Original Pilot: Recap and Review

The episode begins with a monologue by DeWitt, talking about life, alternating with a shot of Echo at the bottom of the pool. We then see Echo on a couple of engagements, interspersed w/ DeWitt "interviewing" potential clients. Echo is shown rescuing a young girl from a sleazy, alcoholic existence, acting as the perfect date at a dumped guy's ex's wedding, and negotiating a drug deal, calmly, in Spanish.

Segue to Ballard and Lubov conversing at a pool party. Lubov is trying to convince Ballard that The Dollhouse is an urban legend. Lubov informs Ballard he's been given the one job he can't blow, essentially been put out to pasture. Lubov ironically says he wished there WAS a Dollhouse so that HE could sign up.

Segue to Sierra coming back from an assignment. She sits with Echo at lunch. They share empty conversation. Victor joins them. They discuss their mutual desire to be their best. Topher and Boyd discuss the actives' grouping, like a herd of bison. Topher reiterates that the actives are volunteers, while Boyd stresses they're still people. Topher philosophizes on how everyone in this world is programmed in some way or another. They move into a discussion of how Echo may be evolving.

Back to Ballard. His office mates are making fun of him. He discovers a hand-addressed envelope on his desk. Inside is a picture of Caroline. Ballard has his colleague scan the photo into a government database to try to find a match. Cut to DeWitt watching the scan at the Dollhouse. Dominic and DeWitt discuss Ballard, and how Victor failed to throw him off the investigation. DeWitt decides she needs to know what Ballard has already discovered. They need to make him talk because he WANTS to. Victor calls Ballard and sends him to an abandoned hotel. There, he encounters a Caroline look alike who claims her name is Shauna Vickers. She claims she's looking for her missing sister because the Feds have failed to do so.

Ballard tells Shauna he has a picture of her, and she asks to see it. He takes her back to his place. Meanwhile, Topher skulks around Dr. Saunders' office, trying to sneak Echo's file out. Saunders catches him and reminds him all files are open to all employees, and there’s no need to sneak it out. Her disdain for Topher is very evident. Topher opines that the pro bono assignments are draining the actives. Saunders insists that these totally altruistic assignments only strengthen the actives. She stresses she’s putting her findings in a report. Topher insists that he programs the Dolls so that they feel good, regardless of the type of assignment.

As Shauna and Ballard enter his apartment, they are discussing Dollhouse. It seems Shauna thinks Dollhouse may have something to do with her sister’s disappearance. She claims she heard about it from a pimp, but he wouldn’t take her there or tell her anything more unless she exchanged “services” for information. Ballard gets Shauna a glass of wine while he probes her for more Dollhouse info. Shauna starts to break down, and she begins to probe Ballard for information. She asks him to share his leads and files. He reiterates his commitment to find and expose the Dollhouse, no matter what. Then, he pulls a gun on Shauna, threatening to run her prints to find out who she really is. He thinks it’s too coincidental that “Shauna” showed up just when she did. Shauna disarms and shoots Ballard. He asks if she is Caroline, and she shoots him twice more.

Boyd, hearing the gunshots, rushes in to extract her, and Echo informs him she was "made". Unbeknownst to Boyd, Echo was programmed to assassinate Ballard and retrieve any files he might have related to Dollhouse. She steals Ballard’s wallet and sets up the scene so it looks like it was “a hooker encounter gone bad.” They sneak out the back while the cops pull up out front, and wait down the street while Boyd calls for extraction. Boyd is told that Echo missed the vital organs, and Ballard is going to survive. Echo hijacks a car so that she can heads to the hospital and finish her assignment, leaving Boyd behind.

DeWitt receives a phone call. Evidentially, she's told to call off Echo.

Echo arrives at the hospital and heads toward Ballard's room. When she arrives, Ballard’s room is surrounded by cops. She sees the young woman she rescued from the 1st scene in a nearby room, and is distracted. Seeing the woman with her mother seems to stir up some sort of memory in Echo. Boyd arrives just as Echo is distracted, and takes her back to Dollhouse to be wiped. Topher, DeWitt, and Boyd discuss the fact that Echo knew where to aim...or where not to. DeWitt comments: “The agent is a problem; let's make sure Echo is not one too.” DeWitt tells Boyd and Topher to keep a close eye on Echo. Echo returns to her pod for the night. She whispers "Caroline" as the episode closes.

After watching both episodes, back to back, I still wish Fox had let Whedon begin the series with his original vision. It seemed much more focused on the Dollhouse's potential for doing good, while Ghost presented a much darker, more nefarious concept. I also liked the way the pilot explained the concept of an "active" much better than the way "Ghost" did. I liked the way they planted their actives to do "damage control", as if they had been doing a great job of covering up their existence all along. Finally, I felt it was much better at introducing the full slate of characters, and their accompanying characteristics, than did Ghost. Ghost focused more on Caroline and less on Echo and the Dollhouse. Without the pilot, the series took a full 3 or 4 episodes to accomplish the exposition Joss did with the original pilot.