...but not before he grabs Echo on his way out...

...and then the two of them, armed, are checking out "Victor"'s apartment. Once they determine it's safe, they get ready to case the room, and Echo makes me laugh: "You want FBI, private investigator, or should I surprise you?" Boyd takes a break from his security job to do some work as the Exposition Fairy, asking how that process works for her, and Echo is only too glad to tell him that she used to have to work to switch between imprints, but now it happens almost automatically, so I guess that means we've seen the last of the Disco Ball Of Echo's Past Personalities. The upshot is, even as she's accessing the old imprints, she's always Echo now, which I guess is why the headaches that were such a life-threatening problem for her as recently as last episode don't even rate a mention here. Anyway, Echo pronounces the job professional, but it's Boyd who realizes that the fact of it happening so quickly after "Victor"'s release means it must have been done with inside information, and I know they're having a conversation here but it's still pretty hilarious that he got there ahead of all her smarty-pants imprints.

Cut to Victor finally getting the hood removed. He's tied to a chair in the traditional interrogation setup -- dark room, bright spotlights -- and surrounded by commandos, the leader of whom he recognizes from when they served together. Said leader does his best impression of a block of wood as he explains that all of them were deemed "broken soldiers" by a military that didn't know what to do with them, "so they packed us away for five years." Sounds like this the military sent them all to different Dollhouses, which explains Adelle's earlier comment about how Victor was "assigned" to her house. Excellent, this plotline is well-crafted. The leader goes on, however, that although the Dollhouses succeeded in removing their pain, fear, and shame (okay, still not sure how that works, but at this point it's probably best to ignore it), they've been left empty because they're soldiers, and as such they need something to fight for. Victor recognizes this for the recruitment speech this is: "You want me to be a soldier. Where do I sign up?" Pat yourself on the back again, Topher!