Dollhouse: "A Spy In the House of Love" (1x09)

[Ayelbourne]

I meant reveal that she's bulletproof or something, she didn't even stagger when she took that slug. It didn't go clean through either.

It's just a graze. She says as much right after the shot. Though it was a bit hard to understand what with all the screaming and noise around her.

 

[propita]

Ellie's reveal to Helo was nice scene... I had expected that to come sooner or later.

I believe it's "Mellie"--probably short for Melinda or something.

My favorite scene was probably at the end though, with Echo and the head of security in the van... Lots of foreshadowing there. Only time will tell if we actually get to see that foreshadowing come true.

I missed this--what van? I thought that when Echo was being imprinted to trust the new handler, she was actually watching Boyd (?) and he was watching her--which meant it was him she trusted, not the new guy.

My favourite moment was when Victor's Bond-like imprint says, offhand, that if he were a client he would order somebody just like DeWitt, because she was perfect. The "Oh, fuck, what if I'm..." look that crossed her face for a moment... loved it. I've said it before: beneath all the pretty decor is an identity nightmare out of a Phillip K. Dick story.

I thought the same thing--what if she is a doll?

I wonder what DeWitt's employee discount is?

I don't think she gets one. "Miss Lonelyhearts" (the old lady) is all a ruse by DeWitt.

I was surprised that the Dollhouse revealed Millie's "sleeper" status to Ballard. When that sequence of events unfolded, my jaw dropped.

I was expecting that Ballard would, eventually, figure out on his own that Millie was a sleeper Doll. The signs were there when he first pulls his gun on her; she seemed to have no awareness of why he would be jumpy as he was, which made me wonder if they programmed her with memories of the attack in Ballard's apartment.

No, she was in the hallway and had no idea of happened after leaving earlier. Even after the attack--Ballard got that voice message from Echo after Mellie left.

So was it the NSA, through Dominic, that was feeding Ballard the messages? That they didn't just want Ballard to uncover the mystery of the Dollhouse and rescue Caroline, but that they wanted him to take it down thoroughly, so they're feeding him enough information that he'll dig deeper than he ordinarily would have? If so, Dominic's statement to DeWitt that he kept Ballard's investigation away from the Dollhouse was probably to divert attention from Ballard; he's taking a bullet, knowing that Ballard is going to dig a lot deeper and get to the core of the story. He has to sacrifice himself, for the sake of the greater good.

I got confused a bit. This is what I got, someone tell me which parts are wrong:

1) The NSA is well aware of the Dollhouse (duh)

2) The NSA wants to take over the Dollhouse

3) DeWitt believes the Dollhouse has some mission that is not as "sinister" as the use the NSA would put it to

4) Dominic believes the Dollhouse's mission is far worse than that

Speculation:

5) Dominic was behind Alpha's "evolution" (which was an actually an error in Dominic's changing Alpha's imprint) but not Echo's--and that scares him enough to want her dead, as "too uncontrollable"

6) Because of Dominic's error in Alpha's imprint, Alpha is now operating independently

7) Something is up with Saunders (Fred from Angel)--that she never leaves? wtf

I wonder why they didn't tranq Dominic when they put him into the chair, though. Why have someone conscious, in a state where he could do some major damage? That didn't make a lot of sense to me.

They wanted him to feel it--but they shouldn't've had guns near him.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

They pulled a really nice piece of misdirection, BTW, by having the spy first "revealed" to be Topher's young assistant - because that was just such obvious TV plotting: of course the minor or guest-starring character who's been given a remarkably large role in the episode is the "surprise" villain. That's the way it's done.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I meant reveal that she's bulletproof or something, she didn't even stagger when she took that slug. It didn't go clean through either.

It's just a graze. She says as much right after the shot. Though it was a bit hard to understand what with all the screaming and noise around her.

I figured the kinetics alone would have at least moved her and I don't know about grazing the abdomen.

 

[Caligula]

They pulled a really nice piece of misdirection, BTW, by having the spy first "revealed" to be Topher's young assistant - because that was just such obvious TV plotting: of course the minor or guest-starring character who's been given a remarkably large role in the episode is the "surprise" villain. That's the way it's done.

Yeah, I thought about that, too. But Joss Whedon hasn't always stuck to "the way it's done," which is part of what I love about his work.

 

[David cgc]

They pulled a really nice piece of misdirection, BTW, by having the spy first "revealed" to be Topher's young assistant - because that was just such obvious TV plotting: of course the minor or guest-starring character who's been given a remarkably large role in the episode is the "surprise" villain. That's the way it's done.

There was another factor in the misdirection that I liked. At the beginning, when Sierra asked Echo what was going on, Echo said, "She made a mistake. Now she's sad." Now, the obvious initial assumption would be that the spy slipped up and made a mistake that gave her away, and is sad because she's getting her brain ripped out through her nose (metaphorically). Of course, once we've seen end of the episode, we realize Echo was talking about DeWitt.

 

[Lumen]

Ivy screamed "double-agent" to me from the instant we saw her. The seeds of misdirection were planted long before this episode.

I don't know anything about active-psychology, but I think Echo's old handler being within eyesight of her while they're attempting to give a new handler is probably a bad idea, one that DeWitt and Topher should be cognizant of. Maybe Boyd, too, but I get the feeling he has no particular desire to let Echo go.

That last scene between Dominic and Echo was really not-subtle. And I think this is the first time we've seen an imprinted personality actually aware that she is in an active. Echo's reactions were strangely nonchalant. I'm not sure what to make of that.

 

[David cgc]

All of the imprints are probably set so they'll turn a blind eye towards anything that suggests their true nature. Witness how nonchalant Boyd and Victor's handler were about talking shop in the garage right in front of two actives, or how the freshly-imprinted Millie was quite convinced that she was in an airport after her "treatment."

 

[Lumen]

Echo's "I am not broken!" suggests to me that there's a little more going on there, though. It was very different from her reaction when she was Rebeca back in "Man on the Street". Could be just that this imprint was more aggressive, though.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

My favorite scene was probably at the end though, with Echo and the head of security in the van... Lots of foreshadowing there. Only time will tell if we actually get to see that foreshadowing come true.

I missed this--what van? I thought that when Echo was being imprinted to trust the new handler, she was actually watching Boyd (?) and he was watching her--which meant it was him she trusted, not the new guy.

About ten minutes from the end. Echo and Dominic are in the back of a van, leaving DeWitt's beach estate, heading back to the Dollhouse.

Dominic says to Echo (roughly), "They're going to wipe me, but they'll get theirs. You're going to wipe them."

 

[Ayelbourne]

I figured the kinetics alone would have at least moved her and I don't know about grazing the abdomen.

Well, whatever Saunders stitched up, looked like nothing more than a graze to me.

 

[Samuel T. Cogley]

They pulled a really nice piece of misdirection, BTW, by having the spy first "revealed" to be Topher's young assistant - because that was just such obvious TV plotting: of course the minor or guest-starring character who's been given a remarkably large role in the episode is the "surprise" villain. That's the way it's done.

I totally fell for it, too.

I was watching the episode with a friend of mine. As soon as it began, I told her: "It's the Asian chick."

She said, "No, that's too obvious. This is a Joss Whedon show."

I responded: "Normally, yeah, but this is Dollhouse."

She said, "True. Maybe you're right, then."

Thankfully, she was right and I was wrong.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Apropos of nothing, I so want to do DeWitt.

That is all. Thank you for your attention.

 

[Samuel T. Cogley]

I should also add that my female friend was disappointed that Dushku didn't have a better ass.

 

[SinglePurpose]

I thought the same thing--what if she is a doll?

Dewitt can't be a doll. In the Naked Time ripoff episode a few weeks ago the dolls didn't experience the full effects of the drugs but Dewitt clearly did.

 

[propita]

I thought the same thing--what if she is a doll?

Dewitt can't be a doll. In the Naked Time ripoff episode a few weeks ago the dolls didn't experience the full effects of the drugs but Dewitt clearly did.

Whoops! Yup.

And how could I have forgotten about the van scene with Dominic and Echo? It was pretty major--as posters have commented.

So does anyone think Alpha was more than just evolution? Maybe an attempted sabotage by Dominic that went unexpectedly wrong? Or maybe not wrong at all, and totally intended by Dominic...and his problem with Echo is that he didn't "arrange" her evolution?

 

[Captain Shaw]

I wish this show was not about to get canceled its just started to go places.
I think this is the best episode yet.
I take it there another spy who programed November?

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I dunno - there's also the question of who was behind the "Most Dangerous Game" boyfriend from a few weeks back. It may all be the NSA, or there may yet be other players...or there may be another Dollhouse.

I certainly don't think it was the NSA that wanted to feed Ballard information to keep him safe and on the trail.

 

[sportzkid]

I dunno - there's also the question of who was behind the "Most Dangerous Game" boyfriend from a few weeks back. It may all be the NSA, or there may yet be other players... or there may be another Dollhouse.

I certainly don't think it was the NSA that wanted to feed Ballard information to keep him safe and on the trail.

We already know there are other dollhouses. Unless you meant to say that maybe another dollhouse was feeding the information to Ballard.

I have a feeling there is another spy in the dollhouse, and my feeling has been the doctor, Amy Acker.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

We already know there are other dollhouses.

I missed that. What do we know about them?

Acker's character being a deliberate threat to the Dollhouse is a little too obvious now, I think. There are beginning to be suggestions that she's perhaps more fanatical about the place even than the others, simply expressing it in a different fashion. Some of what seemed at first to be greater compassion for the dolls seems to me now to be in the service of some more "ideal" model for how they're used.