Dollhouse S01 E08 – Echoline

Previously: Echo kind of relives the thing that landed her in the dollhouse and Topher and Adelle kind of do drugs.
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Needs

Stephanie: Paul is in his apartment without a shirt. (M: Very important detail. I like the way you recap.) Someone knocks at the door and it’s Echo in a very boobalicious black dress. She ditched an engagement to deliver a message. That message is that she has something Paul needs – her mouth on his mouth. Paul’s all pissy because he’s not a client, but they move to the couch and make out a ton anyway. Mellie appears from the shadows to be jealous. Paul insists that he has something Echo needs (dem abs, dat back) so they keep with the kissing. Mellie interrupts again, saying Echo doesn’t need anything because she’s dead. Paul pulls away from Echo, who’s now pale and corpsified.

Ew.

Marines: This is Faith’s Coma Make-up on steroids. If we had watched this first, we might’ve named it after Echo.

Sweeney: I don’t know, this is funeral corpse makeup – look at that lipstick! Faith’s coma makeup actually looks more haggard – albeit more alive – than Echo’s death makeup. #importantdiscussions

Stephanie: Whatever it is, it ain’t cute.

Mellie tells Paul that he let her get hurt, and she begins to bleed from her head. In the real world, Paul jolts awake. It was just a dream, but his bare chest is all real and still on display. Thanks, show!

Over at the Dollhouse, Echo, Sierra, Victor, and November are also waking up. They climb out of their pods all rested and happy, and exit the room.

Mari: I wonder if a doll prerequisite is the ability to wake up beautiful or if that’s programmed in. Can you program no morning hair or sleep crusties? If yes, they should put that in the sales pitch.

Stephanie: Adelle watches from an overhead stalker window.

Adelle is holding a meeting in her office with a big group of Dollhouse staff, consisting mostly of handlers. She tells them the Dollhouse will be undergoing changes and upgrades due to all of crazy shit that has been happening, such as: drug-induced glitching, man reactions, and Echo going off mission pretty much always. The handlers main job will be to monitor their actives and report strange behavior.

Dominic chimes in to say that it’s normal to get attached to the dolls, but they should be thought of as pets rather than children. Except that these are human beings, so no, Dominic, not a good analogy. Dr. Saunders doesn’t agree with this either. Dominic explains that the dolls developing on their own is the first step to another Alpha situation. Boyd wants to know what the deal is with the real Alpha, but his whereabouts are still unknown. Adelle hastily passes the discussion over to Topher because apparently the best way to avoid Alpha 2.0 is to never talk about Alpha 1.0.

Mari: I thought the fact that Alpha was alive was a big time secret. Am I forgetting when that changed?

Sweeney: It seemed like a thing casually built towards at first and now they’re all, “Fuck, fine, you know. But we’re still not going to talk about it.”

Stephanie: Topher does that thing where he says science stuff that no one understands. Basically he’s scrubbed the dolls as clean as he can. He’s also been experimenting with a combination of drugs that he wants to pump into their sleeping pods. As usual, Dr. Saunders is not okay with the unethical way Topher handles the dolls. She’s concerned that Topher will end up damaging them, but he’s like, “whatever, I’m the smartest.”

Adelle repeats that she needs reports from the handlers on absolutely everything their actives do. Boyd is concerned that their observations could possibly get their actives sent to the attic, which would go against the whole protecting thing. Adelle tells him that protecting the Dollhouse is more important than protecting the dolls. No one objects.

Echo brushes her hair and has flashy visions of Paul calling her Caroline. In the sleeping pod room, Sierra has visions of her terrible rapist handler while Victor watches her.

They all climb inside their pods for sleepy time. Those pods looks super cozy. I would store snacks in mine and maybe set it to play rain sounds. There’s an iPod dock in my pod, obviously.

Mari: I’m creeped out by the cover on top. I’ve jolted awake before and can you imagine?

Sweeney: Definitely way too low. But maybe in addition to looking gorgeous in the morning doll state also guarantees perfect sleeps.

Stephanie: I don’t know, I’m pretty small. I think I could jolt up in there without a problem. More pods for me.

Echo has dreams of all of her engagements. A voice repeats “Caroline” until she wakes up and realizes that she’s in a pod. There’s a lot of light in there. Maybe they’re not as cozy as I thought. Understandably, Echo freaks out now that she has self-awareness. She bangs against the glass and calls out for help. (S: Welp. So much for the perfect sleeps.)

LA-LA-LA-LA-LA

After the credits, Echo manages to pull the pod’s sliding door open and climb out, injuring her hand in the process. Victor has also found his way out. All around them, other dolls begin to wake up and scream for help. Once everyone has been freed, the group try to work out why they’re there, but they can’t remember anything. One random doll thinks they were abducted by aliens, Echo feels more like a lab rat. Sierra thinks they’re being watched through the stalker windows by a serial killer. November doesn’t have any suggestions. She’s mostly just hyperventilating. (M: Nervous laughing! I DO IT TOO, NOVEMBER.) Even without memories, they all still seem to have gut instincts about something. Victor recognizes Sierra, Echo thinks she needs to get to the mountains (WTF, why? To be a midwife again?), and November feels as though she’s lost something.

Speculation is interrupted by the sounds of other dolls shuffling around outside. The lights flicker on and the doors to the pod room open up. They decide to take this opportunity to make a run for it.

In the hallway, dolls are milling about and the group is confused by how calm they are. Random Doll goes, “they’re people… like us!” and it makes me laugh, but he was expecting aliens, so I guess that reaction is justified. A Dollhouse staff member greets them by their active names and they attempt to blend in by acting calm and happy. Echo thinks the code names must mean they’re government prisoners.

They make their way out into the lobby area and they’re impressed by how luxurious it all is. November thinks that maybe they’re in some kind of healing center. Another staff member announces the morning’s breakfast – pancakes!

Sweeney: But at least you’ll have delicious pancakes first, Victor!

Stephanie: Paul is in his trashed apartment, frantically looking for something. He searches about until he finds the Dollhouse spy cam in the vent.

Back at the Dollhouse, Echo and Random Doll have a conversation about bananas with Pancake Doll. One of the zen staff members comes over and tells Echo that she has to have her injured hand checked by Dr. Saunders.

Echo enters Dr. Saunders’ office and starts to explain her hand but she’s distracted when she sees the hideous scars (just kidding, they’re not even a big deal) on Dr. Saunders’ face. She’s straight up horrified by what she’s seeing. It’s ridiculous. Echo demands to know who’s responsible for damaging Amy Acker’s perfect face so she can start cracking skulls or something. Dr. Saunders stops Echo from making a scene by pointing out the cameras watching them. Echo tries to get Dr. Saunders to give her answers about where they are or who she is, but Dr. Saunders says she can’t help.

Mari: Nice call on Echo’s reaction to the scars. I like it. The sleeping pods and dolls are one thing. MARRING AMY ACKER’S FACE? GET ME OUT OF HERE!

Sweeney: HER BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL FACE. MONSTERS.

Stephanie: Outside, two handlers drag Random Active away while he protests about how happy and calm he is. His objections turn into screams for help. Echo and the others just stare at him.

Echo and Co walk through the halls wearing cozy robes. She fills them in on Dr. Saunders’ warning about the cameras.

They enter the bathroom and they’re all a little uncomfortable about the group shower situation, but they decide to shower anyway in order to blend in. November is surprisingly pumped about getting naked in front of people, (M: I would be too if I looked like her. Everyone behold and enjoy.) while Victor starts naming athletes to help him keep those man reactions under control. After a lot of looking everywhere but at naked bodies, Victor spots Random Doll and they go after him to find out what happened. Unfortunately, he’s been completely wiped and he’s back to his doll-state. They decide to save themselves ASAP. By the way, Random Doll’s active name is Mike. I love that everyone has interesting code names and he’s just Mike. There’s always a Mike. (ETA: Alex pointed out that the active names come from the phonetic alphabet. She is indeed correct. Mike still remains the least cool name you could get from that list, only beaten by Hotel.) (S: I hope we get to meet Papa!)

Adelle’s office. Dominic alerts Adelle that 4 dolls are attempting to escape. She already knows this because OF COURSE this whole thing is part of some crazy plan.

Sweeney: “It was a really boring Wednesday, so…”

Stephanie: After the not-break we learn that security has no idea Adelle is doing this exercise because she wants everyone to be able to handle unexpected situations. Dominic is concerned that they’re going to lose control of the situation and lose their dolls, but Adelle is like, “I don’t need to listen to possible security issues from the person I hired to handle security.” (M: A+)

Elsewhere, Victor manages to overtake a handler by pretending to be in his doll-state and then strangling him until he passes out. He takes the handler’s ID pass thingy. Poor handler.

Victor and Sierra use the handler pass to sneak away into a super secret hallway.

Echo sits amongst a group of dolls doing yoga. She watches as Pancake Doll gets escorted away for a treatment. A disembodied voice says, “it’s time,” and the camera zooms in on one of the ceiling cams.

Victor and Sierra run through the super secret hallway. They find a hiding spot in a doorway to wait for Echo and November. Victor attempts to make small talk with Sierra, but it doesn’t work very well since they don’t remember anything about themselves. Victor says that Sierra seems familiar to him, like he knows something bad has happened to her, but he doesn’t feel that way about anyone else. He wants to know if Sierra has the same feeling, but she just gives him a smirk. This shipper moment is interrupted by the arrival of Echo and November.

They sneak through the halls until they come across some kind of handler rec room where Boyd and another handler are discussing an engagement. They listen for far longer than they should for a group of people trying to escape before continuing forward. They make it to a stairway where Sierra is stopped by a memory of how she ended up in the Dollhouse and who’s responsible for putting her there. Victor assures her that if they make it out, they’ll find who did this to her. He takes her hand and leads her up the stairs. It’s kind of amazing how invested I’ve become in the relationship between two characters whose previous interactions involved stilted conversation about being their best.

Mari: ME TOO. I mean, there were also those man reactions in the shower, but they were man reactions against all odds.

Stephanie: Upstairs they end up in another hallway that looks like the last hallway. Echo deducts that they must be underground because there aren’t any windows. They hear a door opening and duck into a nearby room containing tons of clothes. My dream room. The racks are labelled for each of them, with clothes tailored to fit perfectly. MY DREAM ROOM. It’s pretty convenient that with all the dolls living there, all their clothing just happens to be together. Anyway, Victor suggests that maybe these are clothes from their past life until he spots a kinky looking pair of pants.

November sees a stroller that triggers her memory – she has a daughter, but she doesn’t remember where she is. A door opens and the group rushes into the clothing racks to hide. Victor and Sierra end up with their faces all up on each other. Even their silhouettes have chemistry, guys.

This high tension, face-near-face action goes on for a bit as a handler goes through the racks, looking for the perfect piece. Do the handlers always pick out their active’s outfits? Do they need to have backgrounds as stylists? Do they get trained for this? Handler life spinoff, please.

Mari: STARRING BOYD, OBVS. You did note his nifty, orange sweater in the cult episode, so I totally buy him with a little styling in his past.

Sweeney: I bet that’s what he’s been up to during this Echo downtime.

Stephanie: Someone get us a meeting with Whedon. We have some Very Good Ideas.

When Fashion Handler is gone, they leave the clothing room and finally make it outside to a parking lot full of stalker vans. Everyone’s in their new, well-fitting duds, except November who’s wearing the most unflattering dress I have ever seen. It’s the sort of dress that’s only acceptable on older women at church.

Sweeney: RIGHT? Girl had an entire rack of clothing at her disposal and THIS is what she chose? Shit.

Stephanie: They start looking for an open car until a van pulls up and they have to hide again. A Soldier Doll hops out and talks about soldier stuff. Seeing handlers in suits, soldiers, and people who like pancakes a little bit too much has made the group confused about who they can trust. Echo says the only people they can trust are each other, and they have to start with what they know. She helps Sierra remember the name of the man who put her in the Dollhouse – Nolan. Now they know Sierra’s kidnapper, November’s daughter, Katie, and that Echo needs to get to a mountain house for whatever reason. (M: That stupid mountain. It’s been a thing for 99.9% longer than it should’ve been.)

Victor has managed to get his hands on a set of keys. They get into a van, but the elevator doors open up and they have to hide again. Pancake Doll and her handler come out. She’s wearing some kind of cabaret outfit, and speaking fluent French. Her dialogue translates to, “I like pancakes with bananas. I swim everyday so that I can be my best. Are you your best?” Just kidding. (M: I THOUGHT YOU WERE SERIOUS. I WAS SO IMPRESSED.) (S: Aw, I should have went with it.) I’m sure her personality is way more complex now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if pancake love is one of the important traits Topher snuck in there.

Dominic calls in to inform his security team about the escaped dolls while Adelle watches the van on one of her creepy monitors.

Back in the garage, Echo jumps out of the van. After seeing Pancake Doll infused with a new personality, she’s put together that weird stuff is obviously happening to the people inside. She thinks they’re being forced to do bad things and then sent back in to forget about it. It’s now her mission to help everyone. There’s a hilarious shot of everyone rolling their eyes at her as she explains her decision to go back into the Dollhouse.

Mari: I didn’t really catch this reaction but it is the best. It’s basically how I feel about Caroline/Echo most of the time.

Sweeney: This gif has so much potential.

Stephanie: Victor makes a good point about how she’s just one person and there’s a lot of people inside with guns, but her mind is made and she gets into the elevator.

Inside, Echo uses a fire extinguisher to try to break through a glass window, where weapons and ammo are stored. The handler that Boyd was talking to earlier comes in and tries to gain control of the situation by speaking in soothing tones, as if Echo is still in her doll-state. She tells her she’s going to call Boyd so that she can have her treatment. Before she can use her walkie talkie, Echo uses the fire extinguisher to blast her in the face. They have a really long fight, knocking each other into various tables and walls. The handler makes a go for the walkie talkie, which is now on the floor, and Echo trips her unconscious with the extinguisher. Ouch. Echo looks horrified by the damage she’s done. She uses a towel to wipe some blood up, but eventually gives up and leaves the towel on top of the handler’s face, LOL. (S: So many martyr complexes to live out, so little time.)

She takes the handler’s keys, opens the weapons cabinet, and grabs a gun.

Paul shows up at some dark looking place. I guess it’s a store or something because there’s a cash register on a table. I don’t know, you guys. There’s a man working on something that looks like it would require lots of light, and it’s pretty ridiculous because that room is dark except for a small window. That’s a really stupid workspace, guy. Paul is there to find out about the device he found in the vent. The Mysterious Objects Expert is all snarky until Paul loses patience and pushes his face directly onto the device. Paul really needs to calm down with his methods of getting information. MOE inspects the device, which has little blinky lights on it, so you know it’s some serious sci-fi shit. He says that it doesn’t exist and it would be basically impossible to trace where the transmission was going, but it might be possible to scramble it. I’ll let you guys work out what any of this means.

Mari: I hope by “you guys” you didn’t mean me. Because no. Technology that doesn’t exist that he can quickly identify as technology that doesn’t exist is all I felt I needed to grasp there.

Stephanie: Womp.

Victor, Sierra, and November are driving in the stalker van turned escape van. They’re trying to figure out where Nolan is. November sees a woman with a child, which triggers her memory about where her daughter is. She asks to be let out of the van, and they argue about whether or not it’s a good idea to separate. November says that she can remember her life now, so they agree that’s a good enough reason to drop her off. Victor and Sierra wish her luck and drive away.

In the Dollhouse, Adelle and Dominic watch Echo sneaking about from the creeper monitor. Adelle says that it’s Caroline, without any of her memories. Taking down a corporation is exactly the sort of thing Caroline would do. Adelle wants to see how everything plays out. She’s not concerned that Echo will actually be able to do anything. Um, did they see that handler get tripped unconscious? (M: And smothered by a towel?) Guess not. The lights flicker, and the power goes off. Adelle immediately changes the plan to “STOP HER!” Dominic calls security and Adelle contacts Topher to find out what’s going on outside.

Sweeney: There’s something ever so slightly off about Adelle and it’s kind of perfect. She makes some decisions that are clearly not in the best interest of herself or the Dollhouse, simply because she wants to watch shit unfold. It’s fitting that someone in charge of an organization would have this sort of obsession with watching psychological experiments play out.

Stephanie: Topher’s out in the darkness with nothing but a glow stick. Adelle tells him to be ready for when they bring Echo in, which would be useless since he can’t do any wiping with a no-power chair. Adelle hangs up and Topher spins around to find Echo pointing a gun at him. She says that she’s not Echo anymore. Because she’s Echoline. (M: LOL. BEST.)

After the not-break, a voice from a speaker system tells everyone to calmly gather downstairs. Topher, however, is stuck with Echoline. Echoline wants to know what he’s been doing to the people living in the Dollhouse. He tells her that he programs people, but Echoline doesn’t believe that’s possible. Topher says it is, because the brain is like a motherboard, and he is simply the hacker. Echoline learns that she’s been in the Dollhouse for quite some time. She wants to see the imprinting chair.

Victor and Sierra have made it to Nolan’s place. Nolan’s surprised by the visit and wonders if he’s getting a frequent buyer reward. Gross. Sierra demands to know why Nolan put her in the Dollhouse. He says he did it because she said no to sleeping with him. He went through a lot of trouble to get her in, but it was worth it because now he gets to own her. I have no words for this man. Victor has no words either, so he expresses how he feels with his fist. The punching was not enough to stop him, and he continues to be the grossest character on the show, saying that when she’s programmed, Sierra happily does everything he wants. Victor punches him in the face again. More more more!

Mari: I don’t know that this will be a contender for best punch but it was so deserved. Not quite satisfying because this man was seriously sickening.

Sweeney: I might lobby for it, though, because it’s still a thing of beauty. Double face punches to a face so deserving of punches. Our first victor won more on those same merits. Maybe that magic can be passed along.

Stephanie: Alas, the punches end because Nolan’s security system was alerted the moment they came in. Sierra and Victor run away. If you were not previously grossed out about the whole concept of the Dollhouse, well there you go. Not everyone is a volunteer and everything just got a whole lot more rapey.

Elsewhere, November walks in slow motion amongst a group of frolicking catholic school children while twinkly music plays.

Dollhouse. Echoline is outraged by Topher’s programming tech. She compares what Topher does to murder. She wants to know who she was before Topher murdered her. Topher explains that she’s not dead, she volunteered, she just doesn’t remember it. The electricity kicks back in as Topher tells Echoline that she’ll get all of her memories back when her contract is up. Not only that, she’ll also be stupid rich. He also confesses that the reason Echoline isn’t blank like the other dolls is because they’re running a test. Those mountains she keeps thinking about? Those are real thoughts coming from her, because they’re what she needs. Echo’s desire to get to the mountains must be some sort of symbolism that’s just flying high above my head. Topher says that Echoline can have her memories back if she gets in the chair. She tells him to get in first.

Sierra and Victor run from Nolan’s trigger happy security guards. Is security really allowed to shoot at people who aren’t a threat anymore? Anyway, they hide in a utility closet.

Topher’s now in the imprinting chair, with Echoline holding him at gunpoint. He freaks out because imprinting on top of an unwiped brain will cause an implosion. Echoline wants Topher to free the dolls, but he doesn’t have the power to do that. Echoline starts up the imprinting chair, pushing Topher down with her gun. Fran Kranz does a great job of conveying utter terror. I really enjoy this moment because it’s the first time we’re seeing Topher confronted with the reality of what he does to these people every day.

Mari: He’s yelling about just being the science and it drips with the way he must compartmentalize. He isn’t in charge here. He doesn’t run the show or call the shots. He’s just the science.

Sweeney: And it speaks to the way all of them have to, in different ways. We see variations, where people like Boyd and Saunders find that task a little out of their reach, but a lot of the employees probably function somewhere along that range. Definitely a useful insight into his head and, as you said, wonderfully acted.

Stephanie: Adelle appears just in time, all, “I got the power.”

Echoline shoots the chair off and turns the gun on Adelle. Adelle introduces herself as the person in charge. She tells Echoline again that she’s a volunteer. Being free of memory is an escape from the consequences that bought her there. Consequences that she’s not going to want to remember right now. She’s free to leave if she wants, but she can’t make that choice for all of the other dolls. Adelle won’t return their memories because she’s protecting them.

Cut to November, who has been walking forever. She slow-moseys on into a cemetery.

Cut back to Echoline. She shoots a computer tower and says that no one will be using the chair.

Dark hidey spot. Sierra apologizes for getting Victor involved, but he’s already been involved anyway. Even when Victor was in his doll-state he could remember Sierra. He could see and feel, but he was trapped in his head, unable to do anything.

Mari: That is a terrifying way to think of the doll state. It’s been presented as this sort of clean slate, all unaware and happy, but if there is a piece of them inside, fighting to get out? UGH UGH UGH UGH.

Sweeney: It’s got a very Buried Alive feel to it, which is only going to amplify the creep factor of those pods going forward. Cosign on all the UGH.

Stephanie: Sierra begins to remember too. She remembers how she trusted her handler and he hurt her. She remembers that Victor waits for her when they go to bed to make sure she’s safe. They kiss and I try to swallow through the lump in my throat.

At the cemetery, November cries by a grave. Her daughter has been dead all this time. I’m done. (M: +1. Tears.) (S: ALL THE TEARS.)

Dollhouse. Echo threatens Adelle with her gun until she agrees to release the dolls. Echo’s plan is pretty stupid because she’s essentially setting a bunch of blank people out into the world, having killed the chair and all. Oh well. Echo and all of the dolls emerge from underground. As Echo goes out into the sunlight, she collapses to the ground.

Sweeney: It’s fitting though, that she had so little long game. That was Caroline’s problem. “See injustice, fight injustice. Think later.” I mean, they got the plans and stuff, but in the little bit we’ve seen of Caroline, she was (is?) definitely a do-first-think-second kind of person.

Stephanie: In the cemetery and utility closet, November, Sierra and Victor pass out as well. Handlers come out to pick everyone up and lead the freed dolls back into the Dollhouse.

We flashback to the dollhouse meeting. Twist – this entire plan was Dr. Saunders’s idea. In order to fix the glitching, the dolls needed to experience a moment of closure, and tie up open loops caused by unfulfilled emotional needs.

Present. Boyd watches Echo get wiped and discusses the success of the plan with Dr. Saunders. The actives were programmed to have a sedative released the moment they experienced closure. The fact that they’re back means that it worked. Boyd understands why everyone experienced closure. November needed to grieve for her daughter. Sierra needed to confront her abductor. Echo needed to free the dolls and live out her true activist spirit. But what was Victor confronting? Dr. Saunders says that Victor’s need wasn’t about the past, but about his current love for Sierra. This conversation basically happens for everyone who watched this episode and said, “I don’t get it.” (M: So thoughtful.)

Boyd is sorry that he didn’t get to see Echo freeing the dolls, even if it was just part of Dr. Saunders’ game. Dr. Saunders says it wasn’t fun for her. She has to look out for all of the dolls, while he just has to look out for Echo. She brings up my earlier point about how dangerous leading blank dolls out into the world would have been. She tells Boyd that he should be grateful. “I’ll work on it,” he says, leaving her standing there all sad-like.

Echo and co walk into the sleeping pod room. They get into the pods and the sliding doors close. The episode should totally end here, but nope…

Paul’s apartment. Are we seriously ending this great episode with Paul? Okay, show. He’s surrounded by tools, having just completed whatever he was doing to the shouldn’t exist camera tech. He loads it into a phone and a message from Echoline begins to play. So it’s a battery too? Did I just watch this scene correctly?

Mari: I think he took his phone apart earlier while looking for the bug and never bothered to put it back together. Because Paul.

Stephanie: Wow, this scenes makes a lot more sense now.

Anyway, at some point, Echoline must have had a chance to make a call to Paul to tell him that she’s trying to free people from underground, and to come find them if she doesn’t succeed. Paul makes a squinty concerned face that I think is supposed to convey “underground!” but it’s pretty much the same face he makes all the time. You can do it Paul.

Next time on Dollhouse: There’s a spy in the Dollhouse and Echo’s on the case in S01 E09 – The Spy in the House of Love.