Dollhouse: The Hollow Men

"This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but with a whimper."

For the first time ever (as far as I recall) I've broken my iron rule, and not used a quite from the episode. Instead I've quoted the end of T.S. Elliot's poem, The Hollow Men, as it's obviously a deliberate allusion and particularly, I suspect, with this being the season finale, to those final lines.

Interesting, then, that the imications should at first glance be so self-deprecating; personally, I think that this episode is a stunning triumph of a Seadon finale. Where, then, is the "whimper"? I suspect the answer lies in the fact that our heroes' victory is temporary, and the death of freedom is inevitable. This is the season finale, but it isn't the last episode. As with Season Four of Buffy and, more to the point, the first season of Dollhouse, there's another episode to go.

We begin with the inevitable flashback which has to follow the revelation, at the end of the last episode, that Boyd was the big bad all along. It's five years ago, and we see Caroline, in Boyd's office , being presented with a choice that is not a choice: life in prison for terrorism or five years as an Active? She's "special", apparently, and Boyd wants to be her handler himself. This makes sense of past events, but it ain't half creepy.

An unexpected pleasure is that we once again get to see Enver Gjokaj's performance as Topher, although it's also cool to see Anthony imprinted with ninja skills. Nice that they have time for such touches in this of all episodes.

I have to stop and praise Harry Lennix here, something I've shamefully neglected up till now. It's such a novelty to see him as an openly moustache-twirling baddie, but we can now see all his other performances in a different light. Like the actor who played Keyser Soze in The Usual Suspects (I shall name no names. Spoilers, as Rover Song would say!), I'm sure that, if I was to research those earlier episodes, his performances would appear in a very different light.

Horrifyingly, we discover that quietly, in Tucson, Rossum has been developing Topher's technology so that anyone, anywhere, can be wiped and imprinted. There are no longer such things as freedom or individuality; we are all Rossum's hive mind slaves. This is a concept rich with political overtones, and it's not hard to see a dig, here, at those right wing American "Libertarians", many of them in the so called "Tea Party", who fatuously cast "freedom" in terms of the state versus the private sector, and see corporate entities as "people" who must be protected from state oppression. In fact, as we are shown here, the concept of "freedom" only makes any sense when applied to individual human beings, not fatuous and overly abstract binary divisions into public sector and private sector. Corporations can, and do, assault people's liberties, and the truly libertarian thing is for the State to protect us from this through regulation.

There is, of course, no hope here, whatever temporary victory our heroes can bring about. The technology has been invented. It cannot be uninvented. It will be used. We are all doomed.

Still, we can at least hope for that temporary victory, and for Boyd to get his eventual comeuppance. It seems he controls Dr Saunders, and has done for some time. This means it wasn't really here who killed Bennet, which takes some of the poetry away. Still, this is a minor point, and these are the only words of slight criticism that you'll hear from me about this superlative episode of television.

Adelle, only a few episodes from appearing to be an utter bitch, is stoic and brave, refusing to co-operate even at gunpoint and willing to sacrifice herself for the greater good. Other characters are unfortunate: Mellie's death is truly tragic. And Topher's realisation at what he has allowed to happen seems to be a sort of harbinger of the broken Topher we see in Epitaph One; "I did all this. I'm the one who brought about the thought-pocalypse."

Langton gets his just desserts in the end, being wiped and ending up as a suicide bomber.  But, just as we think we have a happy endng, the epilogue skips a few years into the future and tells us that no, we don't...

Dollhouse: Getting Closer

"They roam like free range chickens. We keep ours more like veal."

Deep breath. Very close to the end now. And...oh yes. SPOILERS. BIG ONES. Seriously, if you don't want to know, look away now. Because this episode ends with a big, big reveal.

Right, they've gone. So... Wow. The big boss of Rossum is, in fact, Boyd Langton. He's been undercover as one of his own underlings all along. Thing is, it makes perfect sense.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. First there's the small matter of Caroline's back-up wedge that needs repairing, for which our friends have to kidnap Bennet from D.C: cue some simmering sexual tension between her and Topher. On top of this, Dr. Claire Saunders is back on the team (more Amy Acker- yay!) and, as we know, she's been sleeping with Langton, who at this point we don't yet know to be a baddie. It's complicated.

If it wasn't for the bombshell at the end, the big event if the episode would be Claire shooting Bennet dead. That's how much she hates Topher. He's distraught, of course, but it's lovely how Adelle mothers him.

What else? November is still an Active in Washington, but is freed and rejoins the team. Good. And much of the episode is given over to a big flashback in which we learn just why Bennet hates Caroline so much. Oh, and Clyde is dead. And Rossum know about the L.A. Dollhouse freeing all of its Actives and plotting against them. Oh dear.

There's going to be a final battle. Rossum are after them, but, touchingly, there's time for Priya and Anthony to spend one last night together.

Phew. Looks like we only get big, important episodes these days. There's a slight jiggle in that the pacing and shocks serve to distract us from how rushed it all is by slight of hand, but I just can't deny that this is excellent telly.

Dollhouse: The Left Hand

"There is no Dollhouse."

Gosh. Where to begin?

 I suppose I'll start by praising Enver Gjokaj's extraordinary performance as Victor implanted with Topher's personality, but there's so much going on, things are going so fast, and there isn't a status quo any more. Rossum seems to be winning, resistance is futile, Madeleine is enslaved again by that nasty Washington D.C. Dollhouse, Perrin is probably going to end up as Rossum's pet president (yep, definite political allegory there, given the outrageous extent of corporate manipulation of American politics), and both Echo and Ballard have gone rogue. It's enough to make you dizzy.

But we begin with a little light torture as Bennett has fun with Echo, and our friends at the LA Dollhouse are experiencing a fair bit if red tape in getting her back, in spite of Topher and Bennett's mutual squeeing. We (and Echo, who is thus at one with the viewer here) are treated to a flashback as to how Echo dropped Bennett on it and did her arm in. Bennett is not the forgiving type.

We are learning more about Caroline's past, yet there is an ambivalence here: Echo is a person too, the sum of all her memories. As she puts it, "I'm  afraid of Caroline. If she comes back, where will I go?" This, in a nutshell, is the philosophical quandary that haunts the whole series.

Things are, at this point, great. I have no idea where this is going. But things are, perhaps, moving a little too fast, given that Fox are once again being absolute arises to Whedon and forcing him to tie up all the plot threads by the end if the season. Here's hoping he can do so while maintaining the exceptional quality of television seen here.

Dollhouse: The Public Eye

"Am I free?"

Hmmm. It seems we have a politician here who has quite literally been brainwashed by a corporation. Do you think we might have a bit of a political subtext here? Once again it's refreshing to see that Dollhouse, airing on Rupert Murdoch's Fox Network, has an essentially liberal left agenda, it's themes being the abuse of individuals' civil liberties by both public and private organisations, which in this day and age are so improperly intertwined.

This episode is all about Senator Daniel Perrin as we and he discover, on a nice twist, that it is he, and not his wife, who is the doll. This is already enough to elevate the episode to greatness. But on top of this we are rewarded at the end with an introduction to the Washington D.C. Dollhouse, far more unthinkingly loyal to Rossum, and to its own resident Topher, the unnerving, quiet and ruthless Bennett. And, in an episode that already features Alexis Denisof, she is played by Whedon veteran Summer Glau. Truly, we are spoiled. This episode kicks, as the day, ass.

It's fascinating to see the progress of Madeleine's sincere yet doomed attempts to "out" the Dollhouse, something which Rossum could never allow: Perrin is merely one aspect of the political influence they wield: we are reminded of the sheer, untrammelled influence of corporate power in US politics. 

Also fascinating, and disturbing in equal measure, is Topher's new invention which he tried out on Kilo, a new doll. It is know possible to remotely knock out a doll. We are reminded that not only can technology that threatens our liberties not be uninvented, but that new developments of potential oppression are being invented all the time. In a world where governments seek more and more control over the online world this is deeply relevant, and chilling.

No less chilling is the fact that Madeleine, although she has finished her contract, still has Active architecture in her head. Ballard is not pleased to hear this, and not should he be. It's interesting to see the moral conflict between outsider Ballard, now Echo's new handler, and the rest of the gang.

We end with Echo in Bennett's clutches, and she isn't the greatest of hostesses. To be continued...