Dollhouse 3/20/09

[Remus Lupin]

Seeing no new thread, I though i'd start one.

A few thoughts:

1) The big reveal near the end was the least surprising surprise on the series so far, though I admit that they had me going there when the sent super-creep off to kill her.

2) 20 Dollhouses?

3) Who's the "inside man"? I'm betting on Amy Acker's character. Or is this a double bluff on the part of the dollhouse's puppet masters?

 

[Richards]

I'm betting the "inside man" might be Topher's new female assistant ("I live to serve you lunch.") Remember when Boyd interrupted Topher in the middle of creating an amalgamation personality file for Echo? The assistant was seen there right before (when Topher was playing with the brain-image screen in his lab), so I'm wondering if Boyd (who has shown compassion for the dolls) and Topher's lab assistant aren't the moles. (Plus, who else in the Dollhouse has the technical know-how to graft that "secret message" into Echo? Kind of a limited pool to choose from.)

Also, I got the idea that Topher was the "brains" behind the personality wipe/amalgamation/transplant technology - is that correct? If there are in fact 20 Dollhouses, does that mean there are 19 (or more) technicians with the knowledge to create blended personalities? Or do the other Dollhouses have their labs run by specialized dolls with downloads of Topher's personality, memory, and knowledge? (That would actually be pretty cool to see.)

Anyway, cool episode. I liked the concept of a "sleeper doll," and had been betting that the sleeper doll we saw in the episode last night was in fact an active. And Sierra's handler was a creep; I was glad to see he got what he had coming to him.

Johnathan

 

[Crothian]

My guess is that it is her too, especially after her role on NCIS. The show keeps getting better.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

Best episode so far- finally starting to delve into the morality of the Dollhouse, as well as advancing the intrigue. Hopefully it's not coming too late to sustain the show.

I didn't much care for the opening bit with Cebulski's character and his psychotherapy; it reminded me too much of the (much superior) "Conversations with Dead People" episode of Buffy. Plus, I just can't get into feeling any sort of sympathy with these people who employ the Dollhouse, so don't try, you know?

I wasn't much surprised by the Mellie reveal, though I was surprised to learn she was working for the Dollhouse, and not for Alpha.

I'm wondering about that supposed inside man plot, though. What exactly was the purpose of sending Echo to meet Ballard? Presumably to distract him so that they could send in their assassin, but if they weren't actually going to kill Mellie, why bother sending an assassin? It didn't throw Ballard off the scent, and in fact didn't seem to do much of anything. (I guess you could argue the point was to have Echo end up shooting the cop with Ballard's gun so he'd get suspended, but to what end? Limit his resources, I guess.)

 

[Richards]

I think they sent the assassin to kill Mellie specifically to kill the assassin - they had him walking into a trap that was baited with exactly the kind of bait that he would fall for. It was a pretty elegant solution to the "what are we going to do with this rapist handler?" question, I thought.

As a side benefit, you'd think that a failed attempt on Mellie's life, ostensibly by the Dollhouse, would also serve to make it less likely in Ballard's mind that Mellie might be working for the Dollhouse, if he ever had any suspicions.

Johnathan

 

[Remus Lupin]

I think they sent the assassin to kill Mellie specifically to kill the assassin - they had him walking into a trap that was baited with exactly the kind of bait that he would fall for. It was a pretty elegant solution to the "what are we going to do with this rapist handler?" question, I thought.

As a side benefit, you'd think that a failed attempt on Mellie's life, ostensibly by the Dollhouse, would also serve to make it less likely in Ballard's mind that Mellie might be working for the Dollhouse, if he ever had any suspicions.

Johnathan

Oh yes. I thought this was clear from the moment the answering machine picked up. Although I'm always willing to let a show suprise me, once the curtain was pulled back, it all seemed pretty straight forward.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

I am thinking that Joss is trying to play the network. He seems to be taking the show in a different direction than what it was sold as. The first few episodes were what the netwok bought, but now he is trying to do what he wanted. The risk here is that the ratings are not strong and he better start getting better ratings or they will cut him loose.

 

[LightPhoenix]

This episode should have been the second or third. Heck, elements of it should have been in all of them.

I thought that the attack on Mellie was more to keep Ballard thinking that Dollhouse won't just strike at him, but those he cares about.

Also, my guess for the inside man is Topher himself. The assistant is too obvious an answer. The assistant asked Topher why he wasn't doing things a certain obvious way. The answer is because Topher wasn't just programming the assassin, but the message as well. He used the intel about Alpha to wrangle himself a higher clearance.

 

[RangerWickett]

Wow. That was a really good episode. Okay, I'm going to stop bitching.

Jeez, I've never been into one of Whedon's series early enough to fall into that whole 'trust in Joss' stuff, but I guess I should have had more faith that he'd turn what looked only mediocre into something intriguing.

Excellent fight scenes, too. Not the shabby stuff I got used to in Buffy and Angel.

And, despite myself, I was touched at how sweet and in love Dushku managed to look in that last scene. It is creepy to reprogram anyone, but they managed to make me understand the guy's point of view, and find something almost beautiful in the twisted fantasy land.

 

[Grymar]

1: I owe Eliza D an apology. I didn't think she was up to this show, but every episode she seems to get better and better. And she plays the creepy doll better than any of them.

2: Great episode. Finally building on the first few and way past the "active of the week" idea.

3: To paraphrase io9.com, I love all Chinese restaurant kitchen fight scenes, but this was was particularly good. And if Tahmoh Penikett ever gave that scowl and cam marching forward to kick my tail, I'd soil my pants and cry for mommy...yet Echo stood right up there.