Synopsis:



This is the final episode airing until December 4th.

Reviews for tonight's episode:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/42816
http://tv.ign.com/articles/103/1037577p1.html
http://www.avclub.com/articles/belonging,34520/
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune....ublic-eye.html
http://scifiwire.com/2009/10/the-epi...-dollhouse.php
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/show...belonging.html
http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/2009-1-1...ouse-belonging
http://www.cinemablend.com/televisio...ing-20660.html
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/watc..._buffy_in.html
http://www.tvsquad.com/2009/10/24/re...use-belonging/
http://www.tvguidemagazine.com/matt-...more-2926.html

Episodes to air in December:

Dec. 4th: "The Public Eye" & "The Left Hand"

Dec. 11th: "Meet Jane Doe" & "A Love Supreme"

Dec. 18th: "Stop-Lost" & "The Attic"

Joss Whedon:Summer Glau talks about her role on the show:

http://www.zap2it.com/news/zap-dollh...,6837651.story

My DVR is set (come on, watching live won't make a difference and you know it). Nice to see that an experienced sci-fi director is on this one (Star Trek:First Contact is one of the best IMO).

What the hell is going on in this episode?



Also, no more episodes until December, then we get 2/Friday?

It explains how Sierra came to the Dollhouse (and gives us some more insight into Topher). There's also some Ominous Shit going on with Echo and some Mysterious Hints about the higher-ups in the Dollhouse.

Here's a short summary of Sierra's plot:



Correct.

Tonight's episode was actually emotionally wretching to watch in some respects. Some crazy internalized stuff going on that found the surface as well.

Thought tonight was really good. I loved the Sierra/Victor romance and nice insight into Topher and Adele.

I got what happened at the end of the episode, it's just half way through the episode, it wasn't making any sense

That was a fantastic episode.

First episode this season that had Echo in a limited role and it gets high marks. You have to wonder if Whedon and Co. are up on this little fact.

Great episode. It was nice to see Topher show some heart and try to help Sierra.
I'm glad Boyd got some more things to do in this one. He's been pretty under used so far this season.

I wonder if anything went on between Topher and Adele in the past. It looked like she was getting pretty touchy feely with him a couple times, then backed off. It was also said she had past "indiscretions" apart from Victor. mmm...indiscretions.

Now that I'm itching to see more, there won't be any episodes for over a month. grrr...arrrgh.

Easily the best episode of the series. Fantastic.

Really enjoyed this particular ep. Great to see that Topher may have some morals after all. Happy to see Boyd in an expanded role . Nearly got lost at the comercial break without a timeline, but seeing Boyd in the room with Echo and Adele with long hair did the trick. Nice to see that the clues were there, remembering that the audience has a mind.

Truly an enjoyable episode.

Doug

Just saw my DVR. Damn, that was great! I think this ep.proves that the series should have been something more ensemble like from the start (as most Whedon series tend to be) instead of something designed to "show Eliza's Dushku's range as an actress." The actress who plays Sierra showed more range in this hour than Eliza has in her whole career. I hope Whedon finds a way to keep her and the actor who plays Victor around for whatever future projects he might have in mind (which he seems to do for actors he likes).
This ep. also took a lot of steps toward the Epitaph One scenario, so it's definitely given the series direction for the rest of its short life.

I'm glad we got to end before the "burn off" eps. on a good note.

Question:

Easily one of the best episodes of the series. This is the kind of episode that makes me sad to realize the show is going to end after this season. If they turned in episodes like this every week I have no doubt the show would retain viewers and perhaps see another season.

Regardless, the episode was great and Topher is definitely one of the best parts of the show. His growth has been interesting; where he was once annoying (I never found it unbearable) he has developed into a much more complex character (something I'm sure has surprised a lot of people).

Glad to see some more back story and hints towards Epitaph One. I must say, that having already seen where the series is heading, makes the ride that much more enjoyable. Not to mention it will soften the blow once it is inevitably canceled. Will be interesting to see what happens in these back-to-back episode nights.

I'll also echo my hope that whatever Whedon does in the future he can include Sierra and Victor. I know that the actor who plays Topher is going to be in Cabin In The Woods (blast having to wait until 2011 because it's going to be in pointless 3-D), so hopefully we'll see them again at some point in the future.

I don't think you need to spoiler that question since the episode has already aired. But yes, I think they both had an idea as to what he was going to do and what might happen as a result, so they made sure Boyd was nearby to respond.

I love how Boyd knew exactly how to "clean" the scene. LOL, he did a great Harvey Kietel! What a terrific episode.

And I love the subversive Echo subplot.

yeah a month long break this soon into the season won't finish killing off the show


I noticed Jonathan Frakes directed
good to see Riker still working

Topher says she doesn't belong there and Boyd says she does now
did they forget that he could simply wipe her and reprint the original pre-murder Priya again and then let her be free?

I was thinking the same thing. My guess is that if she were reprinted she would no longer have a life to go back to, but the same could be said of many of the dolls who seem to be there because they've screwed their lives up.

If you go by Epitaph One,

POSSIBLE SPOILERS

then eventually Saunders(Amy Acker) will return to the dollhouse to get another wipe, as she is seen in the "last episode" . I am guessing the pain of doing this to a woman he truly cares about is what drives Topher over the edge and makes him the basket case we see in the end. They are also throwing out hints as to how Echo learns to block the process and how the hold on the dolls eventually crumbles and they develop their own personas (as seen with Victor and Sierra).

Great episode. It was good to see another character take the focal point instead of Echo for once and Sierra did a fantastic job as well..I hope we get more of this quality upcoming. Again, it is too bad this show isn't paired with Fringe and stuck on a Friday, as I think it would find its target audience..also glad to see Jonathan Frakes working (apparently did an episode of "Castle" as well) and them utilizing a Bats for Lashes song at the end.

We freeze framed on the glass in Echo's sleeping chamber...very cool stuff written on there. References to past episodes and other characters.

Of course I wasn't able to record this in HD this week so I couldn't make it all out but by spending too much time with pausing/squinting at the screen, here's what I got:


EDIT: I think I got a much as I could watching it in Hi-Def on Hulu. Still a few words I couldn't make out.

Episode was also written by married couple Maurissa Tancharoen (Dr. Horrible writer and "Asian Groupie") and Jed Whedon (brother of Joss) which I think was a big part of the quality - they are a talented pair.

I still see this series following a typical Whedon series arc. Early one-off episodes leading to more interesting character and serial storytelling during Season 2 and beyond. Here's hoping the quality continues, but let's face it - no one is watching TV on Friday night. Which is too bad, as this series deserves a bigger audience.

I think this ep. is further proof that Whedon did have such plans but had to cut them short as he had a hunch this series wasn't long for the world. Typicaly Whedon fashion would have established Sierra's client as a recurring "Big Bad" type figure for the series and would have most likely waited until towards the end of the (more successful in another world) run to give him the come uppance. The Rossum corp. seems to have a lot of "Wolfram and Hart" type qualities I've noticed, so they're obviously meant to be the bad guys in the long run.

I think this might be the best episode the broadcast show has ever aired (I've never seen the elusive Epitaph One). I don't think it was a coincidence that there was no Ballard and very little Echo.