Tv Nibble: Epitaph One Flashbacks - Part 7

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

Ok, Flashback Seven focuses on the rebellion, primarily Victor and Sierra. They are clearly in the Dollhouse, even if the surrounding doesn’t tell us this, Sierra (or as she is now, Priya) talks about going “Above ground.”

I think it is interesting that the, by now, ex-dolls, would use the Dollhouse as their base of operations. Because of this we can assume by this point DeWitt and Topher have changed sides and rebelled against the Rossum Corporation, either freeing the Dolls and abandoning the House or possibly staying and fighting along side them.

Whatever the case Caroline seems to be absent, possibly she has founded “safe haven” by this point (using the “cure” DeWitt talked about last time), but maybe not. This flashback is clearly a long way off from where we are at the moment (and judging by Fox’s airing schedule, too far off to be worth guessing which season it might be in). The “Tech” has gone wireless and the Dolls have been set free.

Sierra is in pain and Victor asks her to take her meds. Is this in someway related to episode 4 “Belonging” and Sierra’s mental illness? Or is it a side effect of having once been a doll? Sierra declines her meds, saying “If this is what it means to be me, I’d rather deal with the damn pain.” For some reason this makes me think Sierra’s transformation back to Priya is a recent thing.

Sierra confesses that she is unhappy, she says the others (presumably other Dolls) make her crazy, then she suggests leaving. Victor admonishes her. “You don’t want to end up like November” Sierra replies

“Which one?”

Well that was sneaky wasn’t it. Clearly something happens to November but is that the November from season 1 that Ballard helped to free or is it the new November who will replace her in season 2? Or can we take Sierra’s reply to mean that something bad happened to both of them?

After this Sierra reveals that she has been Birth Marked (a tattoo of their real name across their back), a process now used by the Actuals so that they will remember who they are,  and Victor reveals that he has a hidden stash of Topher’s back ups, just in case they should ever need to re-imprint themselves. “So now you can always be yourself again.” Victor says with a half smile. “As long as there is someone to lead us back.” Sierra replies pessimistically. 

Little clues permeate this flashback, giving us hints but very few answers as to what has happened and what is happening. The fact that Victor has the backups (and the fact that they are still there up to ten years later) suggests that either the Dolls had no need for them or, as Sierra suggest, there was no one left to lead them back. It also suggests that maybe Topher has gone, because otherwise why would he let Victor take the original copies of the Dolls personalities?

Whatever the case, this period in the Dollhouse universe seems to be an extremely interesting one, one I hope FOX will allow us to explore.