Dollhouse Doubles: “The Left Hand”

So, episode 6 of Dollhouse is a direct continuation of “The Public Eye” and it brings us several massive strides closer to the future we see in Epitaph One.

The episode opens with Bennett Halverson (Summer Glau) torturing Echo. Bennett is cold and indifferent to Echo’s pain, and while we accept it as part of her evil nature (evil as the audience perceives the show at least) it is interesting to note that it is a trait that our own beloved Topher shares.

Bennett notes that Echo does not call out to God. That she does not pray or even curse. “We take God from you too.” An interesting concept and a possibly commentary on the existence of soul… “You can’t even pass out.” Bennett notes, a possible hint for a later episode, that pain is almost ineffective on Dolls?

Meanwhile Cindy is effectively taunting Daniel, telling him the entire plan because in moments he wont remember a thing. “We spent three years building up your credibility and when you finally exonerate Rossum at the senate hearings today no one will question you.” She goes on to tell him how disgusting she feels being intimate with him, she is a truly hateful individual, hopefully she’ll get her comeuppance soon enough.

Cut to Topher and DeWitt in a limousine dashing through D.C towards the Dollhouse. Topher is giddy with excitement and fear and DeWitt feels the need to remind him of exactly what it is she expects from him. “Your soul purpose here is to hack into the D.C mainframe and acquire Senator Perrin’s imprint. Our one and only hope of discovering Rossum’s plan is to pull it from the Senator’s brain scan.”

Once inside the D.C Dollhouse they are greeted by none other than Ray Wise, the very Devil himself, masquerading as one Stuart Lipman. Lipman throws red tape at Adelle and she nods and smiles in a deceptively submissive way, while ensuring that Topher is allowed access to Echo and by extension Perrin.

“Business must be slow in L.A if you’re here. Who’ve you got minding the shop?” Wise remarks. “The only person in the world I trust.” Topher replies as the camera cuts back to L.A to reveal none other than an imprinted Victor in the process of calling Boyd “Man Friend”.

I have to give credit where it is due Enver Gjokaj does a superb Fran Kranz impression, it’s almost uncanny. I loved every minute of it.

When Topher and Bennett meet for the first time it is like (how I would imagine… not that I have any experience in this…) two geeky internet pen pals meeting the flesh for the very first time. And of course, like the nerd that he is, Topher suffers from verbal diarrhoea and he simply blurts out “What’s up with your arm?” In a rather insensitive way that will surely keep him from ever getting into bed with Bennett. “Dead.” she replies. “Nerves severed.” before quickly changing the subject back to Echo.

“She’s been Tranq-ed”  Topher notes. “Probably one of the Handlers” Bennett lies, beginning the dance of deceit that will run throughout the episode. Bennett cleverly manoeuvres Topher away from Echo by getting him to talk about the Disruptor. Knowing Topher’s weakness is his narcissistic nature she not only lowers his guard with praise, but she gets to learn about his tech too. Together they modify the device to be omnidirectional which then Topher then uses on Bennett to confirm his fear that she is in fact a Doll… She is not.

Topher then tries to explain why, telling Bennett about Whiskey and explaining that he thought that maybe the “real” Bennett might be using an Active as a double or a decoy. Bennett replies “That’s idiotic, Actives are beautiful.” When she realises what Topher is trying to say, she gets that giddy look of a school girl, before something clicks in her brain that makes her feel uncomfortable with the concept.

After Stuart phones Bennett and orders Echo’s release, she leaves and Topher phones himself back in L.A. for an hilariously geeky conversation about how hot Bennett is. It is genius. But he also manages to set up a link to steal Perrin’s imprint.

All of a sudden Perrin awakens and escapes, taking with him Echo, who has been imprinted with Bennett’s memory of losing her arm, while Bennett smashes her head into a glass pane to fool Topher into thinking Echo escaped violently. Lost and alone the Dolls seek out a coffee shop where they use the bathroom to cut out their GPS tracking strips.

Echo is having flashes of what happened to Bennett. Bennett is trapped beneath a concrete pillar with Caroline standing over her. “Don’t leave me…” Bennett cries. “Sorry sister, I stay, we both get nabbed.” I found this tiny sequence particularly interesting. I always felt that Caroline’s supposed reasons for joining the Dollhouse as shown to us in episode 7 “Echoes” was a little lame. Now we know that after her fiancé was killed in the Rossum building, Caroline continued the campaign, getting Bennett injured in the process.

Stuart dispatches Cindy to track down Echo and Perrin. Perrin is convinced that someone on the inside is helping them, they put the knowledge of how to escape in his head. It seems to me that it could only be Bennett or her assistant, but we’ll find out soon enough I guess.

Unable to track the Dolls any longer Topher and Bennett put their heads together and come up with a solution. Remember in my last post I said it was important that the GPS and Biolinks were separate… Topher plans to use the biolinks (which must be broadcasting a signal, which would surely be traceable but never mind) in conjunction with his disruptor, to target specifically Echo and Perrin’s brains and put them to sleep… The first giant step towards wireless tech.

Bennett brings up Daniel’s imprint so that Topher can target him (and so that Victor/Topher can download it). Daniel’s brain has not been wiped clean and had a new personality implanted but it has been augmented instead with new “bits” added or taken away. “It’s amazing you didn’t end up with a schizophrenic” Topher exclaims. “I have a theory” Bennett explains “That the human brain can hold multiple imprints and still function.” Something I think we’ll probably see implemented before this season is out.

Topher begins work on adapting the Disruptor while Bennett reprograms the signal to send an assassinate order to Perrin, effectively turning him into a terminator. This is obviously the second major step towards wireless tech.

At the Perrin mansion Daniel finally realises the truth, he’s better off now. “Even if I could, I dont know if I wanna be the man I was before.” He explains. “They’ve created someone who can bring them down, and that’s what I’m going to do.” Of course, only seconds later Topher fires his “magic bullets” and accidentally reprograms Daniel to kill everyone around him, starting with Echo.

Echo tries to teach Daniel to overcome his programming, proving that it is possible by using her left arm which Bennett had programmed her to believe was dead. Daniel however is not listening.

Topher phones himself for an honest opinion of what is happening and Victor tells him the truth. Bennett seems displeased. “You hacked into my system.” Topher gets angry “You tried to kill Echo.” it looks like the romance is dead. “So, we’re even?” Bennett smiles. “Not even, not even close. Shut him down now.” Bennett laughs.

“Do you know who Echo really is?” Without thinking Topher blurts out “She’s a friend” It odd that in these last two episodes Echo has been more publically “aware” than she has ever been before and not one person, not Topher or DeWitt has suggest wiping her, they all seem to have accepted that she is going to be more useful to them this way and for Topher to call her a friend, well that’s just the icing on the cake.

“I was her friend, her best friend” Bennett protests “And this is what I got for it.” She indicates her arm. “Shut Perrin down.” Topher demands, but Bennett is too bent on revenge. “It’s for the best.” And then, shock horror, Topher knocks her unconscious, before teaming up with himself to try and flip Perrin’s switch to off.

Meanwhile Cindy and her goons show up at the house and Daniel turns his attentions to his “wife” who may have really pissed him off when she told him he was disgusting earlier. Before Topher can turn off his killer instincts Daniel strangles Cindy. Moments later Topher reprograms Daniel but it’s too late. “She’s broken.” Echo explains. After a little agonising Echo and Daniel flee.

After the ad break we return to the senate hearings, where Daniel explains to the gathered press that his wife is dead. Killed by a consortium of companies that are trying to overthrow Rossum. He explains that he learned the truth about the consortium and they tried to have him killed, planting a bomb in his car and killing Cindy. Then Daniel turns on Madeleine and categorically states there is no Dollhouse and that she is a mental patient. Leaving the press hungry for more Perrin abandons the stage, his task finished.

So the episode closes with Echo finally free of the Dollhouse, November in the evil clutches of Bennett and Topher with a full Senator’s brain to analyse. Plus I finally managed to get this second post up before the set of Dollhouse Doubles airs, check it out, tonight on FOX.              

Dollhouse Doubles: “The Public Eye”

With Heroes, Flash Forward and Supernatural all on hiatus until after Christmas I will no longer be doing daily posts. The Tv Nibbles series will continue up until January with sporadic updates, however 2010 will see a new feature added to the blog which will replace the Nibbles, more on that in the new year.

But right now we have the first of the Dollhouse Doubles posts. Each episode will be in a separate post clearly labelled with the episode title. This post is for episode 5: The Public Eye.

This week sees Dollhouse get right down into the Mythology of the show, no more messing about with one offs and mini-pilots. It sees the return of Alexis Denisof as Senator Daniel Perrin, campaigning against the Dollhouse with the help of none other than Madeleine Costley, or as we know her better November.

With this second attack from Perrin on the Dollhouse DeWitt feels that action must be taken. Forming a brain trust; Topher, Boyd and Ballard begin to look at Perrin, but it takes Echo to point out that it is his wife that’s “Not Right”.

After a little more digging Ballard discovers that in fact almost everything about Cindy Perrin is fake, leading them to the obvious conclusion that she is in fact a Doll.

DeWitt and the others knew that someone was feeding Perrin information about the Dollhouse, but for his wife to be a doll makes no sense, right? Unless, like November, she is a sleeper agent, who could be triggered to “kill” Perrin’s investigation. Working under the assumption that Harding (big boss man from Rossum) isn’t stupid enough to trigger an active to kill a US Senator, DeWitt makes the logical leap that Cindy will be triggered to kill Madeleine.

In the Lab Topher is working on his “Disruptor” based on the tech he used to attempt to remote wipe Echo (the tech he attempted to copy from Alpha). He demonstrates how it works on Kilo, a tiny Asian Active. Essentially it sends a feedback loop to the biolinks implant. Now, for narrative reasons we HAVE to assume that the biolinks implant and gps tracking strip are different implants, the former presumably buried deep inside the active’s brain where it cannot be easily removed. Whatever the case he activates the device and knocks out Kilo… and every other Doll in the House.

The Disruptor does not wipe a Doll, it messes up the imprint and prevents it from functioning correctly, as we’ll see later. Topher, however does point out that the device will also affect Madeleine, because she still has Dollhouse architecture in her head. When Paul asks why, he gets no response. “No one ever really leaves here do they?” DeWitt and Topher simply stand silently, looking awkwardly away to avoid having to look Paul in the eye.

While Ballard takes the Disruptor and heads after Cindy, intending to bring her down before she can get to Madeleine, Boyd sends Echo out on an assignment. To do what? Drug and sleep with Daniel Perrin. That plan, however, quickly backfires after Daniel wakes up and, sort of, kidnaps his would be mistress. He explains to Echo that she is a Doll and offers to take her to see his wife, who he thinks may be able to help her, as well as use her as evidence against the Dollhouse.

As Daniel and Echo are speeding towards his location Ballard breaks into the safe house and tries to rescue Madeleine, however Cindy has shown her pictures of her and Paul and Madeleine believes he effectively raped her, breaking down any trust she had in him. She breaks away from Paul and runs screaming, Cindy appears and Ballard triggers the Disruptor, just as Echo and Daniel arrive. Cindy, however, is not a Doll, but to our surprise (or mine at least) Daniel is…

Now a couple of months ago I suggested that when Daniel Perrin discovered the full truth about the Dollhouse, Rossum would make him a deal, to put him in the Whitehouse, in exchange for allowing the Dollhouse to continue to exist. However, now that he is a Doll that theory seems unlikely, Daniel has effectively no power over the Dollhouse, because they can simply wipe him, any time they please.

However, why set a Doll on the Dollhouse in the first place? DeWitt suggests that maybe the political attack is not against the organisation but her House in particular, although to what benefit I’m not sure.

While Ballard is taken hostage, Echo and Daniel take off in the senator’s car. Both of them quickly realise they are in fact Dolls, although Daniel takes more convincing than Echo does.

Back at the safehouse Cindy gives her goons orders to execute Ballard, however the goons did not count on Tahmoh’s martial arts training and he whoops them good ‘n’ proper.

Cindy shows up and tries to convince Daniel to go with her but Echo kicks her ass while getting flashes from her previous imprints (a part of me really wanted a Faith flashback just for fun) and the two Dolls run off but without much success.

Cindy’s security staff drive Madeleine to the airport where Ballard catches up to her to warn her that she is being used, that the Dollhouse wants her to testify. When she asks why she should trust him he tries to explain that he sold his soul to the Dolhouse in return for her freedom. She seems less than grateful and ignores his advice.

Back at the Dollhouse DeWitt believes she’s figured it out. “With Perrin under his power, Harding controls how far the damage goes. The senate sub-committee will clear Rossum of any contact with us and Perrin will be hailed as a conquering hero who has rescued all these poor souls. He’ll have the politic power to pass all the laws and regulations Rossum has programmed him to”

But destroying the Dollhouses would lose Rossum a massive chunk of capital surely? Unless they believe they could continue to operate after coming clean?

Boyd asks what DeWitt plans to do… She replies simply… “Stop them.”

The last quarter of the episode takes place entirely within the Washington D.C branch of the Dollhouse, where the captured Echo and Daniel are brought. Chief techie Bennett Halverson is non-other Joss’ favourite diminutive little actress Summer Glau… 

Once again Summer plays a creepy, oddly intelligent, vaguely crazy person. Something she does well but… There is just something I don’t quite like about the character…

All the Dolls in the D.C house are named after Greek gods, is that narcissistic or just coincidence or are the D.C Dolls simply gods amongst Actives? Also is the Greek connection relevant? Greek letters, Greek gods?

The tech Bennett uses seems less advanced than Topher’s. Although that could just be that she favours function over aesthetics. Bennett spots Echo and immediately dismisses her assistant.

Cindy arrives and hands over the Disruptor to Bennett who immediately recognises it as being Topher Brink’s handiwork, although as far as we can tell the two have never met. Cindy tries to hurry Bennett along. “The hearing starts in 10 hours and if Perrin isn’t there the plan is blown and we’re demoted to being dead.” Clearly the boss at the D.C. branch is a bit of a Devil… :P

Bennett uses her OCD to drive Cindy from the lab and then sets to work on Echo… or as Bennett calls her… Caroline!

It seems that Bennett knew Echo before she became a Doll and clearly things did not end well. “Caroline, you always promised you’d come back to me…” Bennett whispers. “Let’s play…” She smiles wryly, before zapping Echo with electricity.

Doof!

To be Continued…

Tv Nibble: Epitaph One Flashbacks – Part 9

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8

I’ve been putting off writing the final Flashback because I’ve enjoyed this series of posts so much that I hoped it wouldn’t have to end. However, with Dollhouse Doubles on the horizon in a matter of hours, now feels like the time to conclude Epitaph One and look to the FUTURE…

This week’s flashback is really a continuation of last weeks. When we left our heroes, Topher had gone loopy, DeWitt had gone soft and Echo and Ballard had come through a cinderblock wall.

The Flashback starts with Dr. Saunders sewing up a wound on Echo’s leg. “Glad to see the Doctor back in the House.” Echo remarks. I’m assuming then that Dr. Saunders took off again at some point, rather than that she hadn’t returned after she left in season 2 and before Echo busted out of the Dollhouse. Echo asks about her face and Dr. Saunders replies “It’s a long story.”

“It’ll be difficult getting everyone to the compound.” Echo says, changing the subject. “The Tech Thingy doesn’t travel.” She is talking about the cure, the way to stop people being imprinted wirelessly. “It works?” Saunders asks. “We have Alpha to thank for that.” Echo replies. She does not however explain why Alpha is to thank. Is he helping the resistance or did something that Alpha did to/for Echo lead her to the cure? Is Alpha at the compound? Something inside me hopes that Alpha lived through to this point in the Story, although with Joss “Salvation” doesn’t tend to happen without sacrifice.

“I’m surprised to see you and Paul together.” Saunders remarks. “The jury is out on together, but he’s got my back.” This implies that Echo is now Caroline once more and that any emotional attachments Echo might have formed with her Handler/Would-be-Saviour have been wiped clean.

“I need Topher to put me in the Chair. Back me up on a drive, hard copy.” Echo knows that she might not make it back to the compound, the only way she can be sure everyone reaches “Safe Haven” is to make a copy of herself to guide those that she  cannot.

While Ballard preps the “lambs” DeWitt tries to pick a fight with Echo. She does so because she is more scared than she has ever been in her life. She is terrified that Echo/Caroline will leave her (and Topher) behind. “What about the rest of us, are you going to save us too or have you come to kill us?” Caroline replies coldly “Can you give me a reason not to?”

“I’m not going to plead with you, you’re mind’s made up.” DeWitt says solemnly, ready to accept Echo’s judgement. Caroline draws a pistol and cocks it. “Yes it is…” She replies.

Doof!

I’d like to hope that were that particular flashback ever to see airtime that Echo hands over the pistol and DeWitt finally takes her place on the right side of the fight, but now we’ll never know. Like we’ll never know why Sierra was not in the House or why Whiskey got left behind, or if Alpha is still alive, or any of a million questions that this singularly brilliant masterpiece posed to us.

This has been My Final Two Cents on a superb episode and a wonderful series. Tune in again soon for the Dollhouse Doubles series.    

The Big Switch On…

Calling everyone in the United States of America… Tonight, for two hours, please, whatever else you do, turn on your Tv’s and tune into Fox at 8pm.

First Impressions: Scrubs

Welcome to a new segment I’m calling First Impressions. In this  section of the blog I will be analysing Pilot episodes, I will be starting with Scrubs but others will be added later, as will a pretty flash button for the sidebar. I will also be combing through past posts and tagging them with the First Impressions tag, so all my Pilot musings are available to you guys at the click of a button.

Ok so new Scrubs: Med School started this week on ABC, although technically not a new show, it’s a new format and that is good enough for me.

Hopefully this isn’t too old school for people to follow, but new Scrubs felt like Saved By The Bell: New Class and J.D felt somewhat l like Screech, a remnant of the past that doesn’t quite fit.

As far as I was aware Med School was supposed to be a totally new show, NOT Scrubs Season 9. It isn’t. Other than four members of the full series cast plus some extras returning, the show seems to follow an identical format. There are those annoyingly, increasingly more ridiculous, day dream sequences, that worked so well during the early seasons (and yet failed drastically in the later). The same musical ding dongs undercut every moment in the same way they always did. J.D and Turk are possibly more exaggerated than ever and they completely dominate the new cast that is supposed to be replacing them. Plus, it’s still not funny…

I don’t want to blame Zach Braff for the decline of the laughs in Scrubs, but to be honest by the end of season 6, I hated his guts. J.D is incredibly selfish and the fact that he doesn’t realise it makes him almost detestable. What made Scrubs so funny and clever has been lost along the way and replaced with slapstick and increasingly ridiculous stories.

I hoped that Med School would return the show to it’s roots, but it seems I am out of luck. Instead of the characters being subtle and understated, they are outlandish caricatures. Lucy is a Zach Braff clone with a skirt, even Denise (Jo)  seems to be a reinvented version of herself.

That said, assuming J.D gets relegated to the background as promised I can see some potential. Drew is a really good character and the way Mosley and McGinley play off each other seems promising. I also have high hopes for Eliza Coupe (Denise) who was my favourite new character from last season.

But I can’t help but feel that nobody has learnt from the mistakes of the last four seasons and this new reboot is going to fall into the pits that it’s predecessor did. The problem with that is that the audience already expects the show to fail, for it to not be as good as Scrubs and the moment that happens Med School will be closed for good.

Tv Nibble: Heroically Bad Exit

This week’s Heroes “The Fifth Stage” was truly a mishmash of good plot, mixed with terrible script/direction choices.

Claire and Gretchin go to see Samuel. While Noah and Lauren try to figure out what Samuel’s plan is. However the core of this week’s episode is Peter and Sylar/Nathan.

Taking the Haitian’s ability Peter sets out after Sylar. I really liked this plot twist. Peter intended to use René’s ability to purge Sylar’s memories, leaving only Nathan. Great! We get rid of Sylar! Plus Peter could have turned darkside, tormented by what he had done in order to return his brother.

Instead, Peter returns Nathan, but Sylar remains intact inside. Nathan decides he cannot live this way and throws himself off a building. This is a truly terrible moment and one of the worst “death scenes” in the show, ever! Also, it was incredibly dumb. As Nathan’s body falls out of range of Peter’s ability Sylar takes over and heals himself. Why didn’t Nathan stab himself, or blow his brains out? Do something where Peter’s ability to stop other abilities would mean that Sylar would die too? If Nathan had determined to take himself out of the game, why not do one last good deed?

Ok, so maybe I just want Sylar dead… The episode ended with Claire choosing to stay with Samuel. However, Samuel comments “She is not the one I’m after” so can we assume, by that, he means Noah? Or maybe Peter? As Samuel does the final pontificating voice over bit that almost all episode of Heroes end with we see flashes of the other characters. Most interestingly Hiro, Ando and Mohinder, all of whom appear to be running through a jungle. Oddly, last time we saw Ando he was in Japan, Hiro was in the circus and Mohinder was in a mental asylum, how exactly did they all end up together? I’m guessing we’ll find out soon!

Heroes will return in January for the final six episodes of Redemption.  

Tv Nibble: Flash Forward Comes Clean

I’ve accused Flash Forward before of remaining completely irrelevant until the last possible moment, but I never realised I was talking about the whole series. This week’s episode “A561984”, the last episode before the hiatus, was a non- stop rollercoaster of information and reveals.

Demetri and Mark head off to China in the hopes of changing the future and preventing Demetri’s ultimate demise by discovering the Iranian woman who rang Demetri 7 episode ago. Meanwhile Myhill, Simcoe and Campos come out and admit that their experiment happened to coincide with the flash forward.  

Tracking down the Iranian woman causes Mark no problems at all, neither does making her talk… and talk she does. She tells Demetri exactly who will kill him and even the serial number of the gun that would be used. To be precise, it would be Mark’s gun!

In an effort to change that very future Mark takes her hostage and ensures that Agent Wedeck has no other option than to can his ass. Off the mosaic team and out of the FBI, Mark believes that he can no longer live out the future he has seen.

Meanwhile the members of the National Linear Accelerator Project (or NLAP) have gone their separate ways. Simon Campos has turned to the FBI, offering to help Wedeck (and presumably replacing Mark as the head of the Mosaic project). Janis shows him the five towers in Somalia. Simon applauds the FBI’s creativity, claiming the towers almost look real. However when Wedeck points out that they are real Simon is angry and claims it is impossible.

It turns out that Simon designed these laser accelerator thingies in 1992, a year after they were built, and they are still only a theory, not an actual reality. Are we therefore looking at another show about time travel? Or is Simon not as clever as he thinks he is?

Also in this episode Zoey finally realises the truth behind her flash forward, she is not at her wedding, but in truth she is at Demetri’s funeral, which resolves that inconsistency.

Meanwhile Lloyd is trying to get his son to a more secure location, helped by the almost flirtatious Olivia, however (as was pretty obvious) the ambulance drivers are phoneys and they bundle Lloyd into the back of the ambulance and drive away.

Doof!

So, a pretty exciting episode, probably the best so far. It certainly looks like when the show returns (February?) we’ll be looking a different format. Simon will be helping the FBI, while Mark will have gone rogue. Unfortunately I still don't really care much about the other characters back stories so I’m still just hoping for answers about the blackout and the flash forward but this episode was enough to keep me hooked until Flash Forward returns in 2010.