Previously: Echo got mind-wiped in the middle of a heist and learned how to draw like Picasso.
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True Believer
Stephanie: First I need to share that when I realized I would have to recap this episode, I yelled out, “NO!” That should be enough to let you know how I feel about it.
Lorraine: A common Snark Lady problem. In fact, Kirsti was known to work out who would get what episode during entire seasons of Buffy. That moment of realization that an episode is yours is best drowned in Goblets of Win.
Sweeney: Not knowing what trauma lies ahead is one of the occasional perks of Snow Life.
Stephanie: Lucky Sweeney. Although this is the last of the episodes I’m #meh on so.. YAY!
Pleasant, Arizona. A bus of singing folks drives past an auto service shop full of disapproving people. The bus stops and the riders hop off to make their way into a little convenience store, still singing. They’re extra smiley and dressed in a way that suggests wholesomeness. Inside, the lead singer hands the shopkeeper a list of items. A particularly irritated mechanic and his posse enter. Mad Mechanic drops an aerosol can near Lead Singer and demands that he pick it up. Lead Singer ignores him and continues to sing. The shopkeeper doesn’t want any trouble but the Mad Mechanic is convinced that the singers are a group of terrorists or something because there’s tape and rope in their box of supplies. They might just be a 50 Shades of Grey fan club.
Lor: A+. If that’s the case, I don’t know that I can blame Mad Mechanic for his rage.
Stephanie: Mad Mechanic is so mad about the singing, ignoring, and box of S&M items that he pushes Lead Singer into a display of products. The sheriff enters and breaks up the kerfuffle. A big hat and a star pin means sheriff right? Let’s go with that. As the group leaves with their box of toys, the sheriff comments to the shopkeeper that their smiling faces freak him out more than their singing. The shopkeeper says that maybe they’re just happy. As he says this, he turns over the shopping list where the words “SAVE ME” are written. So probably not. (L: If only Ana Steele had thought of something like this.)
Segue to the Dollhouse. A man voice overs about the difference between true happiness and bliss while Echo does yoga. He explains that true happiness cannot be achieved if you have no self-awareness or will. It sounds as though he’s speaking about the actives, but he’s describing the singing cult to Adelle. The man is a senator who wants to hire an active to infiltrate the cult because his election year won’t go so well if anything shady is happening on the compound. He thinks the cult will know if the ATF sends someone undercover, so he needs a “true believer” on the inside instead. (L: Better reason for hiring a doll than, say, having a baby on a mountain.) (S: This is actually the most logical “we need a doll” assignment yet. This and Most Dangerous Game, I guess.)
Police station. Paul tries to flirt his way into getting another agent (Loomis) to scan a face and find some matches since she has clearance for all the special face databases. Something like that. He uses his just-got-shot status and cute-weird face to get pity from her. Loomis grabs a yellow envelope from him, so she’s probably going to do the scanning.
Back at the Dollhouse, Dominic and Adelle walk through the halls discussing the cult infiltration engagement. Dominic doesn’t think Echo is suitable for the job because she’s too unpredictable. He’s concerned that they haven’t learned anything from the Alpha disaster, and that perhaps Adelle likes Echo too much. Adelle is like, “whatevs,” and walks away, leaving Dominic to wonder why he even says words.
Adelle enters Dr. Saunders’ office where Echo is having a check up. She dismisses Echo for lunch, but Dr. Saunders puts a halt on food since Echo is going to have surgery. Echo’s just going to have to settle for relaxing massage instead. Dr. Saunders fills us in on the ridiculous procedure Echo will have to undergo for her mission. Dr. Saunders will perform an operation that will make Echo blind and essentially turn her into a human camera. Once again Echo is being handicapped in a way that will most likely put her in danger. Also, this just seems like an overly complicated way to send someone undercover.
Lor: I think the Dollhouse just has too much money and time on their hands. “Let’s give her asthma!” and “let’s blind her!” are just prime examples of this, “because we can,” mentality. That’s better than thinking these are just stupid plots.
Sweeney: Stupid plots is probably the correct explanation, but I definitely buy this “because we can” theory and will run with it to minimize my own irritation.
Stephanie: It’s apparent that Dr. Saunders isn’t happy about the procedure since it’s experimental and invasive. Topher says it’s basically just laser eye surgery that takes away your vision. NO BIGGIE. Topher shows off what they’ll be able to see through the Echo cam. He explains in a very complicated (for my tiny brain) way that her eyes will be the lenses. Echo won’t actually be able to see anything herself and the ATF will be fed all of the images. Dr. Saunders warns that the surgery is dangerous even if Topher is making light of it. The side effects include aneurysms, sneezing seizures (sneezures), and death. Adelle doesn’t give a shit, so Dr. Saunders unhappily gives a 24 hour time estimate for blindness completion.
Just outside of Pleasant, AZ, a group of ATF agents is being briefed on the cult situation. The leader of the cult group is an ex-con who goes by the name of Jonas Sparrow. After a spiritual conversion in prison, he and his followers (who left another cult to join his cult) (L: Twilight to FSoG fandom hopping!) set up a ranch. They believe the ranch is a hub of criminal activity and not just a space for joyful singing. They finally have a 48 hour warrant to search the ranch thanks to the SAVE ME shopping list. Boyd is present during all of this, making stern faces. He’s dressed in a stylish orange sweater, which I found humorous for some reason. Probably because everyone else is wearing dark clothes and ATF jackets while he looks ready for his photo shoot for The Gap’s fall line. (L: A+)
GQ Boyd is there as a private contractor recommended by the senator. He informs the ATF agents that he’ll be bringing in a woman, Esther, who will be accepted into the compound through a miracle. While Boyd speaks, we see Echo going from a massage to lying on medical table, prepped for the blindness procedure. Downgrade. There’s a shot of a sharp, drill-like object inching toward her eyeball. Just like laser eye surgery! There’s also a 3D model of Jonas’ head floating in a nearby monitor. I guess Topher was playing The Sims.
Cut to Boyd driving a now blind Esther!Echo. They make a few LOL blind jokes and Esther!Echo says, “do I hear a smile?” Boyd tells her she does like it’s a perfectly normal thing to hear people smiling. Esther’s backstory is that she’s a highly spiritual woman who became blind when she was 9. She doesn’t blame God for what happened because she sees her blindness as the start of her journey to becoming a new person. Get it? ‘Cause Echo literally becomes new people all the time.
Sweeney: I fear this show might break our “look at all the metaphors” tag…
Stephanie: Boyd drops Esther!Echo off in front of the compound. She uses her walking cane to get around the fence and through the entrance. All of the cult members gather around and stare at her silently. Now would be a good time for that singing, guys. She finds Jonas and feels up his face. Jonas looks at her like he’s lovestruck, which is reasonable because Eliza Dushku. Esther is able to immediately identify his face. That explains the creepy sim head.
Lor: OOOOOOOH! That explains it but I hadn’t actually put that together in my head.
Stephanie: LA-LA-LA-LA-LAAAA
Wow, those opening credits happened 12 minutes into the episode. (S: That’s even longer than the average overly long Veronica Mars teaser. At 12 minutes it definitely stops being a teaser.)
Police station. Loomis was unable to find any matches in her face database to Paul’s photo of Caroline. On the plus side, Paul’s neighbor, Mellie, is going to bring in his pain medication. Paul squints thoughtfully at the Caroline photo.
Compound. Jonas looks at Esther’s ID to confirm her identity and waves his hands in front of her face to confirm her blindness. Esther’s perspective is transmitted to Boyd and the ATF agents. Okay, hold on. If no one is supposed to know about the dollhouse, why are none of the ATF agents freaked out by the footage they’re receiving from a woman’s EYES? They’re just like, “so your friend has robot eyes? Cool.”
Lor: “She was born that way! I swear!”
Stephanie: Esther!Echo tells Jonas that God led her to the compound through a vision. In her vision she saw Jonas and he asks her to come. Vision Jonas let her caress his face, and that’s how she knows who he is. Face recognition is enough for the group to be all, “AMEN, come on in!”
The camera pans away from the group and up a hill so we can see where the ATF agents are posted.
Inside the compound, Lead Singer (Brother Seth) is really excited about the arrival of Esther. Jonas tells him it’s important to test her and make sure she is who she says she is to “keep the garden pure” and stomp all over her if she’s a serpent. The actor who plays Jonas has the most amazing crystal-like eyes I’ve ever seen. Wow. (S: THEY’RE DISTRACTINGLY PRETTY. I bet that’s how he lures people into his cult.)
Dollhouse. Victor is enjoying himself in the group shower. Sierra joins and comments on how the water is warm and feels nice. Victor agrees that it does feel nice. Except that what really feels nice is the erection he just got from gazing upon Sierra’s sexy bod.
Topher spots Victor’s arousal in one of his monitors. He rushes over to Dr. Saunders’ office and awkwardly attempts to explain what he just saw. He settles on “man reaction.”
Sweeney: 1430.
Stephanie: Ha! Both are amazing.
Dr. Saunders thinks it’s happening because Victor’s been repeatedly imprinted for romantic engagements with a client that goes by Miss Lonely Hearts. Topher doesn’t know how many times this has been happening, so they’ll have to go through tapes and count man reactions together.
Echo is being introduced to all of Jonas’ followers and rubbing all of their faces. I hope she washed her hands before showing up. Brother Seth comes in to tell her that Jonas wants to see her.
Meanwhile, the ATF agents are using the Echo-cam footage to identify the followers. Boyd asks if there’s any clues on who wrote the SAVE ME shopping list, but there’s not enough to go on at this point. The Echo-cam footage begins to scramble.
Esther!Echo is now in a pitch black room with Jonas. He waves a flashlight around in front of her eyes and asks her if she was sent by the government or if she’s involved with law enforcement. Esther is confused and responds that she’s not. Jonas turns on the light, but he’s still not convinced. He loads up a gun and blathers on about serpents and protecting his garden. He points the gun directly in front of Esther’s head and she doesn’t flinch or react at all, she simply says that everyone saved by Jonas is blessed. Jonas drops the gun, welcomes her to the temple, and leaves. Echo remains in the chair, unknowingly transmitting video of Jonas’ collection of weapons to the ATF.
Mellie shows up at Paul’s office with medication and manicotti. LOL. It’s both cute and weird. (L: I love her so much. She can show up at my 9 to 5, any day.) She also has another yellow envelope for him, given to her by a man in the hall. Paul matches the handwriting on the new envelope to the handwriting on the envelope that contained the photo of Caroline. He asks Mellie to describe the envelope man, but it ends up just being the guy from the mail room. Loomis confirms that the handwriting is a match, even though we can see it’s a match. But second opinions are always nice and stuff. Inside of the new envelope is a disk with the video footage of Caroline. Paul becomes preoccupied with taking notes so Mellie leaves. This is the second time she’s made you pasta. At least give her a nice goodbye.
Sweeney: You never know when this rudeness will cut your pasta supply short, pal. Better not risk that.
Stephanie: Dollhouse. Dr. Saunders and Topher are erection watching. Dr. Saunders is very professional about the whole thing and Topher is incredibly uncomfortable. Dr. Saunders eventually realizes that Sierra is the reason for all of Victor’s man reactions. He isn’t getting excited because of the lonely hearts imprint. He has a crush.
ATF stakeout. The weapons collection is enough for them to bust in on Jonas’ compound. Boyd wants to get Echo out before they go in. The head ATF dude doesn’t want to wait because his mishandling of the previous evidence for Jonas’ criminal activities led to him getting out of prison after only 2 years. Now he finally has what they need to put Jonas away for good. Keeping Echo inside also means that they get to keep using her eye cams.
Boyd makes a call to the Dominic to get an OK on extracting Echo. Dominic assumes that Echo has started glitching again. Boyd explains that it’s not glitching. Echo isn’t prepared for what’s going to happen when the ATF raid the compound. Dominic says no to the extraction because he’s a douche whose favorite hobby is finding ways to get rid of Echo.
Sweeney: His complaints to his boss weren’t unfounded but this decision risks exposing your entire highly illegal operation. On the basis of simple pettiness. So that’s cool, Dominic.
Stephanie: Esther!Echo is being baptized and she’s now wearing a long flowing skirt and a button up shirt. It’s not cute. The ATF peeps creep around outside with guns. As they approach the building, someone’s foot activates a wire that sets off a bunch of floodlights. Jonas shuts down the lights on the inside, and arms his main man, Brother Seth, with a rifle. Gotta shoot those serpents. Jonas blames the raid on Echo and slaps her so hard she falls to the floor. Well, shit. I was kind of expecting there to be a twist where he wasn’t actually the bad guy. He goes in for another slap, but this time Echo grabs his hand before he can hit her. His first slap was so slaptastic she got her site back. This is a much better miracle than the first one. Echo’s vision recovery has knocked out the ATF’s video feed.
Sweeney: Nothing makes any sense, but I loved this moment all the same. I could gifstare for days at his, “WAIT, WHY IS THE ABUSED WOMAN RESISTING?” face.
Stephanie: Even though the “stopping the slappy/punchy hand shot” is used all the time everywhere, it’s always the best thing ever.
The next morning, the compound is completely surrounded by ATF agents, While Jonas, Echo, and Co hide out inside. One of the followers is confused about why Jonas has guns. Good question, my friend. Brother Seth tries to get Jonas to give everyone a morale boost, and I really hope he doesn’t because his speeches are boring. They wonder if Esther!Echo is the real deal since she seemed really blind earlier and now she’s really not blind. Jonas hilariously slides over to Echo. They cry at each other and he asks her if what happened is really a miracle. I have to note that there is one particular extra whose really been milking her mostly silent role with lots of hilarious emotion. Look:
Lor: Agreed. I want her to make it out of the cult alive, please.
Sweeney: Me too, in part because her amazing skillz have made her a total “That Guy.” Casting directors have stuck her in everything but after looking at her IMDb page I realized with sadness and shame that I recognize her from the short-lived October Road. I don’t really remember anything about the show except that it was pretty soapy and so I should probably not admit to people that I watched it.
Stephanie: Anyway, Jonas tells Echo that she must have been sent as a guide to show him what to do.
Outside, Head ATF Dude is annoyed that they’ve lost their connection to Esther!Echo. Boyd reminds him that they still have an ally on the inside – the person who wrote the SAVE ME shopping list, and they should probably find a way to figure out who it is and form a strategy. Head ATF Dude doesn’t want to hear it since Boyd’s not a part of the team anymore. A couple of news vans appear and interrupt the discussion.
Jonas informs the group that it’s true that he’s got a shit ton of weapons, but it’s for a good reason. He knew that the Day of the Serpents would happen eventually. However, he believes Esther was sent as a sign of God’s power, so no one will have to use the weapons.
The compound raid is being broadcast on television in Paul’s office. He’s munching on a bag of chips. Don’t you have a whole tray of manicotti to work on? Sheesh. He stops to watch the group of Jonas’ followers being led out of a building. In the crowd, he spots the woman he knows as Caroline and he’s like, “whaaaaaat.”
Lor: Aw, just look at all of the confusion on that fantastically weird face.
Stephanie: He’s got this dopiness about him that’s strangely endearing.
Boyd has taken the investigation into his own hands. He’s at the shop from earlier. What kind of store is this? There’s pitchforks and the walls are covered in hats and tools, but the shopkeeper is setting out pastries. I don’t understand anything that I’m seeing right now. (S: That’s ’cause you’re a city girl. Most small businesses in the boonies tend to take on a bit of a “General Store” feel where baked goods produced with no health standards oversight are sold at the counter.) (Thank you for this very educational information.) Boyd wants to get his hands on the security tape of the confrontation that happened between Brother Seth and the Mad Mechanic.
Back with the ATF, an exasperated Head ATF Dude agrees to allow Boyd to go in and get Echo under a few conditions. Before he can share what those are, Boyd pushes him up against a van. He tells him to shove his conditions since he saw the security footage from the shop. Head ATF Dude faked the SAVE ME shopping list. He knew when the group made their regular stops at the shop, and he knew it would be the perfect opportunity to plant what he needed to get a warrant.
Jonas sends Brother Seth outside and then asks Esther!Echo to read a passage from the bible. To summarize, it’s about Nebuchadnezzar setting people on fire. While Esther reads we see Brother Seth pouring gasoline all around. He throws a lit match in. Brother Seth reenters and Jonas says that they’re about to witness another miracle. Their faith will protect them from the fire and the unrighteous will burn. Some of the followers begin to cry, Emotional Extra wants to get the fuck out of there, and Esther looks concerned. This is not the type of miracle she likes. (L: And she likes the slapping kind, so she has some tolerance for violent miracles.)
Outside the fire begins to rise. Head ATF Dude tells another ATF dude (these are real titles for federal agents. I looked it up.) that he thinks Boyd is working with Jonas, so he probably started the fire. The ATF team starts to make their way into the burning buildings. Boyd, who has been lurking around, punches one of the them in the face so he can take their fire gear and weapons.
The followers inside begin to cough from the smoke. Esther!Echo begs Jonas to let them leave because you can’t just make miracles happen all willy nilly. He slaps her to the floor again. Ughhhh. I don’t care for your eyes any longer, sir. Jonas begins to lead everyone in prayer, but he doesn’t get very far before Esther creeps up from behind to whack him in the back of the head with a candlestick. GOOD. (S: YES. GOOD. Christian Greys getting knocked out is always desired.) Esther yells for everyone to get out of the building. Brother Seth is hesitant at first, but Esther tells him to move his ass, and it works. The followers escape the building and the music is very lovely. You can’t hear it through this post, but I assure you, it’s nice. One of the followers has chosen to stay behind. Esther attempts to convince him to get out because she doesn’t think she was given her vision back to watch everyone burn. He spits on her face. Oh my gosh, NO. Spit on the face is my least favorite thing. I’m going to vomit. Echo responds with a straight punch in his face. FAIR. There’s a whole lot of well deserved face punches going around. Brother Seth runs back in to drag Spitty away.
Now it’s just Jonas (still on the floor after that sweet candle whack) and Esther!Echo. He rises, big gun in hands and starts his boring speechifying. He doesn’t get very far before someone enters and shoots him down. The mystery rescuer removes his helmet, revealing DOMINIC. What the fuck? “Trouble ends here,” he says and knocks Echo out with the butt of his gun. What the fuck?
Sweeney: WORST. Where’s his candlestick to the head?
Stephanie: Echo is unconscious, surrounded by flames. Head ATF Dude says to pull all the men out even though he knows Echo, Boyd, and Jonas might still be inside.
Echo wakes up, coughing. Another rescuer in fire gear approaches. This time he pulls off his mask and it’s Boyd. She recognizes him and calls him an angel. He looks at her with those warm, gentle eyes and places his mask on her. Guys, I really like the Echo/Boyd relationship.
Lor: ME TOO. The most. Especially because it was supposed to be this super scripted, formulaic, handler/active thing but it’s growing before our very eyes into something else. Man, I love them.
Sweeney: ME TOO, ME TOO! I’m glad these comments are tempered with, “I love it…now” qualifiers because I super love it and will be sad if the show destroys it.
Stephanie: Outside, Head ATF Dude is telling a reporter that he doesn’t think there are anymore survivors. Just then, Boyd emerges from the flames like a badass action hero, holding Echo in his arms. Head ATF Dude watches and then turns back to the reporter to give a half-assed “thank god.”
The next morning, Paul has found his way to what’s left of the burnt up compound. He introduces himself as an FBI agent to Head ATF Dude, who thinks he’s there to tell him what a shitty job he did with his raid. Paul clarifies that he’s there to find someone and shows him the photo of Caroline. Head ATF Dude says she could be anyone. Because she’s a doll. DO YOU GET IT YET? Paul asks if he can unofficially talk to the survivors, but Head ATF Dude doesn’t do things unofficially. He tells Paul to get a warrant. He should talk.
Back at the Dollhouse, Adelle is not happy about the way Victor’s penis has been behaving. Victor has to be wiped completely and then monitored, before he starts spreading man reactions and naughty thoughts to all the other dolls.
Adelle is still not happy because Dominic went to Arizona without permission. He says he was just there because Echo was glitching and he thought he should be nearby just in case. He still thinks Echo should be sent to The Attic because she’s behaving the same way Alpha did before his composite event. Adelle doesn’t care about what he has to say. She gets into the elevator and tells Dominic to take the stairs. (L: Sick burn. Stairs are the worst.)
Echo rises from the imprinting chair, freshly wiped. There’s the usual “did I fall asleep?” etc, etc. Dr. Saunders asks Echo if her vision is all good. Echo looks out over the Dollhouse and spots Dominic standing around. “I see perfectly,” she says. Her eyes are now 64% better at detecting douchery.
Lor: Hey! That blindness surgery paid off after all, then.
Stephanie: This episode wasn’t nearly as horrible as I remember it being. However, so many shows have a cult episode, and every single one of them has a “is the cult really culty or actually good?” plot. (L: We’ve got a Veronica Mars and an Orphan Black example on this site alone.) I’m more interested in the stuff happening within the Dollhouse than Echo’s one off engagements, so all of this just makes me impatient for the good stuff to start.
Sweeney: +1 for that. I guess that’s what everyone means about the perpetual pilots. It’s weird, though, because I think it actually makes a lot of sense for the show to linger on this weekly engagements to set the stage. It’s annoying because they’re withholding the mystery I’m more interested in, but they’re dealing with a weird premise that calls for a bit of elaborating. More than that, though, the mysteries inside Dollhouse are all about irregularities and you actually need the repetition in order to establish that these things are irregularities in a non-info-dumpy way. There’s a lot of complaint about these early episodes, but I’m actually kind of OK with it.
Still, I can’t wait until we start actually unpacking those core mysteries.
Next time on Dollhouse: Paul finally comes face to face with Echo. Punching ensues in S01 E06 – Man on the Street
I'm a miniature adult who still gets offered the kid's coloring menu at restaurants. I like to pretend I'm an illustrator, but mostly I spend my time complaining about TV on Twitter. My life dream is to have my consciousness placed into an android body so that I'll have more time to watch/read things.
Nicole is the co-captain of Snark Squad and these days she spends most of her time editing podcasts. She spends too much time on Twitter and very occasionally vlogs and blogs. In her day job she's a producer, editor, director, and sometimes host of educational YouTube channels. She loves travel, maps, panda gifs, and semicolons. Writing biographies stresses her out; she crowd sourced this one years ago and has been using a version of it ever since. She would like to thank Twitter for their help.
I'm a 30-something south Floridan who loves the beach but cannot swim. Such is my life, full of small contradictions and little trivialities. My main life goals are never to take life too seriously, but to do everything I attempt seriously well. After that, my life goals devolve into things like not wearing pants and eating all of the Zebra Cakes in the world. THE WORLD.
