Much better than last weeks episode. The general premise is still weak (no amount of episode shuffling will ever fix that) but this episode shows promise for what's to come. It also helped that it was better directed and didn't have as bland a feel as the pilot.

I like that they gave more interaction between Dusku and Lennix.

By the way, did Nathan Fillion dub over the lines of that cop Harry Lennix shot in the legs? He sounded a lot like Fillion everytime he spoke.

It was a fun episode for sure.

It occurred to me the "lasagna girl" might be a doll sent to spy on Agent Ballard.

That would explain why the head of the Dollhouse doesn't think he's much of an issue.

I kept wondering the same thing. There was a shot of voice over without the actor on camera and for a second I had to do a double take.

Anyway, very enjoyable episode.

Yeah, this was much better than last week.

That guy must have felt so silly running thru the woods with a crossbow. "I'll get you, my pretty!" *cackles*

It did keep me watching.

The show still suffers from the over the top setting. And now, I'm also getting a "River" vibe from Eliza with the memories thing. That's not good because I hated that character in Firefly (loved everyone else, though).

Stupid Fox HD running this in 4:3 Grrr

Not mine... it depends on your local Fox station. Mine has done that in the past though, especially with Fringe.

Definitely much better than last week. Minor nitpick... if the operatives have wiped fingerprints from the entire house, you would think they would notice a pair of glasses the guy sees in plain sight.

I think the main reason you can tell this was a few episodes in was how much backstory reveal we got right away. Very strange to have it come so early in a show's run, but it definitely had me intrigued.

My thoughts on the arc. I think that Alpha and Amy Acker's character had some kind of "thing" going on. I find it hard to believe he would leave her alive. The scars are just a way to throw people off the scent. I think she doesn't like what she is a part of and wants it blown apart.

I'm hoping that Alpha and the FBI Agent don't end up being the same person in some kind of Fight Club/Imprint/Split Personality type of storyline.

Dushku showed much better acting in this episode than last week. Still room for improvement, but if she keeps this level, I don't think she will be a detriment to the show.

I really like the supporting cast. The final scene was way creepy from the operative side. I like his character. I should really start learning these peoples' names.

I just want to reiterate that I like the Alpha storyline so far. He has the potential to be a great villain.

Dushku's handler is great. Love him in the role.

I am definitely put at ease for the direction of the show after this episode. I just hope it's not premature.

i actually missed the first 2 min or so. when i tuned in, there were a bunch of naked dead guys. anything i miss?

Maybe he needs someone to pay attention to him. If the cute girl across the hall makes you lasagna, you don't say no!

Same here...but the news was in HD. yay!

It was a much better episode than last weeks. Nice use of the supporting cast and interesting backstory bits. It's unfortunate that FOX is messing around with the episodes though. Hopefully it all works out.

This was a much better pilot episode than the pilot. Maybe they let a little too much out of the bag, but like I said in the pilot thread, if your lead is a mindless automaton you have to give us something.

The first minute was a recap of the pilot. Then they start at the dollhouse with alarms going off and aides rushing confused actives into their sleeping pods, with OSD reading "three months ago" . The security guy then shows up as part of a swat-like team and asks the tech what happens. The tech is freaking out and the CEO chick arrives and says Alpha had a "composite event". Tech guy says it's impossible but it happened. Then over the radio someone reports the target acquired before the sound of gun fire and screams. That's when the swat team takes off and finds Echo in the shower surrounded by naked dead actives. Cut to opening credits.

Stephen DeKnight is a good writer, but he still needs work as a director.

Not sure what I thought of "The Most Dangerous Game" twist for this show. But it was weird to see The Middle Man as a psychopath.

Ethically, this show is sort of repulsive. Plus, I am not sure they've done a good enough job to have any of the characters truly rootable yet.

Better episode this week than the premiere -- worked well as a stand-alone, so the out-of-sequence airing didn't bother me much.

I agree this should have been the pilot episode. It was much better and let you know what the heck was going on a bit.

Just because an episode is filmed later doesn't really say much about the intended order for airing.

I don't think this show is trying to portray what this group is doing as ethical.

This would have been good as a "filler" episode or a flashback episode but as the second one?

Yeah, that's the biggest issue for the show.

They could have just done something simpler like making this show a 'la femme nikita' clone/remake.

This definitely wasn't a filler episode. The revelation that the client's entire background was an elaborate forgery is very telling.

My theory is that Alpha was behind everything. He set up the psycho to hirer Echo. He provided the drugs in the canteen, which did God knows what. Maybe the whole thing was designed to start to free her mind. Maybe, like the psycho said, it was a test to see if she was worthy.

What if Alpha has found a way to download himself into other people? If true, the psychopathic hunter was actually Alpha testing Echo, trying to wake her up. That's why she was only superficially grazed by the arrow and he didn't kill her when he had the chance. Perhaps he even had help within the Dollhouse itself. Someone who knew enough about the Dollhouse's screening process to fool them.

Only thing that would have made this episode better is if Dubdub made a cameo for a Middleman reunion.

I must say I love Fox's commercial strategy... instead of having a few interruptions that disrupt the flow of the story, Fox seems to like to maximize the number of interruptions.

15min...
break
7 min...
break
7min...
you must need another break
7min...
can I please get another break?
5.5min...
I sense we need another break
8 min...
end of show.

I know they do this on other shows as well... but do others fine this practice ridiculous? Even starting the show late (or just watching later) and fastfowarding through the intermissions disrupts the flow quite a bit. After the first long segment of the show, it seemed like every time things started to move, it was another commercial break.

^ better than Lost, where there is a commercial break every 4 minutes.