Episode cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Eliza Dushku | ... | Echo / Rebecca Mynor | |
Harry Lennix | ... | Boyd Langton | |
Fran Kranz | ... | Topher Brink | |
Tahmoh Penikett | ... | Paul Ballard | |
Enver Gjokaj | ... | Victor | |
Dichen Lachman | ... | Sierra | |
Olivia Williams | ... | Adelle DeWitt | |
Amy Acker | ... | Dr. Claire Saunders | |
Ben Bode | ... | Academic (as Ben Bodé) | |
Reed Diamond | ... | Laurence Dominic | |
Kevin Kilner | ... | Joe Hearn | |
Liza Lapira | ... | Ivy | |
Miracle Laurie | ... | Mellie | |
Patton Oswalt | ... | Joel Mynor | |
Mark Sheppard | ... | Tanaka (as Mark A. Sheppard) |
While a street reporter interviews random passersby about the urban legend of the Dollhouse, Ballard continues his obsessive quest for evidence of its existence, leading to an encounter with dot-com billionaire Joel Mynor, where he finally meets Echo face-to-face in her "programmed" state, and learns a little more about the Dollhouse clientèle. Meanwhile, it appears that Victor has been sexually abusing Sierra. DeWitt wants to have Victor sent to "the Attic", but Boyd suspects all may not be as it appears. Elsewhere, Ballard increasingly confides in his neighbor Mellie, and finally begins a romance with her, unaware that he may be putting her in danger by doing so. DeWitt decides to take more decisive action against the threat posed by Ballard - with unexpected consequences. And there are ominous hints that the Dollhouse may be much more than it appears. Written by matt-282
OK, I was lukewarm about this series up until this point. I'd finally started watching it on Netflix because I'd enjoyed a lot of Joss Whedon's other work, but Dollhouse really seemed to be kind of sub-par for him... until now.
This episode is orders of magnitude better than anything that came before it. Breathtakingly intense, and full of alarming twists, turns and shocks that easily rival some of the best of his work on other shows, not to mention hints of much more interesting plot elements than anything seen in the series thus far. He even took what appeared to be a setup for a classic Whedon trope (terrible things always happen to happy people) and twisted it in an entirely unexpected direction.
I don't know if the rest of the series will be able to maintain this standard, but as of now, I'm completely hooked.