I hate to admit it, but I was wrong after watching and reviewing last weeks Dollhouse – Needs, but at least I am man enough to talk about it. I had figured that we had seen the best that the story line had to offer, that most of the secrets worth wondering about have been semi-explained already. I was wrong, very wrong. This week Dollhouse captured me again with new intrigue and new mysteries to think about.
A traitor is discovered inside the Dollhouse. Echo and Sierra are programmed to find the spy who has been changing the Doll’s imprints. It is Dominic.
Adelle wrestles with her secret love affair with the imprinted Victor. Ballard receives surprising news from Mellie.
Let us get the Adelle part of this story out in the open, Adelle pulls a me. What does that mean? Adelle uses an imprinted Victor for an affair, well really more like a romance it is not like she is married to anything but her job at this point. I would do the same damn thing. It does put her in a different light though, I had figured her for a put the business above everything. It seems that is not the case, Adelle still comes first. Everyone in the Dollhouse has their reason or quirk, it only seems fair that Adelle should have something as well.
I was actually really impressed with the way they worked Echo and Sierra into the story as spy hunters. Sierra is worked by Dominic to find a piece of planted data that points to the assistant of Topher, but after Echo gets her hand into the mix things change. Echo actually as a blank doll asks Topher if she can help. Probably something Dominic was not counting on. Did Dominic just know a bit more about Echo than everyone else? Why did he want to kill her? It seems that Adelle though is not so scared about Echo going outside of her programming, but rather thankful that she did. I see this as a bit of a issue though, as I doubt that Adelle would just let Echo do her own thing after everything she done outside of the parameters. Regardless if she helped out this “week” let us remember what happened the week before. Seems to me that something should be done a bit more drastic to Echo.
With Dominic being the spy that had infiltrated the Dollhouse, it seems someone needs to become head of security for this branch of the Dollhouse. Obvious choice is Langton and he does get the promotion. We really do not know all that much about Langton besides the fact that he has a real interest in protecting Echo. It goes beyond the handler relationship I think and this seems to be something that will make sense to the audience in the future.
Ballard…he sure has an interesting week, I mean the guy is getting a lot more information so he probably feels like at least he is not going crazy. Mellie is still an interesting choice for Ballard. No disrespect to the actress, but if you are going to have someone seduce your biggest (perceived) enemy, why would you not have sent the best looking doll you had? I mean you can make them act however you want. Anyway…I am digging this story line again because Ballard is getting closer.
Good episode and when I think of how it followed up what I thought to be a closer episode, it really did the job it needed to do. Introduce new mystery and new excitement to the show. Good job Joss.
Some Notes:
- Was Dominic the only one that was spying against the Dollhouse? Yes he worked for the NSA, but I still do not know if he was the one that was sending Ballard all the messages, it just does not add up just yet. Why protect the Dollhouse from Ballard only to try and lead Ballard to the Dollhouse? We also now know a bit more about what it means to go to the attic.
- With all the cameras and money involved, why do they not keep better track of the actives? I mean they are having lunch together, why don’t they just listen in to what is going on? Seems like Echo is doing a lot of things that are just out of the ordinary, I would have stopped using her, but we do need a story
- We had a return to skin this week though, I mean we see Echo in the dominatrix uniform a lot, and it really has no bearing on the story. Must be an interesting time on the set.
- WTF is going on with the Alpha story line?
Just thoughts on a couple points where I disagree (or would tweak) your analysis.
Adelle – it seemed to me that her emotions were not about Victor but that he was just the vehicle for the personality of someone she had lost. Perhaps there was a physical resemblence, but I really felt like what was driving her to do that (and also why she believes the Dollhouse does good for some people) is that it gave her back someone she had loved who died.
As far as why nothing more drastic was done to Echo – what else can they do at this point, except let her keep evolving or put her in the attic? They have repeatedly wiped her. They tried to give her the wish-fulfillment the others had with the Needs excercise. She is still on a different track. So, since they are aware of this, why not keep her working and making them money instead of boxing her? That’s my take, that it’s not necessarily a threat but it is something already beyond their control.
On Mellie – I think they chose that particular doll to seduce Ballard because she ISN’T the best looking one. Not saying Ballard ain’t a hottie, but he also seems the type who’d be more into the girl next door than the smoking hot 10 who knows it and doesn’t need him. I think it makes her seem more vulnerable that she’s only averagely attractive and possibly has a fragile self-esteem, etc. But that poor bastard did have a rough week of revelations.
I’m very curious to see where they go from here. And glad you managed to tap out a review despite the weekend!
@Elena
Ok I can see that about Adelle, I think for me it was at first just an abuse of power for someone who was married to her job and hadnt found love, not of someone who lost love. Will see how that plays out though to see who is correct
With Echo, obviously put her in the attic, I mean she will be the one that is going to bring down or disrupt the Dollhouse so I do not see why they wouldnt. Yes it wouldnt make for a good story, but it is out of character for a company like the Dollhouse in my opinion. Im sure they have enough people they could pull from to make them money, doesnt seem like the Dollhouse was in need of any more volunteers. I will say this though, if they are just keeping her like this for research then that angle would play out fine, but it needs to be pushed as the angle then.
Yeah with Mellie, I still think as a dude, I wouldnt have minded her a little hotter, like really what if Ballard was like, yeah im not really feeling you because you are just not that hot. What happens? I dont think you need to throw the guy a 10, but a 7.5 and up would be nice. Mellie is like a 7 when it comes to girl next door looks, which isnt bad, but not a slam dunk if you looking to trick someone.
I agree that if that’s the reason for keeping Echo around, they should punch it up. Part of it might also be Adelle being less cold than she sometimes seems. She has repeatedly said that she cares about the dolls and about Echo. Maybe that’s true and she actually can’t stand the thought of putting her in the attic. I suppose the alternative, of course, is to just void out her contract even if it hasn’t been 5 years and give her back her life…but of course then there’d be no show so that won’t happen.
Maybe her not being a slam-dunk was how they got under his guards? (shrug) Maybe seduction wasn’t actually part of the original plan, just a nosy neighbor with a crush that he wasn’t likely to reciprocate?