Let me begin by saying that this was my least favorite episode of Dollhouse thus far. It seemed to be a stand-alone episode that contributed little to the overall story arc, and it failed to develop character in any significant way. If this was the first episode I ever watched, I probably would not come back for more, something that does not help if cancelation is indeed looming overhead. I’m not going to separate the recap and analysis this week, as I find little to analyze about this episode. Perhaps therein lies the reason for my disappointment. I have come to look forward to peeling back the various layers of the onion each week. This week, the show was more like an orange than an onion—you immediately get to what is beneath the surface without a lot of thought or work.
The episode opens, and we see a man playing some sort of game with some mannequins. Only, we realize that they’re not mannequins when we see one of them begin to sweat. We’re in some sort of playpen of a madman. He has these women, named for various female members of his family, held hostage and paralyzed, there for the man’s unknown machinations. One begins to come to and tries to escape. The man injects her with something, and she stabs him with a needle. He bludgeons her with a croquet mallet, crying “I guess we’ll need to find a new Aunt Sheila.”
We flash to the weirdo walking down a street, apparently stalking an unknown woman. As he crosses the street to follow her, he is hit by a car. Roll credits.
We’re at the Dollhouse. Ballard is looking for Echo in the shower room. He takes her for a treatment.
We go to a scene with Boyd and Adele, walking down the hall, discussing the “disappearance” of Dr. Saunders. Boyd says she didn’t disappear, she left. Adele notices Boyd is calling her “Claire” these days, rather than Dr. Saunders. They encounter Victor, who complains the new doc is “not his best”. They continue to Topher’s lab, where the weirdo is in a hospital bed, in a coma and hooked up to life-support. Topher is mapping his brain. Boyd wonders why they’d ever want to wake a guy like that up. Our patient obviously has a criminal record, lessened by buying off judges. We learn weirdo is the nephew of one Bradley Karrens, a major shareholder in Rossum Corp, and that’s why they’re trying to treat the guy.
Topher shows Adele two brain scans—his and Terry Karrens’. Terry’s brain scan shows similarity to that of a serial killer. Topher expresses he has “ethical concerns’ with trying to wake him up.
We learn Echo has become Kiki, an empty-headed co-ed on a romantic engagement with a college professor. Paul obviously does not like this dumb persona or the assignment. He takes Kiki to the dressing department and waits with another handler as his active is dressed for her assignment. They’re obviously bored.
Adele meets with Uncle Brad. Adele questions why they should help someone like Terry. She threatens to return him to a hospital. Bradley discusses Terry’s checkered past and history of crimes against women. He hints that “victims” had been paid off in the past to keep them quiet. Now, he’s afraid there are women out there that Terry needs to tell someone about. Brad wants Terry revived so that he can question him about some missing women.
Echo, as Kiki, prances in front of the mirror. Paul seems relieved when Boyd comes to relieve Paul of his assignment. Boyd tells Paul they need an FBI Investigator to question a possible serial killer. We see Victor in the chair, getting a treatment. Victor has become Terry Karrens. Cut to commercial.
When we return, Victor (as Terry) is in an investigation room, alone, muttering that he knows his rights. Adele and Bradley are with Topher, monitoring the investigation via CCTV. Ballard reviews a pile of missing person reports with Bradley, asking what they might have to do with Terry.
We flash to a scene of Echo (as Kiki) in a college class. She gets a paper back with a big red F on it. Kiki is the proverbial airhead, clearly confused by Chaucer. She says she thought the class was about mid-evil literature, not advanced-evil literature, and now, she wishes she took Evil Lit 101. The professor invites her back to his office to discuss her grade. The episode continues to switch back and forth between Victor and Echo, showing the parallels of their respective assignments.
Back to Victor. He is being interrogated by Ballard. Ballard taunts him, makes fun of his name, and asks about the veterinary paralytic they found in his system. Adele and Brad continue to monitor the interrogation. Ballard seems to get nowhere with Terry. Bradley questions the approach they’re taking with Terry. Adele sends Bradley off with Topher to see the real Terry. Back in the investigation room, Ballard tells Terry he’s not special, just weird and ordinary. He tells Terry he surrounded himself with fakes to feel like he was in control. Then he shows Victor video of the real Terry, laying in a coma in a hospital bed. Victor says “Goodness gracious” as we go to commercial.
We come back to Victor and Ballard in the interrogation room. Victor is confused, saying it’s impossible, and that it cannot be him in the video. Ballard tells Victor to remember the car. He tells him he THINKS he walked away from the car without a scratch, but he didn’t. Victor watches the video of Uncle Bradley, looking at Terry in a coma. Ballard tells Victor that they need to find the women. Victor needs to tell them about the women if he ever wants out of the hospital bed. Victor points to the picture of Aunt Shelia and tells Ballard that it’s her fault. She made him do this. She didn’t pay enough attention to him. He calls the women whores.
We go back to Echo, in the professor’s office, discussing Chaucer and the role of women in Chaucer’s tales. Then we go back to Victor, as Terry, discussing the role of women. We continue to go back and forth between Victor discussing the women with Ballard, and Echo discussing women with the professor. Victor tells Ballard he can fix things, make them right. They just need a new Aunt Shelia. Ballard reports to Adele that Terry has killed at least one of the women.
Adele receives a phone call, and rushes to Terry’s hospital bed. Alarms are blaring. Topher reports that Terry is in cardiac arrest. Not really, says the doctor. Someone tampered with the equipment. Adele rushes back to her office. The camera shows the interrogation room is empty. She calls Bradley and chastises him, immediately deducing where Victor has gone. Bradley says he’s taken Victor to try to get the information out of “Terry” himself. Bradley gets no further with Victor than Ballard did. Instead, Victor knocks Bradley out, crashes the car and escapes. We cut to commercial.
We return to Adele in her office. She is upset, as she cannot get Bradley on the phone. Ballard thinks Terry is returning to his victims. Adele wants to use Victor’s GPS strip to locate him and the women. Topher reports Victor’s GPS strip was removed during facial reconstruction surgery, at the order of Dr. Saunders, and was never replaced. Ballard suggests they try to locate them by using the GPS in the car.
We flash to the women. The tranquilizer is wearing off. They’re crying, afraid Terry is coming back to kill the rest of them like he killed Aunt Shelia. One woman, Robin, reminds the others that they are humans, not toys. She urges them to fight.
Ballard reports Victor is on foot, or maybe on the subway. He asks where Terry was hit by the car. Adele reports he was hit in Beverly Hills, so Ballard heads that way. Adele orders Topher to perform a remote wipe so that Terry doesn’t use Victor for his nefarious acts. Topher says it can’t be done. Adele reminds Topher that Alpha did it to Echo. Topher reminds Adele that Alpha used a cell phone, and asks Adele for Victor’s cell number. Victor doesn’t have a cell phone. Adele commands Topher to “think of another way and think of it fast.”
We see Victor emerge from the Hollywood and Vine Subway station. Then we see Echo discussing Chaucer with the professor. She’s starting to come on to the professor. She puts on some music and starts to dance. Boyd is monitoring her from the van outside. Just then, Topher calls Boyd to inform him he has to take the biolink system offline. He tells Boyd he needs to take the system down to attempt a remote wipe of Victor.
Victor is walking down a Hollywood street, checking out women. He comes to a club and goes inside. Flash to Topher in the lab with Adele, attempting the remote wipe. Flash to Victor. He appears to be in pain. The system goes down, and there is a power outage at the Dollhouse.
Back to Echo. She is dancing with the professor. All of the sudden, she pulls out a knife and stabs him in the neck. Echo says “Goodness gracious” as we cut to commercial.
We come back to the Dollhouse. The power is still out. Adele calls Boyd and tells him that they are calling in all of the actives, as the whole system is down. Boyd concurs with the decision and offers to help spread the word to the other handlers. Back to Echo. She is rifling the professor’s pockets. Evidentially, something went wacky and Echo assumed Victor’s imprint. She steals the professor’s keys and leaves. Boyd rushes in to extract his active only to find the professor bleeding on the floor. He calls for an ambulance.
Adele and Topher are talking. Topher says everything got scrambled. They know Echo became Terry. They wonder what happened to Kiki.
Flash to Victor in the club. He’s dancing. Evidentially now, Victor is Kiki. The remote wipe transposed the imprints. Ballard enters the club, hot on the tail of Victor. His phone rings, and he steps out to take the call (Adele). Meanwhile, Victor (as Kiki) hits on some guy. The guy takes offense. Ballard returns to see Victor has knocked the guy out. Victor sees Paul and rushes to him.
Back to the caged women. They’re trying to break out when Echo comes in. Echo hits a woman with a croquet mallet and informs the women that she is “him”. The women are confused. Echo holds her head. She seems to be getting confused too. Echo accuses “Mother” of doing this to Terry. She starts beating the women. Just as she is about to bludgeon one, she appears confused. She stops herself and muses “Did I fall asleep?” Cut to commercial.
We return to Topher and Ivy, trying to fix the computer. Ballard returns with Victor, still as Kiki. The system comes back up. Everyone is relieved. They immediately use her GPS strip to locate Echo. She’s in Beverly Hills.
Back to Echo. She is very confused. She seems to be part Echo and part Terry. “He was here…he’s still here,” she mutters. “He wants to kill you. You have to kill him first.” She drops the mallet and grabs her head. Robin grabs the mallet. She tells Echo to move away from the door so they can all escape. Echo tells Robin “he” will not let her get away from the door. She says they have to kill “him.” Robin says “No problem” as she raises the mallet above her head. She begins beating Echo, but another of the women stops her. Echo tells the women he is coming back. He’ll never stop—he can’t. They’ll have to kill her in order to kill him. Robin tells Echo it doesn’t make sense. Echo describes how Terry stalked the women before taking them. She warns them he’ll do it again. She tells the women that they need to stop “him”. Robin raises the mallet to bludgeon Echo, just like Terry bludgeoned Aunt Shelia. Luckily, a group of men from the Dollhouse rush in just as Robin raises the mallet above her head. One grabs the croquet mallet from Robin as Ballard rushed in to protect Echo. Ballard asks Echo if she’s okay, and she replies in the negative. He asks her if she wants a treatment as he leads her away.
Back to the Dollhouse. Adele is by Terry’s hospital bed. Ballard says he never really got inside of Terry’s head. Adele informs Paul that Bradley is having Terry moved back to a regular hospital. She comments it would be nice if Terry never woke up.
Echo is a doll again. So is Victor. They pass each other in the hall. Echo stops outside of Terry’s room. “I think he dreams,” Echo says. “Not anymore,” Ballard responds. Terry flat lines. Echo says “Goodness gracious.” The credits roll.
Like I said, not a lot to analyze here. We learned very little to advance the overall story arc. We did get to see the seeds of the remote wipe technology, the end result of which was a big part of Epitaph 13. We also got out first glimpse of programming being used for no beneficial reason whatsoever. Idealistic Adele seemed repelled by what they had to do for one of their major investors. She had no real idea of the true depravity contained within Terry’s mind, as his family had managed to cover up all of his criminal past, save for a few misdemeanors. She seemed horrified when she fount out the extent of Terry’s true nature, almost determined to undermine their efforts in any way she could. We also saw her mother hen side come out when she realized Bradley was using one of her dolls for something of which she did not approve. Adele continues to try to draw a line when she sees her assignments beginning to get out of hand.
We also saw Topher question the ethics of his scientific misdoings for the first time in his life. Even Boyd was amazed that Topher had misgivings about the current assignment. Topher’s humanization continues, if only in baby steps. We also learned that, for all intents and purposes, Claire escaped. Although as the doctor, Claire was free to come and go as she pleased, it was obvious that Adele thought she’s never leave the Dollhouse. We learned that Claire had approved the removal of Victor’s GPS strip. They implied she probably had her own removed as well, as Adele was unable to locate her. So we saw a second doll that the Powers that Be cannot keep completely under control. But that’s as far as the layers go.
In terms of Echo, I guess we saw a little moral development on her part as well. We saw the re-emergence of the uber-doll. When the imprints transposed, Echo was somehow able to control the Terry inside of her, where Victor could not. She stopped Terry from using her to bludgeon the women. Instead, Echo somehow interpreted the Terry inside of her, using the part of herself she retains to instead warn the women. She was seemingly willing to die herself, rather than let the unsavory implant use her to kill others. We also saw that Echo’s retaining bits of all of her imprints, intentional or not, when she closed the episode by repeating Terry’s tagline. The sardonic manner in which she repeated the tagline seemed to imply she can control the darker sides of the memories she retains.
We have to wait two weeks to see if episode 4 is better than episode 3. The coming attractions promise us Sierra’s back-story, and in my opinion, episode 4 shows promise of returning to advancing the overall tale. Episode 5 will introduce Summer Glau as some sort of counterpart to Topher. These episodes appear to be a return to the multi-layered Dollhouse we’ve come to know and love. I hope they will give me an opportunity to analyze again, rather than to merely recap.
I seem to be in the minority when it comes to not liking Belle Chose. Was there depth there that I missed? Why did the rest of you think this was the best episode of the season so far? Please use the comments section below to enlighten me on your viewpoints. I’d love someone to say something that will change my opinion of this episode and make me want to watch it again to catch what I missed.
Showing posts with label television. Show all posts
Showing posts with label television. Show all posts
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Recap & Review: Dollhouse, Season 2 Episode 2: Instinct
Thanks for coming back. My analysis is after my recap. If you're only interested in the analysis, please scroll down the page to the next header, or use your browser's find feature to search for the word "analysis".
RECAP:
The episode opens with Ballard sneaking around the treatment room. He’s just kind of wandering, looking at the chair and the controls. As he sits in the chair, Topher enters. He sees Paul sitting in the chair, and asks him if HE wants a treatment. Ballard says he’s just tired, and he can’t sleep. Topher comments that the life of a handler is exhausting and best left to others (i.e. not Topher.) He also tells Paul to “leave the tech to the grownups.”
Yes, the egotistic Topher is back. They begin talking about Echo’s latest assignment, and Topher is amazed at what he was able to accomplish this time. He says he’s figured out how to make the brain change the body at a glandular level. He tells Ballard to imagine the possibilities. He could program the brain to fight cancer, to not have a gag reflex when eating sea urchin—anything is possible now. He doesn’t want to label himself a genius, but Paul is free to do so. Paul asks Topher if he could change him too, but Topher reminds him that he can only program a wiped brain. He uses a classic line to explain things to Paul:
“The mind is like Van Halen. If you just pull out one piece and keep replacing it, it just degrades.”
Paul comments that he doesn’t get it. Topher doesn’t expect him to. He’s back to being the “I’m better and smarter than you” Topher.
The scene shifts to Echo, waking up next to her latest “client”. She quietly gets up and sneaks down the hall, being careful not to wake her man. We see her open the door to another room. It’s a nursery, and Echo reaches into a crib and picks up a baby. Apparently, the glandular-level changes involve lactation, as Echo begins to breast feed the baby while singing him a lullaby. The credits roll.
We return to Echo in bed again, this time alone. She is awakened by the sounds of a crying baby. She retrieves the baby, and takes him down to the kitchen, calling for Nate (the client) all the while. He comes out of his office and locks the door behind him. He seems indifferent to both Echo and the baby. Echo asks him to hold the baby while she makes coffee, but he just hems and haws. He reminds Echo that he doesn’t do that. She hands off the baby anyway, and Nate holds him at arms length. Echo asks Nate if he will be home for dinner, and he replies in the negative. He tells her not to wait up as he leaves. Echo watches him through the window and notices a black van in the drive.
Flash to Echo and the baby walking in the park with a girlfriend, who just so happens to be “played” by Sierra. They begin discussing Nate and his apparent lack of interest in the baby. Sierra (Kelly) reminds Echo (Emily) that Nate has always been a workaholic. Echo responds that it’s more than that. She says when she hands Nate the baby, it’s like she’s handing him a live grenade. She tells Sierra how much she loves that baby, but she says she doesn’t think Nate even likes him. She wonders why Nate was in such a hurry to have a child. She tells Sierra that she thinks maybe Nate’s doing something illegal and that they’re being watched. She tells Sierra that there’s a black van parked outside every day. Sierra tries to reassure Echo, and tells her that she just needs a good night’s sleep. She tells Echo to make Nate take Jack for a while so that Echo can rest up.
Echo returns home and decides to rifle Nate’s office, trying to find evidence of what is distracting his attention from his wife and baby. Flash to Nate returning home to a dark house. He calls for Emily. She confronts him with some pictures she found in his office of him and another woman, (obviously, the baby’s real mother.) She recognizes one scene as the place Nate took HER for their honeymoon. She asks him if he’s having an affair, and demands to know who the other woman is. Nate confesses the pictures are of someone he knew and loved before he met Emily. He says the woman died, it was very painful, and in some ways, he’ll never be over it. He apologizes for not telling Emily, and admits it was a mistake. Echo apologizes for rifling his office, rather than talking to Nate about her suspicions.
Flash to Echo in bed, waking up. It’s still dark. As she walks down the hall, she hears Nate on the phone with some unknown party (the Dollhouse). She overhears him saying that they promised something they could not deliver, and it’s just not working. He says he’s calling it off, and that they need to get “rid of her.” A look of panic crosses Echo’s face as she hears Nate say he’ll “get rid of the baby.” Cut to commercial.
As the show returns, we see a caption telling us we’re at Senator Perrin’s house in Alexandria, Virginia. He’s talking to Cindy, asking her if she thinks the Press Conference was a mistake. He says they have anecdotal evidence proving Rossum Corp is involved in performing illegal experiments. They have a file full of financial data, and Cindy comments that they could prove some sort of money laundering. Perrin replies he’s not interested in proving that. As a doorbell rings, he comments that Rossum crossed a line. He posits that they must be leaning on folks to keep them quiet. Cindy returns from answering the door. She says there was no one there, only a file.
Flash to Adele, visiting Madeline/November. Madeline tells Adele she is now happily living the life of the idle rich. She says she feels like she should travel or something, but somehow, she just wants to stay close to home. She says she can’t get over the irrational fear that if she says the wrong thing, men in a black van will appear and take her away. Adele reminds November that her obligation to the Dollhouse is over. She’s only there because November has not returned to the Dollhouse for her diagnostic, and that she must do so, and very soon. November accuses Adele of being afraid of November outing the Dollhouse. She asks Adele why she was let out of her contract early. Adele says she can’t discuss that and reiterates that November must come back for a checkup.
Back to Echo/Emily, Jack, and Nate. They’re at home, and Echo is obviously flustered. She tells Nate she’s taking the baby for a walk, and that they’ll be right back. Nate notes she’s holding her car keys. Echo says they’re going to the park. Nate tells her he took her car to the shop, and that the car seat is there. She can’t drive anywhere today. He wants to cook her and the baby breakfast. Echo says she’s not hungry. She asks why Nate is not at work. Nate tells Echo he’ll take the baby for a while, and that she should take a nap. Echo is suspicious. She says she needs to feed the baby and takes him upstairs. There, she calls Kelly and tells her she needs her to come pick them up. She says she thinks Nate is trying to kill them. Echo watches out the window for Kelly to arrive. She sees Kelly’s car pull up, only to be intercepted by the men in the black van. She panics as she sees the men lead Kelly into the van. She takes the baby and hides as Ballard comes through the front door. Ballard tells Nate to let Echo see him first so that things don’t get out of hand, as Echo’s acting paranoid, and she has the baby with her. Ballard knocks on the nursery door, asking Emily if she wants a treatment. He opens the door to find a tape in the crib, playing sounds of Emily comforting the baby. He sees a rope ladder hanging out the window. Echo took the baby and ran, leaving the tape as a fake out. Cut to commercial.
We return to Adele meeting with Nate. Nate is angry because their active took his baby and ran off.
“Your zombie took my Jack, and you’re sitting there, drinking tea?” Nate accuses.
Adele reminds Nate that it’s Echo’s baby in Echo’s mind. She says Echo feels as if she carried that baby for nine months, delivered him, and nursed him. Jack is Echo’s baby at a cellular level. She reminds Nate that the Dollhouse gave him exactly what he asked for—someone to bond with the baby because Nate could not. Echo did just that—bonded with the baby. She tells Nate that babies need love so that they grow up feeling loved and don’t turn out to be sociopaths. Nate asks what happens when a baby is kidnapped by a sociopath. He thinks this whole plan was a mistake. Adele reminds him that his next plan was to put the baby up for adoption. He tells her to “just find him.” Adele reminds him that they know exactly where Echo and the baby are, and they’re retrieving him as they speak.
Cut to Echo, walking with the baby down a street. She glimpses a black van and panics, turning to walk the other way. She comes upon a couple of cops and asks them to help her. She tells the officers that she’s being followed, and that someone is trying to take her baby. She tells them her husband is trying to kill her. They tell her to come with them, and that she’s safe now. They take her to the police station where she tells her story to an investigator, admitting that she knows she sounds crazy. The investigator tells her she did the right thing by coming to the police. She asks what will happen next. The investigator tells her they’ll bring Nate in for questioning and get her a restraining order. She looks up and sees Nate, entering the station with Ballard. They are talking to the Captain. The investigator tells Echo to stay put while she sees what is going down. Echo follows and confronts Nate. Nate is telling the captain that that’s his baby, but that’s NOT his wife. The investigator tells Echo the other man (Ballard) is with the FBI and wants to talk to her. Echo tells them to stay away from her. Nate grabs the baby, and Ballard grabs Echo. She fights Ballard as he drags her away, all the while screaming for her baby. Cut to commercial.
We come back to November, back at the Dollhouse for her diagnostic, and back in that familiar treatment chair. Topher is having her repeat sequences of words and numbers. He asks her how she’s feeling—any headaches, dizziness, nightmares, déjà vu? November answers no. November says “I’m not broken?” Topher gives her a clean bill of health—no glitching, no memory remnants. He comments that they should put her in a recruiting DVD. He also asks her if she wants any additional enhancements, like ventriloquism. November declines.
Just then, Ballard drags Echo in, kicking and screaming, demanding that they give her her baby back. They throw her in the chair as she screams for help. She tries to run, but security catches her and knocks her out. Topher is not happy. He reminds them that he cannot wipe Echo while she’s unconscious. Security drags her back to the treatment room.
November is on her way out, and she meets Ballard in the hallway. He asks November what she’s doing there, and she replies that she just came in for a diagnostic, and that “it was intense.” Paul notices that she’s bleeding. November comments she remembers Paul. He was there when she was signing the paperwork.
Paul takes her to see a male doctor. (I guess Claire has already been replaced? Or they have an alternate?) He assures November that no one took anyone’s baby—Echo is an active just like she used to be. November responds that it was real for Echo. She asks if she was ever like that. Paul says he’s new and wouldn’t know. November assures Paul that Echo will be okay. She’ll forget everything—no more pain or grief. November shares that she had a daughter. Her daughter had a cold, only it wasn’t a cold. It was cancer. Within 6 months, her daughter was dead, and her world fell apart. She was completely alone and non-functional, and then, she met Adele. Adele told her she didn’t have to suffer. She could go to sleep for 5 years and wake up without pain. Paul asks her if she’s happy now. November replies “I’m not sad.”
Cut to Echo in the chair. She’s begging Topher to help her. He says he will, and he gives her a treatment. We see the montage of backwards memories. Topher wipes Echo, or so he thinks. As he parrots the familiar script to Echo, she cold cocks him, saying “shall I go now?” Cut to commercial.
We come back to Senator Perrin and Cindy, looking at some records, ostensibly what was in the file they received in the earlier scene. They contain wiretap transcripts. Perrin says they document more than mere medical malfeasance and ethics violations—they seem to document prostitution and human trafficking, maybe even murder. He says he read about it when Mom was sick. Perrin says something about Rossum having had the means to help his mom, but they refused. (It’s obviously personal for Perrin.) Cindy wants to unify all of the data and find proof that will bring Rossum down. Perrin says they have something better than proof. They have a name.
Cut to Echo in a car. She seems baffled. She can’t remember how to get it to start. “Go, please,” she says. She finally turns the key and gets behind the wheel.
Cut to Adele yelling at Topher. Topher is nursing a bloody nose, insisting that he wiped Echo. “I remember wiping her, and then my face exploded.” Paul says GPS has her going back for the baby. Topher reiterates to Adele that he wiped Echo. Adele asks if it’s another composite event, and Paul replies that he thinks they’re looking at a genius. They changed her at a glandular level, so that the body was too strong for the mind. Topher acknowledges that maybe the maternal instinct is too strong for a normal wipe. “I outplayed myself,” he brags, “like in chess.” Ballard admonished Topher that he didn’t think it through. Topher acquiesces that maybe lactation was “a bridge too far.” Adele sends Ballard after Echo.
Flash to Nate and the baby. He’s caring for Jack, and they finally seem to be bonding. He puts Jack in bed and goes down to fix a bottle. He’s mixing formula when lightning flashes, and he thinks he sees something outside. The phone rings, and he drops the bottle. It’s Adele. She tells him it’s imperative that he take the baby and leave the house IMMEDIATELY. She tells him Echo is on her way back, and that they’ve dispatched a team to intercept her. But they must get out. The phone goes dead. Nate races to the nursery, only to find an empty crib. He races around the house, looking for the baby. He enters the living room and encounters Echo—baby in one hand, huge knife in the other. “Mommy’s home,” she says as we cut to commercial.
Echo confronts Nate about taking away her baby. He apologizes and tries to placate her. She says she loves her baby and doesn’t want to give him back. It’s HER baby. Babies need their mothers. He tells her she’s not his mother. He says he knows she loves him, but he doesn’t belong to her. When he says he’s afraid she’s going to hurt the baby, she lunges at him with the knife. He asks her if she remembers that they turned her into somebody else. He tells her she’s not real, that he had her programmed to love Jack. When his wife Karen died in childbirth, he couldn’t handle it. He blamed the baby. He needed a surrogate until he was ready to care for Jack himself. He apologizes for putting Echo through hell. Echo asks if she can be his Mommy, and Nate says no. Karen is a part of Jack—Echo is not. Jack is all Nate has left of Karen. He begs Echo not to hurt the baby. Echo is confused. She reluctantly hands the baby back to Nate and drops the knife. Ballard arrives just then, and she leaves with him.
Flash to a park. Echo is sitting in the darkness. Paul asks her if she is okay. Echo says: “I had a baby. I don’t have him anymore. I feel sad. Paul says he’s sorry. Echo says: “All of these things that happen to me, I feel them.” Paul tells her he knows that she remembers everything. She corrects him: “Not remember…feel.”
Echo continues: “I was married. I felt love and pain and fear. It’s not pretend for me. They made me love my little boy, and they took him away. They make it so real. Every time, they make it so real. Why do they do that?”
Paul tells Echo he knows she wants to help him bring down the Dollhouse, but he can do it on his own. He’ll save them all, with or without her help. He assures her “I can tell Topher what is going on with you, and he can fix it. You won’t have to feel sad any more.”
Echo replies: “Feeling nothing would be worse. That would be like before…asleep. I’m awake now. I don’t want to go back to sleep.” The credits roll.
ANALYSIS:
I liked this episode, although it was much more plot-driven than last week’s. The focus was back to Echo, as an active on assignment. Topher was back to being the holier-than-thou genius. Boyd, Victor, Ivy and Dr. Saunders were noticeably absent. (We did learn there is another doctor on staff--whether or not he’s an active too is yet to be seen.) But despite the plot-focused nature, we did get to learn more about several things relevant to the big picture.
First, this episode featured the return of Madeline/November. We got to see the perspective of life after the Dollhouse from a former active. November really felt as if the Dollhouse had saved her life. Being an active erased her pain and suffering. She awoke several years later, and she was no longer sad. Her experience allowed her to move on with her life, to become a part of the “idle rich”. November seemed to be at peace, grateful for what the Dollhouse had done. And her chance meeting with Ballard helped him to develop as well. Despite the fact they met while another active was freaking out, November seemed to be curious, rather than disturbed by the scene. She could tell Paul cared about Echo, and reassured him that Echo would be fine, and probably better off, having experienced life as a doll. Paul seemed to take their conversation to heart. I think for the first time, he realized the Dollhouse was not black and white, but rather, had many shades of grey. It was as if he had an epiphany—not everyone is being held there against his or her will. Not every active was being used for nefarious purposes. To some, the Dollhouse was salvation, something that allowed one to interrupt the dysfunction for a while, and then return to the living as a healed, capable being.
This was more apparent later in his interactions with Echo. Paul was beginning to see the dolls as people, rather than just empty shells. He began to realize how real each assignment was for the active, that they really became the people they were programmed to be, and they weren’t just pretending. Before, he kind of viewed the wiped dolls as nothing but empty shells. He acknowledged how the Dollhouse took folks’ personalities, but never really realized the depth that existed in the personalities they assumed. Somehow, Paul has managed to find the person within each of the dolls.
This episode also further developed the concept of Echo as the uber-doll. Echo is continuing to evolve as Echo, leaving the remnants of Caroline behind. Whether it’s what is within herself or the effects of what Alpha did, Echo no longer seems to be able to be completely wiped. Yet it’s not so much the memories that she’s retaining, but rather, the feelings. At first, Echo was asleep during and after each of her assignments. Now, she feels awake, even in her doll state. She is becoming an amalgamation of everything she’s ever felt, rather than everyone she’s ever been. Her savior complex seems to exist at the cellular level, and despite Topher’s best efforts, they cannot wipe THAT away. Whether she’s Caroline, an empty doll, or a programmed active, Echo seems to exist to be good and to do good. Whatever her circumstances, she’s determined to do her best. She is caring and selfless in all situations, and they cannot wipe away her instinct to do what is right. I’m not so sure Caroline was ever as selfless as Echo is.
As Echo is growing more assured, Ballard seems to be getting more confused. As he becomes more and more integrated into the Dollhouse, he is realizing it’s not what he had painted it to be. It’s not all bad. Maybe the Dollhouse is a haven for the actives, rather than a prison. Maybe he needs to save the dolls by looking after their best interests as they fulfill their contracts, rather than just focusing on outing the scheme to the world. Maybe he needs to realize that people’s lives are at stake, and taking care of them while they are inside is just as important as trying to free them. Maybe that empty state can help save a life, rather than just destroying one.
I found the scenes with the senator to be kind of extraneous, not really fitting into the flow of the episode. They were thrown in merely to advance the plot, and to introduce the personal grudge the Senator has against Rossum Corp. We learn he had some prior knowledge or association, and that he hates Rossum because they refused to save his mommy. It was almost inferred that he was fine with what they were doing until they wouldn’t do it for HIS benefit. It seems as if his campaign strategy is really revenge, and Perrin still has a lot of mommy issues he needs to resolve. As literature has shown us, time and again, revenge in the guise of saving the world usually fails. I have a feeling that going up against Rossum will prove to be the senator’s downfall. I wonder what “name” he’ll drag down with him.
I think we’re supposed to think that Paul is the mole that delivered the file on the Dollhouse. But if so, I’m pretty sure that’s a red herring. My money is on Alpha or Boyd, who was noticeably absent in this episode, and who is not off filming some other show. As the other characters develop, Boyd remains an enigma. He’s almost doll-like in maintaining his poker face at all times. I’m still thinking that Boyd is going to be the wild card thrown into this mix.
Finally, we learned that Adele is a woman of her word. Once you’ve completed the obligations of your contract, you’re free to resume a normal life. No one is watching November/Madeline. She did her time, and emerged all the better for doing so. But Adele is still interested in the scientific aspects of her lab rats. She insisted Madeline return, not just to see if she was physically and emotionally okay, but also to study the physiological effects of a doll returning to her former state. Did the programming leave any lingering effects? Adele seemed pleased that Madeline was able to resume a normal life, with no ill effects. She truly cares about her subjects, just as much as she believes in her overall mission in leading the dollhouse. Adele is the maternal figure for everyone in the house, admonishing her children when they misbehave and celebrating when they have success. She remains protective of her subjects, even after they leave her employ. After all, they have become her family as well as her subjects.
I am hoping we continue to see these glimpses of character even in these plot-driven episodes. We’re seeing how Echo is evolving. Now, I hope we see similar evolution in Victor and Sierra. I can’t wait for Saunders to return, and I wonder how creepy she’ll be the next time we see her. Will Ballard’s protective feelings extend to the other dolls, or are they reserved for Echo? How will they bring down the senator? And when will Alpha reemerge? What will happen to Topher’s ego when he realizes Echo is unpredictable, unable to be thoroughly erased? When will Topher begin to see the dolls as more than lab rats (the only type of lab rats that don’t scare the pants right off of him)? How will Echo’s maternal experience effect her next assignment?
The scenes from next week indicate Victor will be back, programmed to be a serial killer. I cannot imagine why they would do this, unless it was somehow related to efforts to curtail the senator. What part will Echo play, and how will this effect her overall evolution? I guess we’ll just have to wait until next week to see how events unfold. I hope you’ll come back here for my thoughts on the episode. And please, add your thoughts to mine in the comments section below. I look forward to watching this season of Dollhouse with you all and hearing what you all think.
RECAP:
The episode opens with Ballard sneaking around the treatment room. He’s just kind of wandering, looking at the chair and the controls. As he sits in the chair, Topher enters. He sees Paul sitting in the chair, and asks him if HE wants a treatment. Ballard says he’s just tired, and he can’t sleep. Topher comments that the life of a handler is exhausting and best left to others (i.e. not Topher.) He also tells Paul to “leave the tech to the grownups.”
Yes, the egotistic Topher is back. They begin talking about Echo’s latest assignment, and Topher is amazed at what he was able to accomplish this time. He says he’s figured out how to make the brain change the body at a glandular level. He tells Ballard to imagine the possibilities. He could program the brain to fight cancer, to not have a gag reflex when eating sea urchin—anything is possible now. He doesn’t want to label himself a genius, but Paul is free to do so. Paul asks Topher if he could change him too, but Topher reminds him that he can only program a wiped brain. He uses a classic line to explain things to Paul:
“The mind is like Van Halen. If you just pull out one piece and keep replacing it, it just degrades.”
Paul comments that he doesn’t get it. Topher doesn’t expect him to. He’s back to being the “I’m better and smarter than you” Topher.
The scene shifts to Echo, waking up next to her latest “client”. She quietly gets up and sneaks down the hall, being careful not to wake her man. We see her open the door to another room. It’s a nursery, and Echo reaches into a crib and picks up a baby. Apparently, the glandular-level changes involve lactation, as Echo begins to breast feed the baby while singing him a lullaby. The credits roll.
We return to Echo in bed again, this time alone. She is awakened by the sounds of a crying baby. She retrieves the baby, and takes him down to the kitchen, calling for Nate (the client) all the while. He comes out of his office and locks the door behind him. He seems indifferent to both Echo and the baby. Echo asks him to hold the baby while she makes coffee, but he just hems and haws. He reminds Echo that he doesn’t do that. She hands off the baby anyway, and Nate holds him at arms length. Echo asks Nate if he will be home for dinner, and he replies in the negative. He tells her not to wait up as he leaves. Echo watches him through the window and notices a black van in the drive.
Flash to Echo and the baby walking in the park with a girlfriend, who just so happens to be “played” by Sierra. They begin discussing Nate and his apparent lack of interest in the baby. Sierra (Kelly) reminds Echo (Emily) that Nate has always been a workaholic. Echo responds that it’s more than that. She says when she hands Nate the baby, it’s like she’s handing him a live grenade. She tells Sierra how much she loves that baby, but she says she doesn’t think Nate even likes him. She wonders why Nate was in such a hurry to have a child. She tells Sierra that she thinks maybe Nate’s doing something illegal and that they’re being watched. She tells Sierra that there’s a black van parked outside every day. Sierra tries to reassure Echo, and tells her that she just needs a good night’s sleep. She tells Echo to make Nate take Jack for a while so that Echo can rest up.
Echo returns home and decides to rifle Nate’s office, trying to find evidence of what is distracting his attention from his wife and baby. Flash to Nate returning home to a dark house. He calls for Emily. She confronts him with some pictures she found in his office of him and another woman, (obviously, the baby’s real mother.) She recognizes one scene as the place Nate took HER for their honeymoon. She asks him if he’s having an affair, and demands to know who the other woman is. Nate confesses the pictures are of someone he knew and loved before he met Emily. He says the woman died, it was very painful, and in some ways, he’ll never be over it. He apologizes for not telling Emily, and admits it was a mistake. Echo apologizes for rifling his office, rather than talking to Nate about her suspicions.
Flash to Echo in bed, waking up. It’s still dark. As she walks down the hall, she hears Nate on the phone with some unknown party (the Dollhouse). She overhears him saying that they promised something they could not deliver, and it’s just not working. He says he’s calling it off, and that they need to get “rid of her.” A look of panic crosses Echo’s face as she hears Nate say he’ll “get rid of the baby.” Cut to commercial.
As the show returns, we see a caption telling us we’re at Senator Perrin’s house in Alexandria, Virginia. He’s talking to Cindy, asking her if she thinks the Press Conference was a mistake. He says they have anecdotal evidence proving Rossum Corp is involved in performing illegal experiments. They have a file full of financial data, and Cindy comments that they could prove some sort of money laundering. Perrin replies he’s not interested in proving that. As a doorbell rings, he comments that Rossum crossed a line. He posits that they must be leaning on folks to keep them quiet. Cindy returns from answering the door. She says there was no one there, only a file.
Flash to Adele, visiting Madeline/November. Madeline tells Adele she is now happily living the life of the idle rich. She says she feels like she should travel or something, but somehow, she just wants to stay close to home. She says she can’t get over the irrational fear that if she says the wrong thing, men in a black van will appear and take her away. Adele reminds November that her obligation to the Dollhouse is over. She’s only there because November has not returned to the Dollhouse for her diagnostic, and that she must do so, and very soon. November accuses Adele of being afraid of November outing the Dollhouse. She asks Adele why she was let out of her contract early. Adele says she can’t discuss that and reiterates that November must come back for a checkup.
Back to Echo/Emily, Jack, and Nate. They’re at home, and Echo is obviously flustered. She tells Nate she’s taking the baby for a walk, and that they’ll be right back. Nate notes she’s holding her car keys. Echo says they’re going to the park. Nate tells her he took her car to the shop, and that the car seat is there. She can’t drive anywhere today. He wants to cook her and the baby breakfast. Echo says she’s not hungry. She asks why Nate is not at work. Nate tells Echo he’ll take the baby for a while, and that she should take a nap. Echo is suspicious. She says she needs to feed the baby and takes him upstairs. There, she calls Kelly and tells her she needs her to come pick them up. She says she thinks Nate is trying to kill them. Echo watches out the window for Kelly to arrive. She sees Kelly’s car pull up, only to be intercepted by the men in the black van. She panics as she sees the men lead Kelly into the van. She takes the baby and hides as Ballard comes through the front door. Ballard tells Nate to let Echo see him first so that things don’t get out of hand, as Echo’s acting paranoid, and she has the baby with her. Ballard knocks on the nursery door, asking Emily if she wants a treatment. He opens the door to find a tape in the crib, playing sounds of Emily comforting the baby. He sees a rope ladder hanging out the window. Echo took the baby and ran, leaving the tape as a fake out. Cut to commercial.
We return to Adele meeting with Nate. Nate is angry because their active took his baby and ran off.
“Your zombie took my Jack, and you’re sitting there, drinking tea?” Nate accuses.
Adele reminds Nate that it’s Echo’s baby in Echo’s mind. She says Echo feels as if she carried that baby for nine months, delivered him, and nursed him. Jack is Echo’s baby at a cellular level. She reminds Nate that the Dollhouse gave him exactly what he asked for—someone to bond with the baby because Nate could not. Echo did just that—bonded with the baby. She tells Nate that babies need love so that they grow up feeling loved and don’t turn out to be sociopaths. Nate asks what happens when a baby is kidnapped by a sociopath. He thinks this whole plan was a mistake. Adele reminds him that his next plan was to put the baby up for adoption. He tells her to “just find him.” Adele reminds him that they know exactly where Echo and the baby are, and they’re retrieving him as they speak.
Cut to Echo, walking with the baby down a street. She glimpses a black van and panics, turning to walk the other way. She comes upon a couple of cops and asks them to help her. She tells the officers that she’s being followed, and that someone is trying to take her baby. She tells them her husband is trying to kill her. They tell her to come with them, and that she’s safe now. They take her to the police station where she tells her story to an investigator, admitting that she knows she sounds crazy. The investigator tells her she did the right thing by coming to the police. She asks what will happen next. The investigator tells her they’ll bring Nate in for questioning and get her a restraining order. She looks up and sees Nate, entering the station with Ballard. They are talking to the Captain. The investigator tells Echo to stay put while she sees what is going down. Echo follows and confronts Nate. Nate is telling the captain that that’s his baby, but that’s NOT his wife. The investigator tells Echo the other man (Ballard) is with the FBI and wants to talk to her. Echo tells them to stay away from her. Nate grabs the baby, and Ballard grabs Echo. She fights Ballard as he drags her away, all the while screaming for her baby. Cut to commercial.
We come back to November, back at the Dollhouse for her diagnostic, and back in that familiar treatment chair. Topher is having her repeat sequences of words and numbers. He asks her how she’s feeling—any headaches, dizziness, nightmares, déjà vu? November answers no. November says “I’m not broken?” Topher gives her a clean bill of health—no glitching, no memory remnants. He comments that they should put her in a recruiting DVD. He also asks her if she wants any additional enhancements, like ventriloquism. November declines.
Just then, Ballard drags Echo in, kicking and screaming, demanding that they give her her baby back. They throw her in the chair as she screams for help. She tries to run, but security catches her and knocks her out. Topher is not happy. He reminds them that he cannot wipe Echo while she’s unconscious. Security drags her back to the treatment room.
November is on her way out, and she meets Ballard in the hallway. He asks November what she’s doing there, and she replies that she just came in for a diagnostic, and that “it was intense.” Paul notices that she’s bleeding. November comments she remembers Paul. He was there when she was signing the paperwork.
Paul takes her to see a male doctor. (I guess Claire has already been replaced? Or they have an alternate?) He assures November that no one took anyone’s baby—Echo is an active just like she used to be. November responds that it was real for Echo. She asks if she was ever like that. Paul says he’s new and wouldn’t know. November assures Paul that Echo will be okay. She’ll forget everything—no more pain or grief. November shares that she had a daughter. Her daughter had a cold, only it wasn’t a cold. It was cancer. Within 6 months, her daughter was dead, and her world fell apart. She was completely alone and non-functional, and then, she met Adele. Adele told her she didn’t have to suffer. She could go to sleep for 5 years and wake up without pain. Paul asks her if she’s happy now. November replies “I’m not sad.”
Cut to Echo in the chair. She’s begging Topher to help her. He says he will, and he gives her a treatment. We see the montage of backwards memories. Topher wipes Echo, or so he thinks. As he parrots the familiar script to Echo, she cold cocks him, saying “shall I go now?” Cut to commercial.
We come back to Senator Perrin and Cindy, looking at some records, ostensibly what was in the file they received in the earlier scene. They contain wiretap transcripts. Perrin says they document more than mere medical malfeasance and ethics violations—they seem to document prostitution and human trafficking, maybe even murder. He says he read about it when Mom was sick. Perrin says something about Rossum having had the means to help his mom, but they refused. (It’s obviously personal for Perrin.) Cindy wants to unify all of the data and find proof that will bring Rossum down. Perrin says they have something better than proof. They have a name.
Cut to Echo in a car. She seems baffled. She can’t remember how to get it to start. “Go, please,” she says. She finally turns the key and gets behind the wheel.
Cut to Adele yelling at Topher. Topher is nursing a bloody nose, insisting that he wiped Echo. “I remember wiping her, and then my face exploded.” Paul says GPS has her going back for the baby. Topher reiterates to Adele that he wiped Echo. Adele asks if it’s another composite event, and Paul replies that he thinks they’re looking at a genius. They changed her at a glandular level, so that the body was too strong for the mind. Topher acknowledges that maybe the maternal instinct is too strong for a normal wipe. “I outplayed myself,” he brags, “like in chess.” Ballard admonished Topher that he didn’t think it through. Topher acquiesces that maybe lactation was “a bridge too far.” Adele sends Ballard after Echo.
Flash to Nate and the baby. He’s caring for Jack, and they finally seem to be bonding. He puts Jack in bed and goes down to fix a bottle. He’s mixing formula when lightning flashes, and he thinks he sees something outside. The phone rings, and he drops the bottle. It’s Adele. She tells him it’s imperative that he take the baby and leave the house IMMEDIATELY. She tells him Echo is on her way back, and that they’ve dispatched a team to intercept her. But they must get out. The phone goes dead. Nate races to the nursery, only to find an empty crib. He races around the house, looking for the baby. He enters the living room and encounters Echo—baby in one hand, huge knife in the other. “Mommy’s home,” she says as we cut to commercial.
Echo confronts Nate about taking away her baby. He apologizes and tries to placate her. She says she loves her baby and doesn’t want to give him back. It’s HER baby. Babies need their mothers. He tells her she’s not his mother. He says he knows she loves him, but he doesn’t belong to her. When he says he’s afraid she’s going to hurt the baby, she lunges at him with the knife. He asks her if she remembers that they turned her into somebody else. He tells her she’s not real, that he had her programmed to love Jack. When his wife Karen died in childbirth, he couldn’t handle it. He blamed the baby. He needed a surrogate until he was ready to care for Jack himself. He apologizes for putting Echo through hell. Echo asks if she can be his Mommy, and Nate says no. Karen is a part of Jack—Echo is not. Jack is all Nate has left of Karen. He begs Echo not to hurt the baby. Echo is confused. She reluctantly hands the baby back to Nate and drops the knife. Ballard arrives just then, and she leaves with him.
Flash to a park. Echo is sitting in the darkness. Paul asks her if she is okay. Echo says: “I had a baby. I don’t have him anymore. I feel sad. Paul says he’s sorry. Echo says: “All of these things that happen to me, I feel them.” Paul tells her he knows that she remembers everything. She corrects him: “Not remember…feel.”
Echo continues: “I was married. I felt love and pain and fear. It’s not pretend for me. They made me love my little boy, and they took him away. They make it so real. Every time, they make it so real. Why do they do that?”
Paul tells Echo he knows she wants to help him bring down the Dollhouse, but he can do it on his own. He’ll save them all, with or without her help. He assures her “I can tell Topher what is going on with you, and he can fix it. You won’t have to feel sad any more.”
Echo replies: “Feeling nothing would be worse. That would be like before…asleep. I’m awake now. I don’t want to go back to sleep.” The credits roll.
ANALYSIS:
I liked this episode, although it was much more plot-driven than last week’s. The focus was back to Echo, as an active on assignment. Topher was back to being the holier-than-thou genius. Boyd, Victor, Ivy and Dr. Saunders were noticeably absent. (We did learn there is another doctor on staff--whether or not he’s an active too is yet to be seen.) But despite the plot-focused nature, we did get to learn more about several things relevant to the big picture.
First, this episode featured the return of Madeline/November. We got to see the perspective of life after the Dollhouse from a former active. November really felt as if the Dollhouse had saved her life. Being an active erased her pain and suffering. She awoke several years later, and she was no longer sad. Her experience allowed her to move on with her life, to become a part of the “idle rich”. November seemed to be at peace, grateful for what the Dollhouse had done. And her chance meeting with Ballard helped him to develop as well. Despite the fact they met while another active was freaking out, November seemed to be curious, rather than disturbed by the scene. She could tell Paul cared about Echo, and reassured him that Echo would be fine, and probably better off, having experienced life as a doll. Paul seemed to take their conversation to heart. I think for the first time, he realized the Dollhouse was not black and white, but rather, had many shades of grey. It was as if he had an epiphany—not everyone is being held there against his or her will. Not every active was being used for nefarious purposes. To some, the Dollhouse was salvation, something that allowed one to interrupt the dysfunction for a while, and then return to the living as a healed, capable being.
This was more apparent later in his interactions with Echo. Paul was beginning to see the dolls as people, rather than just empty shells. He began to realize how real each assignment was for the active, that they really became the people they were programmed to be, and they weren’t just pretending. Before, he kind of viewed the wiped dolls as nothing but empty shells. He acknowledged how the Dollhouse took folks’ personalities, but never really realized the depth that existed in the personalities they assumed. Somehow, Paul has managed to find the person within each of the dolls.
This episode also further developed the concept of Echo as the uber-doll. Echo is continuing to evolve as Echo, leaving the remnants of Caroline behind. Whether it’s what is within herself or the effects of what Alpha did, Echo no longer seems to be able to be completely wiped. Yet it’s not so much the memories that she’s retaining, but rather, the feelings. At first, Echo was asleep during and after each of her assignments. Now, she feels awake, even in her doll state. She is becoming an amalgamation of everything she’s ever felt, rather than everyone she’s ever been. Her savior complex seems to exist at the cellular level, and despite Topher’s best efforts, they cannot wipe THAT away. Whether she’s Caroline, an empty doll, or a programmed active, Echo seems to exist to be good and to do good. Whatever her circumstances, she’s determined to do her best. She is caring and selfless in all situations, and they cannot wipe away her instinct to do what is right. I’m not so sure Caroline was ever as selfless as Echo is.
As Echo is growing more assured, Ballard seems to be getting more confused. As he becomes more and more integrated into the Dollhouse, he is realizing it’s not what he had painted it to be. It’s not all bad. Maybe the Dollhouse is a haven for the actives, rather than a prison. Maybe he needs to save the dolls by looking after their best interests as they fulfill their contracts, rather than just focusing on outing the scheme to the world. Maybe he needs to realize that people’s lives are at stake, and taking care of them while they are inside is just as important as trying to free them. Maybe that empty state can help save a life, rather than just destroying one.
I found the scenes with the senator to be kind of extraneous, not really fitting into the flow of the episode. They were thrown in merely to advance the plot, and to introduce the personal grudge the Senator has against Rossum Corp. We learn he had some prior knowledge or association, and that he hates Rossum because they refused to save his mommy. It was almost inferred that he was fine with what they were doing until they wouldn’t do it for HIS benefit. It seems as if his campaign strategy is really revenge, and Perrin still has a lot of mommy issues he needs to resolve. As literature has shown us, time and again, revenge in the guise of saving the world usually fails. I have a feeling that going up against Rossum will prove to be the senator’s downfall. I wonder what “name” he’ll drag down with him.
I think we’re supposed to think that Paul is the mole that delivered the file on the Dollhouse. But if so, I’m pretty sure that’s a red herring. My money is on Alpha or Boyd, who was noticeably absent in this episode, and who is not off filming some other show. As the other characters develop, Boyd remains an enigma. He’s almost doll-like in maintaining his poker face at all times. I’m still thinking that Boyd is going to be the wild card thrown into this mix.
Finally, we learned that Adele is a woman of her word. Once you’ve completed the obligations of your contract, you’re free to resume a normal life. No one is watching November/Madeline. She did her time, and emerged all the better for doing so. But Adele is still interested in the scientific aspects of her lab rats. She insisted Madeline return, not just to see if she was physically and emotionally okay, but also to study the physiological effects of a doll returning to her former state. Did the programming leave any lingering effects? Adele seemed pleased that Madeline was able to resume a normal life, with no ill effects. She truly cares about her subjects, just as much as she believes in her overall mission in leading the dollhouse. Adele is the maternal figure for everyone in the house, admonishing her children when they misbehave and celebrating when they have success. She remains protective of her subjects, even after they leave her employ. After all, they have become her family as well as her subjects.
I am hoping we continue to see these glimpses of character even in these plot-driven episodes. We’re seeing how Echo is evolving. Now, I hope we see similar evolution in Victor and Sierra. I can’t wait for Saunders to return, and I wonder how creepy she’ll be the next time we see her. Will Ballard’s protective feelings extend to the other dolls, or are they reserved for Echo? How will they bring down the senator? And when will Alpha reemerge? What will happen to Topher’s ego when he realizes Echo is unpredictable, unable to be thoroughly erased? When will Topher begin to see the dolls as more than lab rats (the only type of lab rats that don’t scare the pants right off of him)? How will Echo’s maternal experience effect her next assignment?
The scenes from next week indicate Victor will be back, programmed to be a serial killer. I cannot imagine why they would do this, unless it was somehow related to efforts to curtail the senator. What part will Echo play, and how will this effect her overall evolution? I guess we’ll just have to wait until next week to see how events unfold. I hope you’ll come back here for my thoughts on the episode. And please, add your thoughts to mine in the comments section below. I look forward to watching this season of Dollhouse with you all and hearing what you all think.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
News from Comic Con
Comic Con is underway, and the Whedon panel happened yesterday. Lucky Comic Con attendees were treated to season 2 spoilers. Joss is reporting that additional Whedon alumni will be appearing on Season 2. Whedon confirmed appearances by Alexis Denisof (Angel) and Summer Glau (Sarah Connor Chronicles). Reportedly, Amy Acker will appear in at least 3 Season 2 episodes. Reportedly, Felicia Day will also be appearing in Season 2, building on her appearance in Epitaph One.
TV Guide reports: "Whedon kicked off the panel by raving that the staff he assembled for the Fox series' freshman run was "the best" first-season staff he has ever worked with. So expect no major changes there." They also report: "Amid the cheers and woots, Whedon gave the show's fans pause when at one point he teased, "There is one trustworthy person in the Dollhouse — and I'm going to kill them." I'm interested in hearing who others think may be killed off. Whiskey, due to her portrayer joining another show? Victor, due to the fact he now needs either reassignment or plastic surgery?
Comic Con attendees got to see Epitaph One. Although reportedly, this episode has also been "leaked" and can be found on the internet, I'll be waiting until I get my box set next week to watch it. Although Joss originally made this episode in anticipation of series cancellation, he promises Season 2 will "honor what was seen" in Epitaph One. He also said Season 2 will be more political, and will get out into the world more.
Whedon also thanked fans for setting their TIVOs and other recording devices to capture Dollhouse. Evidently, the largest numbers in the ratings came from the "record now to watch later" folks.
Reportedly, the panel was so popular that some rabid fans were left outside, and it was standing room only inside. This echoes Whedon's comment that the fans brought the show back from oblivion. Let's hope Season Two rewards our efforts.
TV Guide reports: "Whedon kicked off the panel by raving that the staff he assembled for the Fox series' freshman run was "the best" first-season staff he has ever worked with. So expect no major changes there." They also report: "Amid the cheers and woots, Whedon gave the show's fans pause when at one point he teased, "There is one trustworthy person in the Dollhouse — and I'm going to kill them." I'm interested in hearing who others think may be killed off. Whiskey, due to her portrayer joining another show? Victor, due to the fact he now needs either reassignment or plastic surgery?
Comic Con attendees got to see Epitaph One. Although reportedly, this episode has also been "leaked" and can be found on the internet, I'll be waiting until I get my box set next week to watch it. Although Joss originally made this episode in anticipation of series cancellation, he promises Season 2 will "honor what was seen" in Epitaph One. He also said Season 2 will be more political, and will get out into the world more.
Whedon also thanked fans for setting their TIVOs and other recording devices to capture Dollhouse. Evidently, the largest numbers in the ratings came from the "record now to watch later" folks.
Reportedly, the panel was so popular that some rabid fans were left outside, and it was standing room only inside. This echoes Whedon's comment that the fans brought the show back from oblivion. Let's hope Season Two rewards our efforts.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Season 2: Good News & Bad News
The good news is that Joss Whedon, the man himself, will be writing and directing the season 2 premiere. The bad news is that premiere has been pushed back one week, to September 25. It is still scheduled to air on Friday nights at 9 pm. Curiously enough, Fox has scheduled Glee to run in Dollhouse's original premiere date.
Reportedly, Joss wanted to have 3 or 4 episodes in the can before airing the 1st, and asked Fox to push the season 2 start date back by a week. Reportedly, season 2 will involve Echo trying to discover her "inner Caroline" as well.
The DVD release is still scheduled for July 28. (And I am still hoping to receive the set for my August 1 birthday. I plan a re-watch of the 1st season before the late-September premiere as well.) However, Whedon has also produced a special, limited edition collectors' edition of the season 1 set. It will only be available at Comic-Con, and must be pre-ordered on the Fox website. (link) It includes special packaging, as well as an individually numbered letter from Joss. Only 5000 of each format are being made. If anyone reading this is lucky enough to be attending Comic Con, and/or gets his/her little paws on one of these babies, please tell us about it in the comments section below. I'll have to be satisfied with reports, as I, unfortunately, will not be there. If you know someone who IS going, you may designate that person to pick up your box set for you.
Also, UK viewers are going to get a chance to see the still un-aired "epitaph 1" without having to buy the dvd set. Evidentially, the UK viewers are a lot more fanatical than those of us here in the US. Be can thank their enthusiasm for helping to sway TPTB to renew our beloved show. Dollhouse airs on Sci Fi in the UK. (Is it called SyFy in the UK now too?)
Hopefully, Comic Con will bring us even more Dollhouse news to tide us over until September.
Reportedly, Joss wanted to have 3 or 4 episodes in the can before airing the 1st, and asked Fox to push the season 2 start date back by a week. Reportedly, season 2 will involve Echo trying to discover her "inner Caroline" as well.
The DVD release is still scheduled for July 28. (And I am still hoping to receive the set for my August 1 birthday. I plan a re-watch of the 1st season before the late-September premiere as well.) However, Whedon has also produced a special, limited edition collectors' edition of the season 1 set. It will only be available at Comic-Con, and must be pre-ordered on the Fox website. (link) It includes special packaging, as well as an individually numbered letter from Joss. Only 5000 of each format are being made. If anyone reading this is lucky enough to be attending Comic Con, and/or gets his/her little paws on one of these babies, please tell us about it in the comments section below. I'll have to be satisfied with reports, as I, unfortunately, will not be there. If you know someone who IS going, you may designate that person to pick up your box set for you.
Also, UK viewers are going to get a chance to see the still un-aired "epitaph 1" without having to buy the dvd set. Evidentially, the UK viewers are a lot more fanatical than those of us here in the US. Be can thank their enthusiasm for helping to sway TPTB to renew our beloved show. Dollhouse airs on Sci Fi in the UK. (Is it called SyFy in the UK now too?)
Hopefully, Comic Con will bring us even more Dollhouse news to tide us over until September.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
EW.com Posts Exclusive Scoop on Season 2
Joss and his team have started writing season 2, according to Entertainment Weekly. Joss reports that season 2 will expand on season one, and that he's "pumped".
Source: http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2009/06/joss-whedon-buffy-dollhouse-1.html
Source: http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2009/06/joss-whedon-buffy-dollhouse-1.html
Exclusive: Joss Whedon on 'Dollhouse' -- 'Back with such a vengeance'
Jun 11, 2009, 09:12 PM | by Mandi Bierly
Joss Whedon is two weeks into breaking stories for Dollhouse's second season, and we're happy to report that he sounds like a happy man even without that season 1 budget. Whedon wrapped his top-secret horror film The Cabin in the Woods on May 29 and hit the Dollhouse writers' room on June 1. "I just wanted to die of tiredness," he tells EW.com exclusively. "About two hours after starting to talk to the writers about story, I was back with such a vengeance, and so energized and so pumped because we really understand the show now. We understand what works, and what didn't work so well or what we weren't so thrilled about. We don't have the onus of trying to be a big hit sitting on our shoulders. We can just be ourselves. And so the stories we're breaking are pure, and exciting, and everybody's on-board in the room, and it's never flowed better."
What does that mean for Season 2? "I'm really proud of the second half of season 1, and we're just expanding on that in a huge way: Finding out the different things that Eliza [Dushku] can be, at the same time as extending our mythology," Whedon says. "Really, just every meeting is like, 'What's the most fun we can have with this actor?' about the whole cast. All I can say -- 'cause I'm gonna be Mr. Un-Spoiler -- is that we're having a crazy amount of fun, and usually, that tends to translate onto the screen."
Speaking slightly spoilery, Whedon tells us that season 2 won't pick up right with "We've got to find Alpha!" but a little bit later. Alan Tudyk has a role on ABC's midseason series V, but Whedon hopes he'll be able to use the character sparingly: "Alpha will always be a part of the equation." Whedon's also hoping to work out a similar loan with the producers of ABC's Happy Town, who nabbed Amy Acker, aka Dr. Saunders/Whiskey. For more insider scoops, keep reading after the jump.
More scoop: Whedon says that Echo's last word in the finale, "Caroline," was the beginning of her season 2 quest. "Echo wants to find not just Caroline, but what's going on behind everything. She doesn't have all of the skills. [Laughs] But she does have this weird super power of becoming a different person all the time, so she might start using that more specifically to find out who Caroline was and what happened to her and why this place exists." So she still has all those past imprints in her? "Well, they're supposed to have wiped them out of there. But we'll see how well that went..."
Other burning questions: Summer Glau hasn't signed on for any episodes of Dollhouse yet. "We're still breaking the episodes," Whedon says, "but we didn't honestly go into the season going, 'Now how can we figure out how to service Summer?' when we already have a huge ensemble. I adore Summer and she's phenomenal, but I have to service the cast I have first. If something comes up that's good enough, my God, I'd hound her. But the rumors of her becoming a big part of the show are greatly exaggerated."
And, sorry, but don't hold your breath that Whedon might become involved in the big-screen Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot. "I believe [the producers] did ultimately reach out to my agent after the news broke," Whedon says. "I think that's something better left untouched by me. So, I wish them luck."Monday, June 15, 2009
Fox Announces Fall Premiere Dates
Today, Fox announced premiere dates for its fall shows. Dollhouse is scheduled to return on Friday, September 18. So we won't have to wait all that long after the DVD release for our second season. (The DVD release is scheduled for the end of July.) However, although Fox is leaving Dollhouse on Friday nights, it appears to have ditched the sci-fi Friday concept. The lead-ins to Dollhouse are a pair of sitcoms, including the very mediocre "til Death." I hope the weak lead-in doesn't kill our beloved show, and that Fox takes into account the DVR numbers.
I, for one, will probably be taping Dollhouse. 9 pm on a Friday night is not exactly prime viewing time for a single gal. And since we managed to save Dollhouse for at least one more season, I will be re-capping episodes here, once season 2 begins. (In fact, I plan to review all the 1st season episodes, as well as the 2 DVD only episodes, as soon as I get my little paws on that box set.) I'm hoping the numbers remain high enough for a 3rd season. After all, I need some new loves now that Lost is reaching its final season.
I, for one, will probably be taping Dollhouse. 9 pm on a Friday night is not exactly prime viewing time for a single gal. And since we managed to save Dollhouse for at least one more season, I will be re-capping episodes here, once season 2 begins. (In fact, I plan to review all the 1st season episodes, as well as the 2 DVD only episodes, as soon as I get my little paws on that box set.) I'm hoping the numbers remain high enough for a 3rd season. After all, I need some new loves now that Lost is reaching its final season.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Latest Scoop from Ausiello: Summer on Dollhouse?
Source: EW
According to Ausiello, Summer Glau might migrate over to Dollhouse, now that Sarah Connor has been canceled:
These little tidbits only make me want those "two lost episodes" even more. Lucky for me, the DVD set comes out just a few days before my birthday. Guess what's #1 on my list!
According to Ausiello, Summer Glau might migrate over to Dollhouse, now that Sarah Connor has been canceled:
Question: With Sarah Connor Chronicles canceled, please tell me there is a possibility of Summer Glau making an appearance on Dollhouse! --Jenn
Ausiello: The noise you're about to hear is the sound of the Whedonverse exploding. Joss confirms to me exclusively that, well, he's one step ahead of you. "If anybody thinks [bringing Summer onto Dollhouse] hasn't occurred to me already then they have not met me," he says. "I mentioned it to her before [SCC] was canceled. I was like, 'You know, we should get you in the 'house.' But first we have to come up with something that works." And casting her as a doll would not work, insists Whedon. "Summer would be perfect to play an active, but she's done that [type of role] a lot," he says. "I'd rather see her play someone who talks too much. The most fun I have is when I get somebody who's good and comfortable at doing something, and then I make them do something else. Summer said to me, 'I would like to play a normal girl before I die of extreme old age.'" Got any ideas? Head to the comments section!
These little tidbits only make me want those "two lost episodes" even more. Lucky for me, the DVD set comes out just a few days before my birthday. Guess what's #1 on my list!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
More Renewal News
All of the popular sources have confirmed that Dollhouse will be back for a 2nd season. Evidentially, the renewal involved slashing the budget, which sources say is not that big a deal, as the sets are already built. Guess that means no more fighting on top of sleeping pods! I'm hoping Amy Acker's new show being picked up does NOT lead to Whiskey being sent to the Attic, and to a new doll being imprinted as Dr. Saunders.
I love Washington Post's TV Reporter's comments:
I love Washington Post's TV Reporter's comments:
"We hear Sony is practically paying Fox to keep " 'Til Death" on the air until it has enough episodes for syndication, and the budget on "Dollhouse" reportedly was sliced as part of the deal to get a second-season pickup late last week -- an order that caused The Reporters Who Cover Television's eyebrows to rise until they nearly disarranged their bangs.After all, Joss Whedon's latest exercise in feminist heinie-kicking-and-tight-tank-top-wearing hadn't even copped 3 million viewers the other day. That's not even a decent FX number, much less a stat that would merit renewing a series on the country's No. 1-ranked network. The reporters suspected that "Dollhouse's" eyebrow-raising pickup had something to do with the fact that the company that produces "Dollhouse" is owned by the same company that owns the Fox broadcast network. They sensed that the renewal had more to do with keeping the show going for the sake of DVD boxed sets, overseas sales and other ancillary interests than with copping the largest audience possible for Fox, and they said so yesterday during a Q&A with Fox execs.
Those execs were braced to meet that suggestion with stout denial. They are great believers in stout denial and they are very good at it.
"It's a bet on Joss Whedon," Reilly insisted when asked about it, adding that Fox is committed to having original scripted programming on Friday nights.
Unless it's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles," Fox's other scripted Friday drama this season. "Terminator" is canceled because, Reilly explained, they looked at that show's ratings and "the trend line was not pointing in the right direction."
Hey, let's take a look at the ratings track on "Dollhouse" -- shall we? It's 4.8 million, 4.2 million, 4.2 million, 3.6 million, 4.3 million, 4.1 million, 3.9 million, 3.4 million, 3.5 million, 3 million, 3.1 million, 2.7 million."
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/18/AR2009051802744_2.html?sid=ST2009051900007 (Lisa de Moraes, Washingtonpost.com)
Never got into Sarah Connor myself. I love true sci-fi, but am not a fan of the shoot-em-up-action-movie-set-2000 years-in-the-future type of thing. But I'm not sure Fox isn't dooming Dollhouse by leading in with comedies. But then again, didn't the Simpsons originally lead into The X Files? And we didn't even have TiVo in those days. Me, I'm still a good old VCR gal. I'm also single, so my Dollhouse habit rarely involved live viewing. Hulu serves as a backup for the occasional power outage.
I wonder how others think scheduling will effect viewing. I'm also wondering why Fox doesn't try a Dollhouse/Fringe block...
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Save Joss Whedon's Dollhouse!
About the 3rd episode, I stumbled on to the best new TV show since "Lost," namely Joss Whedon's Dollhouse. (It must be some sort of pattern with me. I actually didn't discover Lost until the 3rd episode either. I had to wait for re-runs. We didn't have Hulu.com back then. But I digress.) I was immediately intrigued by this new series, seemingly a darker "Fantasy Island", except in this version, rich folks pay scientists to imprint willing volunteers with a new, dream personality each week. The hour flew by sooner than I knew it. I never did get up to get that soda I had thought about during the first, ever so short, commercial break. I turned the TV off and went to my computer, hoping Hulu was carrying this fantastic new show. It was. And the first 2 episodes were just as intriguing as the one I had just watched live. My VCR got a new weekly entry in its recording schedule.
I care very little about TV shows these days, with the exception of Lost, to which I am almost obsessively devoted. I like a few sitcoms, but if I miss them, it's no big deal. I certainly don't schedule my social life around them. But it's different with Lost. I stay in on Wednesday nights, and spend the hour after the show dissecting it in internet chatrooms. Until recently, no other show held my attention like Lost. And then I discovered Dollhouse.
Dollhouse is my new, favorite television show. It doesn't quite have the internet proliferation of Lost. But give it time. Lost didn't have it either during its first season. Please, give it time.
But the folks who report on TV are telling us our time may be up. Dollhouse is a "bubble show," meaning the network has not decided that it wants to pick it up yet. But they haven't canceled it either. Maybe we can change their minds.
Let's start to build that Internet Presence, like Lost has. As time permits, I will be enhancing this site with additional Dollhouse-related information. In the meantime, please leave your comments below. And help me get this site to go viral. Maybe that way, we can get their attention. We can show them how much Dollhouse means to us.
Dollhouse is the best new Sci-Fi series to hit the tube in decades. It is innovative, creative, and current. It is destined to become a sci fi classic, if it is just allowed to run its course.
I care very little about TV shows these days, with the exception of Lost, to which I am almost obsessively devoted. I like a few sitcoms, but if I miss them, it's no big deal. I certainly don't schedule my social life around them. But it's different with Lost. I stay in on Wednesday nights, and spend the hour after the show dissecting it in internet chatrooms. Until recently, no other show held my attention like Lost. And then I discovered Dollhouse.
Dollhouse is my new, favorite television show. It doesn't quite have the internet proliferation of Lost. But give it time. Lost didn't have it either during its first season. Please, give it time.
But the folks who report on TV are telling us our time may be up. Dollhouse is a "bubble show," meaning the network has not decided that it wants to pick it up yet. But they haven't canceled it either. Maybe we can change their minds.
Let's start to build that Internet Presence, like Lost has. As time permits, I will be enhancing this site with additional Dollhouse-related information. In the meantime, please leave your comments below. And help me get this site to go viral. Maybe that way, we can get their attention. We can show them how much Dollhouse means to us.
Dollhouse is the best new Sci-Fi series to hit the tube in decades. It is innovative, creative, and current. It is destined to become a sci fi classic, if it is just allowed to run its course.
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