Dollhouse

(S01E07) This was a terrific episode. While it borrowed elements from other science fiction franchises (most notably the episode "The Naked Time" from Star Trek), it served as a perfect vehicle to explain how Caroline (last name: Farrell. Forgive any misspelling of names) got involved with the Dollhouse.

Whedon and company go to an anti-corporate message. It turns out the Dollhouse is a product of the Rossum Corporation, the biggest drug company in America (if not the world), and Caroline was doing some animal activist activities to earn their ire. Those activities even cost the life of her then-boyfriend Leo.

We also know that Caroline used to be a student at Freema University and had Professor Janik as a teacher (once again, forgive any spelling errors). We knew she was a college student (or probably graduate when she was recruited). Now we know where. Which college campus did they use for filming, I wonder.

Whatever was in that teapot when Adelle was saying "nothing is as it seems", it wasn’t tea.

The good thing about "Naked Time" style episodes is you get a lot of character background for each character (making this more an ensemble show than about Echo, which I think improves it tremendously). Boyd can play piano. Dominic is legitimately sorry that he tried to kill Echo while she was in that cult (and it wouldn’t surprise me if his character became more sympathetic in upcoming episodes).

Topher’s character change was the most interesting. He still remained in control, despite being affected by the drug. He admitted to doing heroin for twenty years (which means he started at what age? Six?). He’s a computer genius that is also a master chemist? By all that, I’m guessing that he’s an Active as well and was imprinted with the person or people that originally developed the process. How else would a corporation retain such loyalty for such talent that many corporations would happily pay top dollar?

Hell, Sam the college student was ready to sell out at a moment’s notice. At first I thought he was an Active because he seemed unaffected by the drug. However, we may be seeing more of Sam (or whatever his handle will be) in the future. I wonder if we’ll see more of billionaire Clive Ambrose.

I’m also guessing that Mellie’s mission was to get Ballard to drop the case. When she failed (plus when she went nuts with flashbacks), she was pulled.

Echo’s behavior in this episode prompted a big question from me: if an Active breaks an engagement with a client like that, does the client get a full refund? Okay, I’m kidding. Mostly.

Favorite line from the episode. When Adelle is trying to describe what Topher thinks of her behavior: "Sarcastic? Unfeeling? British?"

From this episode, we know that Echo is very close to breaking her programming. I’m not sure if she didn’t listen to Boyd from her own decision-making (an ability which she should not have) or he screwed up the code phrase. Topher is certainly making more mistakes. If he is an Active, then he needs a wipe as well.

Whedon has kept his promise. The series has improved tremendously and is starting to be a terrific piece of science fiction. Here’s hoping it’s enough to break the Fox Friday Night Death Slot. One last question: if Echo breaks her programming by the end of the season, what will be the show’s premise for future seasons?