Victor and Sierra return to the Dollhouse, but it has already been infiltrated and their team has escaped. Topher left a wedge of himself in the chair and Victor takes on his imprint. Enver nails Topher down cold. Even the facial expressions - he's awesome.

Since Boyd can't have Caroline return or else he will be exposed, he drugs her before she's imprinted with her original self.

Topher and Boyd stumbled on a lab in Rossum with the remote tech Topher created. Boyd cons Topher into fixing the remote wipe tech.

Mellie and Paul raid the weapons cache and go in search of the mainframe. Once they find it, Mellie comes up with the simple plan of turning off the AC so the servers will overheat.

Just as Topher fixes the tech, Boyd is about to kill him (?), but Echo comes to the rescue as she kicks the crap out of Boyd, but Dr. Saunders, who is now imprinted with Boyd's partner, pulls a gun on her.

Boyd talks but makes no sense. The only thing I got from his long-winded speech is that he is going to use her DNA to create a vaccine against imprinting, but I guess that's all you really need to know.

Boyd wants Adele to actrivate Mellie's sleeper protocol, but Boyd has Adele giving the command on playback and plays it over the loudspeaker. Mellie, in turn, tries to kill Paul but he tries to get her to fight it. She can't and instead takes her own life to save Paul. More blood splatter. Gross. Paul just looks on in shock. He doesn't know about Boyd and thinks Adelle turned on him. Boyd uses it to his advantage.

Boyd has Echo sent to for extraction of her DNA, but victor and Sierra come to her rescue. They rescue Adelle and Topher as well while Echo and Saunders throw down. Would have liked to have seen more fight club between the two, but oh well.

Just as he's about to kill Echo, Boyd tasers him with the remote wiper. Boyd is a doll now and they set him up with a grenade and enough explosives to blow up Rossum.

Which persona of Echo's told Boyd she loved him? I didn't get that.

Fast forward ten years later and the nightmare that Dom was living in in the attic has come to life. Thoughtpocalypse has come to fruition and the tech they thought they destroyed has run rampant across the world.

Who else is going to eat it by the series finale?

What did you think?

As much I enjoyed the show, the most recent ep was pretty bad.

Echo needs Caroline's imprint back so she can I.D. the head of Rossum. She's the only one that knows who he is. Unfortunately, the wedge with her imprint is missing. The only copy they have is in a pile of rubble that only two whizkids can put together.

This show was more like The Dating Game as it gave a chance for most of the characters to have some hint of a romantic interlude. Mellie returns to Ballard, Topher makes the move on Bennett after fawning over her since her arrival, Sierra and Victor are given the night off to make sweet sweet love (and possibly leave the Dollhouse forever) and the most far-fetched union of the night - Boyd and Dr. Saunders. My eyes almost rolled across the table with that one, but seeing that union foretold of Boyd's involvement with the dollhouse. It was so out of character for the original Boyd we met in Episode 1, that it could only mean a twist.

Using the Ghost Chair imprint, L.A. infiltrates their rival dollhouse to kidnap Dr. Bennett Halverson. Before they can leave, Ballard sees November and is determined not to leave without her.

Topher is acting all giddy with Bennett there and is saying the most inappropriate things - I gotta say, that was quite amusing. Topher needs Bennett's help to repair the broken wedge, but when she founds out the imprint is of Caroline she refuses to help.

To get Bennett to help, Caroline dangles the proverbial carrot in front of her - offering herself up to Bennett once the war is over. She can do whatever she wants to do to her.

Echo gives Victor and Sierra the chance to leave. As they do, Dominic, former head of security for the Dollhouse shows up, having escaped the attic. I think he's wearing the same bodysuit that Juliet wore when she was being brainwashed by the Visitors in the original mini-series of "V".

He warns that they're coming but Adelle has him put back into the attic to save his life even though he rather it end then go back to the attic.

Boyd gets shot in the process of protecting Adelle and has to go on the run, but not after a sappy tearful goodbye to Dr. Saunders.

All the dolls are getting their original selves back with a cameo by basketball player Rick Fox (and Eliza Dushku's current flame).

Nerds unite! Topher gathers up the courage to kiss his crush but as he leaves to find a tool for her, Dr. Saunders arrives and kills her point blank just as Topher watches in horror. As he crumbles in shock, Adelle tries to get Topher to fix the imprint wedge as the dollhouse is infiltrated. He makes Ivy leave and save herself before he sets to fixing the wedge. Good thing Bennett was almost done. As Echo gets downloaded with Caroline's imprint, we finally meet the head of Rossum and if you hadn't figured it out by now, Boyd turns the corner - he's the head of Rossum!

What did you think? Boyd's partner is a doll, is Boyd also?

Topher and Adele are on their way to the DC Dollhouse. Topher's purpose is to hack into the DC mainframe. To be able to leave the L.A. Dollhouse, he had to find a substitute to take his place - he does so by imprinting Victor with himself. Enver Gjokaj does a great impression of Topher - spot on.

Bennett gives Echo an overview of their past together and how she got her useless arm. Looks like they were in some Tomb Raider scenario where a big block dropped on Bennett Halverson and made her lose use of her arm. The scenario imprints Echo with the same non-use of her arm.

Topher meets Bennett and can't believe she's so beautiful. Surely she must be a doll, just like the old Doc was. Two socially awkward nerds interact - fun times. He asks what's up with her arm and she tells him the nerves were severed. They admire each other's work. He hacks into the system with the help of... himself/Victor at the other end.

Adele teases the DC Dollhouse head and makes some sexy innuendo. He falls for it, but she grabs him by the balls and tells him he's going to return her active.

Bennett has an idea to stream the disrupter so they can bring down an individual doll, not all the dolls in a 50-foot radius. Topher tries it on her and she is confused as to why he would do that. When Topher explains that he thought she might be a doll, she doesn't understand why he would think that because dolls are beautiful. "Yeah, I know," he tells her.

The interaction between Topher and himself/Victor is quite hysterical.

Perrin and Echo escape with the help of Bennett. Bennett smashes her head into glass so as to throw everyone off. She tells Topher that Echo took Perrin and attacked her.

Echo and Perrin know they have GPS trackers in their necks and need to remove them or they'll be found. They go into the nearest restaurant and head to the bathroom, grabbing a knife. They remove each other's trackers and escape. They head to Perrin's childhood home and change into upperclass Hampton's garb.

They are about to disrupt Echo and Perrin remotely, but Bennett uploads an assassin profile to Perrin. Perrin tries to kill Echo, but they fight.

Topher begs Bennett to shut Perrin down, but she won't so he coldcocks her and gets to work.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Perrin and goons arrive at the Perrin Estate in search of our actives. Perrin ultimately kills one of the goons and Mrs. Perrin before Topher can wipe the assassin profile. Echo grabs Perrin and they flee again, but straight to the Senate Subcommittee hearing. Perrin tells the press that his wife has just been killed and that the Dollhouse isn't real. He outs Madeline as a mentally ill woman and denounces the Dollhouse. This saves the Rossum Corporation from any further scrutiny and allows them to write their own laws.

Echo's lost in the world, still in doll state.

Madeline's taken back to the DC Dollhouse to be wiped. Is she getting sent to the attic? Or made into another doll?

What did you think?

It looks like Senator Perrin's wife might be a doll.

Topher's perfected his disrupter ray. Ballard is going to get Madeline back and knock out Perrin's wife. Echo has been downloaded with a persona who will stop Perrin from his witch hunt of the Dollhouse. How? By putting him in a compromising position. She tells him a message from the Rossum Corporation. The message is to back off. Perrin tells her she's a doll, but she just thinks he's crazy. He takes her to see his wife, but when they arrive at the house, Ballard has set off the disrupter. Madeline's nose starts to bleed and she gets a raging headache, but nothing happens to Perrin's wife. She's not a doll. Outside, Echo's got the headache and the bloody nose - so does Perrin - he's a Ken doll!

Echo and Perrin take off - they both start to remember their lives. We find out that Perrin really is Perrin, but not the playboy version he once was. He's a doll of himself, a better, prime political doll of himself.

Ballard is taken down by Mrs. Perrin's guards. Turns out Mrs. Perrin is Perrin's handler. She gives orders to her lackeys to make sure Ballard's dead. Before they can do the deed, Ballard escapes.

Mrs. Perrin finds him and tries to use their code words to bring him back, but he remembers she's his handler and refuses. She pulls a gun on him but then points it at Echo. She tries to play him but Echo kicks the crap out of her. She tries to get Daniel to defend her, but he refuses. Echo and Perrin flee and are on their way to the Dollhouse, but Mrs. Perrin uses the disrupter on them and takes them back to the DC Dollhouse.

Ballard finds Madeline at the airport and he tells her the truth about their previous relationship.

We meet Topher's counterpart at the DC Dollhouse. Her name is Bennett and she looks a lot like Summer Glau! :D She has a gloved hand in a sling - makes me think of Dumbledore in the Half-Blood Prince. She seems a little off. We find out that Bennett knew Echo before she was Echo - she knew her when she was still Caroline. Glau's channeling a little River Tam in her Bennett, but that's okay.

What did you think?

Once an artist named Priya, Sierra is stalked by a wealthy, high-powered Rossum VIP creepazoid named Nolan (the equally creepy Vincent Ventresca) who tries to buy his way into her heart and fails. He doesn't want a doll, he wants her, but when she publicly rejects him, he has her kidnapped and taken to a mental ward where he uses his medical degree to "care" for her by injecting her with drugs to make her paranoid and psychotic.

Nolan buys her a gallery opening, but she still is so not attracted to him. Several dolls mix and mingle and talk up Nolan, but with no avail. Even as her original self, Sierra was attracted to Victor. I guess you can't erase pheromones and true love.

In the present day, Echo takes one of Sierra's paintings and shows it to Topher. Every painting of Sierra's has dark symbolism throughout. He starts to investigate and finds Dr. Saunders' analyses of Sierra points to Topher being the source of her bad vibes, but as he delves further he finds the connection between Sierra and Nolan.

Langton is getting suspicious of Echo and starts to investigate. He goes to her sleeping pod to find some clues. He finds a book she is reading, but what he doesn't see is all the things she has written on the lid of her pod. He confronts her and she warns of a storm coming and she wants everyone to be awake and ready for it.

Once Adele finds out about Nolan, she is pissed, to put it lightly. She calls Nolan in and tells him she's going to deny him all access to Sierra, calling him a scumbug as she offers him a cup of tea. He turns the tables on her and tells Adele she's going to send him Sierra forever or she's out of a job. Game on! Methinks Adele should imprint Echo to kill Nolan.

Adele's boss sides with Nolan and implies he'll send her to the attic and reminds her of her past indiscretions.

Topher argues with Adele about imprinting Sierra permanently and sending her to that creepy rapist, Nolan. Why the sudden concern for one of the actives, Topher? We find out that when she was still Priya, Sierra was in a mental institution where she was being treated by Nolan, who fed her drugs to keep her in a psychotic state. It was Topher who was sent to get Sierra from the psych ward and bring her back to the Dollhouse and make her better, so therein lies his special fondness for her.

Adele tells Topher to just do it and reminds him that everyone in the Dollhouse had morals who have been compromised in some way except for Topher, who has no morals.

So while Nolan didn't want a doll he sets Priya up to become one once she rejected him. What is Sierra's first assignment? - take one guess. Apparently rape and assault can be purchased through the dollhouse.

Topher suddenly grows a conscience with Sierra and can't just imprint her and send Sierra off to her doom so he imprints her alright - imprints her with her old self, Priya and tells her the truth of her past year. He sends her back to Nolan with her memories intact - sucker!

Priya realizes she is in love, but so not with Nolan and takes this opportunity to exact revenge on him. She tells Nolan that she loves another (Victor) so much more than he hates her. He answers with a smackdown. She fights back but he's much stronger than her. He rips off her shirt and is turned on by her struggles. He's about to take a knife to her but she fights back and ends up killing him.

Topher gets a call from Priya and goes to her. He wants to help her, but before they can do anything, Langton shows up to help clean up the mess. Not only is he the Head of Security at the Dollhouse, apparently he's their Cleaner too. Toph gets the gross job of hacking the body into bite-size pieces. They clean up the mess Priya caused and fake Nolan's disappearance.

Priya is going to go back to being a doll, willingly, knowing she loves Victor and that is the one thing that is real. She asks Topher to erase this day whenever he brings her back again. She asks Topher if he can keep the secret of Nolan's murder. He promises he can but admits he doesn't know if he can live with it.

Echo opens up the book she was reading and finds an all access card to the dollhouse with a note in it - "For the storm..."

MY THOUGHTS/COMMENTS:

Best ep of the show yet. I hope Victor's backstory is just as interesting!

Great imagery of Sierra's silhouette against the backdrop of her beautiful painting after she kills Nolan.

No new eps until December 4th!

What did you think?

-- K. L. Connie Wang

Will you be upset to see the Dollhouse close? Or do you think Joss Whedon would be better served to start work on a new show/concept (and focus on directing his ep of Glee)?

Ballard is more than relieved when Boyd takes over his engagement as they need an FBI profiler to deal with the mind of a serial killer. He's to interrogate Victor, who has been imprinted with the mind of a serial killer and nephew of a sharefholder of the dollhouse's parent company. This creepy nephew kidnaps women who look like the female members of his family and tranqs them with veternarian grade paralytics.

When Victor/Terry escapes the dollhouse, Adele wants Topher to do a remote wipe. When he attempts to do so, some wires get crossed and Echo and Victor exchange personalities.

I do have to say I was amused at Victor's girly antics and Ballard's look of discomfort at Victor/Kiki's affectionate nature. I also was amused that the professor got stabbed by Echo/Terry - serves you right, buddy. I'm guessing he won't be going back to the dollhouse anytime soon. I wonder if the dollhouse will offer a refund or exchange...

Echo is wiped of Terry's imprint, but she makes a comment "Goodness gracious." after she is wiped to acknowledge to the audience that the serial killer is still in there.

A couple of weeks before the next new ep, but it should be an interesting one - we'll get to see how Sierra become a doll. The week after, Summer Glau joins the show as a rival of Topher's.

What did you think?

Even Ballard's standard line, "Would you like a treatment?" doesn't work on her this time. She takes 'her' baby and runs. The husband and Ballard track her down at the police station and Ballard takes her back to the Dollhouse to be wiped, but when Topher thinks he's wiped her clean, he finds out he's sorely mistaken. Echo pretends she has been wiped and then promptly does what all of want to do - knock Topher out.

The husband decides to man up and be a single parent, but when Echo comes back for the baby, he has to talk Echo into giving the baby up.

Meanwhile, Adelle goes to visit November, who was released from her contract last season at Ballard's request. What's her agenda here?

Has anyone noticed Ballard's wardrobe has become markedly more expensive since he became a Dollhouse handler?

The episode seemed pretty basic, but we learn that Echo is quite aware of being an active and feels and retains every emotion she feels when she is active.

What did you think?

--- K. L. Connie Wang

The ep starts off with Echo getting married to a British arms dealer - wait! Is that Apollo? On the same show with Helo? Is Starbuck not far behind? We assume the dealer has bought and paid for Echo's services but it turns out that Ballard is the client, using Echo as his partner as he investigates the arms dealer. Why investigate a guy when you're suspended by the FBI? What's the point?

We see Victor is healing nicely from Alpha's slash-fest, but even though Dr. Saunders/Whiskey wasn't a victim this time she is still harboring psychological wounds from the first go-around. She's aware she's a doll and seemingly even more aware of Topher. She spends her free time taunting Topher (and who wouldn't if given the chance?) but when Topher finds her in his makeshift futon in the server room, he freaks a little. Whiskey is having a bit of a mental breakdown, it seems and even an offer of a nice dinner with the new head of security Boyd Langton doesn't seem to calm her nerves.

Adelle sports a new haircut that serves her better (along with less ruffles in her wardrobe). She asks Ballard to be Echo's handler since he seems to care about her so much and she trusts him. He takes the job, if only to keep an eye out on Echo. He learns that Echo is aware that she takes on different personalities, but a piece of each remains with her every time she is wiped. I guess we are the sum of our parts and experiences no matter what happens.

I feel like this episode is basically setting up everything that will happen this season since we got a glimpse of the Senator (played by Alexis Denisof of Angel and Buffy). His speech seemed to have nothing to do with the rest of the episode.

What did you think?

Wise joins the cast in the role of Howard, an "executive" at the Dollhouse.

Looks like the casting for the show is gaining lots of momentum. Can't wiat for the season to start!

Bennett (is the name an homage to Noah Bennett of Heroes?) is a Dollhouse employee who shares a past with Eliza Dushku's Echo.

The second season of DOLLHOUSE premieres Friday, Sept. 25 (9:00pm) on FOX.

Alexis Denisof ("Angel" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") will appear as a U.S. senator on a witch hunt to shut down the Dollhouse. Battlestar Galactica's Jamie Bamber will also guest star on the show this season.

Can't wait!

Dollhouse's second season opener will be written and directed by Joss Whedon.