[Spoilers included. Beware.]

Wow.

Maybe there's something about apocalyptic and surreal sets in the Dollhouse universe that get me all the time, but I thought these two episodes were the best since the "unofficial" Epitath One episode.

These two episodes answered two questions of Dollhouseverse. What happens after a a doll is done with a contract? What happens in the attic? Both also pushed forward the overarching endgame story.

In "Stop-Loss", Victor (or Anthony) reaches the end of his 5-year contract, but with ramifications. The Rossum group has another violent, militia-type arm and it instituted a hostile takeover on Victor's personal freedom - feeding on his loneliness. His run with the Dollhouse may have cured his PTSD, but it didn't give him a community. Sierra's (Priya) role was reduced to a love-interest and victim as Echo took her, the real her, into the rescue mission. It was a good display of how different the effect of the imprints have on different dolls - Echo being superhuman, superdoll utilizes them all. Victor became a better soldier. Priya was reduced to being a the unknowing victim that she was before she entered the Dollhouse. The sensory chip elements were clunky at the least and terribly lame at the most. Yes, it showed how exemplary Echo was, but it really cheapened the sum of the episode because it seemed forced. Afterwards, DeWitt gets a moment of clarity , sort of. She ices Echo! Yes! Victor, Sierra, Topher, and Boyd take on DeWitt and Eliza's two emoticons are gone! Actually, no. DeWitt sends Echo to the Attic.. along with Victor and Sierra. Boyd gets escorted out. And DeWitt emerges as a true blue Cruella DeWitt, like Topher said.

"The Attic" seemed like a natural part-2 to this mini Arc although each episode was meant to stand on their own. The tide was drastically changing in the Dollhouse. DeWitt has turned into a corporate sycophant who's hellbent on downing Echo to regain complete control of her Dollhouse. For the first time, Topher seemed to be in legitimate danger. The other subplot in this episode was the task of regenerating Ballard's brain function by imprinting him. Topher gets an assist, a hand-off if you will, from his.. assistant in figuring out a way to generate that function. Wildcat formation - they decided to try to imprint another part of his brain. Is that real? I don't know. It was interesting though. And now, we have get to guess what part of the brain was sacrificed? Well, it wasn't his anger section (medula oblongata?). I think they might have wiped his feelings for Echo.

The more epic and imprinting, pun!, story of this episode was the attic. There already is a large homage to The Matrix that this show makes with imprint technology as its essence. The attic experiences spoke even more closely to the Matrix. There's a worldwide network of all the Dollhouse attics that feed off of adrenaline and detect actives by anger. Never seeing it, I think there was a hint of The Cell also since we were inside various heads and there were many surreal images. One big reveal is that Echo's original identity pre-Dollhouse, Caroline, holds the answers to bringing down the Rossum group. The other big reveal was more exciting: DeWitt's not a corporate sycophant. In fact, she's played her part well to stay under the radar and is now becoming the leader that she once was. DeWitt sent Echo into the attic knowing that she would be able to find the answers. She brought Ballard back because they need more help. It is now the LA Dollhouse's job to bring down the larger, more evil Rossum group. Cue the final act.

Not sure why Sierra and Victor had to go the Attic, also. Did DeWitt believe they were as abnormal as Echo was? Did she think Echo needed their support? There were a lot of incomplete conversations in DeWitt's office that we're not supposed to know about. Did DeWitt play the part all the way through until she knew Echo came out of the plan alive? What was the point of Topher's assistant's reaction when she returned to the lab after her talks with DeWitt?

This was a great episode for numerous reasons: the two big reveals set up a great final run, the work dynamics between Topher, Boyd, and Dewitt were done well, the Attic imagery was extremely dark and disturbing (but meaningful), and everyone else but Eliza had to convey the deepest emotions.

But, these two episodes bring up a legitimate , yes useless, question: What could Joss Whedon have done realistically to extend this series beyond two full seasons (44 episodes)? The pimping-per-week stories grew old. The only times this series has run full throttle was during their sprints towards the end of seasons (and essentially the end of the series). Season one: Echo frees herself from the slavery of the imprint technology. Season two: Echo masters the imprint technology. There would have been the spread of the technology to the general public aka weaponry. But, how would have those bigger, cooler ideas have been broken down each week in the rent-a-doll formula? Would it have been abandoned after Season 2?

Not sure. There must have been a longer endgame, but I'm not sure the filler in between would have been good enough to give this show a longer shelf-life.

posted by breakfast boy@ 1:30 PM