Review of:  Dollhouse 109 A Spy In The House Of Love

Overall Rating: 9.5

A traitor is discovered inside the Dollhouse.  Watch the episode streaming online above.

This is an amazing episode that really moves the story arc forward.  Fans of Ballard will love that he has some good quality time in this episode.  The structure of this episode is different from the previous episodes in the series.  I found it both refreshing and compelling since Joss showed us a segment of the show from the perspective of one character then goes back and shows a segment from another so that by the end we get to see why she is “Sad”.

I was disturbed to find out what the attic is.  I had my theories but they way Topher describes it I shuddered.

We really get to see and learn so much about: Echo, Boyd, Paul, Victor, Sierra, Adelle, Dr. Saunders, November, Ivy, and Dominic.  I really enjoyed how Joss revealed clues about each character, gives glimpses into their true motivations and emotional ground.

Likes

• The conversation and repeating theme of the dangers of technology.

• The chip that allows a person to alter an imprint as it is occurring

• Great portrayal of spies in action and spy tech / toys

• Crazy Ballard! Poor Ballard.

• I loved getting to meet Mrs. Lonely Hearts.

• Eliza Dushku does an amazing acting job in this episode with Echo.  Joss really pushes her out of her box and Eliza excels at the challenge.

• I love the reoccurring theme and conversation on trust in this episode.

Dislike / Concern

• Concern:  This episode has so many details in it that are story relevant that it almost borders on the side of too many details.

Favorite Quotes

• “the agency will figure it out and come looking for me. that is fine and when they do you will tell them everything is fine and then we’ll put you back into your box.”

• “she realized the indiscretions were unwise”

• “she made a mistake.  Now she is sad”

• “you make people different.  You can make me help.”

• “one day you will be erasing them… even after all of this they wont see it coming.  Sooner or latter everybody gets theirs”

• “you make people different… you can make me help.”

• “it’s not what they do it’s why they  do it, investigate their purpose.”

• “Mossad doesn't even double-tag.

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Next Week: Haunted:  When Adelle’s wealthy friend is murdered, Adelle imprints Echo with the woman’s memories and personality to solve the case. Ballard looks into Mellie’s past, and Topher secretly programs Sierra for an engagement.

Spoiler Alert

Man on the inside theory update:  Doctor Sanders has gone back and forth as a candidate for the man on the inside.  Evidence in support:  She disapproves of the Dollhouse’s system as it is and wishes to change it (ep 9).  She has the technical knowledge to put into dolls a bio-feedback trigger for an automated response (ep. 8 ) giving her the credentials to know how to use the tech found in this episode and to imprint a triggered coded message within the actives.  She stays at the dollhouse 24/7.  When Echo was in spy hunter mode she locked onto Doctor Saunders as a person hiding something which Doctor Saunders only avoided detection by an interruption.

With all of that evidence in hand pointing toward Doctor Saunders I have to say after this episode she moves to the bottom of my suspect list for the Man on the inside.  She has the technical knowledge but I doubt she would induce a composite event in Echo because she really cares for the dolls and Alpha’s event resulted in many dolls dying.  The biggest changer was when I saw what was on her computer screen… a dating service.  This leads me to believe that Doctor Saunder’s story is a very sad one.  She is deeply disturbed from the Alpha event which has given her an unresolved fear one that has not let her out of the Dollhouse.  She is probably using the online dating service as a means to have human contact but in a safe, imaginary, controlled environment and I don’t think she would actually go on a physical date for fear of Alpha getting a hold of her and finishing the job.

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