...but later, he and Boyd are doing the best they can by pulling up information on all of Echo's remaining romantic clients. Boyd mentions the guy we saw in the opening scene, saying his body was discovered outside his trailer, and then lists another male and a female client, who were mowed down by a car and shot, respectively. They conclude that Alpha is killing all the people that Echo has loved, and Boyd asks, "So who's next?"

Cut to Sierra sashaying back into the lab as piano-bar music plays and Topher hilariously asks, "Let me guess. You've been done wrong by a man?" Hee. That is, in fact, the gist, but Sierra's amusing Chicago-in-the-twenties-speak becomes less funny when she mentions that her man's name was Alpha...

...and then Boyd is telling Adelle that while Sierra's handler didn't get a good look at the client, he identified himself as "Mr. E. Hap Lasher," which is an anagram for..."Alpha's here," Adelle supplies. Damn, someone's been practicing the Jumble. They realize Alpha could be behind all their engagements at the moment, so Adelle orders everything to be suspended until every single Active can be wiped: "I don't care if they haven't left the house since Y2K." Ten-year-anniversary alert! Topher, however, says that Sierra gave him another message from Alpha: "The next lover ages well." I guess that means the boring "Chauncy" professor is safe for the moment, much to my dismay. Everyone heads off to figure out who this might be...

...and later, we see on the monitor that all the Dolls (and there are a lot) are queued up for the chair. Ballard snarks that it's like they're giving away free government cheese, and Boyd counters, "They do enjoy their treatments." I've long held that these two need more scenes together, so I'm glad for this, late as it is. They then talk through the clue, and when Ballard asks if any of the clients have a birthday coming up, Boyd gets it -- it's that bondage doofus from the pilot, who apparently hires Echo once a year for his birthday. Of course, that's contradicted by his second appearance, but it's hard to begrudge him the extra engagement given what's about to happen.