DOLLHOUSE: “A Love Supreme”

Photo Credit: Fox/ Spoiler TV.

Read on for my recap & review of Dollhouse 2×08, “A Love Supreme,” aired December 11th, 2009:

This was an important episode of Dollhouse, but I can’t say that it was among my very favorites.  As the title suggests, it was about love, but don’t be fooled by the romantic title; this was definitely a creepfest, what with the Alpha of it all.  Yes, this was the episode in which our number one super-villain, Alpha, returned.  He only got crazier since we last saw him, so he didn’t disappoint.  This was also an important episode for Paul and Echo’s relationship, and we get confirmation of the love they share.  Of course, this is a Whedon show, so there is no happy ending for the lovebirds.  No no no.  Instead, we close the episode with Paul brain dead and comatose.  So uplifting.  But honestly, that’s why I love this show.  It is a dark, and often painful, journey through the twisted mind of humanity.  Still, I have hope for some light at the end of the tunnel at some point, even if it is just a hint of hope for the future.  We shall see.  But on to the recap.

This episode featured a rather unusual beginning, opening on a Western-type setting, with cacti and country music to boot.  Two unknown men are sitting in front of an old trailer, and only the face of one is visible.  This revealed man says: “Glad I got this second chair.  Don’t get a lot of visitors out here.”  He hasn’t heard from his friends and family in a long time.  He explains: “I don’t like to tell ‘em, ‘I’m still broke, I still love a woman, I still can’t have her.’”  That would be awkward, so I can’t really blame him.  He continues: “I wonder what she’d say if she saw me this way.  I bet she’d love me anyway.  No, I take that back.  I know she’d still love me.  She’s programmed to.  Some might say that takes the magic out of love—to know you are loved—but what’s still a surprise is how much you love her.  I loved her to abstraction—to destitution.  I blew my fortune on engagements.  Now only my love sustains me.  Love for a woman who doesn’t exist.  That’s my sad story.”  It seems pretty clear that he’s talking about Echo, and that it was one of her imprints with whom he fell in love.  This is confirmed when Alpha is revealed to be the other man.  He always did like to butt into Echo-business.  Alpha asks: “Do you want to know the saddest part?  It’s the ending?  [At this point, he slits the poor guy's throat, though we only see the blood spatter.]  Seems like it wasn’t enough.”  Not only was unknown-dead-guy’s love not enough, it was exactly what got him killed.  Sad.  Oh, wait, should I be feeling sorry for a slimy Dollhouse client?  Show, you confuse me every time.

More country music plays, as we cut to Echo in a straight jacket.  At this point I saw that Patton Oswalt guest stars, so I got excited for some more Joel Miner (the client in “Man on the Street.”)  Someone asks Echo questions about her headaches and when they began, and if she remembers being away.  She’s in pain in a corner.  He asks, “Does a treatment sound nice?” and he is revealed to be Victor.  It seems that Victor was imprinted as a doctor of sorts, and has been working with Echo—torturing her perhaps.  Echo would like a treatment, but he says: “Do you have something you want to tell me, before we schedule you for that treatment?”  Echo says no.  Dr. Victor: “You choose pain.”  Uh oh.

In the other room, Adelle is annoyed, as she really wants Echo to explain more about her absence.  She is also very suspicious of Paul and Boyd.  Adelle pointedly addresses Paul: “One wonders how she managed, out there, alone.  The odds of an active in an infantile state surviving outside the dollhouse, unprotected … I suppose we must take into account that Echo is special.” It’s all in the tone.  Olivia Williams is a master at that tone, which is beyond my explanatory capacity.  Paul takes the bait: “You’re punishing her for surviving.  It’s complete lunacy.”  Adelle: “You’re wrong Mr. Ballard.”  Well, he usually is, but I think this time I will side with Paul.  He retorts: “So if she floats, she’s a witch?”  Good one, Pau!  Adelle says that these sessions will continue until she finds out more.  She excuses herself: “If you excuse me gentlemen, I’ll go consult my expert.”

When Adelle leaves, Paul asks: “Expert in what?  What does she expect to get out of Echo.”  Hmm, maybe the secrets you’re both hiding, idiot.  Seriously?  Why does Adelle’s behavior confuse him?  Boyd: “She doesn’t expect to get anything out of Echo.  She’s using her to make you squirm, and it’s working.”  Well that is certainly true.  Paul:  “I can’t help it.  I don’t like seeing her in pain.”  Boyd gets frustrated: “I don’t like seeing her in pain!  I looked into her eyes and swore to protect her, same as you, before you.  Today, protecting her means not reacting while DeWitt tortures her, so man up.”  I love Boyd.

Meanwhile, Adelle is consulting her “expert,” Dr. Victor.  He’s in tweed and is very academic and seems like a psychiatrist or something.  He assures Adelle that Echo is in a perfect childlike state, but Adelle still thinks that she is hiding something.  He disagrees, and says that if she did something naughty she’s completely unaware of it.  At that moment, Sierra walks by, and Dr. Victor quips, “She, however, is naughty, and completely aware of it.”  Hehe.  He doesn’t think that Adelle understands human urges, but Adelle replies: “On the contrary, urges are my stock and trade.  I find identifying with those of my clients to be very useful.”  Dr. Victor: “But that’s your sales pitch, I think.  In truth, you’re very tightly controlled.  See, men wear everything on the outside, including their genitalia, whereas you are chastised for any suggestion of sexuality, punished perhaps.”  Adelle is not impressed: “So goes the entirety of intersexual relations throughout history.  I really don’t see … ”  Dr. Victor cuts her off : “No wonder you despise that girl—Echo.  She get to be the virgin and the whore, and for both she’s celebrated.”  Dr. Victor is really quite amusing.  Chock another win up to Enver Gjokaj and his amazing range.  Adelle drily responds: “Very insightful.”  Again, it is all in Olivia Williams’ tone.  Any complaints that Adelle was underused have certainly been remedied this season, as she continues to shine more and more in each episode.  Topher asks if the doc would like a treatment, and then he is wiped.  Adelle says that that was a tiresome exercise, and Topher helpfully says he told her so.  Always constructive, that one.  Then however, he says, “Weirdly, I agree with Dr. Freudenstein.  […]  It’s all in her mind.”  Dr. Freudenstein!  Hee.  Adelle doesn’t seem to really believe or trust Topher: “And I suppose there are some nonsensical scans to back up your report.”  Topher rather smugly asks, “Would you like to see them?”  It seems pretty clear that Adelle knows something is up with Boyd, Paul, and now Topher, but it is less clear why she is not really pushing the issue.  She is being rather passive aggressive, but she probably is scheming before she makes her move.

Cut to Topher talking to Boyd and Paul: “These are the craziest scans I’ve ever seen.  I can’t even look at them without going nuts.  I know a conspiracy when I desperately try to avoid seeing one.”  Ha!  Boyd: “Did you tell DeWitt?”  Topher: “No.  So why don’t you two crack open your little chamber pot of secrets, and tell me what’s going on.”  Harry Potter reference!  Hehe.  Boyd begins to explain: “Echo is not a blank slate.  She’s a person.”  Topher: “What do you mean?  She’s self-aware?”  Boyd: “That’s not all she is.  Everything you’ve imprinted her with for the last six months—it’s still there.”  Topher: “So she’s got 5 people worth of brains banging around up there?”  Paul: “More.  She’s got everyone Alpha dumped into her as well.”  If you don’t remember that whole thing, click on my recap of “Omega.” Topher: “That’s everyone.  He took every imprint she’d ever had.  But I went in with a q-tip after.”  Paul: “It didn’t work.”  Duh.  Also, a recurring theme on this show.  Boyd: “She hasn’t been wiped for months.”  Paul explains: “The wipes just push everything down, but it all surfaces again.  And now she can control what and when.”  Topher: “She can control?  [He sits down.]  What does that make her?  What is she?”  Good question; Topher pretty much summarizes the whole point of the show right there.

Cut to Paul entering Adelle’s office.  She asks him to sit, and pretends to be understanding: “I know that the health screenings I’ve ordered for Echo seem exhaustive.”  She says that Echo is perfectly healthy and she’s putting her back in the field.  In fact, Echo has already been scheduled for a romantic engagement.  Paul: “So soon?  What about the headaches?”  Adelle is so very intentionally trying to bait Paul, and notes dripping with the most delicate sarcasm: “I take your point. Romantic engagements can be a bit [pause] strenuous.  [Affected sigh.]  But he is a repeat client, and ‘Not tonight honey’ is not one of the excuses we allow our actives.”  Ooh, Adelle.  They drink to Echo’s health, but we all know that Paul is crying inside.

Paul then goes to find Echo, and tells her that it’s time for her treatment.  He notes, “We never meet like this anymore.”  Echo: “I missed you too.”  Aaww.

Cut to Topher and Boyd in the imprint room.  Topher is still trying to wrap his head around this new information.  He asks, “Is she still Eleanor Penn?”  Boyd, rather exhaustedly, replies, “Yes.” Topher: “Is she still Terry Karens?”  Boyd: “Topher!  Yes!”  Topher is still not satisfied: “So she’s still a serial killer?”  Boyd: “Only a little.”  Ha!  Topher: “Right.  Only a little bit serial killer, and we let her outside.”  Boyd: “She’s in control, Topher.”  Topher: “She‘s in control?  Not you?  Not Paul?  And who is she again?  And does she still trust you with her life?  And is that because she’s programmed to?  Or just because you’re a swell guy with a trustworthy brow?”  So many questions.  No wonder the audience is confused, and Boyd is exhausted.  Echo comes in at that moment: “I like to think both.”  Topher is startled by her stealthy entrance: “Oh, she’s here.  You’re all here.”  He awkwardly introduces himself to Echo, and she tells him that they’ve already met.  He laughs: “She’s funny.”  Turning his head towards Boyd, he whispers: “Is that a good sign?”  Topher tells Echo that they’re going to send her to Frank Pierce, imprinted as Susan, his sister-in-law.  Echo turns into Susan without even going in the chair.  And then goes right back to being Echo.  She tells a shocked Topher: “Got her.  Repeat engagement—had her filed away.  Shall we go?”  Oh, how things have changed.  Topher: “I am obsolete.  This must be what old people feel like.  And Blockbuster.”  Ha!  My favorite line of the episode, for sure.

Cut to Paul and Echo in a van, on the way out to the engagement.  He’s not thrilled, to say the least, and says that this was when he had planned for them to run away.  Echo tells it like it is: “That’s stupid.  We’d end up in the same place, only it will be worse, it will be the Attic.”  She says that Frank Pierce is not so bad; he’s not her type, but he’s Susan’s and that’s who she’ll be.  In an instant she changes to the Susan persona.  She starts talking about what a horrible mistake she made marrying Frank’s brother.

Cut to Susan/Echo entering a beautiful room with rose petals strewn around and then following the trail of petals to Frank’s dead body.  She screams.

A short time later, Susan/Echo is crying in a corner, and Boyd and Paul enter.  Susan/Echo tells them: “He said he had something special planned.  I think he was going to propose—I’m sure of it.”  Boyd notes that the body has been decomposing for over a week, and since there is no blood around, he wasn’t killed there.  The whole thing was staged by someone else, because Paul says that the engagement was only made yesterday.  Echo looks at a vase of roses and says: “This message is for me.  For Echo.”  She reads them the card, which says “For my number one.” Echo explains: “Whiskey was number one, now I am.  This is from Alpha.”  Dun dun dun.  Except we already knew that, since we saw Alpha at the beginning of the episode.

Cut to Boyd, Adelle, and Paul in the Dollhouse.  Adelle wonders what proof they have that it was Alpha.  Boyd:  “Aside from the note, nothing.”  Paul: “But it makes sense.  He’s the only one out there and the knowledge of this place and an obsession with Echo.”  Adelle: “I thought that was you, Mr. Ballard.”  Paul: “You’re hilarious.”  She really is.  And pretty darn on the nose, too!  Adelle thinks, or at least pretends to think, that Echo was Alpha’s accomplice: “Echo was missing for three months.  It stands to reason that someone was helping her.  [Turning to Paul.]  If it wasn’t Alpha, who was it?  Do you have an alternative explanation?  [He says nothing.]  I thought as much.  Find Alpha, and keep her locked up.”  Poor Echo.

In Boyd’s office, Boyd and Paul look at photos of recently-killed Dollhouse clients.  The guy we saw killed at the beginning of the episode is among them.  Paul wonders where all his money went, and Boyd says: “To that fine ergonomic chair among other things.  He blew everything on the Dollhouse.”  Paul: “My ass does feel very pampered.”  Hee.  All the pictured dead were clients who hired Echo for romantic engagements.  The pattern is that they were all about love. They loved Echo and Echo loved them.  That’s why Alpha wanted them dead.  Paul and Boyd wonder who’s next.

Cut to Sierra, who is dressed as a Mae West type, entering the imprint room.  Topher: “Let me guess, you’ve been done wrong by a man?”  Sierra: “I’ve been done wrong ten ways to Sunday, and it’s Tuesday.”  He offers her a treatment.  Sierra: “Sure I’ll take the treatment, why not?  He already gave me the business, the bum.  Every Johnny Two-step’s got a story, and his was no different.  Some skirt done him rotten so he takes it out on me.”  I am quite amused, as a fan of old movies.  Hee.  Topher tells her to lie back in the chair.  Sierra: “The dolls hold all the cards, he said.  Well this is one doll who’s gonna fold.  I never want to hear his name again: Alpha.”  Topher is all, “Excuse me,” and pauses the chair.

Cut to the whole gang, minus the dolls, in Adelle’s office.  Adelle snarks: “Have we any engagements this month that he hasn’t arranged?”  Hehe.  Boyd’s response is priceless: “I don’t book the clients.”  I’m cracking up just writing that.  From anyone else, it would not be as funny, but I find Boyd’s passive aggression hilarious.  Paul explains that the client who hired Sierra has a name that doesn’t exist, and when you unscramble the guy’s name it’s “Alpha’s here.”  Oh, Alpha.  Adelle orders that all engagements be suspended and all the actives be wiped.  Topher: “That’s not all!  She said she had a message from Alpha.”  Adelle: “Well, that  was the message.”  Topher: “She said, ‘The next lover ages well.’”  Paul: “He wants us to be there this time.”  Boyd: “Let’s not disappoint him.”  Again, I love Boyd.  I just can’t say it enough.

Cut to Boyd and Paul in Boyd’s office, watching the monitor as all the dolls get wiped.  They brainstorm, trying to figure out the clue Alpha left.  Paul asks who has a birthday coming up.  Boyd thinks this is the key, and explains that Matt Somebody-or-other books Echo every year on his birthday.

Cut to the Dollhouse-SWAT team going up onto the roof of a hotel, and we see Matt, who is dopey Tim from One Tree Hill, sitting on a chair and strapped with explosives.  He is the client from the pilot “Ghost.”  Echo rode a motorcycle with him, and then danced in the shortest dress known to man.  Then in “Echoes,” she left him tied to a bed, while she ran off to the university where she got infected with that Rossum drug.  Alpha, of course, is standing nearby: “Am I the only one who bothered to dress for this?  [He's wearing a very dapper plaid grey suit with a pink tie and floral shirt.]  I mean the black works, because, honestly, when doesn’t it?  It’s functional, it’s slimming.  [He directs himself toward Paul.]  But you, you don’t work for the federal government anymore.  Why don’t you go with just a splash of color?”  Paul tells him to put down the trigger device.  Alpha: “If I do, then he will become a splash of color.  I’m thinking red.”  Matt asks for them to help him.  Boyd tries to talk Alpha out of it, saying that there’s a part of him that knows this is wrong.  Alpha replies: “There are many parts of me that know that this is wrong, none that care, and six that just find it funny.  [Pause.]  You know what’s not funny?  Is that she actually cares about these guys.  [He turns towards Paul.]  You know what I mean.  She loves, but they’re just using her.  Not even every part of her, just the piece that serves them.  They’re wasting her, so I’m going to waste them.”  Well, he certainly has thought this out.  Boyd says that Echo doesn’t know and doesn’t remember, but Alpha knows that he’s lying.  He yells: “We remember everything!”  Matt is freaked and just wants to be let go.  Alpha asks his prisoner:”What were you saying?  About your time together?  You said that she was amazing, and that it was … what?  Tell them.”  Matt haltingly replies: “It was a blast.”  Alpha: “Who doesn’t love a pun.”  Boyd and Paul order their team to fall back, as Alpha sets off a huge explosion.  When the dust and pieces of Matt settle, Alpha is gone.  The pieces of Matt that are probably all over their clothes are hidden by the black, so their wardrobe choice is justified.

Cut to Boyd and Paul back at the Dollhouse, going through a list.  Paul: “So who’s left?  Boyd: “Just one.  Joel Miner.”  Ah yes, Joel Miner, I was wondering when we were going to get to him.  He’s unreachable, because two weeks out of the year he is on some retreat, but Boyd thinks that maybe Rebecca the imprint knows.  If Rebecca/Echo knows, Alpha could know, so they have to hurry to get to him first.

Cut to Joel walking on the beach, and Paul approaches.  Joel is not happy to see Paul again: “Oh no.  No no no no.  Hey, I haven’t done anything wrong.  You can’t arrest me.”  Paul says that he isn’t there to arrest him.  Joel: “Well, you know what?  You kicked the crap out of me last time, and I let it slide, but I don’t forgive when I’m on vacation, so just get lost, FBI guy.”  Paul says that he’s with the Dollhouse now, and they believe he is in danger.  Joel is surprised: “You’re with them now?  Wow!  You’re a little bit of a freak, aren’t you?  I don’t even know what to say to that.”  Paul tells him that someone may be trying to kill him, and that he’ll be safest in the Dollhouse.  Joel: “That part of my life is over, ok.  And I got rid of your girl’s number.  I’m getting married, I have moved on.”  Cue Rebecca/Echo’s approach: “Hi, Joel.”  His expression at seeing her is both happy and heartbreakingly sad at the same time.  He tells her that he missed her, and they embrace.

Cut to the Dollhouse.  Joel, Rebecca/Echo, Boyd, and Paul climb the stairs to encounter Adelle and Topher.  Adelle is playing nice, and tells Joel that he’ll be safe.  Adelle is wearing a sequined top that boggles the mind.  It’s actually quite nice, but such an odd choice.  She congratulates Joel on his “pending nuptials,” but as his dead wife Rebecca’s imprint is standing right there it is a bit awkward.  Rebecca/Echo wants to stay with Joel, and he wants that too, but Adelle explains: “I’m afraid my active is in very great need of a treatment.”  Adelle puts Joel in Topher’s care, and they go off to his office, so Topher can show the tech guy his toys.

As soon as Joel leaves, Adelle drops the nice act and orders Echo to sit.  She chastises Paul and Boyd: “Tell me.  Which part of ‘Put Echo in solitary’ was unclear to either of you?”  Paul: “It was an emergency.”  Oh, Paul, that is not going to cut it.  Adelle: “So we’re handing out day passes now?  You both blatantly disregarded a direct order and then lied about it.”  Boyd: “We had to act quickly.  Echo was the only one who could find Miner and bring him in.”  Adelle:  “You mean Rebecca. Rebecca knew how to get to Miner.”  Boyd: “Of course.”  Of course, except not exactly.  Adelle: “I’m aware of your little cabal, and I will not be managed.”  Ooh, she is getting angry.  Adelle wants Joel out of the Dollhouse, as it won’t do to have clients roaming about.  I definitely see her point.  She dismisses them: “Get her out of my sight, and consider yourselves on a very short leash.”  I would be crying at this point if I were Paul or Boyd, but they’re far tougher than me.

Cut to Topher and Joel in Topher’s office.  Topher tries to show him all his tech-y things, but Joel is distracted.  Topher tells him not to be scared.  Joel: “I’m not.  It’s just that this morning, I was engaged to a great girl, and now I’m hiding out with my dead wife.  It never occurred to me that Rebecca would still exist after I stopped coming here.  It makes sense.  You know, you can’t ever really delete a program.  Once it exists, it’s alive.”  Topher: “Yeah, that’s kind of the problem we’re having right now with Alpha.”  Uh oh, Topher, that is perhaps too much information.  Joel: “Yeah, the guy who wants me dead—who is he?”  Topher: “In a nutshell: he’s this super-genius serial killer who imprinted himself with a bunch of personalities and then escaped.”  Um, wow.  Joel: “Wait.  What?”  Topher tries to underplay it: “Nutshell, nutshell.  It’s not as bad as it sounds.”  Joel: “He knows where this place is!”  Topher: “Technically, yeah.”  Joel: “Technically?”  Topher: “It’s all good.  We’ve totally revamped the security system and the counter-measures.  There is no way he’ll break in here again.”  Joel: “You said he broke out!”  Topher: “Uh huh.”  Hehe.  At least we have a little humor before the intense sorrow.

Cut very briefly to Echo in solitary.  I’m sure that she won’t be there for long.

Meanwhile, Adelle is on the phone, looking for a five star hotel for Joel, where they can have an armed security detail.  Alpha comes out of the bathroom.  What?!?!  He tells her: “Try the Franklin.  It’s a terrific pasta bar.  Also, you’re almost out of paper.”  Agh!  He continues: “Alright, tell me the truth.  What do you think of the suit?”  Adelle: “You’re quite the dandy.”  Exactly my thoughts.  Alpha: “It’s better to look good than to feel good.  It’s ironic.  It took forty odd characters on the inside for me to realize that it’s what’s on the outside that counts.”  He refreshes her drink, and asks, “Are you scared?”  Adelle: “Out of my mind.”  She’s doing a good job at coping with said fear though, we must give her that.  Alpha: “Smart girl.  Of course I could never be out of my mind.  I have so many, the second I’m out of one, I’m right into the next.  I have you to thank.”  Adelle: “If it’s Echo you want, I can send for her.”  Alpha: “That’s not very chivalrous of you.”  Adelle: “I’ve moved beyond chivalry onto self-preservation.”  Alpha: “Well, I’m not here for Echo.  She’s not ready for me yet.”  Eew.  Adelle: “The man we’re protecting, I’m having him transferred.  I’d be happy to furnish you with an address.”  Again, I can’t really blame her.  Alpha: “All of this bargaining.  You don’t have anything I want that I can’t just take.  And I will, when I’m ready.  But for right now, I have something I want to share with you.”  He hands her an envelope.  Oh, what could it possible contain?

Cut to Boyd and Paul watching Echo on the monitor.  I guess they have nothing else to do, right?  Handlers are a lot like Watchers that way, it seems.  Paul is being a patronizing martyr: “I can’t believe I made her come back for this.”  Um, you didn’t make her do anything, Paul.  Echo was the one who wanted to go back.  Boyd sees the silver lining: “She’s safe, Joel Miner’s safe, nobody she loves died today.”  Paul: “Small comfort.”  Boyd: “There’s no comfort.  Not for Echo.”  Sad.  Maybe someday, in Safe Haven?  I’m holding out hope.

Back in Adelle’s office, Alpha makes light of his information: “I know looking at someone else’s holiday snaps is usually such a boor, but I thought that these might interest you.”  Adelle: “Indeed.”   Alpha: “What do you think about how I spent my summer?”  Adelle: “Most intriguing.”  Alpha: “That’s what I love about the British—your talent for understatement.  Also Python.  Well, tally ho then!  In fact, what say we tally your hoes?  How many you got down there these days?  A couple hundred?  More?  Less?”  Adelle tries to convince him to just let her have Joel sent up, but he insists on going downstairs together.

Meanwhile, Paul and Boyd see the two on the elevator.  Paul runs for Joel, and Boyd gets out his gun and his intercom.  Alpha lets Adelle go, and then uses some device to turn all the dolls into ninja zombies.  Echo feels it, and says “Alpha.”  All the ninja-zombie-dolls beat up the Dollhouse personnel.  Boyd tries to lead Adelle out of danger.  She locks herself in Dr. Saunder’s office, while the actives bang on the door.

Elsewhere, Topher is just letting Victor out of the chair when he attacks.  Alpha enters the imprint room and greets Joel.  Cut to more fighting.  Paul makes it to Topher’s office, where he finds Topher lying on the floor.  Topher awakes and asks, “Did they eat my brains?”  Hee.  Paul: “Topher, you’re fine.”

Meanwhile, Echo breaks out of solitary, of course.

Paul enters the imprint room to find Joel in the chair with Alpha beside him.  Alpha: “Bait and switch.”  Victor tranqs Paul.  Uh oh.  Alpha stands menacingly over Paul: “Hello lover boy.”  Paul wakes up in the chair with chords attached to his head.  Alpha tells him: “You’re in for the ride.  You’re not going to get loose.  One of my imprints was an eagle scout, another one was a sailor.  There’s a dirty joke in there somewhere.”  Paul asks, “What are you doing?”  Alpha:  “What every great philosopher since time immemorial has attempted to do.  To answer the question: ‘What is this thing called love?  This funny thing called love?  And who can solve its etcetera?”  Paul: “What?”  Alpha: “Those others.  Her feelings for them were imprinted, manufactured, but what she feels for you, it’s different.  And I want to crack open that egg and see what’s inside.”  That can NOT be a good thing for Paul, who is still super confused.  Paul: “What are you talking about?”  Alpha shows him the photos he must have showed Adelle.  They feature Echo and Paul during their three months together.  Alpha: “This.  I’m talking about this.  You and my multiple lover [immortal beloved?] playing House.  It’s probably my fault.  I’m the one who introduced the two of you.  Do you see that, in her face there?  What would you say that is?”  Paul:  “A lens flare.”  Alpha: “She has feelings for you.  Feelings.  Nothing more than feelings.  She shouldn’t have those, not any that weren’t put there.  How’d you do it?”  Ah, so Alpha wants to learn how to make Echo love him?  Hurting Paul is probably not the best plan then.  Sigh.  Paul is still in his patronizing-martyr-denial: “I’m her handler, those feeling were put there.”  Alpha will have none of that: “No.  That’s not active-handler face, that’s something else.  Could be love.”  Paul: “It’s not.”  Oh, Paul.  Alpha: “Yeah?  Is an acorn a tree?  And you.  Look at you.  [He laughs.]  Planted, watered, fertilized.”  Paul: “You’re wrong.”  Alpha: “NO, I’m not wrong.  I was there.  I saw everything.”  Paul: “There was nothing to see!”  Alpha: “That’s how I know I am not wrong.  For months you shared the same room.  You never slept with her.  You could have, but you didn’t.  If that’s not love … are you gay?”  Paul: “No.”  Alpha: “Then it’s love.  DeWitt thought so to.”  Wow.  Although, I can’t imagine that Adelle didn’t already guess what she saw in the pictures, as she’s not an idiot.  Of course Paul was actually there, and he is still confused, so you never know.

Cut to Adelle, still hiding in the office, standing behind the door with a statue of some sort, ready for the stampede.  However, it’s Echo, there to save her.  Adelle still can’t let the snark rest, however, and asks “And who are you exactly?”  Echo: “Do you want me to talk or do you want me to save your ass?  C’mon Adelle, move your ass.  We can hug it out later.”  I’d like to see them hug, but I doubt that will ever happen.  The two escape, fighting their way through the ninja-zombie-dolls, and then we see Topher help out his man-friend by knocking out an attacking doll.  The whole gang is reunited, minus Paul, and they run into the sleep-pod room. Topher explains that Sierra was infected with a computer virus that infected the system, so when all the actives went in the chair it allowed for Alpha to control them.  Adelle to Echo: “You’re immune?”  Echo: “I’m like him, but not.”  Adelle: “Isn’t that lucky.”  Ooh, she is so full of acid towards Echo.  Adelle wonders how Joel got away and he explains that Alpha was really after Ballard.  When Echo hears this, she runs off to help, but as she leaves she cautions the group, “Just, try not to hurt them.  They’re people.”

Cut to Alpha and Paul.  Alpha is shocking Paul over and over again—it looks like what happened to Sierra when she first came to the Dollhouse—but it is unclear with what aim.  Alpha notes: “Oh, there is something going on here, but nothing more than the average bear, so why do you get to be her honey?  [He gets angry.]  Well?  Oh, when did you die?  Maybe me trying to get into your head was the wrong approach.”  Oh no, I think that I know what that means [and I’m right].

Meanwhile, in the sleep-pod room, Topher has an idea to save the day.  I’ll quote Harding here, and say “I knew he was a genius, but I never knew that he was smart.”  He says that his remote wipe device in the manufacturing room, and they could use it to wipe the dolls.  Adelle tells him to go.  Then we cut back-and-forth between the chaos, and Alpha and Paul.

Cut to Topher and Boyd in the manufacturing room, while Topher plays with his prototype.  Boyd wants to get out of there quickly, and says disbelievingly: “You have to put it together?”  Topher has the best response ever: “It’s the manufacturing room, not the it’s-finished room.”  Hehe.

Meanwhile, Alpha wakes up in the chair as Echo enters the imprint room.  He tells Echo: “Your boyfriend’s dead, wanna snuggle?  Too soon?”  Echo shakes Paul, who is lying on the room.  She says: “You killed him.  He’s dead.”  Alpha: “Well, brain dead.  You’re upset.  I can see you’re upset.”  So, the two fight.  It’s pretty intense.  Alpha is bitter: “I created you, and who do you fall for?  The schmuck I used to get in here.”  Echo: “He’s ten times the guy you are, and you’re like forty men.”  Ha!  Alpha: “Is that why he didn’t lay a hand on you during the three months you were at the Condor?  This isn’t like footprints on the moon.  Many many men have come there before.”  Oh, isn’t he changing his tune, now?  Shut up, Alpha.  The two continue fighting.  Alpha continues: “Face it.  You are nothing but a science project.  I’m sorry, were a science project.  Get over it babies.  Love the ones your with.”  They fly through the window, and fall onto the ground downstairs.  He talks nonsense and then tells her that she was “meant for a love supreme.”  Echo: “I could never love you.”  Then there is a weird weird scene in which Alpha speaks in Paul’s voice, and it’s all echoey [pun NOT intended], and he asks her, “Echo, do you trust me?”  Echo recognizes Paul in him.  She stops hitting him.  Paul/Alpha: “I’m sorry, I thought we had more time.”  Echo: “He imprinted himself with you?”  Paul/Alpha: “Do you trust me?”  Echo: “With my life.”  Paul/Alpha: “Then end mine, please.  Do it, please.”  She can’t though, and Alpha gets up and leaves.  Hmm, now that he has Paul’s personality inside him, will he maybe be a better person?  Will this explain why Alpha helps Echo out, as referenced in “Epitaph One”?

Cut to Topher using his remote wipe on the dolls, including Sierra.  Topher and Boyd enter the office, where Echo weeps over Paul’s body.  So sad.  However, we know that Paul is alive in “Epitaph One,” so it is also just very confusing.  He’s going to have to get back his persona at some point, it’s just a question of how.

Cut to Echo and Joel.  He is going to leave, explaining that he’s not really any safer in the Dollhouse.  Suddenly, Echo turns on the Rebecca persona, and Joel recognizes her.  Rebecca/Echo asks about his fiancée.  Joel: “I know you’re not Rebecca, and neither is she.  And she … she can never replace … you.”  Rebecca/Echo: “She’s not supposed to replace me.  Rebecca wouldn’t want that.  But she wouldn’t want you to be alone.”  Joel: “I thought I was past it.”  Rebecca/Echo: “You don’t get past it.  It just becomes a part of who you are.”  Joel: “You live on for me, and I am so glad for that.”  Closure, I guess.  He walks away, and Rebecca/Echo is sad.  Then she turns back into Echo, who looks on at Paul, lying brain-dead and comatose.  Echo tells him: “You live on for me.”  We see a close-up of poor brain-dead Paul.

We end the episode on a close-up of inscrutable Adelle.  I have no idea what is going on in that complicated head of hers, but she is definitely scheming her way out of this crazy situation.  Your thoughts?  Reactions?  Theories?  Post your comments below.

Related posts:

• DOLLHOUSE: “Epitaph 2: The Return”
• DOLLHOUSE: “Getting Closer”
• DOLLHOUSE: “Meet Jane Doe”
• DOLLHOUSE: “The Left Hand”
• DOLLHOUSE: “The Public Eye”