Epitaph Two

Dollhouse Episode Review

In which everything is over.

What Happened

With little Caroline in tow, Mags and Zone try to reach Safe Haven, away from the imprinted hordes in the city.

Captured in route, they are taken to the Rossum headquarters. Fortunately, Echo and Ballard have arrived to rescue a kidnapped Topher and they free all of Harding's prisoners.

Topher announces that he has a way to reverse all the imprints all over the world. The catch is that anyone with Active architecture will also revert to who they were to start - forgetting all that has happened in between.

This is a problem for Priya, who doesn't want to forget her son by Anthony. The family is estranged, however, as Anthony has invested heavily in imprint Tech that gives him the skills to battle Rossum's forces. Priya is upset when Anthony returns to Safe Haven to help Echo and reminds him that he is not to tell their son about his parentage unless he intends to give up the Tech and stay for good.

Echo and Ballard decide that a small group will hole up in the Dollhouse for a year, safe from the EMP. Anthony and his warriors battle them a path into the city, but Ballard is shot and killed along the way.

Inside the LA Dollhouse, they find a reformed Alpha. Topher reviews tapes of Bennett, finding the clues he needs to finish the EMP. He tells Adelle that the explosion will have to be manually triggered and takes the device up to her office to do so.

Seeing Anthony burning his Tech, Priya introduces her son to his father. Leaving a wounded Mags behind, Adelle and Zone lead Alpha's dolls to the street. Zone has agreed to take care of little Caroline after she becomes a ten-year-old again, while Adelle will have to take on the task of putting some semblance of a society back together again.

Locked away inside the Dollhouse as Topher sets off the EMP, Echo finds a parting gift from Alpha: a wedge containing what is left of Paul Ballard. Echo downloads Paul into her mind and sets about the rest of her life.

The Good

• Zone and Mags. Amazing how cool they are after just two episodes.
• They tie up the pieces for all the main characters as well as the big idea stories, taking things to a logical conclusion.
• Echo's breakdown over Paul. Beautiful performance from Eliza Dushku in a moment that could have gone horribly over the top.

The Bad

• Same as last week - there's just not enough time. Alpha, for example, just whizzed by. Alpha should not whiz.

The Cliche

• Paul. Paul. Paul. What is up with Joss Whedon and the brain splatz? This is the third episode in a row, dammit.

What Did I Think?

Finds a nice ending for each character (except Paul) but more time would have given things even more weight.