We begin with a woman in the dark, haloed with a spotlight on her head, behind bars. Then some poppy music begins, Superstar by Kimberly Cole, sung by Jaime Lee Kirchner who plays Rayna Reynolds. Rayna steps out of the cage and puts on a show. They went whole hog with the choreography and all.
Then one of the backup singers gets set on fire from the stage flash pot pyrotechnics and the show stops. As everyone freaks, we pan over to the Crazed Fan who obviously did it. So this week won't be a mystery story, I guess.
In the House, Sierra and Echo are both running on treadmills (if running on treadmills made me look the way they do, I'd totally do it). They have a moment after the workout where Sierra gets the dizzies and Echo steadies her. "I didn't want you to get hurt." "Friends help each other out." "Yes, they do." There's a trainer in the background watching them, someone always is, and Echo seems to notice. A sense that they're doing something wrong over the scene. Seriously, what does the blank slate consist of? I don't know that children think things like friends help each other out; they're generally way too selfish and have to be taught those ideas.
We next visit Boyd and Dr. Saunders as she mildly tells him off for yanking out a broadhead arrow. He wants to be certified so Echo doesn't get stuck with anyone else on assignment. She seems to care about her patients, and her and Boyd bond a bit over Echo being in danger from Alpha. Doc says, "Do keep a close eye. Someone else is watching." Boyd replies, "Someone always is." Seems to me they're talking about the Dollhouse authorities more than Alpha with that.
Cutiepie Victor in a hoodie goes to Ballard's place and freaks out his neighbor, although anyone in the world would look more menacing in a hoodie than him. The two people in Paul's life meet, and we're left to wonder if either is what they seem. Good line delivery on a good line: I'm an old friend from Navy, er, friend from Old Navy. I did retail before...he would buy slacks. Awesome. Jed and Marissa have some really good dialogue throughout. Anyway, he leaves Ballard a message to come talk, not at work.
Madam is cheek kissing friends with Rayna's business manager, Biz. Great name. He tells her that Rayna's had a couple strange accidents and needs protection, but her stalker seems to get by regular bodyguards. So he wants a Doll to be her friend and undercover protector. He brought a few fan letters and a really disturbing pop-up box with Rayna's face all over it. If I make one for Joss would I be his number one fan? Anyway, thanks to the burning woman incident, the entourage does have an opening for a backup singer.
Cut to Echo, or Jordan actually, singing a spiritual-like song about freedom for her audition that Rayna likes. Biz's doing, no doubt. He also plays reverse psychology, saying exactly what he needs to say to get Rayna to hire Jordan. She joins Jordan in a duet and it's really pretty. Jordan's cutely excited to get the gig.
Credits.
CreepyChris is doing whatever he does as Doc Saunders storms in waving a report about Echo. "I had her flagged for romantic or altruistic engagements only. Does anybody read this?" Okay, I want to know what the altruistic engagements are. In fact, I want the company handbook. CC brags some about his imprint on Echo. It's a combo of persona (struggling singer getting her first break) and parameter (must protect Rayna at all times). The persona is what she knows; the parameter is unconscious. Okay, it is kind of fascinating, even if he's still creepy. He notices that Doc Saunders is less formal about Boyd and wonders if they're buddies now. "Of course you are. You both disapprove of everything. You're gonna get married and have scowly babies." Heh. Then Sierra comes in with her lamo handler, Hearn. She's going in as backup.
At rehearsal Jordan's getting fitted for costumes and learning her lines, mostly oohs and ahhs according to the other backup singers. She asks if Rayna is diva or deevah. "She's the real deal. She's earning it." Lot of stuff this week about reality versus persona. Then Rayna has a mini tantrum and Biz takes her off to something else. She takes Jordan with her. So the plan is working to make her a non-bodyguard bodyguard.
At a pool party on top of a downtown building, Ballard catches up with Victor -- he said not to come to his work, dude! And they have a good conversation. Victor is an interesting character who seems to have a lot going on under the surface of immigrant punk playboy who's working for the Borodins. (And, spoiler alert, he gets even more interesting pretty soon.) He tells Ballard he thinks Dollhouse is a myth. "I've heard this song; it's not my favorite." Cute. And Victor brags that he looked up Ballard and found out he was a loser. This line I don't get: Nicest version of Fired the BI has. I get the initial play, but not how it makes sense. Anyway, he mentions Van Dynes and Illinois Gun Club as cases that Ballard supposedly screwed up. He's on the Dollhouse beat because it's a lie and he can't mess it up. Given what we do see about Ballard in this episode and others, I think he has a reality versus perception thing going on with him too.
He's also delightfully cynical. When Victor says the technology that made a monkey tango isn't going to be used to wipe out people's personalities and give them new ones, Ballard disagrees. "We come up with anything new, the first thing we do is destroy, manipulate, control. It's human nature." I think he could have scowly babies too. Victor seems to agree, and to me he seems to like Ballard. At least, the two have a good chemistry together. But even before the big reveal, we don't know how much of what Victor is doing is for real. He does say he wishes Dollhouse were real. "I could sign up. Wipe all of my terrible burdens away...I start over, I want to be Doris freaking Day." So adorable.
Jordan's doing her unconscious security job while Boyd is waiting for Sierra and Hearn to join the party. CC tells him he won't like Hearn. Boyd is nervous for Echo's stage debut. They gossip about Rayna long enough to get to the point where Topher can say, "You think you know someone," and we see Victor! in the chair. One of the few spoilers I had was knowing that Gjokaj was cast as a Doll, so I've been wondering how it would play out. I thought he could be a Doll on assignment, or he could have been recruited later because of Ballard using him to ask questions about it. And then they just now floated the possibility he would volunteer for it. It's all great. And now that we know he's been a Doll, we still don't know all there is to know. Is he there strictly to deal with Ballard? Did Madam bait the Borodins? Or was he hired by the Borodins and just happened to get noticed by Ballard and then retasked? Or was he placed among the Russians without their knowledge because of some business between the Dollhouse and them? Who knows? Also, since it seemed that he liked Ballard, was that part of the imprint to forge more of a bond between them or an unforeseen thing? I love this storyline.
Moving on finally. We get quick-moving, intercut scenes of the audience coming to the show, Crazed Fan entering on crutches, Jordan and Rayna all buddy-buddy backstage, Sierra joining them as Rayna's number one fan contest winner from Australia, and Crazed Fan putting together a rifle out of his crutches and leaving it in a high-up room across from the stage. He must be doing the killing thing later. We don't see this show, just the after party where Rayna and Jordan and Sierra talk about how cool it is to be a star and then Jordan totally tosses a paparazzi dude over a railing. Crazed Fan is in the house and takes note. Sierra's persona, Audra, is kind of geeky, awkward and virginal seeming. Kind of a weird number one fan type for a pop star, but probably just seems that way because it's more realistic.
Victor sends Ballard to an abandoned hotel basement where he heard third-hand that people might have been kept there. Says he only called because Ballard "inspire(s) terrible pity. Watch your back." The warning doesn't do him much good when he's jumped by 3 Russian goons trying to teach him to leave the Borodins alone. When they ask why he wants to mess with them, he's honest. "Actually, I didn't." They try to beat him up, and he's winning against all three until one shoots him. But then he rallies, uses one as a shield against further bullets and beats the crap out of them while wounded. Badass. Who would win, him or Boyd? As he's passing out he calls 911, not the FBI. Ouch. He really can't count on his compatriots coming fast enough to save him, I guess.
Hearn comes back to the van after a 40 minute coffee break to give Boyd a hard time for trying to figure out who's after Rayna. His idea of being a handler is just watching the Active and pulling her out when the job's done. When Boyd asks about the previous Sierra, Hearn just says, "She got the job done." So I'm guessing death in the LOD. Wonder if that happens a lot.
Now we're back in Rayna's dressing room and about to figure out what's really going on here. Rayna's all excited about the upcoming show being the best night of her life. She gets into an argument with Jordan when Jordan notices she has more letters from Crazed Fan and seems to be corresponding with him. "You want him to shoot you." "I'm not crazy. I just want to be free," she says as she climbs into her cage and it heads to the stage. Nice twist to have the target conspiring with her assassin.
The concert. Another scene that intercuts with Jordan looking for Biz, Rayna singing, security working the audience, Audra watching from stage right, and Crazed Fan getting into position. Crazed Rayna is singing a song about a stalker who needs to "make your move." Then she starts talking to the audience about her special fan, taunting him to do it. When it doesn't happen, she ups the stakes by bringing Audra onstage, calling her her number one fan.
Meanwhile, Jordan finds Biz, argues with security, knees one dude in the stomach and hops on stage to shine a spotlight all over. She finds Crazed Fan just in time to blind him so his first shot goes wide, then she tackles Rayna and the second shot misses her too -- possibly hitting another backup singer, it's not clear -- before chaos ensues and regular security makes itself useful.
We quickly check in with Ballard in the ambulance as he's arresting. Then we're back with Rayna and Jordan, with Rayna all pissy about not giving her fans a finish. Jordan doesn't think her fans want to see her die. "Did they grow you in a lab? You know anything about people? They'd love to see me die." Maybe Ballard could have his scowly babies with her. "I got to be happy; I got to be grateful. I got to be rebellious, but just enough to give me cred so people know I'm not a factory girl. But I am. I don't exist. I'm not a real person. I'm everybody's fantasy." I really like that they tie these assignments in to the main philosophical ideas of the Dollhouse. When you have a character who has no memory and is different every week, you need these consistent questions to draw the audience in and keep them interested. There's almost no throwaway dialogue in any of these episodes. It's very dense.
Rayna talks about how she doesn't feel anything, and it would be a rush of freedom to just suddenly die. Jordan thinks she's either on drugs or needs to be. "You don't like your life, change it." Rayna fires her, and Jordan is happy to go. Persona.
Audra, trying to get back inside, gets grabbed by Crazed Fan. He makes a video or streams one live to Rayna. Jordan sees it when she comes back for her stuff, hears there's trouble, and instinctively goes to find out what's happening. Parameter.
The last line on the feed: You have my number; call me. Ha. Biz finally gets it and backhands Rayna, like apparently he's wanted to for a long time. I don't really like him, even though he's fairly benign. (I do wonder if we'll ever see the twins he apparently recreates with from the Dollhouse, but I digress.) Jordan tells him that "Getting what you want may not be the best thing for a person." She's working it out in her head, getting to the solution we'll see her implement later. He asks if being fired makes a difference to her in terms of Rayna. "No. I don't know why." And she looks at the video of Sierra. "I have to help her." Her actions from here on out can be read two different ways, or maybe they're an amalgam of both. Does she know which her she's helping?
We catch up with Madam and Mr.D in her office. Apparently this was Sierra's backup function. Mr.D figured she would draw the attention of Crazed Fan away from Rayna. Hearn and a team are just waiting for the order to go in and end this.
While they're waiting, Audra, completely clueless that she's not Audra and she's got backup, is crazy scared. Crazed Fan makes her sing Superstar and joins in, giving us another, less pretty, duet.
Rayna is in front of a mirror in the dark, practicing dance moves for the next show. Jordan tells her that she can help Audra, and that will help her to feel something. And she could be talking about herself, her Echo self, who was happy to help Sierra when she stumbled in the Dollhouse. Who felt something then, in a place where you're not supposed to feel anything. Then Jordan nails Rayna with a metal folding chair and reprises Echo's line: Friends help each other out. And again, she's helping who?
So the DWAT team busts in and finds Audra and Crazed Fan gone, and a message on the answering machine from Jordan, offering to trade Rayna for Audra. Cut to super pissed Mr.D throttling CreepyChris, who gets pissed and says Mr.D's in HIS house and one of them is a genius and one is a security guard. Then he admits that Echo's actions are a bit off.
Up on the catwalk, Jordan and Crazed Fan meet up. Rayna's bound and gagged and Crazed Fan has a gun on Audra. Boyd's looking around down by the stage and hears Rayna scream as Jordan removes her gag. He takes a position on another catwalk and points his gun at the group. Madam won't give the order yet. Jordan does some good Eleanor Penn style negotiating with Crazed Fan and Rayna, breaking their bond and confusing them both, and Rayna makes it clear she's having second thoughts about the whole rush of dying thing. Then Jordan pushes her off the catwalk. She's on a rope and ends up hanging over the stage. Freaks everyone out.
Then Jordan proceeds to kick Crazed Fan's ass, steal his gun, and pistol whip him into unconsciousness. Badass. Then she helps Audra up, and steadies her as she wavers. Rayna's all, "Please don't let me die. I want to live." And Jordan pulls her up. That was well-staged and unexpected. And Jordan helped both her friends. But she and Audra are the two that walk off together and share a moment. Hearn and Boyd come for them and Hearn's all snotty. "That's all I need, you rubbing off on her." (Too easy, too easy, back away slowly.)
Jordan wants to kick his ass before her treatment, and Boyd seems willing to consider it. He's impressed with her badass self. Not so Mr.D. He thinks Echo's a risk and should be put in the attic. I really don't want to see this attic place. It's going to be like the Wolfram and Hart travel agency basement in Dead End all over again, I just know it. (By that, of course, I mean I really do want to see it.)
Madam doesn't think Echo went off-mission. She stopped the threat against Rayna's life posed by both Crazed Fan and Rayna, so good on her. Boyd is talking with Doc Saunders about the same thing. She "did even better" than the mission parameter. And the mission persona?? He's impressed with her ability to think outside the pieces of identity imprinted on her to create a new approach. She's special. Doc says being special around here is not such a good thing. "Sometimes the best thing to hope for is good enough." Boyd doesn't think Madam would do anything to her best Active, but Doc reminds him that Alpha was the best once too.
Rayna in the dark, haloed with a spotlight on her head, no longer behind bars, is singing about freedom. Jordan's voice takes over the song as Ballard's nosy neighbor tries to see him in the hospital and is stopped by agents at the door. Ballard is lying in the hospital bed looking as blank as a doll, and it's incredibly sad for some reason, considering he survived. The song continues as Echo walks through the Dollhouse. Her eyes are alert, and she watches everything with the same security consciousness her Jordan persona had. She sees Boyd and Doc Saunders watching from above, as someone always is, and passes Hearn talking to two other handler/security types. He shoots her a look. Sierra sees her friend and heads towards her. Echo gives her a firm "no" head shake and Sierra keeps walking. Echo watches the watchers.
Whew. Good episode. I think Echo is not Caroline, but she is someone. And she knows she's being watched. And she has some sense of danger. I can't wait to see how this continues to play out.
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