Belonging

General Impressions: My God it was the best thing ever. Jesus, Mary and St.Joseph. Every single moment was just so good. In this episode we just had everything.

Vincent Ventrasca was so into his role, that it made me forgot how awesome good guy he was in Invisible Man. But the „people are people“ side of Whedonite writing shines through him too. We can see that he is personally hurt by that Sierra doesn't love him. He's a rapist... but he wants to be loved because he's lonely. Ouch, that ending was just painful. Boyd just forcing Topher to cut him up.

"One of the prominent themes in Dollhouse is the human being at it's most basic. The strong emotions that affect our being, beneath the mask. The touching human connection that goes through the masks, into the true nature. Like that moment in Vows where Adelle touches Victor's face and forgets herself. Or when Sierra touches Victor's face. Or how Echo gives herself under Ballard's guardianship in a very self-aware manner. Or when Echo feels sorry for that fat guy and gives her the female care at her own Echo will. Instinct was about a human emotion that's stronger than the identity mask." - Me, couple of weeks ago.

We can see this very clearly in this episode. The love shared by Victor and Sierra. It's so strong that Priya feels it, once restored. And her core being feels disgusted about Kinnard. And the shower scene between Victor and Sierra was just so... Dollhouse not a good show? Whedon's worst? Which half-brain can think it seriously? It's all about pieces of puzzles falling into their place in the right moment. It's all about those small touching moments.

The background story of Sierra makes that scene from Ghost even more awesome. The scene where Echo peeks around and see's the teary-eyed Sierra, while she's being wiped..... Amazing. Just amazing. This show has a lot of full circle moments. When you see it all coming together starting from scene one... bravo. Bravo Whedon and team, and bravo Fox for allowing to come it together this far. We may not have season 3 (in this case Fox will be bravo no longer), but at least we had Belonging.

Echo's Journey to Enlightenment

Well it's harder to do it with the latest episode, than with season 1 episodes. But there were some cues. Those scratches in her chamber – awesome. Ghosts, my son killed me, friends help each other, where is caroline, i was blind, shoulder to the wheel, i am nobody... and well that was what I could read out so far. Echo is real, Caroline was a lie. Echo is forced to see the world from a different perspective and she does it well.

Echo's and Boyd's dialogue fitted very well with my interpretation of the show – that sort of philosophical/religious awakement to the lie that is society. Boyd: "Not all people are ready to wake up." Echo: "I wanna just make sure everyone survives the coming storm."

Some Thoughts About Other Characters

Boyd was back again... and he was just cold. He had that Giles moment, when Giles killed Ben in Gift (Buffy season 5 ending).

Poor Topher... he's my new favorite character. My previous was Paul, as I identified with him a lot. But Topher has this rewatching quality to him. Now in rewatch I can see all the guilt, pain and self-loathing in earlier episodes. He's broken. They're all broken. Adelle was just so cruel to Topher when she said that Topher never had any conscience. They're all trying to drop the guilt and the blame on someone else. They're good people and yet they're not.

"Anyway, I think Adelle's journey is going to be the one of where she has to face the fact that she isn't as humanitarian as she thinks she is. Remember how Firefly said that governments are the ungoverned few? Well this is also one of the prominent themes of Dollhouse - how the rich ungoverned few use the common people as means for their pleasure and leisure. And Adelle is providing that for her social caste. But she also has a fondness for her children - the dolls. I think she is going to have to choose between her social caste and her children someday. Or something. I'm sleepy." - Me again, couple of weeks ago

Adelle had that moment briefly. Once she learned of the situation, she told Kinnard to fuck off. But her superiors pulled rank on her. And then she was just... she lived herself out on Topher in a cold bitchy way she is. By describing Topher has incapable of empathy she tried to make Topher the evil one. But that might have been just an emotional reaction to her own lack of choice, as she later just went "you have no choice".

Adelle did to Topher exactly the same what her superiors did to her – they both feel bad, and they're superiors (which to Topher was Adelle herself) tear them down by saying that they have no right to feel bad as they're not good people.

Foreshadowing: Victor's flashbacks seem to be a foreshadowing for something.

Grading: Perfect, fucking Perfect.

So no more Dollhouse until December 4. Well, at least we're going to have an awesome december. Here's to Dollhouse – the best show currently on tv.