A Spy in the House of Love (10 Apr. 2009)

DeWitt leaves Dominic in charge of the Dollhouse when she has to leave for a short period. Topher finds a chip in the imprint chair which has been used by other agencies to alter the ... See full summary »

Director:

David Solomon

Writers:

Joss Whedon (creator), Andrew Chambliss,

Stars:

Eliza Dushku, Harry Lennix, Fran Kranz

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Eliza Dushku	...	Echo
Harry Lennix	...	Boyd Langton
Fran Kranz	...	Topher Brink
Tahmoh Penikett	...	Paul Ballard
Enver Gjokaj	...	Victor / Roger
Dichen Lachman	...	Sierra
Olivia Williams	...	Adelle DeWitt
Amy Acker	...	Dr. Claire Saunders
Valerie Cruz	...	Selena Ramirez
Reed Diamond	...	Laurence Dominic
Liza Lapira	...	Ivy
Miracle Laurie	...	November / Mellie
Morgan Beck	...	Cell Phone Guy
Tim Chiou	...	Travis Nikoden
Erin Cummings	...	Attendant

Storyline

DeWitt leaves Dominic in charge of the Dollhouse when she has to leave for a short period. Topher finds a chip in the imprint chair which has been used by other agencies to alter the programming on the actives. As the Dollhouse looks for the spy within, Ballard learns more about the Dollhouse.

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Plot Keywords:

dominatrix

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 April 2009 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mutant Enemy, 20th Century Fox Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

50 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Victor's persona for the "Miss Lonely Hearts" engagement is "Roger." As a verb, "to roger" is British slang roughly equivalent to the American "to hump", in a sexual sense (e.g. a dog may roger one's leg). Given that Victor's actual client is "very British", the persona's name may be an in-joke.

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Goofs

At the end of the episode when the mole fires the gun, he victim's blood is splattered behind them onto the glass indicating an exit wound on the back victim. Later we see the back of the victim with no blood or exit point on either their back or on the back of their shirt.

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Quotes

Echo: I wanna start with him.
[looks at Topher]
Topher Brink: Uh.
[chuckles nervously]
Topher Brink: I'm not the spy. I discovered the spy. Remember? The spy was operating under my nose!
Echo: Which means you're either dangerously incompotent, or you're trying to throw us off your trail.
Laurence Dominic: I'm sorry I ever doubted your programming skills.

User Reviews

Second best ep of season 1

The good; Exciting ep, the first I ever went back and re-watched immediately after again, Very clever mislead in the first scene, we think it's Dewitt getting wiped. The humanisation of Dewitt continues and it's beautifully written and played by all concerned. Good scene too between Ballard and Mellie, your heart bleeds for him.

The bad; Echo the spy-catcher wonders why Dr Saunders doesn't leave the Dollhouse? Possibly HER DISFIGURED FACE?! No commentary which is a real shame. The Sierra stuff is OK but we've seen it all before.

Best line; Dominic "Sooner or later everyone get's there's" (Here's hoping!) also like Echo "I've got a good feeling about you and I've got the whip" and Dewitt (on the idea of Victor the imprinted Doll becoming a client of the Dollhouse and hiring another Doll for his pleasure) "I think the universe might just collapse!"

Packing heat; Dewitt pretty handy with her foil, Dominic with his Glock Echo;5 Boyd; 6 Dominic; 7 Sierra; 3 Victor; 2

Echo kissage; By request this new topic will be included.

Kinky dinky; Ramirez wishes to be kidnapped by a pirate (I have a friend with an almost identical fantasy, tied to the mast and ravished by Johnny Depp and his pirate crew). Surprisingly Dr Saunders says that the actives aren't submissives, I'd have thought that would have been a hugely popular choice for clients (what about Sierra who begs her client to hurt her?).

The English language does not really have the words to adequately describe how sexy dominatrix Echo is. Suffice to say she's sexier than Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman and you can't say more than that. Reputedly this scene alone got Dollhouse a second season, a shame we couldn't have had more Echo in sexy outfits (hot cop, sexy stewardess, nympho nurse, cheerleader, French maid, naughty schoolgirl/Girl Scout) to earn it a third.

Notches on the Dollhouse bedpost; Victor/Adele. Not sure if Dominatrx Echo actually had sex with her client or not, some Dominatrixes do, some don't.

Echo; 3 definite, 1 possible

November; 1

Ballard; 1

Victor; 1

Adele; 1

How'd they get away with that?

Dominic getting wiped is hard to watch even after all the things he's done.

This weeks fantasy;

Echo is a dominatrix and a spy-catcher. Victor is Roger the romantic, Sierra a spy.

Total number personalities; 2 for Echo, 1 each for Victor and Sierra

Echo; 16

Sierra; 7

Victor; 4

November; 2

Addy is a bit British;

Her ideal lover is called Roger, second name Moore perhaps? She also uses the term 'Crackerjack' which will mean a lot to a Briton of a certain age but little to the rest of the world (does she have the requisite pencil?).

Dolls injured;

Echo roughed up by Dominic, Victor cut by Dewitt. Poor Ramirez hurt for a second time by Echo, this time with the whip (which is probably far preferable to the fire extinguisher for her!) .

Capt subtext;

In the van dominatrix Echo talks of S&M being about trust and surrendering yourself completely to another. This actually is a good analogy of the handler active relationship and what Topher tells Boyd when he first meet Echo. Dr Saunders comments on the many same sex relationships the actives are called out to do. Victor comments that he wants to keep his collection of high powered businesswoman shoes. Ramirez says she'd prefer S&M Barbie Echo to suave lady-killer Victor.

Happy hookers

Boyd considers the Dollhouse 'pimps and killers', himself included.

Guantanamo;

So who is we? Who is sending the messages to Ballard? Dominic and the NSA? That makes no sense and seems unlikely, is there more than one person inside trying to bring it down?

Dominic is intent on torturing Ivy for info. Almost reassuring that the government want to control the Dollhouse, the NSA may have little oversight but at least it has some. The idea of the attic is just so scary

Fanfic;

Dominatrix Echo the most popular whip-cracker since Calamity Jane. And the video clip lives forever on Youtube.

Reminds me off;

Mixed segments Quentin Tarantino style. Ballard is reminiscent of season 5 Wes in his obsession whilst sleeper assassin Mellie is like season 7 Spike. Sierra at the NSA is very Mission Impossible but even more Alias.

Breaking the programming;

Echo not only volunteers to help Topher but comprehends the purpose of the chair. Dewitt and Toper know but allow her to continue.

Questions and observations;

Echo waves to Mellie who seems to know her, as Echo or as Caroline from Ballards research? Victor refers Dewitt as 'Katherine', is that her real name? (gives credence to the 'She's Caroline's mother' theory).

The Miss-Lonely-Heart storyline has actually been mentioned a few times in previous eps. Note Topher suspects it's Boyd who has betrayed the Dollhouse but still goes to give him a chance to run before informing Dominic, he really does consider him a friend (or has his own doubts and wants to bring the Dollhouse down)

Fan bloody-tastic, second best ep of season 1

Marks out of 10; 9/10