher catch the spy. The strands are brought together effectively, and by starting each strand from a common point (the teaser), we are able to keep track of where we are in the story at all times.

The episode also has one very well-executed action set piece, as Sierra infiltrates the NSA. It's a flashy, fast-paced scene that wouldn't be at all out-of-place in a Bourne/Bond-style action film. A strong centerpiece to yet another very strong episode.


Rating: 9/10.

Previous Episode: Needs
Next Episode: Haunted


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