Daughter of the Ring of Fire » Blog Archive

Mar

2009

Dollhouse: Echoes

Posted on 22:09, March 27th, 2009 by EKSwitaj

Read my latest story, "A Tale of Two Birthdays", at 52|250.

The plot of this week’s episode, Echoes, relies a little too much on something like a deus ex machina: the release of a drug that just happens to bring back the memories of the Actives while making other people high (and thus incapacitated) is a terribly convenient excuse for an information dump. Perhaps if there had been earlier indications of the sort of research that Rossum (parent company of the Dollhouse) engages in, it would be easier to accept. Or if Echo’s handler did not conveniently come to himself in time to punch out the evil grad student.

That said, the episode does do a reasonably decent job of portraying the reactions of people who have suddenly had their memories, particularly their traumatic ones, come rushing back. Some curl up or freeze, while others lash out.

Also, as much as I would have liked to see it revealed through a less obvious device, I have to appreciate the background that brought Echo into the grasp of the Dollhouse. Rossum conducting its unsavory research in a university lab tweaks the connection between corporate funding and collegiate research. Moreover, that Caroline was looking to record evidence of cruel (but likely legal) animal experimentation when she found that Rossum also experiments on humans raises questions about where one should draw the line. It implies the parallels in thought and disregard between the mindset that allows for cruel testing on animals and cruel testing on humans: Caroline even speaks to this briefly. What it doesn’t do is demean any humans in the process (PETA take note).

Also in this episode, when Adelle DeWitt talks about believing in the work of Rossum and that being the reason for the work they do at the Dollhouse, I get the impression that she is not simply another greed-driven corporate climber but, rather, someone who can be much more dangerous: a true believer. [ETA: This interview with Olivia Williams shows that the actress playing Adelle her sees her in a similar way.] If she honestly believes in Rossum’s research to be good then she likely views her work at the Dollhouse primarily as a necessary evil. This would explain how she could give a speech about the need to protect the Actives as well as her hesitance to put Echo in the dreaded attic. She genuinely wants to do as little harm as possible as she works to support whatever end she believes is so important. This is also why she offers to give the captured grad student’s mother a pension rather than simply blackmailing him into service.