...and outside, Ballard finds her, and they basically rehash their conversation from the end of last episode, except that Echo tells him how she doesn't just remember stuff from her engagements, she feels them, and it's incredibly difficult to experience such strong stuff like love and extreme emotional pain. "It's not pretend for me." She adds that every time, they make it so real, and Ballard wonders if maybe helping him bring down the Dollhouse is too much. He offers to go it alone, and adds that he could have Topher come up with a way to make sure she doesn't remember a thing (because... he hasn't tried to do that on numerous occasions already?), but she says no: "Feeling nothing would be worse. I would be like before -- asleep." Totally the opposite of what Madeline said, but since what she said made no sense anyway I won't dwell on that. Instead: It's over. See you next time.

John Ramos is a writer and film producer living in Los Angeles. You can reach him at couchbaron@gmail.com.