Dollhouse: Vows

By Sonia Aurora

I’ve been out of the loop for Dollhouse since the end of last season. I haven’t bought Season 1 on DVD yet (because I generally wait to put TV shows on my Christmas or birthday list, depending on which is closest). But I’ve been looking forward to it, cautiously, hoping that it would begin on the higher notes of the greater episodes rather than the filler episodes between the greats. And, without having “Epitaph One” to guide me as to whether or not this season will be great, I dove in.

It did take me a second to get up to speed again. As Echo is being prepped, her new creepy handler hovering over her, I got a little disconcerted by Ballard not only being in the room but by his sharp button down and slacks (ok, I was distracted by the two loose top buttons…yum..). Attire in general was distracting, with Topher’s Spiderman-esque vest. Ballard’s concerned about whether or not she might glitch and Topher assures his new frenemy that she won’t. One of the computer screen’s glitches to a scene from Bride of Frankenstein, and Topher suspects it’s Saunders.

Langdon and DeWitt chat, and it’s clear he’s not happy about Ballard being around, nor Echo’s new long term engagement, which we come to learn is that she married some gangster/mobster/bad guy of some sort, played by Apollo, er, Jaime Bamber (in his native accent). They both run into Victor, whose scars are healing, and DeWitt caresses his face. I feel for her tenderness and her loss. (On a side note – love her new haircut. Sharp, short and very Adele).

Opening credits – a spattering of Eliza Dushku. Yes Eliza is hot, Yes, Dollhouse lets her showcase her acting range. No, we don’t want to be beat over the head with these two incidentals.

I get giddy that Alexis Denisof is a guest star and that Joss wrote and directed this ep, both of which elevate the caliber for me. As Topher and Ivy chat, Sierra comes in all Jackie Kennedy Chanel-ed up, and makes an odd pass at Ivy while insulting her at the same time. Topher opens up some cabinets where someone has hidden a ton of lab rats, apparently a huge fear of Topher’s. This time he calls Saunders out and she berates him over the phone as she watches him cower in rodent-fear.  Saunders is messing with his head, and he thinks she’s losing it, but he says that’s her problem not his (considering she’s also a doll, isn’t it?). Langdon comes in to chat and he lets her know Victor’s surgeries are practically gone, due to some high stakes surgery that DeWitt authorized (this is a rarity, Saunders points out). Doesn’t seem fair, and Saunders knows it. Her disdain is subtle but sublime. Langdon seems to like her better now, but why? Is it pity? Curiosity? No, he wants to ask her to dinner. That thought freaks her out, considering that her “entire existence was constructed by a sociopath in a sweater vest.”  She’s also afraid to leave the Dollhouse, afraid of the outside and everything in it, and she senses that she’s “built” that way. Langdon thinks they’re excuses, because everyone has issues.

Hugo, a creepy accented wedding guest takes a call at the Echo-Apollo wedding and discusses something about a shipment. Cute couple banter ensues. Ballard is still WAY too obsessed with Echo, as he listens from his lonely uni-bomber apartment as Echo and her new hubby consummate their wedding night. This scene cuts in contract, going from Ballard’s hermetic existence to the joys of the wedding night, one washed in shadowy lighting vs. the other swathed in candlelight.

Echo walks into a backroom of a nail salon? Hairdresser? And there’s Ballard, who she calls partner. She mentions she’s sore (her feet, perv) and tosses her shoes off and rests her feet in his lap. Aha, this midnight surveillance amounts to something more. Ballard’s own obsession is almost made subtle by the fact that he’s working with Echo on her assignment, but what better excuse to keep tabs on his twisted fixation? Echo is undercover married to the biggest arms dealer on the coast, aha, so it’s a cover within a cover…apparently for 5 years the FBI’s been trying to infiltrate Martin Klar, and it’s only now worked with Echo coming in as the bride. She’s flippant about the sex, she wants justice and won’t be blind about it. They are trying to figure out what else the family might be moving (instead of guns, they rule out diamonds and dirty bombs). As they chat Echo asks Ballard questions about their faux history and he moves a cheat sheet so he can answer her with the honesty she’s expecting. The cavalry (aka Echo’s handler and henchmen) move in to bring Echo to her treatment and check out the “wiring and plumbing” for the long term engagement and Ballard is insistent to get her back asap. Ok, says pervy handler, you’re the client.

Ah, I love these wrinkles in the fabric of the plotline…

There is a veiled bitterness to the exchange between Saunders and Echo as Saunders examines her.  Knowing that Amy Acker’s been tapped to be on another show (but also knowing that she could come back if new show fails), I wonder what will happen to her character; if anything significantly damaging happens now, or if she’ll fade, somehow.  In the Whedonverse, anything can happen, so I’m curious to follow the fold. I’m concerned, though, since I love how this character has been developing, especially with the revelations of last season. I want to know more of those consequences. Echo has a bizarre flashback while Saunders does a pelvic gynecological exam where she and Saunders are dressed to the 20’s and almost start to make out.  Echo sits up and addresses her as Whiskey.  Saunders freaks a bit, trying to see if someone asked her to say that to her. Echo also says she was Number 1, but that she doesn’t remember the rest. I’m thinking Topher planted that, to mess with her as Saunders’ has been messing with him, and it would make sense for him to assert his power and prowess that way. Saunders reminds Echo that Alpha cut up her face so Echo could be #1. Is she? Echo asks as Saunders reaches for a scalpel. “I try to be my best.” “Go be your best,” Saunders says, waving a lollipop that she instead pops in her mouth. “No one is there best in here,” responds Echo.

Wesley, er, Alexis Denisof plays Senator Daniel Perrin who proves to be a potential thorn in the side of the rulers of the Dollhouse – Rossum Corporation (which also means – recurring character!). His platform is that Rossum is withholding medical enhancement. DeWitt is worried, watching this press conference, while Langdon assesses him by his suit, which conveys Perirn has money, which he was probably born into, and ambition, which he’s cultivated in spite of having money. The Dollhouse is now on the Senator’s radar, but why now? They suspect Ballard, who walks into the conversation. A little faceoff between the Langdon and Ballard before Lnagdon leaves. As DeWitt and Ballard talk, he’s sort of stuck in that he can’t bring down the Dollhouse but can use them to his advantage to get this gun runner caught via Echo. DeWitt suggests he become Echo’s handler (not surprised, seeing as current pervy handler just doesn’t fit the bill past this ep…might as well outfit him a red shirt now, Joss). Ballard starts his sanctimonious “I don’t work for you” and starts to storm out as DeWitt mocks him working for the “betterment of mankind, fighting crime by listening to Echo have sex; it’s terribly noble.” (ouch, score 1 for DeWitt, or 2 if you like the new ‘do).  Of course her picking at his scab rattles Ballard, and DeWitt keeps coming, saying how he never asks about November (aka Mellie, aka Madeline) who he petitioned to have released. She digs that he had her released not because he cared for her, but because he was done with her; not so with Echo. As this is going on, Hugo is talking to the hubby Martin that they have to meet (though Martin puts it off til morning); it seems that he knows about Echo and Ballard, as he’s sifting through pictures of the two of them. Crap.

Topher’s asleep while Saunders comes in and fondles him before he wakes up in a tizzy, then scrambles to cover up his reactionary urges while trying to rationalize with crazy Saunders, who is convinced this is the ending for them, that he designed someone to hate him so she would then need to love him.  She almost convinces him til he shoves her off. He says she’s due to get a treatment, she counters with an exasperated, “Why shouldn’t I love you? Aren’t you loveable? Aren’t you Big Brother? Aren’t you the Lord my God…”  He says she’s better than him, that even though he was designing a person (not a roomba), he still had to make her at least disagree with him, so that they wouldn’t miss anything that could hurt them, hurt the Dolls. But he didn’t imprint her to hate him – that was a choice she made. He’s actually whimsical about this development, but she’s not convinced. “How do I live? How do I go through my day knowing everything I think comes from something I can’t abide?” Topher tries to convince her to get her identity back, which she chose not to look at the end of season 1.  Saunders she wants to die, but she is afraid to give up her body even though what she is (what is she?) she can’t stand.  “I’m not better than you. I’m just a series of excuses,” she tells him. When Topher tells her that she’s human she snarls, “Don’t flatter yourself.”

Echo wakes up post-coital rumpled in Martin’s bed.  She wanders the house til she gets to his office where she starts to jimmy the one drawer that’s locked. Lo and behold, Hubby Martin is behind her watching from the glass French door. Ominous music cues, and he comes in and would love to hear her excuse why she’s trying to ruin his grandfather’s desk.  She plays it great, as an obsessive bride who can’t stand surprises and needs to know where their honeymoon will be.  Looks like he might buy it til he slams her head on the desk, and she glitches for a moment, and she plays the victim actually instead of for pretend.  He produces the pic of her and Ballard as he spews about her being his enemy, and it occurs to me (as I’m slow) that he would know Ballard as he’s been on the case for 5 years (double duh, Sonia).  She then attacks him that she’s never seen Ballard, that he might have asked for the time and that’s when the photo was snapped;  she goes ballistic on him too, which is a great recovery. She tells him she’s not stupid, that she knows he’s not a financier. She didn’t marry his job and why would Ballard or anyone hate him that much. She’s about to make it work til she calls herself the wrong name and says, “Who did they make me this time?”

At this point I wish she would’ve fainted or something. Actually, I would’ve liked it if her head started moving crazy fast and smoke started to come out of her ears like her head was going to explode, but then I had to remind myself that she’s not a robot.

As they sit in a limo inside an airport hanger, we come to find out Martin is trafficking little bombs that aren’t dirty, per se, until you put them into the plutonium his buyers have. Ballard’s watching with binoculars and he calls to talk to Topher who’s watching Saunders drink from a flask. Yeah, things are definitely falling apart…

Topher realizes that the spike Echo had was not newlywed pleasure but pain. Concussed? Possibly. Instead of letting the ‘house henchmen retrieve Echo, Ballard decides a more dangerous strategy, and walks into the hanger. Martin beats him up, tells Echo he’s been ousted from the FBI while Ballard’s telling him he doesn’t know who he’s dealing with. At this point I am really hoping there is a November-esque trigger about to be spoken…instead Echo is switching from imprint to imprint and annoying Martin while Ballard is trying to assess things at the end of a proverbial (and literal) gun. Ballard advances on Echo and tells her to give it up and smacks her while she remembers him telling her that her name is Caroline and that he’d never hurt her. When he tells her to remember the Chinese restaurant, she glitches to the assassin persona and starts to beat Ballard up in the hanger. She’s beating on everyone at this point, except now Ballard and Martin start throwing fists themselves. One of Martin’s guys shoots at Ballard, Martin drives away and Echo jumps on the hood and hangs on. While I contemplate how someone can really hang onto a hood like that on a moving car, it turns out she also grabbed a little bomb and throws it in the car. Martin stops, drops and rolls out before the explosion. Echo beats him down and the honeymoon’s over.

DeWitt’s still pushing the handler job on Ballard, while Langdon walks into Saunders’ office only to find a note that says she’s running out of excuses. She’s escaped the Dollhouse. Victor’s all healed and the puppy love between him and Sierra still exists as she caresses his face the way DeWitt did. Ballard tells Echo that he hasn’t been doing his best knowing that she can’t remember, but she says that she remembers everything. She’s cognizant of going places, being other people, but “none of them is me.” He tells her she’s Caroline. She wants to find herself, find all of them that she’s been. She stretches her hand to him asking for his help in doing so, and the scene dissolves to Ballard being imprinted to Echo. “Do you trust me?” “With my life.” So with that, whether by the hand of DeWitt and Topher or by Divine Intervention, or the Caroline that exists in the recesses of memory that can’t be completely erased, Ballard becomes Echo’s handler.

I liked the episode, but I can’t say I loved it. I have to definitely come to terms of how things are changing in the Dollhouse. But there were a lot of “duh” moments. Of course, Ballard would wind up being Echo’s handler; he could only shake his fist at the Dollhouse without being a G-man anymore. Of course Echo would expand from the kewpie Doll she is; she’s special, after all. Of course they would find ways to have Eliza show her boobs in a shirt that was 2 sizes too small.

But I did enjoy the introduction of a new enemy who shares the potential passion (if not obsession) of Ballard in Senator Pellin. It was a blip in this episode, but we all know that is something that will build into something much bigger overtime.

The most pleasant surprise and disappointment was Saunders and her cracking, but then her disappearance. Even though knowing it was coming, it was nice to have it open-ended, but I do hope it will still be explored (hears to Amy’s contract with New Show allowing some hiatus to come back!). I also enjoyed showing more facets to Topher’s character beyond the Supreme Being he likes to flaunt he is. Yes, he rules the Dollhouse roost, but he can’t tell anyone. His genius is lost, and he is lonely. I like seeing how palpable that is for him, but also the misguidance of what he does. He thinks that creating a doll as a “human” is a good thing, where Saunders tried to draw the curtain back to show how de-humanizing it is. I’d like Topher to continue some kind of moral struggle.

It was a solid start to the season, and I definitely hope it continues to build on all these potential themes. I have Faith, after all. (And yes, there was a Eliza-Buffy reference to that statement).

About Sonia Aurora: Aspiring screenwriter and seamstress, Sonia’s dream is to write life-changing films while product-placing her own line of handbags. In 1999, she wrote, co-directed and co-starred in the short film Dr. Lovestrange, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bug, a satirical homage to Stanley Kubrick set amidst the panic of Y2K (Featured on ifilm.com & Coming Soon to YouTube!). While Sonia waits patiently for the Studios to call, she continues her selfless, humanitarian efforts (think Mother Teresa) through her scripts, short stories and sewing (a true triple-threat!), knowing all the while that someday her efforts will indeed save (or at least mildly tweak) the world. She still struggles with which picture to kiss before bedtime: her boyfriend’s or Bruce Campbell’s. And, in the interest of time, she’d like to start thanking the Academy now.

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