Dollhouse

TV Review: DOLLHOUSE - SEASON TWO - ’Stop-Loss’

Victor gets released then kidnapped by another branch of Rossum in a story-enhancing and action-filled but notably dour episode Grade: B Stars: Eliza Dushku, Harry Lennix, Fran Kranz, Tahmoh Penikett, Enver Gjokaj, Dichen Lachman, Olivia Williams, Liza Lapira Writer(s): Andrew Chambliss Director: Felix Alcala Release Date: December 18th, 2009 Rating: TV-14

By RACHEL REITSLEFF, Contributing Writer Published 12/19/2009

In the DOLLHOUSE episode “Stop-Loss,” Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett) is still brain-dead after Alpha’s attack in the previous episode, despite the best efforts of chief programmer Topher (Fran Kranz) to revive him. Echo (Eliza Dushku) has been released from solitary, but is upset and frustrated that head of house Adelle (Olivia Williams) won’t let her see Paul.

The Dollhouse contract of Victor (Enver Gjokaj) is almost up, so Adelle, who has done this sort of frowned-upon thing before, has him programmed as her lover “Roger” (Topher et al think “Roger” goes to visit an elderly lady) for one last fling. Adelle is angry and humiliated when “Roger” tells her he can’t make love to her because he’s in love with someone else. When Adelle confronts Topher about what she thinks is a mean practical joke and discovers Topher knows nothing about it (though now she’s let the cat out of the bag about her use of “Roger”), she realizes Victor’s feelings for fellow doll Sierra (Dichen Lachman), which we’ve seen growing throughout the series, have overridden his programming.

Victor is deprogrammed and returned to his old self, a U.S. soldier named Anthony who suffered post-traumatic stress disorder. For him, it’s as though five seconds have passed since he entered the Dollhouse five years ago. Head of house security Boyd Langton (Harry Lennix) tells Victor/Anthony what he needs to know: the Rossum Corporation, which runs the Dollhouse, has rented Victor/Anthony a suite at a good hotel, set up a bank account with good funds, etc. Victor/Anthony will be monitored for awhile to make sure there are no glitches.

Echo is disappointed that Victor is gone – she wanted to use him in her plan to free all the Dolls from the house. Sierra, even in her not-very-aware Doll state, says she’s sad for Victor because he’s “not ready to be by himself.” This seems true. On his own, Victor/Anthony is lonely, at loose ends and sleeps in the bathtub, which resembles his Dollhouse sleeping pod.

Echo goes to Adelle’s office and finds Adelle drunk. Adelle knows that Echo has become self-aware and can activate her personalities at will. There is a verbal confrontation, with Echo issuing an ultimatum to Adelle – the head of house can either join Echo and Boyd and Topher (and Paul, if Paul ever wakes up) or side with Rossum, but she can’t straddle the fence any longer. Related Articles TV Review: DOLLHOUSE - SEASON TWO - ’Meet Jane Doe’ 12/12/2009 TV Review: DOLLHOUSE - SEASON TWO - ’A Love Supreme’ 12/12/2009 TV Review: DOLLHOUSE - SEASON TWO - ’The Left Hand’ 12/7/2009 TV Review: DOLLHOUSE - SEASON TWO - ’The Public Eye’ 12/5/2009 TV Review: DOLLHOUSE - SEASON TWO - ’Belonging’ 10/24/2009 TV Review: DOLLHOUSE — SEASON TWO — ’Belle Chose’ 10/11/2009 TV Review: DOLLHOUSE - SEASON TWO - ’Instinct’ 10/4/2009 DOLLHOUSE - SEASON TWO - ’Vows’ - Early TV Review 9/25/2009 Comic Book Review: DR. HORRIBLE - ISSUE #1 12/8/2009 Stage Review: AN EVENING WITHOUT MONTY PYTHON 9/24/2009 TV Review: DOLLHOUSE - Season 1 - ’Omega’ 5/9/2009 TV Review: DOLLHOUSE - SEASON 1 - ’Briar Rose’ 5/2/2009 TV Review: DOLLHOUSE - SEASON 1 - ’Haunted’ 4/25/2009 TV Review: DOLLHOUSE - SEASON ONE - ’Spy in the House of Love’ 4/11/2009 TV Review: DOLLHOUSE - Season 1 - ’Needs’ 4/3/2009 TV Review: DOLLHOUSE - SEASON 1 - ’Echoes’ 3/28/2009 TV Review: DOLLHOUSE - SEASON 1 - ’Man on The Street’ 3/21/2009 TV Review: DOLLHOUSE - SEASON 1 - ’True Believer’ 3/14/2009 TV Review: DOLLHOUSE - SEASON 1 - ’Gray Hour’ 3/7/2009 TV Review: DOLLHOUSE - SEASON 1 - ’Stage Fright’ 2/28/2009 TV Review: DOLLHOUSE - SEASON 1 - ’The Target’ 2/21/2009 TV Review: DOLLHOUSE - Season 1 - ’Ghost’ 2/13/2009

A military team invades Victor/Anthony’s hotel suite. Victor/Anthony fights admirably but is finally taken down. His kidnappers turn out to be men from his former battle unit, who have signed on to a new military group. This sounds good to Victor/Anthony, who is ready to be a soldier again. His old teammates inject him with something that makes him part of a “group mind.”

Topher, doing routine monitoring of Victor, realizes something has gone very wrong. Boyd and Echo go to Victor’s hotel room, see signs of a struggle. Echo can now access personas at will, as she explains to Boyd, and tries to find the best one to deduce who has taken Victor. Echo and Boyd realize that Victor/Anthony has been taken by Rossum’s private army.

Boyd tells Adelle what has happened, but she’s still drinking and doesn’t want to fight Rossum. Topher, however, is up for rescuing Victor. Topher finally shares what’s going on with his put-upon assistant Ivy (Liza Lapira) and together they imprint Echo with all the personas she requests that may help her fight Rossum’s soldiers. Understanding that it will take something special to pull Victor/Anthony out of the group mind, Echo also has Sierra restored to her original personality, Priya. Priya objects to this, as being herself now comes with a memory of a self-defense murder, but Echo explains that in Doll state, Sierra would be virtually helpless.

Echo and Sierra intentionally get caught by the Rossum military. Echo is imprinted with the “group mind” technology. After this, she and Priya overpower their captors. Victor/Anthony finds Priya, but is ready to shoot her while under the control of the group mind. However, Priya gets through to him – he remembers her and is able to control himself well enough to function. After some tense face-offs, during which Victor/Anthony’s old military buddy is shot by his comrades, Echo is able to switch the orders around in the group mind and send all the soldiers marching away.

Adelle, still drinking, gets a call from Rossum higher-up Harding, who tells her where Echo and Priya are and what they are doing.

Echo attempts to set Victor/Anthony and Priya free in the desert, but all three of them are rendered helpless by remote Dollhouse technology. Back at the Dollhouse, a now sober and furious Adelle tells Echo that Harding was very impressed by her performance and wants to use her as a weapon. Adelle, however, has decreed that Echo is too dangerous and has her – along with Victor and Sierra – sent to the dreaded Attic.

There is no question that a whole lot of intriguing issues are raised in “Stop-Loss,” just as there’s no question that any episode giving lots of screen time to the versatile Gjokaj is onto a good thing. However, there seems something hasty and glib about the piling on of Echo’s abilities as shown here. To be fair, we know a lot of plot has to be crammed in to a finite amount of running time, but this aspect is so rushed that it’s not as viscerally satisfying as it might be if given more play and more nuance. The dialogue in “Stop-Loss” is also occasionally uncharacteristically on the nose, with even Topher blurting some bare exposition and Echo sounding rather like the grumpy Buffy Summers of that other Whedon series’ Season Seven.

On the up side, Dushku, Gjokaj and Lachman are all physically very impressive in their fight scenes, the romance between Victor and Sierra (or Anthony and Priya, or whoever they are) continues to be very sweet and Williams as Adelle is formidable both on a bender and soberly livid. Finally, it looks like we’ll be getting some answers about the long-threatened Attic.

“Stop-Loss” is good from a story standpoint, but because so much has to happen in such a short time frame, there are fewer grace notes than usual, and they are missed.