In fact, Fox has postponed the next 4 episodes. None will show in November, which is sweeps, but will instead continue in double-headers in December. I hope that means they will advertise the show and get viewers for those episodes, but I may have to content myself with being happy that Fox kept its promise to show the rest of season 2.
Now, let's focus on Belonging. The episode did not focus on Echo (Eliza Dushku) - for once she was a secondary character, though she continued to try to help the other dolls, namely Victor (Enver Gjokaj) and Sierra (Dichen Lachman). Her plot did still advance, as Boyd (Harry Lennox) caught on that she was far more aware than she ought to have been, and he brought her a key card, presumably to exit the building, to help when the storm hit. Echo has such a way of securing the loyalty of her escorts.
What we saw was Sierra's life before she ended up in the Dollhouse...or should I call her Pria. She was an artist, Australian, and a Dollhouse contributer, Nolan (Vincent Ventresca), was madly in love with her. She, however, felt nothing for him. He was persistent, and so she painted him a mural, which he showed off, hiring both Echo and Victor to help persuade her that he was a catch. The plan backfired; Pria felt an immediate attraction to Victor, and continued to refuse Nolan's advances.
In the present, Echo brings Topher (Fran Kranz) a painting Sierra made, telling him that Sierra does not like the bad man. Topher looks into things, and discovers that Sierra has had a repeat engagement with Nolan, a neurosurgeon, for quite some time. He digs deeper, and realizes that when Sierra first arrived at the Dollhouse, he had been convinced she was a paranoid schizophrenic, but her disconnect with reality had actually been the result of drugs. She was not supposed to be in the Dollhouse.
Topher brought the information to Adelle (Olivia Williams), who confronted Nolan. She told him he would no longer be a client, but he disagreed. He insisted that she imprint Pria with love for him and deliver her permanently. And Adelle's boss, played by non-other than Keith Carradine* (aka Frank Lundy from Dexter), insisted that she follow his instructions.
Topher could not bring himself to do it. He sent Sierra as Pria to Nolan, and she ended up killing the man who put her through hell, the man whom she had tried to confront last year when the dolls had been given the chance to resolve their issues. This was not exactly what Topher had expected, but he showed up to help her anyway. Boyd also appeared, and we learnt that while he may have been a cop before joining up with the Dollhouse, he was very good at making a person and a body disappear without raising and flags.
And so Pria returned to the Dollhouse, having committed an act that earned her a place among the dolls.
That description sounds almost hopeless, but it is not, because we learned something else. When Pria awoke, she knew she was in love. She did not remember Victor, but her feelings for him persisted. So while the dolls may be devoid of many things, they can still form real attachments. I wonder what that says about the soul. What do you think?
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