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Thursday, 14 March 2013

Dollhouse: Gray Hour


“You can mention that when you blog about it later.”

Slowly, we learn more about the series’ conceit. The Actives can be used for a very wide array of activities, it seems, extending from hostage negotiation to, well, escorting. This episode is, essentially, about a heist, and an exciting one, but basing the episode around such a familiar set of tropes allows us to focus more on the characters, and the continuing establishment of the show’s narrative rules.

I’m getting to really like Topher. He’s a genius, but reminds me of Shaggy from Scooby Doo. It’s clever, of course, that this character, whose job is so reprehensible, should be so likeable. He’s quirky, but good at his job to the extent that the episode ends with Dewitt uprating his security clearance and letting him know the big secret: the mysterious Alpha is not dead.

There’s an awful lot happening this episode which, while not dropping any huge bombshells, moves along the arc. There are a very interesting couple of lines about the Actives early on: “They volunteer for this”, replied to by “So we’re told”. Actives (in this case Sierra) can be re-programmed with the same imprints as others. Most interestingly, though, Alpha is not only able to destroy the Actives’ imprints with a certain sound, but he seems to be targeting Echo in particular.

Oh, and these Elgin Marbles… aren’t they, rightly or wrongly, in the British Museum?

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