You're gonna be bothered by how cool I am.

First, a picture, which is not a spoiler in any way so I'm not cutting it. Was I the only one who was forcibly reminded of Harry/Hermione fanart when I saw this? Seriously, I about fell out of my chair laughing.



Okay, now for the super-duper-maxi-extreme-ultra-spoilers.

* I KNEW, from the moment I read the press release, that the Briar Rose story was meant to set up Ballard as the Prince parallel. Thank God this is Dollhouse we're talking about, and they took it and turned it inside out. :D

* I know I'm not the only one who likes Echo's altruistic missions more than the romantic ones. I really liked the mission with the little girl, but I feel like they could have trimmed it a little and given a tad more meat and realism to ... other things. See below.

* Okay, Paul and Mellie. This is my one real complaint with this episode. They set this whole thing up with Paul and Mellie where they made us (or at least this was *my* reaction) think "How in the hell is he going to get out of this?!" I mean, obviously he HAD to get out of it, because dude, but if it was as easy as just leaving and saying "we're not good for each other" (love how he worded that, by the way, because that's the exact truth) couldn't he have "broken up" with her BEFORE making violent love to her? He already had the prints; what was he waiting for?

And then there's Mellie, who goes from "You're gonna be bothered by how cool I am." in episode 6 to random histrionics. And ... I don't know about any of you other gals, but if a guy is breaking up with me for no apparent reason, I'm asking a heck of a lot more questions than just "What's wrong?" or "Am I smothering you?". I'm getting specifics. Am I not attractive enough? Am I not doing something you need me to do? Am I not good in bed? Is there someone else? Any/all of those questions would have required answers or reactions from Paul that would have been much more sympathetic and in-character than what happened in that scene. And then there's the whole contemplating suicide thing, which I can understand, given that her whole imprint revolves around loving Paul and now with that gone she's got nothing left, no purpose. Was this was Paul's idea all along? Break things with her in a way that would make her want to do something desperate, only there's probably someone from the Dollhouse who'd stop her from doing that, and take her away to somewhere he could try and follow? If so, that makes him even less sympathetic, because that's a hell of a chance to take with someone's life.

In any case, not my favorite part. :)

* You know, for someone who knows so much about people and how they work - enough to help 11-year-old Susan - Topher ought to be better at his own interpersonal relationships. :P He's getting less and less wormy and more and more snuggly every week.

* I really loved what Echo said to Susan about people calling her a victim and about telling an adult. These are the things we think we're supposed to say to help people, but I'd bet anything that they have the opposite effect than what we intend.

* Victor as Dominic ... DUDE. He was so spot on! The first time I saw this, I was mainly listening to it (at work) rather than giving it my full attention, and I could have sworn, not looking at the screen, that it was Reed Diamond talking. That was seriously amazing. The voice inflections. The facial ticks. Everything. AMAZING.

* Theory coming through - "Whiskey" wasn't just Dominic wanting an alcoholic beverage. Lots of people have speculated that Dr. Saunders was once a doll (Whiskey being one of the letters in the military alphabet). Alpha's conversation with her later adds credence to that idea. But I'll go one step further (not my idea, but I've seen someone say it and I agree) - Dominic was Whiskey's handler.

* "Steven Kepler, is that you?" ... "Well, there's a lot of aspects to that question." Indeed. :D I loved - LOVED - Alan Tudyk in this character. I had a healthy skepticism that he was Alpha, but I'd seen a picture weeks and weeks ago that pretty much spoiled it. Watching it through again, with the knowledge that this is Alpha, makes the performance even more impressive. Bless his little carrot-farming heart. All of his stuff with Tahmoh is golden.

Some comedic highlights:
- "Medicinal carrots!"
- "When we die out ... Earth is going to have a People Day."
- "Recycled urine?" ... "I also have pong."
- "You can e-mail me -- don't e-mail me."
- "What if I don't tell you?" *gun clicks* "Probably."
- "This is like one of those buddy cop movies where you're the hard-nosed FBI agent and I'm the GUY WHO HATES BUDDY COP MOVIES!"
- "No, that's the real way in; I just thought that you'd give up."
- "Riding up, riding up, I have a wedgie!"
- "This is the same expansionist thinking that led to the Trail of Tears, man!" "Carrots!"
- "The apples were monitored!"
- "I heart my porn, but this is cool!"
- "It's a small world, right? I went to grade school with Jenna Elfman."

* Watch this on Hulu again and notice how the focus is equally on Ballard and Alpha when Susan is re-reading the Sleeping Beauty story. Brilliant.

* I love that Alpha was so playing Ballard with the whole cowardly act from the beginning. Before that, even, sending him the picture and the video. I'm anxious to find out why he (he being Alpha) is so focused on Echo. Hmmm. I'd like to find out why everyone seems to focused on Echo/Caroline, to be honest. As a straight female, I can't say I'm on the "OMG Eliza Dushku is the hottest thing EVAR" bandwagon. So I'm really hoping there's more to it than that.

* Alan Tudyk is cut. That is all.

No, it's not. :P Alpha freaking out about being caught by people in the Dollhouse who would obviously recognize him was hilarious to watch. Hilarious that suddenly turns to chilling when he's breaking down the security (which he tells Ballard at one point he can't do) and it becomes clearer that he's not who he told Ballard he was.

* I know this is probably the reaction we're meant to have, but Ballard's righteous indignation is highly annoying and hypocritical. "You're wronger than a wronging wronger who wrongs" is just a little rich from someone who knowingly slept with one of their victims.

* "This is the future." and "We're all just cells in a body." add in nicely to what I believe is a main theme and idea of the show, which is the classic trope of "the machines are winning."

* I loved Alpha freaking out about a hand grabbing him from the space between the stairs and later Echo doing exactly that to Ballard.

* Other people have said it, but I'm going to say it again. Paul's laser focus on Caroline in this whole thing and the hell with everyone else pissed me off and made me really root for him to fail. What was he going to do? Take her out in her doll state? He should know she's not just brainwashed, because he said in (I think) the first episode that there's no way to imprint someone with another personality without removing their own. All he's going to have once he escapes with her is a blank Doll. He's not looking after Caroline here at all, because Caroline is on a disk somewhere that he'd have no idea how to find. Boyd is really the hero here. Yes, he's looking out for the Dollhouse's interests, but he's also looking after the human being Paul is supposedly trying to save. I also love that he gives Paul a chance to walk away - something most people in the Dollhouse would not give an intruder - and that he argues against putting him in the chair.

Also ... that Boyd/Ballard fight was AWESOME.

* "People were fighting on me." CLASSIC!

* The Alpha reveal was excellent. I don't know if it was intentional or not, but his expression after he cuts Victor is very reminiscent of the head down, eyes up crazy glare of a classic Kubrick villain.




Or even Hitchcock...


* Is it wrong for me to want to enjoy Adelle's pwnage of Ballard so much? :D

* I suspected that Alpha had some kind of romantic connection with Echo when she was the only one still standing after he escaped. I've read a theory that he didn't kill the other dolls, but merely cut them (like he did Victor) so that they couldn't be used for engagements. I like that idea, but the bodies on the floor of the shower looked pretty dead to me, and Echo does say "They won't wake up."

* So why would Alpha say "I told you I'd rescue you"? He's talking to an imprinted personality, but whose? Can't be Caroline, because of what we see in the promo for next week. Questions, questions. I don't see how they'll all be answered in an fifty minutes.


THOUGHTS ON THE FINALE (spoilers from press release and promo video and pictures)

* I've read somewhere that Echo, and not Caroline, is meant to be the heroine of the series. Which indicates to me that Alpha and whoever-he-turned-Echo-into will get rid of Caroline in the next episode (as it seems from the promo that Alpha means to do), and that instead of Caroline getting her identity back at the end of her term, Echo will simply continue to evolve into a whole new person. Despite my not really liking the real Caroline personality, I'd hate to see that lost forever, but I'm definitely intrigued by the idea of Echo developing (and escaping) on her own. It's much more interesting, in my opinion, than her contract simply coming to an end or some other resolution that just puts her back into her own body.

* What to do with the intrepid FBI agent? :P I still think he has "tea with Adelle" in his future. They can't just let him go. He's going to end up working for them or with them in some way. And I'd be interested to see him interact in some way with November - not in a shippy way, but just to see how weird it would be, given what's happened between him and that body.

All in all, eeeeeexcellent episode. Can't wait for next week, though I'll probably be bereft once it's over (especially if there's no Season 2 to look forward to).