In season 1's "Needs" we were teased about how Sierra (Lachman) became an "active", and here we're given her full backstory courtesy of writers Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon. It turns out she was bohemian artist Priya Tsetsang, a woman in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend Dr. Kinnard (Vincent Ventresca), a psychiatrist who provides subjects for the Rossum Corporation's Dollhouse project, who eventually turned Priya into a paranoid schitzophrenic by injecting her with antipsychotics, before handing her over to the Dollhouse.Topher (Fran Kranz) received Sierra as another of his "play things", curing her mental illness using the imprinting technology, then turning her into one of their L.A actives. In the present, Topher and DeWitt (Olivia Williams) realize the horrific circumstances behind Sierra's admission to the Dollhouse after she starts painting black shapes (signifying "the bad man") while in her tabula rasa state, and try to go against the Rossum Corporation's desire to give Sierra/Priya back to Kinnard permanently, fearing he'll resume his abuse.
This was a marvelously emotional story with more fine performances from Lachman, who got to play three versions of Priya and ensured each was identifiable and not a rehash of characters she's already played on the show. Compare and contrast with Eliza Dushku, whjo mainly relies on changing her outfit. Enver Gjokaj also provided nice support, as Victor and Sierra continued their sweet love story, which is somehow powerful enough to transcend the fact each are regularly erased of their identities.
There was also some great work from Kranz, who is certainly a contentious character because he's ultimately a creepy, amoral geek being used as comic relief -- who begs to be punched everytime he opens his mout. But this episode did a good job of showing us a new facet to him. Indeed, together with the excellent Topher/Saunders scene in "Vows", his character's suddenly becoming a fascinating, twisted condundrum. Here, Topher debvelops a conscience over Sierra's treatment and takes matters into his own hands by imprinting her with a combustible personality before handing her back to Kinnard -- basically ensuring she's better-equipped to defend herself. Indeed, Priya kills Kinnard after he attacks her, and Topher arrives to help and is surprised when Boyd (Harry Lennix) lends a hand in covering up his mess. And has there been a more troubling sight in recent sci-fi than Boyd making Topher dismember Kinnard's dead body in a bath tub and dissolve him with acid?
The only thing denying a higher rating for this episode was the fact its storyline had more holes than a colander. Mainly, I just didn't accept the reason Priya became a doll, as surely after Topher fixed her schitzophrenia she would be sane enough to decide not to become a doll. So why wasn't Priya just returned to Kinnard after her brain repair? Most of the actives are willing subjects because they cant' escape something in the real world (grief, debt), but Priya could very easily have left Kinnard, so it didn't make much sense that the Dollhouse kept her. Indeed, Priya herself actually gets to return to her body and is filled in on what's been going on this past year, and she decides to go back to being Sierra? Why? It wasn't clear to me.
The only subplot involved Boyd realizing Echo (Dushku) is retaining memories, after he finds a book in her sleeping chamber (although he missed the fact she has scrawled notes on the underside of her chamber's lid). Boyd's always been a strange character, as he's partly disgusted by the Dollhouse's operations but also a willing and key cog in the machine. Here it becomes clear that he'll be happy when this place fails, as he tells Echo he realizes her memory wipes are no longer fully effective and, in the final scene, leaves her a keycard to access the facility's entrances as a bookmark in the novel she's reading. It's nice to feel that Boyd and Ballard are both sewing the seeds of the Dollhouse's destruction from the inside, even if this once again makes DeWitt look stupid for employing them.Overall, it's unfortunate there were so many plot-holes in this episode, as the core of the story was very enjoyable and there were some fantastic performances from Lachman and Kranz in particular. I always enjoy Dollhouse when it's tackling big emotions and asking compelling moral questions of its characters, so this was a perfect episode for that. A shame it didn't hang together that well in the cold light of day, or that they once again wasted a great guest-star (Dexter's Keith Carradine as Rossum exec Matthew Harding), but "Belonging" was still a very good episode with plenty to recommend.
3 November 2009
The Sci-Fi Channel, 10pm
written by: Maurissa Tancharoen & Jed Whedon directed by: Jonathan Frakes starring: Eliza Dushku (Echo), Harry Lennix (Boyd Langton), Fran Kranz (Topher Brink), Enver Gjokaj (Victor), Dichen Lachman (Sierra/Priya Tsetsang), Olivia Williams (Adelle DeWitt), Vincent Ventresca (Nolan Kinnard), Carlease Burke (Pam), Clyde Kusatsu (Dr. Makido), Keith Carradine (Matthew Harding), Andrea Walker (Rich Woman), Alan Pietruszewski (Handler), Natalie Graziano (Attendant) & Sean Solan (Soldier)
