Dollhouse: Getting Closer

By Sonia Aurora

I cried out at the end of this episode, but I’m still processing why I’m upset. As I write this I think I’ve finally got my finger on it, but I’ll know more when I finally sit down to watch “Epitaph One” this week before the final two Dollhouse episodes.

This episode goes back and forth in establishing who Caroline was because there is the Big Reveal of the Big Bad, er, Rossum Leader at the end. I didn’t agonize over whoever that could be – I suppose it was naïve to think that it would be some big name actor, though it made sense to make it a character we’ve met before from the Dollhouse Universe. I’m struggling with the choice, because it seems almost disingenuous. Was this reveal always in the story arc? Would this have happened if the show were ending in 5 years instead of in 2? Was this always that plan, and, if so, did they have time to flesh it out so I can stop being so peeved? And will it all gel by the final episode, so I can cry out in broken-heartedness instead of exasperation?

So three years before all this is going on Caroline infiltrates DeWitt’s office. She’s smart enough to use sex for it, seducing a Rossum Building security guard and getting into the Dollhouse without exactly knowing what it is. She sees they have a file on her, and one on Bennett. She then goes to Tucson and wittingly befriends the poor geeky girl.

Meanwhile, in the present Dollhouse, they have to try and reassemble Caroline. Her original self (wedge) is missing from the vault. DeWitt for a moment suspects Echo, who admits she would’ve suspected herself too, and that she’s secretly glad it was missing. Echo’s a real girl now, and she doesn’t want to give up her squatting rights. They do have the pieces of the backup wedge that Alpha destroyed,

But they are going to need help…

Topher and Ivy set up a ghost chair, which basically taps into the imprint chair in DC. Ballard and Victor go in and kidnap Bennett. Ballard sees Mellie (aka Madeline aka November) and he’s gotta get her as well.

Topher, still head over heels over Bennett, apologizes for punching her in the face and is trying to go in for a kiss while also explaining the fact he needs her expertise to reassemble this broken imprint. She’s smart enough to ask who is it they want to piece together and even though Topher doesn’t say, Bennett glimpses Echo and realizes it’s Caroline.

It’s apparent that Caroline straddled the line of good and evil. DeWitt says that, having been the only one who actually met her, that she was pretty much a spitfire. As this episode progresses, we come to learn that her agenda in bringing down Rossum superseded everything else, including friendships. But it’s not that she’s bad, DeWitt says Caroline was dangerous because she was an idealist. That would make sense because that idealism blinds her, as we will see.

Bennett punches Topher back (off screen) and she gets quarantined. We come to find out that Dr. Saunders has been shacking up with Boyd, and it’s actually really sweet. He asks her to come in with him; they’re going to need her help. Echo realizes Ballard isn’t the same…he’s a doll but he is a doll of Ballard (much like the Senator was a version of himself, only better). The thing that was sacrificed? His feeling for Echo. It was the brightest part of his brain, it was the healthiest part that would allow them to reconstruct what was destroyed.

Back in the past, Bennett realizes Caroline’s using her, but she’s not upset; in fact, she’s more upset she’s not being used more to bring down Rossum. So Caroline asks if Bennett wants to blow up a building…

Echo and Langdon stand watching Bennett. She’s happy for his relationship with Saunders, and he tells her DeWitt is ordering a lockdown. She runs off because she has to do one thing, and that is letting Priya (Sierra) and Anthony (Victor) escape for at least the night. They are on the brink of war and they deserve the time together…and, she tells them, it’s OK if they can’t find their way back. As they escape, Dominic appears in his attic getup, disoriented and falls into Echo…Clyde’s dead and Rossum’s onto them. Topher’s freaking, because can Dominic’s intel “from the Matrix, or Tron” be reliable? DeWitt believes they need to act as if it’s truth, and even though Dominic is worse for wear they can’t risk bringing him to the hospital. It’s more important to have someone on the inside once they hit the mainframe, so they send him back to the Attic. Ballard’s outraged; he just doesn’t seem to know Echo anymore. Also, Mellie is back (as Mellie) because, DeWitt reasons, they need someone who trusts Ballard implicitly.

Back in Caroline-and-Bennet-as-friends time, Caroline’s planting bombs in Rossum while Bennett monitors stuff. Caroline comes across a room that’s not in the blueprints and she sees there’s a person. She delves in deeper and sees several people, in space age tubing, one with an exposed brain. Caroline screams to Bennett that they need to abort, but there’s no time. Bennett won’t leave without her, a test subject grabs at Caroline as she starts to run, and then Ka-(boom)…

Mr. Ambrose and 2 Rossum henchmen confront DeWitt and Langdon; he’s coming in to take over the Dollhouse since no one escapes the Attic, but after the shooting stops, Langdon’s gotten all 3. He’s been hit too, though it’s a through and through, it’s safer for him to leave. He promises a very upset Saunders that he will be back for her.

Topher and Ivy are, in the meantime, restoring all the Dolls to their former selves to release them before the battle begins…

Bennett’s trapped under the wall, and Caroline does leave her, because she could fake her way to safety as if she were working late; that way, only Caroline is caught. It’s actually a more rounded memory, Caroline isn’t as heartless, but when a dead arm is a constant reminder that, no matter what, your friend walked away from you, it’s easy to see why time would warp that memory.

Echo convinces Bennett that if she can resurrect Caroline long enough to save everyone, then Echo will gladly hold her down while Bennett does whatever she wants to her (meaning Caroline). That’s the incentive Bennett needed, and she goes to help Topher. He apologizes again, they’re chemistry and geeky-love abound and they do share a few kisses (though it hurts through the swollen lip that Bennett gave Topher).

Saunders comes in when Topher goes to grab one more component that will help the resurrection process go faster, and the good doctor tells Bennett she’s surprised that Topher’s in love with her. She was convinced that Topher wasn’t capable of love. Bennett’s innocent and giddy at the prospect that Topher likes her, and I’m waiting for the shoe to drop. At this moment, and when it comes to Topher, I don’t trust Saunders, and I’m right not to. Saunders calls Bennett remarkable and shoots her in the head as Topher walks in, to be covered in brain splatter.

So Saunders was an (expletive deleted) sleeper, and I’m pissed. Because I like Summer Glau, and I’m getting tired of the double crosses and deaths and I just want to answers now. I’m exhausted. My brain hurts and I just want this episode to be over, because it feels so long, and for most of it in a good way, but with Bennett dead, I’m just depressed and down. Just tell me who we need to destroy so the Dollhouse can go with it.

Caroline walks right into DeWitt and Dominic in the past to be apprehended and the Big Boss wants to see her (finally!) She enters and elevator, and she’s the only one that goes up.

Topher’s a little catatonic though DeWitt’s trying to sternly and logically talk him through and out of it. Bennett’s done for; they can’t resurrect her because she was shot were it counts (the brain) and soon he gets up and finishes assembling Caroline. As he’s working, he pushes Ivy away and tells her to run, leave, go out and live. “Don’t be like me,” he pleads. She goes.

They are officially breached when smoke bombs and ninja like army dudes come in on ropes from the roof. Ballard leaves to get some reserves (weapons). DeWitt is told she has to leave because they can’t lose their “general”, so she get out with Mellie in tow. Topher sets up to imprint Echo with Caroline so they can finally get their answer. A bad guy come through, weapon raised, as Echo’s being imprinted and Topher goes knocked out. But someone comes in and breaks the guys neck. It’s Langdon…yay! He puts his hand on Echo’s. “Hang on,” he tells her.

Caroline walks into the office and meets Clyde Randolph…the 5th. His partner is anxious to meet her, and it’s…LANGDON. (you don’t even wanna know what I said out loud to this reveal). He tells her a bunch of stuff about how she’s special, how she’s the shape of things to come, stuff like that. Sarcastically she says, “And I’m just gonna trust you?” He cups her face. “With your life.”

ARGH!

Seriously? Really? Langdon? My sweet, awesome BOYD is the BAD GUY?!?!?!?

I just have a hard time buying it. The seeds might have been planted in an imagination stretch, but, still, I’m pissed. I LOVE Boyd. I feel like the rug got pulled as I got sucker punched. I’m angry, and I almost don’t care if they explain it all. I mean, I DO care; they had BETTER explain all of this. But I’m annoyed, in watching the previews for the next ep, how Langdon’s got that maniacal bad guy grin on his face now. His calm demeanor and levelheadedness, the main reasons why he was my favorite character, seem erased as part of his new “true” self. So it stirs all these emotions in me, which should be good, but I can only focus on anger now, because there’s only 2 hours left. Because it feels like a sham or publicity stunt. Because I feel betrayed.

I do wonder if Echo will react the same as I am. I’m torn between her hurting him and helping him (can he come away from the dark side?). I just feel like I don’t know anymore…I feel like I left the confines of the Attic and my brain just turned to mush….

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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