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| Monday, May 4, 2009 12:14 AM |
| (Last updated on Monday, May 4, 2009 11:06 AM) | | On the Viewer - Dollhouse (Episode 11 - "Briar Rose") |
 by Fëanor |
Echo is Susan, reading a story to kiddies. Every mission is different! This one doesn't seem particularly taxing, until one of the kids totally flips out. But apparently that was part of the plan: Echo is meant to help her.
Looks like Ballard can't take any more of his weird new relationship with Mellie, so he's moving out and breaking up with her. But can her programming allow this to happen?
Mellie: "Really think about whether I've ever told you anything I didn't believe with all my heart."
Ballard: "You know, you just said exactly what I needed to hear. And that's why I'm leaving."
A mystery keychain drive arrives for Dominic and the folks at the Dollhouse can't figure out how to get at the data on it. I think it's a little sloppy, plotting wise, that Langton just assumes that Dominic is the only one who could safely get the data out. But okay, I'll buy it.
I enjoy the fact that Topher uses the phrase "all frakked up beyond recognition."
They've thought of a creepy way to give the traumatized kid from the opening therapy; they've given Echo an imprint that's essentially the kid, but as if she'd grown up and learned to deal with the past trauma. Since Echo has essentially been exactly where the kid is now, she should be able to help her deal with it.
Are they going to imprint Victor with Dominic? That's really creepy. But then, what isn't on this show?
Mellie is apparently considering suicide. I was afraid she might crack. Ah, but her handler is here to help. Oh ho! Ballard's smarter than I thought. He followed Mellie and I believe he's actually found the location of the Dollhouse!
They make a quick and interesting comparison of the Dollhouse with the castle in the fairy tale book. Ballard has discovered that the building above ground at the Dollhouse's address is really just a cover; the real Dollhouse is an "invisible" building directly underneath it. And he knows who to ask about it: the building's designer.
Dominic's mind in Victor: just as creepy as I thought it would be! It's even freaking out Topher and the other Dollhouse employees. A particularly creepy moment: when Dominic realizes which doll's body they've put his mind in. Eee.
Huh. I figured if they ever brought back Dominic, they'd alter his imprint so he was more cooperative. Isn't Topher smart enough to do something like that? Anyway, it doesn't really matter; drugs are just as effective.
Echo is trying to teach the traumatized girl it's okay to be rescued by someone else. Hmm. Something she'll have to learn herself?
Echo tells the girl to imagine herself as the prince in the story. Girl: "The prince was a boy." Echo: "Yeah, but that's not his fault."
Echo: "She's close to moving forward. But it's gonna hurt." I have a feeling this whole thing with her and Susan is very much a metaphor for the larger storyline...
Ballard goes to see the designer, Stephen Kepler, and he's played by Alan Tudyk - Wash from Firefly! Yay! (Unfortunately I made the horrible mistake of looking Tudyk up on Wikipedia and accidentally read a massive spoiler for this episode. Damn it! Ah, well. I'll try to watch as if I hadn't read that...) Also, he's totally high. In a delightfully funny way. Heh. He's a pot head.
Seriously, Tudyk's performance here is hilarious. He goes on a rant about environmentalism, takes a sip of coffee and immediately spits it back in the cup, and pulls a phone out of the refrigerator.
Kepler: "I'm not comfortable having people in my home who aren't delivering Thai food."
Ballard's bringing Kepler with him to help him break into the Dollhouse.
The drive sent to Dominic is not from the NSA - it's from Alpha. Woah. That's interesting. There's a picture on the drive of something that's outside the window of The Center, which is apparently the Dollhouse HQ in Tucson. And of course Alpha's already killed someone in Tucson.
Kepler: "We could get some supplies, some rope. Rope is always good!"
Kepler: "This is like one of those buddy cop movies where you're the hard-nosed FBI agent, and I'm the guy who hates buddy cop movies!"
Now Susan's rereading the Briar Rose story, and it's being intercut with Ballard and Kepler infiltrating the Dollhouse. The parallels are clear. Echo is Rose. Ballard is the Prince. And wow: Ballard is in. He's really there, finally.
Kepler: "They told me this was going to be the new Eden."
Ballard: "Eden wasn't a prison."
Kepler: "Are you kidding? The apples were monitored."
Ballard is quite clever. He knows how to manipulate the dolls. And he knows how to taser Topher! Heh. That almost rhymes. Poor Topher.
Kepler: "I designed part of it, but I did not design the stone cold foxes in the small clothes, and the ample massage facilities."
Ballard: "This is a bad place."
Kepler: "Bad people, maybe. Good place. This is the future.... A closed system."
Heh. Kepler has a hard time going down the stairs because they don't have risers.
Wow! Ballard finally realizes "Luboff" was also a doll. "My whole life. My whole life isn't real."
Kepler: "It's a small world, right. I went to grade school with Jenna Elfman."
Ballard opens Mellie's pod first, but rejects her. Then he opens Echo's. Finally he's going to save her! Or not. Langton: "Sorry, Agent Ballard. You don't get the girl."
Time for Ballard and Langton to fight!
Langton tells Ballard he could have brought the whole house down on him, but he's giving him one chance to go back the way he came. Interesting. Clearly he has some sympathy for the guy.
Another interesting moment: Echo flashes back to her earlier fight with Ballard, and attacks him.
Kepler is turning off all the security, and keeping all the actives asleep.
Langton is trying to explain to Ballard that he can't save Echo, that there's just no way it would work.
Echo's ingrained trust for Langton is also coming to the surface. Ballard has little chance here. It's a pretty brutal fight, too, between Echo's two protectors. Ironically, Echo trips up Ballard using the very technique Kepler was afraid of: she grabs his ankles through the stairway that has no risers!
And the spoiler I read is finally revealed. Damn it, that would have totally blown my mind if I hadn't read about it ahead of time! Damn it, damn it, damn it! Stupid spoilers on stupid Wikipedia.
Sigh. Anyway. Alpha has manipulated all this, all of these people, to work his way back into the Dollhouse. But why? And how was he able to steal Kepler's identity? Is Kepler a fake person that he somehow inserted into the FBI files? Or was Kepler Alpha's real original identity, before he was wiped and became a doll?
This must be Saunders' worst nightmare, being in Alpha's power again. Very disturbing.
Ballard is bringing all of Langton's uneasiness with this life to the surface. "It is wrong. You know it's wrong. You feel it in your bones. What you did to Caroline is wrong."
DeWitt: "What do you think Mr. Langton?"
Langton: "What do you mean?"
DeWitt: "Should we put him in the chair?"
Echo: "I know you. I remember something about you."
Alpha: "I remember everything about you."
Huh.
Ah ha. The guy Alpha killed at the beginning of the episode was the real Kepler. After killing him, he must have taken over his identity, and slipped in his own photo in the records for Kepler's. He planted the body in Tucson to throw them off, and to make them feel safe at the Dollhouse, and sent in the drive to further divert their attention to Tucson. He's very clever. Even Ballard's presence here was just a diversion, and completely orchestrated by Alpha. Ballard's been manipulated from all sides all along, the poor bastard. He was right; his whole life is a lie.
Woah. Alpha loads up Echo with a new personality, and she says, "Oh, I know you," and then they make out. Alpha: "I told you I'd come rescue you." Echo: "My prince." Aah! Well that pretty much turns everything on its head. Somebody came and rescued Echo from the Dollhouse, but it wasn't Ballard: it was Alpha! But whose personality did he imprint her with? Caroline? That seems unlikely; that's not Caroline's style, and Alpha's not her type. So whose personality did he imprint her with?
What an insane episode!! It's all coming to a head now. All the secrets are coming out, all the tension is being broken, all the conflict is being resolved. Everything's building to a huge, explosive conclusion. Very exciting. |
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