TV Review: Dollhouse – Echoes

Posted by Michelle Graham (michelle@filmschoolrejects.com) on March 31, 2009

dollhouse-echoes

Dollhouse, Fox, Airs Friday 9/8c

Episode: “Echoes” (Season 1, Episode 7)

Synopsis: When a memory super-drug is released into the general population of a university, an army of dolls is sent in to contain its spread and solve the mystery of its release. Meanwhile, Echo’s routine engagement with a familiar face is rudely interrupted when a television bulletin causes memories from Caroline’s life to surface.

Review: Whilst not quite as good as last week, purely because the standard is now so much higher, this week’s episode definitely keeps the bar high and continues to prove that it deserves to be saved from the chopping block. This week sees memories from Echo’s supposedly lost life as Caroline begin to emerge, proving that her life before the Dollhouse isn’t completely lost, just locked away behind man-made memory blocks.

Unfortunately for Sierra, this also holds true for the memories of her rapes, memories which were difficult to watch her reliving. Chalk one up for the acting of Dichen Lachman here, she went from confident CDC agent to traumatized victim in the blink of an eye and very convincingly. In fact, all the dolls gave strong performances when showing their trauma, from Victor glitching back to his war torn memories to November reliving one of Mellie’s memories.

Ah, Mellie. You’re far more interesting now that you’re a doll and not just a needy neighbor, but just as you get interesting, you leave. Hopefully you’ll return, though in the mean time we’ll keep an eye out for this Debbie person, as she’s bound to be a doll too. Could this be the start of a weird and wonderful love triangle? Happily, we were kept out of Mellie and Agent Ballard’s romantic side of things this week, and it sounds like this will be the case for another couple of episodes. Huzzah! Now he can get back to mooning over Caroline and trying to work the case without FBI backup.

We finally got to see more of Caroline than a video yearbook piece and her induction into the Dollhouse, and it appears that there’s still more to come. Where did she go after she disappeared from the hospital room? Was that directly after her boyfriend/husband died? It looked as though she was physically fine but mentally a wreck, which appears to be the Dollhouse’s perfect candidate. That and having a killer body, of course. There’s a lot of mystery still remaining in Caroline’s life, not least of which is why Ms. DeWitt has such a strong attachment to her. Even before she was brought into the Dollhouse, DeWitt seemed to know Caroline and her likely actions, so what’s the tie there?

Speaking of DeWitt, her scenes with Topher this week were fantastic, a great bright point to lessen the tension. It was refreshing to see her be let out of the prim and proper British character and into that of a whimsical (and comical) child. She has not only a sense of humor, but a sense of self-ridicule! Also, after weeks of disliking Topher or being on the fence about him, he’s finally won me over. I didn’t really need to see his briefs, though. The sequences shared by he and DeWitt are among the funniest so far on Dollhouse, so I hope that we get the chance to see more of that side again soon.

One last thing, after such a strong episode last week, how on earth did this week’s Nielsen ratings slip back downwards?! Dollhouse lost 250,000 audience members and 2 tenths of a point in the 18-49 market share. Maybe DVR numbers will bump this up, but c’mon people! You saw a killer episode last week and you don’t tune back in? Words fail me. Hell, Sarah Connor Chronicles retains its audience. Here’s hoping that we do better next time around.

Up Next Week: “Needs” – After the events of “Echoes”, the dolls awaken back in the Dollhouse with memories they shouldn’t possess.

Read More: Dollhouse Recaps

Did you watch Dollhouse this week? What’d you think?


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  • Seeing all the usually strong and stony faced characters while high is one of the funniest things I've seen. I loved the line "Wow, totally lost control of that situation." and the orgasmic face on Topher and DeWitt after Echo's handler plays a piano piece for them.
  • meh. I didn't like this episode at all. I'm not really into Dollhouse that much, but keeping watching it. I did miss the hiphop dancer one though. The one with Patton Oswalt was good. I'm a litle surprised the dolls are going to escape already, though maybe they'll get stopped or something.
  • THis episode had no head or tail, I was severely confused most of the time, I have to say though I like Dollhouse, but I also liked Firefly and well this is prolly going to get canceled also.
  • This episode sort of seemed like a funny, goofy "role reversal" episode that would have been better placed in the first half of the second season. Of course, with the ratings slipping, they might be afraid there will be no season two. I enjoyed the banter between DeWitt and Topher (although he usually gets on my nerves.) Seemed like something essential (maybe an awkward make-out scene or confession of love?) was cut out of the episode that made the final scene between DeWitt and her crooked right-hand man seem a little tacked on. I'll keep watching.
  • It certainly felt as though some improper behaviour wasn't shown alright, but Dominic was on campus for what appeared to be the whole time! Unless this occurred after the dolls were brought back in.. I hope they include that scene later on/on the dvds!
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