The show began in a basement or factory, with a man adjusting mannequins. At least, at first I thought they were mannequins. It turns out they were women injected with powerful paralyzing drugs, manipulated by an insane man. When one tried to escape, he ended up killing her, and then, on the street, when he was attempting to replace the doll he called Aunt Sheila, he was hit by a car.
Next, we discover he is in a coma at the Dollhouse, and Adelle (Olivia Williams) wants Topher (Fran Kranz) to revive him for his uncle (portrayed by BSG's Michael Hogan). Uncle Brad has invested a lot of money in the Dollhouse, and Adelle is keen to give him what he wants until Topher reads his brain scan. They discover the nephew, Terry, has the brain of a serial killer - with underdeveloped empathy and the like. Suddenly, Topher (that's right, as Boyd (Harry Lennix) pointed out, Topher) as an ethical problem with reviving him, and so does Adelle.
Brad reveals that he suspects Terry has some women hidden somewhere, and he wants to wake Terry to find them. They do a brain dump, and put all of Terry straight into Victor. I'd say that Enver Gjokaj, who portrays Victor, stole the show, except that the writing is so balance and the rest of the cast so strong that, instead, he should be mentioned for a terrific performance.
Meanwhile, Paul (Tahmoh Penikett) is getting Echo (Eliza Dushku) ready for an assignment as a nubile college student who is to be seduced by her Chaucer professor. Paul is disturbed by Echo's transformation into Kiki, so much so that he is thrilled when Boyd replaces him so that he can confront Victor/Terry the serial killer. ("A serial killer? Thank God.")
Penikett and Gjokaj worked so well together during their interview. The calm and poise that Terry/Victor projected, along with the super creepy vibes, were chilling. And Paul's manipulations would have made me tell him all about the doll-like women in my basement...even though I don't actually have any.
Things get worse of course. Brad, believing Paul and Adelle's plan was not going to work, breaks Terry/Victor out of the Dollhouse. Terry makes him crash his car, and escapes on foot. And it turns out that Victor is not equipped with a GPS device. It was removed when he had his face reconstructed. (Here, we also got an acknowledgement of the existence of Dr. Saunders (Amy Acker), who is still missing). So the Dollhouse allowed an untraceable serial killer out into the world. Oops.
Echo/Kiki continues to have a much more pleasant time, now dancing with her professor.
Topher is never one to be defeated. He decides, at Adelle's insistence, to perform a remote wipe. Yes, that might leave a vulnerable Victor who knows where, but that's better than a serial killer. The wipe occurs, and the entire system at the Dollhouse goes off line. They don't know if it worked.
Turns out, it just switched Terry and Kiki. So suddenly you have Victor/Kiki, who hasn't realized she's a man, being peppy and dancing at a night club, trying to seduce all the boys, and Echo/Terry, stabbing her would-be-seducer in the neck.
Again, Gjokaj was brilliant her. I believed he was a woman. And he had so much fun dancing and shaking his ass. It was great. It got better when one of the men he had focused his attentions on got homophobic when Kiki tried to pick him up, and punched him. Well, he missed, and Victor/Kiki punched him first, very angry that the guy would punch a girl. Paul showed up, and Victor/Kiki threw himself into his arms, sobbing "Paul, Paul, why did you ever leave me?" It was beautiful! And then Paul told off everyone staring, "What are you looking at."
So Victor was fine, and Echo's GPS chip was still working, so they were able to find her and save the three women who were still imprisoned there.
I'm still not sure the exact implication of the comparison between our Dolls, Echo , Victor, etc, and the women Terry captured and used as dolls, but it was a powerful and disturbing image.
What did you think?
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