So apparently Ballard didn't go on to spill anything to Mellie, as it seemed he would at the end of last episode. And while I have no problem with what he's doing here, difficult as it is to watch Mellie deal with it, I have to admit I don't completely buy him being so hardened and focused after he was emotionally hanging on by a thread all last week. I think the show was hoping to get away with the choppy transition between episodes without anyone noticing, but I find it a little jarring. But getting on with it, Mellie apparently caught Ballard mid-pack, and she's in a state of escalating panic. She asks him why he's leaving, and he tells her they're not good for each other. She tries to take the blame, offering that she's been smothering him and that they can take a break, but he's unmoved. Her last-ditch effort is telling him to look at her and ask himself if she's ever told him anything she didn't truly believe. Ballard: "You just said exactly what I needed to hear." Ballard giveth. "And that's why I'm leaving." And Ballard taketh away. Seriously, that was cold, right there, as it is when she begs him to stop, as what he's doing is killing her, but he merely responds, "You'll get over it." I think he's saying that not only because he expects her to go into the chair and forget all about this, but also because the more distraught he renders her here, the more distracted she'll be, and thus the easier to follow unnoticed. At least, that's what I'm hoping, because otherwise, he seemed to relish that whole exchange a little too much for my tastes.

Adelle is holding a small black flash drive in her hand, curiously wondering what it is as Boyd tells her it was delivered for Laurence. Hmm, so given that we learn it's from Alpha, are we to understand that Laurence was his man on the inside? Because... that still wouldn't make any sense to me, and I have to say, as action-packed as this episode is, it leaves a lot of questions unanswered, as well as completely ignoring that whole issue of the Dollhouse's reason for existing that Ballard's supposed to be looking into, so I hope the finale wraps a few more things up. Anyway, Adelle wonders if they can imprint a Doll with the skills necessary to retrieve whatever data is on the drive, but Boyd opines that the NSA has surely taken precautions to ensure that only Laurence can access it without corrupting it. Adelle suggests that he ask Laurence, then, and Boyd's like, "Ha ha... ha?"