Friday, January 15, 2010 10:13 PM
On the Viewer - Dollhouse (Season 2, Episode 12 - "The Hollow Men")
 by Fëanor

Just so you know, SPOILER ALERT!

I knew we hadn't seen the last of Victor and Sierra. Good to have them back! It's also good to have Victor/Topher back. Yay!

I'm really curious as to what wacky trick Boyd pulled to keep Echo from revealing his true identity. And also why a really old version of Topher was loaded up in the chair.

Turns out Boyd simply drugged Echo. Well, that works.

Victor/Topher: "That is so Ripley of you, and it's super sexy."

I'm so curious to see what Boyd's endgame is - why he's still pretending to not be the founder. And it's so weird knowing the truth now and watching him fake everyone out. It's also weird that the real Topher is ignorant of Boyd's treachery, while Victor/Topher knows all about it.

Victor/Topher loaded Victor up with kung fu! Nice.

Super-Echo is awake, free of the drugs, and knows all about Boyd! Look out, bitches!

Boyd: "Topher, think."
Topher: "That's what got us into this mess! I'm going for mindless destruction now."

Oh, man, Boyd's going to trick Topher into fixing the flawed prototype of the imprinting gun. Bastard!

Boyd: "You're here because you're my family. I love you guys."
Woah. That's actually way creepier than if he'd said some kind of classic villain-type line. Eee.

Boyd just wants to be the guy who makes the apocalyptic tech first, so he's the one to control it.
Boyd: "You want to be the destroyed or the destroyers?"
Wow. That's a screwed up philosophy.

Echo's ability to block imprints is unique and can't be copied. So...
Boyd: "We're going to use your spinal fluid to make a vaccine against imprinting."
That... actually seems like maybe a good idea? I mean, at least, having a vaccine against imprinting would be good.

Mellie is turned into killer-Mellie right after Ballard gives her a gun. D'oh. And then he throws his gun away so he can't kill her! That's like Luke throwing his lightsaber away at the end of Return of the Jedi. Dumb move!

Mellie going out that way is kind of a classic Whedon plot device, but I have to admit it makes sense; it works.

Boyd is extracting Echo's spinal fluid without killing her. Seriously, why is this a bad thing? I mean, it'd be nice if it was also painless, but still. Having a vaccine against imprinting would be very, very good!

Man, there's a lot of people wandering hallways and running into other people and pointing guns at them.

Ugh. Ballard got the completely wrong idea about who's responsible for all this. But he's quickly getting clued in.

Echo: "I loved you."
Boyd: "I know."
Woah, that's intense.

Oh shit! Topher shoots Boyd with the imprinting gun.
Boyd: "Did I fall asleep?"
Echo: "For a little while."

And now Echo's sending Boyd into the mainframe with a bomb strapped to him and telling him to detonate it when she leaves. Holy shit, that is cold!

Echo gets her very own classic, action movie-style, running-from-a-giant-explosion scene.

Ballard: "So, did we save the world?"
Echo: "I guess so."

Then we get the deadly "Ten Years Later" title card, and it turns out... the apocalypse happened anyway. Argh!!

Good lord, what an insane episode. I still find it a little odd that our heroes were so against the imprinting vaccine idea, but I guess you would want to hang onto your spinal fluid. And anyway, Boyd was clearly an insane and evil man, so reflexively thwarting his plans does make sense. Mostly this was another exciting, action-packed episode with some really stunning and powerful moments - especially all those last scenes with Boyd. They could easily have chopped the last minute off this episode and ended the series right there. It would have been a bit boring maybe, but they could have done it. But since they didn't, I'm burning with curiosity to see how the actual, post-apocalyptic series finale will turn out. Looking forward to it!
Tagged (?): Dollhouse (Not), Joss Whedon (Not), On the Viewer (Not), TV (Not)



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