But what momentum they’d created previously was unceremoniously sent for recycling in this complete klunker of a story. What I loved last week was the edgy nature, TRON-cycle direction changes, and big arc story development. Well that was then, and this week Dollhouse had an almost complete relapse into a mostly incomprehensible mess. The slight twist to this is Echo, who isn’t part of the detail. She’s with the guy we first saw her in the show with, playing ‘girlfriend’. She’s wearing the same odd clothing, presumably because he likes her in it. This gear seems to be from a different historical era, for a woman ten years younger than Echo, and is probably the most unsuitable attire for riding a motorcycle – which is exactly what she then does. She sees a TV report of the campus lockdown and then gets a Close Encounters compulsion to go there, leaving lover-boy tied to the bed. The twist is that, although we’ve been told it won’t do anything to the actives, it, in fact, does, and they all start having flashback memories of previous experiences. This isn’t something new, as we’ve seen this with Echo in previous stories, without drug assistance. If you were wondering about Paul Ballard, he appears in this story but to no consequence whatsoever. He’s sulking because they withdrew Mellie back to Dollhouse, providing them with a less than romantic separation. In terms of the bigger plot, the story painted a huge sign about what will happen next week. It’s telegraphed that the actives will all keep on having memories and realise their predicament. I’m sorry if you didn’t get this from the show and I’ve spoiled it, but other than running a trailer at the end telling you that, I couldn’t imagine it could be sold any more obviously. Check out our review of episode 6 here.
