Dollhouse

This is a weekly discussion of the episodes airing on UK TV. If you have not seen this episode, here be spoilers. If you have seen the entire season, please don’t spoil it for others by talking about future events. Thank you!

"It appears we’ve had a composite event!"

Not words that you immediately think would strike fear into anyone. But, it turns out, you should ... Because composite events are A Bad Thing.

Why? Because – as we saw in the flashback segment at the top of this episode – when dolls experience a composite event, they might just go a bit Jack the Ripper on your ass.

THE STORY CONTINUES ...

Or not. As mentioned previously, the first five episodes of Dollhouse are intended to be able to stand alone. But there’s still some Dollhouse backstory/foreshadowing here, for anyone looking for a Whedonesque arc. We’ll divide it up accordingly.

THIS EPISODE’S ECHO ENGAGEMENT

Echo was sent out to be the perfect date for a very tall man with a very square chin. First, a spot of rafting, then some hardcore rock climbing, a lesson in hunting deer, and some tent-sex ... But the real date, we (and she) realised, began when Big Chin announced that he was going to indulge a spot of post-coital human-hunting.

Echo got a five-minute headstart before her date came after her with a bad attitude and a crossbow. The rest of the episode was basically a chase sequence, with poisoning, false hope and red herrings along the way, ending – predictably – in a battle to the death between our Active and her psychotic client.

There wasn’t a full explanation of why someone would want to hunt human quarry. The usual Daddy-issues were suggested, as was a sense of arousal about the possibility of hunting the ultimate prey (or an empty shell with a human imprint, at least). Personally? I put it down to the man secretly lusting after boning a stag, but I can see why they might not want to expand upon that concept.

This is the second of three engagements we’ve seen for Echo that seemed to revolve around wanting a combination action-pornstar for hire, rather than the "mission to help" idea from last week’s episode (which turned out not to go so well anyway).

But what about the fact they said that Big Chin had hoodwinked their security checks, to the extent that he was able to hire someone for a spot of sex and killing? Quite alarming really. If the system is THAT rich, powerful and watertight, how could a psychopath clear the security check?

Wowsers. Whoever they’ve got working security detail on this, they’re RUBBISH.

Actually, we saw more of the security boss this week. He’s called Lawrence Dominic, he’s short, blonde and grumpy, and doesn’t seem to like Dolls very much. Which might explain why he’d let a square-jawed psycho slip through the net.

OTHER THINGS THIS EPISODE BROUGHT

• More glimpses of the Alpha massacre, three months ago, apparently. He was able to surgically slash people to make them dead, but he appears to have spared Echo – and no one BUT Echo.

• More understanding of the Handler/Active relationship. We saw Boyd when he started at the Dollhouse, and found out why he was brought in (because the last guy in his job got chopped into red coleslaw by Alpha). Plus, we saw him performing the Doll/Handler verbal routine that keeps everyone calm and under control. He’s also clearly quite fond of Echo.

• The realisation that Eliza Dushku is at her most attractive while looking sideways. Any engagement where she is compelled to take on the personality of a crab, therefore, will be a winner for her.

• The associated realisation that while the magic brain-wiper can imprint and remove many things, accent is not one of them. Echo can be many things, as long as those things are from Boston. Or, as she would have it, Baaaaaaaaaaahstahn.

• The question: who’s the boss? At one point Dollhouse boss Olivia PoshWitt referred to her all-powerful and rich employers. Who might be in charge of creating such a service/slave trade, and what’s with the fog of mystery?

NUMBERS

Collateral Damage – and other euphemisms for dead people: Three or four dead Actives in the flashback to the Alpha/Composite event, Boyd’s predecessor (Sanderson), Boyd’s driver, one park ranger, one fake park ranger, and the client.

Number of times Echo punched someone in the face: Seven. Though that was all the square-faced psychopath, and within a matter of seconds, so only counts as one, really.

Number of times Echo got hit in the face: Once.

And almost strangled? Once. Which, compared with last week, seems almost tame.

Next week: Will there be more punching? Will we learn more about just how dangerous a composite can be? Is it more or less dangerous than a composting event? More, right?