Stop-Loss (18 Dec. 2009)

Victor's five-year contract with the Dollhouse elapses and he goes back out into the real world under his old personality of Anthony Ceccoli. But his past as a soldier fighting in ... See full summary »

Director:

Félix Enríquez Alcalá

Writers:

Joss Whedon (creator), Andrew Chambliss

Stars:

Eliza Dushku, Harry Lennix, Fran Kranz

Cast

Episode credited cast:
Eliza Dushku	...	Echo
Harry Lennix	...	Boyd Langton
Fran Kranz	...	Topher Brink
Tahmoh Penikett	...	Paul Ballard (credit only)
Enver Gjokaj	...	Anthony Ceccoli
Dichen Lachman	...	Priya Tsetsang
Olivia Williams	...	Adelle DeWitt
Liza Lapira	...	Ivy
Kate Comer	...	Attendant
Michael King	...	Hagan
Katrina Nelson	...	Bartender
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jason L. Brandt	...	Derek

Storyline

Victor's five-year contract with the Dollhouse elapses and he goes back out into the real world under his old personality of Anthony Ceccoli. But his past as a soldier fighting in Afghanistan (whom he was running from the first place) threatens his present with Sierra who remains behind at Dollhouse and is conflicted over Victor's absence. Meanwhile, Echo continues to keep an eye on the comatose Ballard, while Adelle slips into hopelessness over recent events. When Victor/Anthony is captured by a rouge military unit with ties to Rossum Corp. Echo is forced to recruit Sierra, under her real personalty of Priya, to help rescue Victor/Anthony while Boyd and Topher monitor and keep Adelle in check to avoid her finding out what is going on behind the scenes.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 December 2009 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

20th Century Fox Television

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Victor is released from his contract, Langton tells him that they had made arrangements for him to stay at the Hyperion. The Hyperion was the headquarters for Angel Investigations in Angel.

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Goofs

To aim a gun, it's common to close one eye. When Echo shoots out the bunker's camera, she closes the wrong eye, the one more nearly in line with the gun's sights; she shouldn't be able to hit anything.

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Quotes

Echo: [Speaking of Victor] I needed him. I thought he could help me get everyone out.
Sierra: I'm sad too. But not for us. For him. He's not ready to be by himself.

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Soundtracks

"Bad Romance"
(uncredited)
Written and Performed by Lady Gaga

User Reviews

Probably the weakest episode of season 2

As a Victor-centric episode, "Stop-Loss" had a lot of potential, but unfortunately it comes nowhere near Sierra's centric earlier in the season, "Belonging". It begins well, with Victor's last engagement and release from his Dollhouse contract, his discomfort in adjusting to a new world after 5 years (which, for him, felt like 5 seconds), and his abduction by a mysterious group of....ninjas? But then Echo's rescue operation takes over, and frankly it's quite ridiculous: I don't care how many army skills she already has and how many more they upload into her brain, an entire bunker full of supposed super-soldiers who exercise perfect group-think should not be so easy to defeat. And as fit as Eliza Dushku is, the amount of stunt doubling in her fight scenes is beginning to reach later-day Steven Seagal levels! Also, this episode missed a perfect opportunity to launch Adelle's redemption (since we already know, from "Epitaph One", that she ultimately changed sides). At least we're finally ready to explore the hugely hyped Attic next time! *** out of 4.