Dollhouse - Episode 2: "Target"

[pointedview]

We watched the second episode of Dollhouse last night. Homage to The Most Dangerous Game notwithstanding, David and I both thought it was a significant improvement over the pilot. Eliza Dushku delivered a noticeably better performance here, but that's not surprising. Action roles are familiar territory for her.

Questions and musings:

• As I said in my previous post about the show, I really like Harry Lennix as Boyd Langton, Echo's handler, and that's even more true after watching this episode. I thought I'd seen him somewhere before, but I didn't realize until a friend pointed it out that he was Commander Lock in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Reloaded.
  
  Regarding his character, Boyd witnessed Echo recalling past events while imprinted, but does he now believe that everything is back to normal after her wipe? Will he report what happened to Topher and/or Adelle? I'm pretty sure he won't, and that it will come back to bite him.


• I liked the way they connected the pilot episode to this one by showing Paul Ballard and the other agents investigating the house where the previous client's daughter had been held hostage. More Mark Sheppard, please.


• Perhaps most interesting is what we learned about Alpha. Why is he sparing Echo?
  
  My husband thinks he might be Caroline's brother; we might have even gotten a little bit of foreshadowing from Echo's Jenny imprint. Richard says: "You know how much trouble I'd be in if you went splat?" Echo/Jenny responds: "Yeah. My brothers would kill you." I'm probably reading too much into that, but I still think he's got a decent theory. On the other hand, if he was at his parents' house in the pilot watching the videotape, why would he kill them? And if he didn't murder them, who did? If he is her brother, why would the Dollhouse take both of them, possibly leaving their parents childless? Maybe he isn't her brother, but thinks he is -- do Dolls ever get sent out on assignments together? Seems probable. Also, how has Alpha come to power so quickly? Did he kill or blackmail a former wealthy client so that he could orchestrate his revenge or rescue?
  
  I don't think Alpha is trying to kill Echo. He could have easily done that in the Dollhouse massacre. I think he's trying to push her to remember. Think about it: we know he's put her in two extremely stressful situations where she believed her life was threatened (though, as a Doll, she might not have fully understood enough about what was going on to feel the level of fear he was trying to incite). I think life-or-death situations force the brain to engage at a more primal tier: moving down to the reptilian brain to make fight-or-flight decisions forces us to access the core of who we are, and perhaps accessing other areas of the brain triggers residual memories. If Alpha was sent on an assignment that went badly wrong, it may have been the catalyst for his cumulative recollection. It's a little like breaking out of the Matrix (while probably accidental, casting Lennix is a nice meta connection) - those who have done it before pave the way for others.
  
  Part of what makes me wonder about this is the emphasis they placed on the Active's heart rate. While I have no idea whether or not the Dollhouse is aware that excessive stress can trigger cognitive flashbacks, it's at least possible that they know. It also gives additional significance to them monitoring that particular statistic: they're protecting their very costly investment from mental damage as well as physical.


• Another Alpha question: so, let's say he's pushing Echo to remember. To what end? What does he intend for her? What motivates him? Is he a vigilante trying to restore her memory so they can seek revenge on the Dollhouse together, or does he plan to use her for his own ends -- has the Dollhouse inadvertently spawned a new evil?


• I didn't think we'd find out about Dr. Saunders' scars quite so soon. I'm certain there's more to that character than meets the eye.


• I think the "Did I fall asleep?" dialogue is a programmed cue letting the imprinter know that the wipe has successfully completed and that the vacant Doll state has been achieved. Well, at least as far as it can track. Speaking of dialogue, some fans have been kvetching about a lack of Joss' signature wit, but it's creeping in. For example, Topher's line to Boyd: "You're in the middle of "Why Would Anyone Wanna Be There." What'd you expect? HBO?" Hee. :)


• Warning: don't look up Mellie: I was trying to find out if she was the same actress who played Willow in the original Buffy pilot (she isn't), and IMDB kind of spoiled me by accident. :( And for heaven's sake, don't look up who's playing Alpha. I was accidentally spoiled in a fan community, and we're not supposed to find out until the thirteenth episode. You don't want to know. You really want to enjoy the thrill of surprise.


• I look forward to finding out who Adelle's boss is.


• The reference the head of Dollhouse security made to the attic -- he seemed rather vicious when he was addressing Echo ... unnecessarily cruel. I understand the "You're just a Doll so I can pick on you," but it certainly highlighted a bullying streak. These are definitely not nice folks. However, that comment about the attic seemed meaningful in some way -- are there Dolls in storage? Is it some sort of punishment area? Did Alpha escape from it? Or ... is this perhaps some sort of cryogenic facility where they keep earlier prototypes and experimental Dolls? Surely there were failures before their current inventory. They didn't get it right on the first try.


• Also, where are they getting all of these memory archives to use when compositing an imprint?

One thing I particularly like about the series so far is that we start on the bad side. We're in the Dollhouse, in the gilded cage, with occasional glimpses at those who are outside trying to shine the light of day on it. We get to see things from the villain's perspective.

I hope I can find time to watch this episode again. They picked up the pace considerably, and I might have missed something subtle.