Dollhouse Episode 6 - Man On The Street

Okay, so this is what we've been waiting for. Dollhouse finally delivers on its promise and delivers what is easily its best episode to date courtesy of show creator Joss Whedon.

The episode begins with Ballard tracking down a potential Dollhouse client, Joel, an Internet billionaire. When Ballard tracks Joel down he finds him with Echo, only of course she's not Echo here. She's Rebecca, happily married wife of Joel who, hilariously, suspects that her husband is involved in pornography. Whilst Ballard is busy getting rid of Joel's security taskforce, Boyd nips in and whisks Echo back to the Dollhouse. Ballard then sits down and has a nice chat with Joel who, it turns out, is hiring out Echo to live out a fantasy he had of his dead wife coming home and finding out he'd made it big with the money and bought her a house. Ballard is quick to point out that this would be pretty touching were he not also using Echo for sex as well.

Ballard then does the not-very-sensible-perhaps-in-retrospect thing of telling Millie everything he knows about the Dollhouse. Millie, the girl who waits at her door with a dish of homemade lasagna waiting for the rattle of keys in a door, takes everything he says at face value. Shame that, unbeknowst to Ballard, DeWitt has a hidden camera in his appartment that's recording his conversation with the trusting Millie.

Meanwhile, back at the Dollhouse itself, Sierra has an unusual reaction to Victor, screaming when he touches her shoulder. After examining her, Dr. Saunders reveals that Sierra has had sex since her last assignment. Boyd, in full-on policeman mode, finds a blind spot in the network of cameras across the Dollhouse. Victor is taken off active duty, only for it to be revealed that it is, in fact, Sierra's handler Hearn. Just as Hearn asks Sierra to "lift up your dress", Boyd comes out of the shadows, throwing Hearn throw a glass door. Boyd's rationale for allowing Victor to be blamed for the assault on Sierra is that Hearn needed to be "flush" with his success before he would try anything again.

DeWitt offers Hearn a way out from The Attic (said with enough import to make us assume that this is a Very Bad Place). She places a photo of Millie on Hearn's lap, telling him that she needs to be killed and that she doesn't require a "clean kill". DeWitt also tells Topher to prep another identity for Echo, revealing ominously that it's time she and Ballard had "a second date".

The action then cuts back to Ballard and Millie, who have just finished having mind-blowing sex. They decide to get some Chinese food to fortify themselves for the next round. Whilst Ballard is in the Chinese restaurent, which is oddly (i.e. conveniently) empty, he's attacked by Echo. They have a badly edited fight in the oddly (conveniently) empty kitchen and then a slightly better edited fight in the street outside. Now for the twist. Echo has Ballard at gunpoint and reveals that there is a Dollhouse. Not just one but several around the world with ties to government and major political organisations. She reveals that the Dollhouse has someone on the inside who altered the parameter of her imprint in order for her to give Ballard a message: allow the Dollhouse to believe they've won. It's too big an organisation to fight in this way; a more imaginative approach is required. Echo tells Ballard that whilst the Dollhouse won't want to kill an FBI agent, they won't hesitate to kill anyone close to him.

Right on cue, Hearn enters Ballard's appartment and attacks Millie. The phone is ringing and we assume it's Ballard, who's racing back home in true hero fashion, but it's actually DeWitt, who says something about there being three flowers in the vase. It's a trigger. Turns out Millie is a sleeper agent who kills Hearn without batting an eye. DeWitt, after seeing on her hidden camera thingie that Hearn is dead, deactivates Millie just in time for her to run into Ballard's concerned man arms. Ballard is put on suspension from the FBI and DeWitt believes that she's done a good job.

A lot to take in here. After five disappointing episodes, it seems that this is where the show was heading all along. Plenty of twists, some of which I didn't see coming, and some good acting from everyone across the board. The focus was less on Echo and more on the ensemble, which is definitely a good thing. This isn't to denegrate from Eliza Dushku's skills as an actress - I actually think she's given a very solid, unshowy performance week after week - but the show as a whole feels a lot more coherent now. It feels not only like it's going somewhere but that it's able to engage with its more complex questions about morality, good, evil, the usual Joss Whedon favourites. It wasn't totally unlike Alias, not that this either is a bad thing, unless of course it's Season 4 of Alias...

There were lots of little things to enjoy here too. DeWitt's distinction between playing a "good hand" and "a bad hand very well" was marvellous and perfectly delivered by Olivia Williams, who seems to be coming into own now after her rather clipped and terribly English delivery in the first few episodes. Of course, I just love her in Rushmore and Miss Austen Regrets so I could be biased.

Of course, anyone who saw Dichen Lachman as Katya Kinski on Neighbours will love her unconditionally.

Trademark Whedon humour was to be found in abundance, in particular the phrase "moral spankitude", and I liked the captions of LA people discussing what they thought about the "urban legend" that is the Dollhouse.

All in all a great episode and hopefully a sign of things to come, if Fox don't cancel it.