Dollhouse

Yes, it was a low for this series, but maybe the bar was set so low, the series will never have to sink back down there again especially after two episodes ago, Joss Whedon successfully found a way back into the rich mythology that found the still beating heart of this developing new series.

Over the first part of the season, many of the actives, have been having glitches that have been preventing them from being completely focused on their various missions. It’s resulted in Echo (Eliza Dushku) going rogue on many occasions, Sierra (Dichen Lachman) having rape trauma from being accosted by her handler in her non-programmed state, Victor (Enver Gjokaj) having sexual feelings toward Sierra and Mellie (Miracle Laurie) having a hole inside of her (which has to do with the death of her daughter – something that’s never really being explored until this episode).

So instead of sending the dolls to the "attic," Dollhouse matriarch Adelle DeWitt (Olivia Williams) decides to let them go off mission and get some closure so they can go back to being good little faceless drones.

It’s a great hour of television, as all the characters go through various states of understanding about what’s happening to them – but with limited memories of who they were. It’s like a great old TWILIGHT ZONE episode, but without the twist ending (we know the twist) – as characters who have primarily been programmed each episode to be someone knew, get to actually be real characters for a change.

It’s an awesome change of pace. Sure, stand-alone episode are good every now and again, but when a story can be about your main characters and not the weekly standalone episode formula, it makes you want to come back eager for more week to week.

There’s also been a nice shift with the employees of the Dollhouse – we now understand who they are a bit more and that there’s larger ramifications, than them merely being a high-tech whorehouse.

Meanwhile, FBI Agent Paul Ballard found the bug in his house planted by the Dollhouse to keep tabs on him and is getting one-step closer to finding Caroline (aka Echo) because of it.

Solid direction, great writing and some nice emotional beats, makes "Needs" yet another late season winner from a show that’s went zero to hero rather quickly.

Hopefully there’s a game plan for keeping the series going in this same vein if it gets picked up for a second season, because they’re certainly chewing through a lot of story in the last three weeks. No complaints here of course, I wanted it and now I finally have the series that’s deserving of the concept, and of course Whedon’s rich imagination.