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Dollhouse

Episode Report Card

Couch Baron: A- | 3198 USERS: B+

YOU GRADE IT

Do You Believe in Dolls?

By Couch Baron | Season 1 | Episode 6 | Aired on 2009.03.20

In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description!

Enjoyable episode? Sure. "An episode I'll never forget"? No. The title of the episode refers to the fact that it features man-on-the-street interviews with people about the "urban legend" of the Dollhouse, which basically goes to show that Ballard doesn't know anything more than half the people in Los Angeles. At least, that's until Ballard and Aisha Hinds figure out that an "internet mogul" is a Dollhouse client, which is good until he totally blabs to Mellie about it, like, NICE AGENT WORK, dickhead. Ballard's there when the internet guy has a Doll show up for her new assignment, and it's Echo, of course. When Ballard sees this, he tries to talk to her, but gets assaulted by Dollhouse security, and even though they're no match for him and he kicks some ass, Boyd succeeds in whisking an annoyingly-helpless Echo away for treatment. Ballard then interrogates the internet guy about the Dollhouse, who lectures him about fantasies and his dead first wife and The House That Death Built over champagne for some reason, and then Ballard takes his shirt off, which almost is enough to make me forget that Laurence practically throws in the Dollhouse towel. Adelle, however, is made of sterner stuff, and sends Echo after Ballard without Boyd in tow. Ballard then nails Mellie, which isn't very convincing but good for her, and then unfortunately puts his shirt back on and runs into Echo again, who's sporting a different imprint, and they have an awesome knock-down drag-out that ends in Echo telling Ballard that he doesn't want to be messing with the Dollhouse without help from the person who sent the message she's delivering, and he has to appear to let the Dollhouse win in order to beat it.

Sierra's having night terrors at all hours of the day, and Claire figures out that she's Done It in her default state. Sierra's handler suspects Victor, but after a long series of investigations, Boyd realizes that it's Sierra's handler that's been abusing her. Laurence then plays the muscle to Adelle's interrogator until Adelle boots Laurence out and gives the handler a murder assignment with which to wipe the slate clean. It turns out she sends him after Mellie, only at the point where he's about to kill her, Adelle calls the apartment with a coded message -- which switches Mellie's Doll powers on just long enough for her to kick his ass before Adelle turns her back to her sweet self again. Since this all happened in Ballard's apartment, he gets suspended, but Adelle and Laurence don't imagine that's going to end Ballard's interest in them. And speaking of unwanted interest, Victor, Sierra, and Echo are all still ready to have a three-way. Which will happen within the next two episodes, because how can Fox resist?

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Want more? The full recap starts right below!

We start with a guy opening a news segment with this: "When you hear the word 'dollhouse,' you probably think of little girls playing tea party." Not really, but your statement makes me think of Echo, Sierra, and Victor playing tea party, and I'd love to see the Dollhouse staff's reaction to that. The guy goes on that it has a different and darker meaning for some people in L.A., however, and we cut to a guy talking about how Dolls can be programmed to do anything, and "they're out there." From the crazy side-eyes the guy gives throughout his statement, I'd say the Dolls aren't the only ones. The reporter claims that since the late '80s, the Dollhouse has been "one of L.A.'s most-enduring urban legends." I call bullshit on that timeline -- no way did the Dollhouse set up its expensive shop in the aftermath of the stock market crash of '87. People could barely even afford normal role-playing hookers back then. The guy continues to explain the premise of the Dollhouse, and then we go to another interview, in which a woman of color says she believes the rumors, because people will always need slaves. The interviewer suggests the possibility that the Dolls are volunteers, to which the woman replies, "There's only one reason someone would volunteer to be a slave, is if he is one already." Another woman has a different view of it, though, saying you get everything free and all you have to do is party with rich people all the time. "Where's the dotted line?" Sounds like the casting people shafted this girl in her quest to be Paris Hilton's new BFF.

As the reporter continues that the FBI looked into the Dollhouse and supposedly found nothing, we pull back to see his image on a TV, and then pan over to take in more screens, one of which shows the footage of Echo at the cult compound last week, and another of the video of Caroline. Has Ballard kept watching those on an endless loop? It may add to the drama, but it makes him seem both inefficient and kind of dim, not that either of those traits would be a big change. However, he seems to have an epiphany regarding some papers in his hand -- but then that jerk-off boss of his we haven't seen since the pilot (we'll soon learn the character's name is "Tanaka") grabs them away and says it's his case. Dude, it's not even going to be your hand in a minute if you don't watch yourself. I should mention, by the way, that it was brought to my attention that this is a Battlestar Galactica reunion -- probably everyone knows that Tahmoh Penikett (Ballard) played Helo, but it might be less-common knowledge that Mark Sheppard (Tanaka) had a recurring stint as Romo Lampkin. And maybe I shouldn't have mentioned BSG, given that it just ended. I mean, with some of the reactions it still provokes, I get scared even to bring up Firefly. [Which also featured Sheppard! Coincidence? - Zach]