We start out 3 months ago at the Dollhouse. For the flashbacks, the lighting is blown out and super shiny so everything looks different and we can tell it from current day, but also gets light flares around the edges that are reminiscent of the imprint memories, just hot instead of cold. Cool.
There's a problem in the D-house and Dolls are being sent to bed without a shower, throwing them off their whole engrained routine. They're going to wake up cranky. Or they would if they could hold a thought for more than a minute. Scared dolls sealed up in their coffins as Mr.D and his Dollhouse Weapons and Tactics team deploy through the place past bloody bodies. CreepyChris has got blood on him too but isn't injured, and wants a gun. Do not give that guy a gun. He'd be all, this is my ART as he made bloody pictures out of bullet holes.
So Alpha, operative numero uno -- I'm assuming the very first Doll, not a reuse of the designation -- composited, which means he accessed imprinted memories that should have been erased. This either caused him to go nuts and go on a killing spree, or just gave him the abilities he needed to make his point to the Dhouse at large.
Mr.D and DWAT surround the shower facilities and find many dead Dolls and Echo, alive and splattered with blood.
Credits. I like these more and more every time I see/hear them.
Dhouse, present day, dolls waking up out of their coffins as Madam vos about the Tabula Rasa operation they've got going on to the Middleman, aka not Richard Connell, aka the client. Over Echo and Boyd leaving the DollVan, "your heart's desire made flesh." Then talk about how once the engagement is over, they're wiped clean, and showing Echo waking up in the creepy chair with CreepyChris.
And we're in the office with Madam and MM. He calls it all a neat trick, and Madam says, "tricks are illusions constructed to deceive." I thought tricks were what whores do for money (tm G.O.B.) "We offer truth." This from the same woman who said, "Nothing is what it appears to be." Methinks she offers different truths to clients than to Actives.
They finish making their arrangements, which include an extra fee for more than average risks to the Active involved in his needs. And Madam mentions her employers, meaning she's either working for someone else or pretending to be. Please let it be Holland Manners!
Cut to "Jenny" and "Richard" white water rafting and climbing cliffs to Get Out by the Vines. Her personality this time is Adventure Girl. Boyd is camped in the DollVan with a red shirt, er, driver who is not named because what's the point. Boyd is coordinating with Topher at the Dhouse, who adds talking while eating to the list of annoying things he does. They discuss whether Echo's adrenaline is in the mission parameters or not, and Topher annoys Boyd enough that he hangs up on him after asking him to retask a satellite to boost his Echo monitor.
Now we're at the house from last week, where Miss Penn saved Davina from the kidnappers. Agent Ballard is there to check it out and annoy the other FBI investigators. Rolo Badger is one of them and he flips Ballard shit about the Dollhouse, while they talk over what seemed to have happened and we get some happily brief flashbacks to Ghost. Ballard apparently talked to Davina, who told him a pretty lady saved her. Agent Badger is filling in for a significant portion of forum posters this episode by scoffing over the Dollhouse being a "full-service organization" that takes down kidnapper rings. Ballard is unfazed. If I keep recapping these episodes, I have a feeling I will type that a lot.
In the woods, Richard is teaching Jenny how to shoot a bow so they can rustle up some lunch. He does a salute-like motion where he slaps his left shoulder with his right hand as he talks about his dad's shoulder-to-the-wheel philosophy. "If you can bring down something bigger than you with just this, you proved you deserve to eat it. If it gets away, you proved it deserved to live." They're interrupted by a deer that Jenny aims at and releases an arrow, cutting immediately to his post-coitus release. Which is appropriate because it's all the same to him.
He tells Jenny she needs to start running so he can hunt her down. This reminds me of that advertising poster of the woman as a side of beef that comes up in conversations about vegetarianism and feminism. This guy's fantasy is a girl he can fuck and then hunt and kill like an animal. But keep in mind his comment before about bringing down something bigger than you, because even as fucked up as Echo/Caroline/Jenny is, she is totally bigger than you, jackass.
Jenny runs through the woods and we go back to less than 3 months ago at the Dhouse. Madam is meeting Boyd for the first time. It's fairly soon after the Alpha blood soup mess. Boyd is hard at this time, very different from the man we met in the pilot. He talks about how the stories are true and they have programmable people. Madam exposits that they decided they needed people with more intensive backgrounds as handlers, I expect especially in the case of the only girl Alpha left alive. She calls Echo one of the most requested Actives.
Dr. Saunders comes up with healing scars across her face, asking if they can please get rid of the body in her office and telling Boyd to watch where he steps. There's still blood stains on the floor. And she's not in a good place either.
Boyd wants to see Samuelson, his predecessor's, body and he takes note of all the cuts, including cutting the leg tendons first to disable him. Shudder. He thinks it was done slowly to cause pain, but Mr.D tells him it was over in 8 seconds. Boyd asks a question that I don't want to think about the answer to, regarding why Alpha was programmed to be Jack the Ripper. Really, I think we all would have prefered Giles the Ripper. Anyway, no one knows why Alpha didn't kill Echo.
The Middleman is on the hunt. Have I mentioned his biceps yet, because they're worth mentioning. Ahem. Anyway, Jenny heads back down the rock cliff and we cut to:
Victor, making out with a girl while driving and listening to the Delorentos. Then he answers his cell phone! Dude needs a lesson on driving without distractions. Ballard's calling to harass him about the Dollhouse and he claims to be an innocent citizen. Ballard, "And I'm the Easter Bunny. Dollhouse, get hopping." Heh. He tells Victor to find someone who knows something.
Ballard heads in to his desk and is ruthlessly mocked by his colleagues; wouldn't you love to be him? Apparently there's a gingerbread house in the forest he might want to check out. Then he finds Alpha's present with Caroline's photo in it. Left by the Granny with big teeth. Should I keep track of the fairy tale references in this show? Last time was Cinderella; now we've got Little Red Riding Hood and the witch from Hansel and Gretel. Children's stories in the Dollhouse. And both are scary as hell.
Jenny keeps running as Richard watches her in his scope and takes his first shot. He grazes her leg. Meanwhile, CreepyChris retasks the satellite for Boyd finally, but a ranger pulls up to check out the DollVan. Of course, they have a backstory and fake ID all ready and it looks like they've pulled it off, until the ranger draws a gun and totally assassinates the driver! I go to commercial thinking he's totally Alpha.
Back in time at the Dhouse, Dolls are doing tai chi as Topher meets Boyd. He's all full of himself and talking about the Wizard of Oz, where he's the man behind the curtain. Boyd shuts him down right away (Yay, Boyd!) by reminding him of his wonderful achievement known as Alpha. Topher insists that was an anomaly, still working out the kinks. And I'm not really into this whole thing of comparing all the Dollhouse characters to previous Whedonverse characters because I'd like to see who they are first before sticking them in a preset box, but his lines this week are extremely Warrenesque.
Boyd is pretty unimpressed with the Dolls, calling them helpless children with scorn in his voice. Either he's trying to distance himself in order to work with them, or he's so uncomfortable with what they are that he's trying to make himself feel superior to combat the unease. Or maybe he really doesn't see them as people. They discuss how the Dolls can't even defend themselves and Boyd asks why they aren't given default ninja skills. Topher says they tried that once. His name is Alpha.
Boyd says Echo is not a girl or a person, just an empty hat until you stuff a rabbit in it. (Don't do that! Why would you do that?) That brings the conversation back to its start, with Topher calling himself the wizard, although I think magician is a downgrade. Also refers back to the illusions to deceive stuff that Madam was saying at the start. Very cool.
In the present day, Echo is still running. Makes me tired just thinking about it. Topher finally notices that her adrenaline is in fight or flight mode and calls Boyd about it, calling him mountain manfriend. He needs to stop that. Manfriend is not going to catch on no matter how many times he twitters it. Boyd is in the DollVan with a gun to his head. He alerts Topher to this and then goes for the ranger. They have a very realistic and cool fight in the cramped van, and I realize he's not Alpha because, well, 8 seconds. I also realize that Boyd is a badass!
Then we're back in Madam's office, where she and Mr.D are looking at a picture of Paul Ballard and arguing over what to do about him. Think how glad he would be if he knew they were taking an interest. Mr.D wants to ice him, but Madam thinks that's overkill. She says the appropriate measures are being taken. Mr.D says even a blind dog will find something if it digs enough holes -- dude can't even get any respect from people who know that the Dollhouse is real! Their argument is interrupted by Topher with the news that another engagement has gone awry.
Echo gets back to the raft to find it deflated, then heads off and finds an isolated cabin. She seems to think that that's a good thing, proving that Jenny didn't watch many movies. It's a ranger outpost, and Echo gulps down some water from a canteen before finding the dead ranger in the closet. She tries to call for help on his radio, but MM has another talkie and starts philosophizing at her again. "I want to know if you deserve the right to live. You've earned that right." Very good writing this ep, but some of the dialogue dips below the bar. "You know what gives someone the right to live? Not hunting them." But at least she has a good excuse for not being particularly eloquent. "That's it, shoulder to the wheel. Prove you're not just an echo."
And it turns out he poisoned the canteen of water with some drugs to mess up her already messed up sense of reality.
Back in time again, it's time to imprint Echo on Boyd. It's the ultimate odd couple/cop buddy movie. He calls her special needs and she thinks he's tall. Boyd's beginning to wonder why he didn't just join a security agency to bodyguard celebrities who he can at least have a conversation with, maybe. Topher says, "This isn't about friendship; it's about trust. From this point on, Echo will always trust you, without question or hesitation, no matter what the circumstance. You're about to become the most important person in her life." Hella responsibility there.
He has to hold her hand and say, "Everything's going to be all right." Echo replies, "Now that you're here." "Do you trust me?" "With my life." Welcome to fatherhood; it's a girl. Helpless, an innocent in this Echo persona. She needs you.
MM has entered the outpost and radios Echo to taunt her about the drugs. Echo sees a girl walking in the forest. It's Caroline, dressed as she was in the video yearbook. She turns and says, "No, no, no, get that thing out of my face," just like on the tape. Echo WTFs and falls, rolling down the hill and into the river.
Boyd has fake ranger tied up in the DollVan and interrogates him about who else is out there between him and Echo. He does this by shooting him in the legs whenever he doesn't answer the question properly. Then pistol whips him to la-la land. Badass.
Echo is coughing up water and she looks around and sees dead, bloody bodies surrounding her in the shower. There's a man with a shadowed face and a knife dripping red blood. Echo isn't naked as she was when it happened, but dressed as Jenny still. Compositing. The figure seems to tell her to wake up, but it's MM's voice, and she does wake out of the dream on the shore of the river. MM is near, watching her. He wants her to run some more.
Agent Ballard is arriving home at a realistically grim looking apartment house hallway. His female neighbor, Ellie, is hitting on him with lasagna, and he's nice but not interested. Is she one of the appropriate measures Madam was talking about? If so, does she know she's a spy or is she programmed with a neighbor-girl-with-a-crush imprint? She spots Caroline's picture and asks about it, and Ballard says he'll keep looking until he finds her, digs the right hole. Ellie says, "Lucky girl" after he's already gone inside. So I bet she's a sleeper, not an Active programmed as a spy. Or she's a red herring for the real Active the Dollhouse has on Ballard. I'm very interested in how that all plays out.
The lucky girl is still running for her life in the woods. She hears someone closing in and almost beans Boyd with a tree branch. He uses their trust code about everything being all right now. Then he gets shot with an arrow. That DeKnight, he likes shooting people before commercials.
We come back in the past again as Boyd handles Echo back into the Dhouse. She's talking his ear off about how her fat, ugly client is the man of her dreams, and Boyd is just wishing she'd shut up about it. He tells her he'll be there waiting for her, and she hugs him and tells him he's the best. After a few months of that kind of thing, it's no wonder she's worn him down and brought out his inner protector.
Back to the woods, with Echo helping Boyd run. They have to stop. Jenny can't figure out how she knows him, talking about the poisoned water and the things she's been seeing, bodies in the shower and a girl who's her but not her. I wonder if he'll tell anyone at Dhouse about that. I doubt it. But she's freaking out and wondering if he's even real, and he tries to calm her with the Handler/Active imprint code that makes her trust him no matter what the circumstances. She's all, "No, everything is not going to be all right." So the imprint is being overridden by Jenny or maybe by Caroline herself somehow.
She talks about how MM is all about proving you deserve to live and is not going to stop until he's proved you wrong and him right; basically she has to kill him. Boyd doesn't think she can do it because she doesn't have the right impri--training. She says she's a fast learner. So again, is it the personality of her imprint that enables her to reach beyond her basic level? Was Miss Penn able to face down her abuser because of the circumstances pushing her to it? Or is it something in Caroline that is asserting itself to take the imprints past their own limitations? Compositing?
Echo turns the Handler/Active into Active/Handler. "Do you trust me?" Boyd answers, "With my life." And gives her one of his guns. "You didn't think I'd give you my only gun?" I think he'll miss Jenny.
Tables are turned as Echo radios MM and takes a couple shots at him. She grazes his arm and then runs. I'm assuming she wanted to gain higher ground on him or draw him away from Boyd or something. But she's brought up short by another image of herself saying, "I just wanted to make a difference." That's what Caroline told Madam in the pilot, but this Caroline is dressed differently and calmer, so it might be a different memory of that same phrase.
MM catches up and they have a standoff. He calls this his best date ever, then tries to trick her into easing off. They count to three and lower weapons, then both take a shot. Hers hits, his misses, and she tackles him and pounds on him. They have another really well-done scuffle, with him finally ending up on top and strangling her with a grin on his face. (And Xander gets some catharsis.) He's out-creeped Topher this week fo sho.
Echo has another vision, this time of black-shirted Caroline number 2, green-shirted Caroline number 1 (very Farscape), and another Echo in a black tank who says, "I try to be my best," and looks down at an arrow in reach of Echo's hand. She grabs it and jams it into MM's neck. Yes! As he's dying, he says, "He was right about you. You really are special." She's like, what?
Echo comes back down to Boyd in slo-mo and they sit against a tree and hug while the choppers, Mr.D and DWAT finally show up. Then we go right into the brain sucking as Topher removes the entire episode from Echo's head. Boyd watches and takes her hand when she wakes up. Dude gets a nice character arc in all of two episodes; who did he pay off?
Mr.D and Madam D talk about how Richard Connell doesn't exist, absolutely everything about him is incredibly well-faked. Fake ranger was sliced and diced like Samuelson. Dr. Saunders and Boyd look him over. She insists that Alpha was killed and is not happy to think he's still out there. Boyd snarks that Dhouse would never lie to them about that. Then muses on how he left Echo alive 3 months ago, then shows up again when someone hired a psycho to hunt her down. "It all leads back to Echo." Well, yeah, dude, she's the target.
Then a little coda with Mr.D being a dick and spilling out his bile over all the bad stuff that's happened onto Echo, who doesn't even know how to respond. I mean, even if it turns out that some of this mess is Caroline's fault, it's not Echo's. Anyway, he does get to her and when he walks away she does the shoulder-to-the-wheel salute. Does Mr.D deserve to live? Better hope she doesn't composite old Richard's ideas when she goes nuts, buddy.
Excellently dense and action-packed episode. I can't believe how much is going on already in this show.
Made up of distinct components, compound = Composite.
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