...and speaking of which, he gets the gizmo ready...

...as the Dolls head outside. Conveniently, there don't seem to be any Butchers about, but that doesn't matter anyway, as it's go time upstairs. As the device gathers power, Topher takes a last look around and sees the wall of photographs -- before the pulse wave explodes out of the machine. Sniff, but I counted a full twenty-five seconds between him activating the gizmo and it going off, so you'd think he could have run if he wanted to. Outside, everyone but Adelle and Zone have been knocked out, but the ex-Dolls start regaining consciousness one by one, and when YC or Iris or whoever she is now warily asks Zone what happened, he helps her to her feet and smiles that everything is going to be okay. He brings her over to meet Adelle...

...as Echo's heading up to the chair. Atop it, she finds an envelope with her name on it, and inside, she finds a cartridge. She doesn't hesitate in imprinting herself... and then we cut inside her mind, wherein Ballard has appeared to talk to her. He wryly starts to inquire about the surroundings, and she smilingly replies that he wanted her to let him in, which is one of the only cutesy lines in this episode that worked for me. They moon at each other...

...and then she comes out of the chair with a smile on her face. She then happily walks by Priya, the two Tonys, and Mag as the most ridiculously overwrought alterna-ovary song continues to wail away on the soundtrack, and then she settles into her pod to mentally say all the things to Ballard she never got to say. Also, the Mutant Enemy card editorializes by cutting off the alterna-ovary in mid-wail, showing that I'll always see eye-to-eye with them on some things.

Well, that's it. I think I adequately expressed my frustration with the zigzagging quality of the show, but as I said, it was enjoyable overall, and I'll miss it on the whole. Thanks for reading, and hope to see you again sometime.

John Ramos is a writer and film producer living in Los Angeles. You can reach him at couchbaron@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/couchbaron.