...Boyd leads Ballard in to see Adelle, which rules, and she contemptuously asks, "Did you really think you could just walk into the Dollhouse, when everyone knows it doesn't exist?" I've thought for a long time that the ultimate ironic and Whedonesque conclusion to this season would be for Ballard to become a Doll, and if there's one person I think I can rely on to make that happen, it's Adelle DeWitt.

Alpha asks Claire to tell him what she remembers about their first meeting, so Claire stutters that he'd just signed the agreement and had been wiped for the first time, and his handler brought him to her. Cryptically yet pointedly, he asks if she examined him, his whole body, and if I were her, I'd have a hard time not pointing out that it took considerable restraint to leave it at that. She, however, settles for a simple "yes," so Alpha goes on in the same mysterious, loaded vein, asking if he was in good health. When she again says "yes," he pronounces the exchange "so interesting," so obviously what at least one of them remembers is not what really happened, but he doesn't elaborate further, merely saying, with a sudden scientific curiosity, that he wishes they had more time. Claire's panic goes into overdrive as she whispers, "We don't have time?" It's easy not to notice with everything else going on, but Amy Acker's doing quite a job with this episode, I tell you what.

Ballard's doing the dumbest thing possible, trying to intimidate Adelle with blustery talk about being a Federal agent and blah, and Adelle isn't impressed in the slightest: "You are no longer protected by those laws!" If Ballard had even an ounce of sense in him he would SHUT UP, but no, he asks how they can justify this, although he does make a reasonable point when he says that he might not be there if they hadn't thrown so many "interesting lies" his way. Adelle silkily concedes he's been quite a challenge, and he asks if that's why she tried to kill him twice. Adelle: "It might be good for us both that I failed." Heh. This is like watching a debate between Michael Rapaport and Mr. Spock. Ballard spits that there's no justification for "consensual slavery," and says what they did to Caroline was wrong. Having had enough of this, Adelle notes that he knows so many names and facts and the like, and asks Boyd if he thinks they should put him in the chair. Much like Topher earlier, Boyd looks like he did not see that one coming...