||SPOILERS|| Wow. I thought "Man On The Street" was good, but this episode blew that away. "Spy In The House Of Love" has a fun narrative quirk (four vignettes that crossover with each other, each enhancing our overall knowledge), and contains some big revelations and developments for the characters. After a shaky start, Dollhouse is getting seriously good, and fully deserves bigger audiences and a second season...
Or perhaps Joss Whedon's so unsure about Dollhouse's future he's decided to throw in revelations now that wouldn't usually have hit until season 2 or 3? It certainly feels like we're getting a self-contained narrative that isn't just stringing us along. "Spy In The House Of Love" concerns Topher's (Fran Kranz) discovery of a surveillance bug of NSA origin, prompting Echo (Eliza Dushku) to offer herself up to be imprinted as a spy-hunter -- having noticed the commotion around the Dollhouse, and realizing exactly what they do here. It seems Topher's mind-wipes aren't being totally successful in Echo's case, and she's continuing to learn and store liminal information.Woven through the episode, we also see Sierra (Dichen Lachman) become imprinted as a super-spy to retrieve intel the Dollhouse believe the NSA have on their operation (a really nifty, slick and stylish Alias-like operation); November (Miracle Laurie) is re-imprinted as "Mellie" and sent home to spy on Agent Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett), who discovers she's an "active" when she becomes another communiqué from his inside snoop, advising him to focus on why the Dollhouse exists; and Victor (Enver Gjokaj) is imprinted as a smoothie Englishman to romance a client known as Miss Lonelyhearts, who turns out to be Dollhouse boss DeWitt (Olivia Williams), enjoying some extra-curricular fun and fencing with her own "employee"...
So, a mix of mytharc development (Mellie/Ballard), great fun (Sierra), and intriguing character growth (DeWitt/Victor), topped off by Echo using her spy-hunting skills to interrogate the Dollhouse staff and deduce from body-language and other "tells" that Mr. Dominic (Reed Diamond) is the spy in their midst. Another of Dollhouse's well-choreographed and punishing fights ensue, before Dominic is incapacitated, chewed out by a disappointed DeWitt, and sent to the oft-mentioned "Attic" -- which is confirmed as a total mind-erase, where the victim's entire personality is stored on a hard-drive and their body assumedly stored away in a near-vegetative state.Andrew Chambliss' script was beautifully-paced, exciting, enjoyable, revelatory and a really neat fusion of four stories that could have formed their own individual episodes. It felt like a really healthy TV meal, and thanks to the fact Echo effectively saved the Dollhouse (of her own volition), we're even left with a good reason DeWitt won't bother trying to correct her "fault" -- she's too fascinating and they owe her too much. Of course, while Dominic was exposed as a NSA operative trying to smuggle corporate secrets, we still don't know who's sending Ballard messages (Saunders? Ivy?) and the spectre of the Alpha active is still to be focused on. So, plenty more to come in the last three episodes.
Overall; man, I just ate this one up. It should also be noted that Boyd (Harry Lennix) has been promoted to Dominic's role as head of security, meaning Alpha gets a new handler in the denouement, and it was actually quite a touching scene -- like a father giving up his daughter to another man. Truly, an incredibly entertaining and important episode that worked for me on most levels. We even got Eliza Dushku in dominatrix leathers and brandishing a whip; an unavoidable sight for a show like this, admittedly. With "Spy In The House Of Love", Joss Whedon just earned my total devotion to Dollhouse.
10 April 2009
Fox, 9/8c
Writer: Andrew Chambliss
Director: David Solomon
Cast: Eliza Dushku (Echo), Harry J. Lennix (Boyd), Fran Kranz (Topher), Tahmoh Penikett (Ballard), Enver Gjokaj (Victor), Dichen Lachman (Sierra), Olivia Williams (DeWitt), Miracle Laurie (November/Mellie), Amy Acker (Dr. Saunders), Reed Diamond (Mr. Dominic), Joan Benedict (Old Lady), Kae Shimizu (Ms. Sato), Daniel Kash (Guard #2), Natalie Graziano (Art Attendant), Vincent Giovanni (Guard #5), Paul Ganus (Handler), Vincent Ward (Guard #1), Valerie Cruz (Ramirez), Tim Chiou (Nikoden), Liza Lapira (Ivy), Morgan Beck (Cell Phone Guy), Erin Cummings (Attendant) & Michael Gier (Guard #3)
