‘Man On The Street’ is the first of those and right out of the shotgun it has an entirely different feel, like it was written by a subtly different team that stumbled through the first five. But being distinctly edgy is just one of the improvements I noticed, and there are many more. It begins with a series of street interviews conducted by an LA TV network on the ‘urban myth’ of Dollhouse, with some funny reactions to the concept. These intersperse the whole running time, and demonstrate that as a secret Dollhouse seems to be being systematically undermined, what with this and FBI Agent Paul Ballard’s research. Things aren’t much better back at Dollhouse, where Echo and Victor are having lunch when Sierra sits down away from them. Victor remembers that she normally eats with them and goes to ask her over. When he touches her she screams in reaction to him. When questioned she tells the doctor that she’s had sex with Victor. If true it looks like Victor could be heading to the ‘attic’, which as all children know is a very scary place! If anything it actually got better after them as they gave Patton Oswalt who plays rich geek Joel some great dialogue as he decides the best form of defence is to psychoanalyse Paul Ballard and work out what makes him tick. Soon though they’re talking about Joel’s fantasy, and how his came to be spending a fortune on simulating a lost love. In the end the reality is that Ballard has no Echo or evidence to show a judge, and as such he makes his diplomatic exit before the police arrive. I’ve been very suspicious of Ballard’s attractive girl-next-door, Mellie, and now he’s telling her everything about her case I’m especially worried. We’ve only seen three ‘actives’, and there are five bed slots (and maybe more sleep locations), so is she one of them they’ve sent to keep an eye on him? Then, entirely unexpectedly, they move the show up another gear, as it’s revealed what Boyd worked out. The problems Sierra has are nothing to do with Victor. We see Sierra walk into a side office and waiting in her is her handler Hearn, he says that they are going to play the game and she should lift up her dress! That never happens because Boyd appears from nowhere and punches Hearn through a glass panel. From there we go to Adelle’s office where she commends Boyd and gives him a bonus. Once he leaves, her and nasty Lawrence discuss the implications of this and what Ballard is telling his neighbour. They know this because they have his apartment video-bugged. Adelle decides that they need to deal with the Ballard threat directly and he should have a ‘second date’ with Echo. Tophet cooks up a ‘gorgeous but deadly’ imprint for Echo, while Adelle and Lawrence explain the scope of Hearn’s mistake to him. There have been hints about the dark nature of those that run Dollhouse, but we get to see it up close and personal now. Adelle gives Hearn a folder with Mellie’s picture on it and tells him to kill her, and not to make a ‘clean’ job of it. The implication is that they’ll direct the blame at Ballard, who at that moment is conveniently providing potential DNA evidence by having sex with Mellie. After some pillow talk, he goes to get some Chinese takeaway and meets up with the bad-ass Echo that Tophet so creatively synthesised. This leads to one of the best knock-down, drag-out fights (between them) that I’ve seen in a TV show for a while – exceptionally brutal for prime-time. And then…and then….my mind utterly exploded…. There’s one last twist: a policeman comes into the alley where they’re talking, and Echo makes Ballard shoot the cop in the shoulder, which she tells him is to protect the contact and him, but not anyone else. Realising that Mellie is in danger, he heads home on foot. Why he didn’t get a taxi or steal a car, I’ve no idea, but given how good the last forty-five minutes were, I wasn’t going to dwell on it. He shouldn’t worry really, because Mellie isn’t in danger, Hearn is. He enters the apartment and starts to throw her around like a doll, eventually pinning her on the floor. She’s helpless – her best ability is cooking! Ballard hands his gun and badge in after the cop is shot, suspended from the FBI. And we end with Joel Mynor and Echo, repeat reliving his fantasy, the end. In a word ‘wow’. Why have I had to sit through the previous five episodes of mostly rubbish to get here? More happened in this one story than the sum of the rest, and I now entirely accept that the story was a ‘game changer’ as Joss described it. After the reviews I’ve previously published on this show, I can’t really believe I’m saying this, but I’m now really looking forward to the next episode. Check out our review of episode 5 here.
