Dollhouse – Echoes

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This was the episode that everyone said was the best, the episode that really took Dollhouse from where it was to where it is going.  Ok, I enjoyed a lot about this episode, but then Whedon went and got a bit silly…

Echo is strangely drawn to a college campus, where a new drug is causing the students to kill themselves. She has flashbacks to her life as Caroline, where her boyfriend Leo was killed at the same college.

We learn a lot this episode, which as I have stated before is the real meat of this program.  It does not seem that Echo became an agent willingly, and that makes me wonder if she will ever really be released.  Rossum Corporation which seems to be the largest drug company and the driving force behind Dollhouse is having a bit of a problem with one the new drugs it is testing.    Echo in the middle of another assignment sees the news on the television must rush to the college campus where the Rossum Corp. has set up shop.  Caroline (Echo) is drawn back to the campus because she is breaking out of her programming a bit and remembering her time there at college and the interactions she had with Rossum Corp.  The Dollhouseis called in to help said parent company and they come in as NSA agents and regular Rossum Corp employee security.  How they pull this all off without someone figuring out that this is not the real NSA I have no idea, but it does make for some good television.

Chaos ensues as the leak of the drug may have been murder and it is making all the actives remember parts of their real life.  The rest of the people, it makes them lose all their inhibitions like being super drunk.  This is where it got a little weird for me.  Watching people act drunk on television always seems a bit cheesy to me.  That is exactly how I felt watching that part of the episode.  Yes there were some funny parts where Adelle acts a bit crazy even cracking a nice British joke at her own expense.  I am going to forgive the cheesy though for this week as it allows us to get much deeper into Echo’s past.

Ballard and Mellie, well now that we know Mellie is an active she tries to do what she is supposed to, stop Ballard from investigating the Dollhouse.  Does it seem like we could throw the whole Ballard character out the door at this point and we would not miss much?  know that he will play a large part in the future, but I am blah about his character right now, it is just not as interesting as the rest of the things going on.  That is a bit of a problem with the show in general.  There is a bit of filler to move the story along.  I will say though every week the character of Topher has been getting stronger and stronger.  Where the heck was his assistant this week?  Or is she just a handler?

Did I forget to talk about the part of the show that was the weekly story line?  Well Sam a student on the campus is involved with the new drug and his friend ends up dead.  Echo (Caroline) ends up helping Sam sneak back into the lab, so Sam can try and find some information to bring down Rossum.  If it was only that easy for Echo…Sam does not want to go back to the lab for the reasons stated and here we have our weekly story.  It is interesting how the weekly story really pushes us into the past of the characters, but it could have been stronger and still done the same thing.

So the real question is where are we going with this show?  With Echo remember everything and the story turns to her getting out of Dollhouse?  Will she not remember everything and we are still in the story of her trying to piece everything together?  Will it turn into Echo figuring out all the past skills they have imprinted her with and trying to take out the Dollhouse?  I do not know, but I will continue to turn in to it each week until I do.  I think one of the best things about Dollhouse is that you never know who an active will be.

Notes:  I thought it was so funny that Topher programs Lubov to be a NSA agent, outranking Dominic who is there as Rossum Corporation private security.

3 Comments

1. 

   Bill Cameron

   March 30, 2009 at 7:14 pm

   After last week’s episode, which was the most interesting to me so far, I found myself with no interest in tuning in this week. I’m not completely sure why, but it’s almost as if last week was too little, too late and I simply have no faith this show is going to ever get that good. I like some of the characters and enjoy some of the actors’ performances, but in general I feel no genuine emotional engagement with the characters and am not particularly intrigued by the plot.

   I think I hung in this long because I want Whedon to receive some karmic payback for Firefly, but in the end, this show just isn’t that good. This weekend, I kept thinking about starting up Dollhouse on Hulu, but ended up watching a few episodes of the failed series “Journeyman” instead.

   Reply
2. 

   Michael Natale

   March 30, 2009 at 7:15 pm

   Agreed – I think though that Topher programmed them that way on purpose, counting on the fact that Victor would tell Dominic to stay outside (and therefore ‘safe’ from the toxin that doesn’t affect actives).

   I think.

   I’m digging this show and hope the Short Attention Span Squad at Fox doesn’t axe it before its time.

   Reply
3. 

   Elena

   March 30, 2009 at 10:27 pm

   I was actually kind of surprised to see the show taking on this much of a larger story already. somehow i expected it to be much more episodic, and for longer. but i’m willing to see where it goes. could be somewhere nice.

   Reply