The Public Eye

Season 2, Episode 5, Aired
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Senator Daniel Perrin is on a mission to expose secrets of the Dollhouse and Echo is sent to put an end to his plan. Adelle realizes that someone is trying to eliminate the LA Dollhouse and is using Perrin to do so. Meanwhile, Paul makes contact with Perrin's surprise witness and attempts to derail the senator's plans.moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (7)

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  • The Public Eye

    8.0
    "Great"
    By joxerlives, Jan 06, 2012
    The good;
    Laugh out loud at the scene where Topher tries out his disruptor only to knock out a random passing doll, sending them tumbling down the stairs. The conspiracy storyline really kicks in and lovely to see Mellie back once again. Masterful bait and switch that Perrin is the doll and his wife is the handler, she seems so threatening to Ballard even when she's a tiny little woman and he's this ripped martial arts expert. .

    The bad;
    Not much, heck of a good ep. One question, if Perrin is so security conscious how do they dope his drink?

    Best line;
    Adele; "An emergency measure for when things get hot"
    Ballard; "I'd say things are warmish"
    plus
    Ballard; (pointing to Topher's gizmo) "What is that?"
    Topher; (nervously) "It's the thing that if it doesn't work won't get me in trouble"
    and
    Perrin; "You're a doll"
    Echo/Bree; "You're cute too"
    also
    Echo/Bree; "If you want to do the right thing don't bring your hooker mistress to meet your wife"
    not to mention;
    Cindy Perrin; "If this plan doesn't work we're going to be demoted to being dead"

    Packing heat;
    Echo;8
    Boyd; 8
    Dominic; 9
    Sierra; 4
    Victor; 3
    Ballard; 10
    November; 1
    Echo kissage; 4

    Kinky dinky;
    Echo in hookerwear and almost naked Senator Perrin for the Alexis fans. Echo/Bree enjoys it 'a little rough' and whilst she considers Perrin twisted she 'likes that a lot'.

    Capt subtext;
    Echo/Bree is into the idea of threesomes with the Senator and his wife but charges extra for them. Washington Doll 'Hades' is out servicing a 'closeted' councilman (hades the god of the underworld).

    Notches on the Dollhouse bedpost; Echo/Bree and Perrin
    Echo; 5 definite, 2 possible
    November; 1
    Ballard; 1
    Victor; 1
    Adele; 1
    Sierra 1
    Topher; 1 possible

    How'd they get away with that?
    Bennet tortures Echo very nastily indeed.

    This weeks fantasy;
    Echo is an extremely kinky but very likeable nympho callgirl Bree.

    What do we think of the client?
    Adele's plan for Perrin is rather underhand, seducing and blackmailing him. But compared to robbing him of his free will and brainwashing him into their slave it's pretty minor.

    Total number personalitites; Echo is call girl Bree
    Echo; 29
    Sierra; 12
    Victor; 10
    November; 3

    Total dolls; we meet the petite and lovely Kilo
    9-Echo, Sierra, November, Victor, Mike, Tango, Alpha, Whiskey, Kilo

    Topher is a bit geeky;
    He refer to disruptors and Star Trek (weapons that the Romulans use, right?)

    Bondage; Echo/Bree offers to tie Senator Perrin up. She is tied up by Bennet at the end
    Sierra tied up; 1
    Ballard; 1
    Echo; 1

    Knocked out; Echo twice by Topher's gadget
    Echo; 4
    November; 1
    Sierra; 1
    Victor; 1
    Topher; 2

    Kills;
    Sierra; 3 kills
    Echo; 3
    November;1

    Dolls injured;
    Poor Echo get's pistol-whipped then brutally tortured by Bennet.

    Happy hookers;
    Echo is imprinted as call girl Bree, a very happy hooker who wanted to be a dancer but found escort work more lucrative and likes what she does.

    Know the face? It's hot in here, it must be summer! Summer Glau, another hattrick. Also Maurissa Tanchon who in addition to being a Dollhouse writer featured on Dr Horrible
    14-Whedon alumni-Mark Shepherd-2 (Dollhouse/Firefly), Amy Acker-2 (Dollhouse/Angel), walking action figure-2 (Buffy/Dollhouse), Eliza Dushku-3 (Buffy/Angel/Dollhouse), Jim Piddock-2 (Angel/Dollhouse), Gregg Henry-2 (Dollhouse/Firefly), Alan Tudyk-2 (Dollhouse/Firefly), Felicia Day-2(Dollhouse/Buffy), Alexis Denisoff-3 (Buffy, Angel and Dollhouse), Kristoffer Pohala-2 (Dollhouse/Angel), Stacey Scowley-2 (Buffy/Dollhouse) Clyde Katulas-2 (Buffy/Dollhouse), Maurissa Tanchon-2(Dollhouse/Dr Horrible), Summer Glau-3(Angel/Firefly/Dollhouse).

    Whedon cliches;
    Characters with just one arm (like Lindsey in Angel). Rich and powerful famillies who cover up the evil deeds of their wayward sons. Top security installations which aren't secure at all. Loving self-sacrificing mothers who risk all for their children.

    Breaking the programming;
    Echo can now refuse the offer of a treatment and is aware of her past personalities even when imprinted. She speaks of being able to see the patterns of her past imprints as though they are 'seams'

    Questions and observations;
    Perrin is an interesting comparison to George W Bush who also came from an influential political family, also went to Yale and was also a drunken wastrel well into his thirties. He got religion whilst Perrin got 'dolled'. Did you notice Bennett's computer keyboard adapted for a user with only one hand? Or the statue of Romulus and Remus (the she-wolf suckling the human infants) in her bookcase. She also get's rid of everyone else before torturing Echo BUT she refers to her as Caroline. So we have history here? No Victor or Sierra at all this ep. So the DC Dollhouse names it's actives after Greek mythological characters? Love to see Hercules, Appollo etc and especially Xena and Callisto.
    Central point here is that Perrin might have been wasting his life but it was his life to waste, once again as we saw with Sierra in Belonging, Rossum are quite prepared to take away people's freedom and exploit them if it suits their purposes, slaverly plain and simple.
    Marks out of 10; 8/10, very good stuff
    moreless

  • Terminal, but not dead yet

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By entil2001, Dec 05, 2010
    (Note: This review covers the first half of the two-episode event that aired on 04 December, 2009. This review was written without prior knowledge of the events in the second episode. A subsequent review will cover the second half of the event.)

    "Dollhouse" has been flirting with a purpose since the beginning of the series, and seemed to find it with the combination of "Epitaph One" and the first four episodes of the second season. The immorality of the Dollhouse is no longer a matter of debate; the writers are openly addressing the fact that the technology is being abused to subvert free will and eliminate identity. One gets the very strong impression that this is much closer to the kind of show Joss Whedon was trying to create.

    Being the first part of a two-part story, it's hard to evaluate this on its own. But it does have its own share of revelations, so it's worth looking at it in isolation. This is the episode that reveals the truth about Senator Perrin, and it is completely in line with something I raised in reviews for the first season.

    It makes perfect sense that Rossum and the Dollhouse network would want to take control of key government figures, and use those connections to protect their own interests. Senator Perrin cannot be the only example of a government official under Rossum control. It's also telling that they left the basic personality and memories intact, changing only the aspects they needed for their long-term goals.

    It's that goal that seems a bit hard to fathom. The current "crisis" appears to serve two different but complementary interests for Rossum. First, it allows them to control the amount of information that reaches the public, while setting up selected individuals (such as the Los Angeles branch) as the only group that can been traced (using November). Second, it forces the Los Angeles group to take action to protect itself, therefore exposing those who would be willing to break protocol to do so. This gives Rossum the justification they need to act against Adele and her people.

    In essence, Senator Perrin is a programmed agent for Rossum, designed to sniff out any leaks in the Dollhouse network. The extent of his research is a direct measure of the risk of exposure. But with everything feeding into his office, it is also the easiest way to contain the problem until it reaches a certain "critical mass".

    And that is the one thing that doesn't quite add up at this point: why would Rossum ever let the situation go this far, to the point where November is making public statements and Perrin is making the link between Rossum and the Dollhouse network? It seems like a foolish risk to take. Even if it were somehow designed to place all the blame on the Los Angeles branch, the documented evidence linking to Rossum has been mentioned to the press.

    One possible scenario is that Perrin was meant to reveal this much, so that it would prompt justifiable action against the Los Angeles branch. Once the action was taken, Perrin could be eliminated (or exposed as a Doll) and his documentation destroyed, leaving only information pointing to the Los Angeles personnel. Rossum could then claim that they were being blackmailed by the Los Angeles Dollhouse, which could be claimed to have been the only one.

    If it is all about the Los Angeles branch, then the resolution would have to be strong enough to allow the Los Angeles branch to survive, perhaps by holding enough cards to bring down others. Or it may have nothing to do with the Los Angeles branch at all, and there may be a completely different endgame in store. Whatever the case, this is one of the most interesting situations to date.

    As good as the intrigue was, it also represented a bit of an evolution for Echo. Echo has been slowly but surely integrating all of the lingering pieces of her former personalities, but there has been an inherent conflict between her "former selves" and her current identity in every case. This time, it seems like her saucy call girl persona (complete with super-revealing wardrobe) somehow managed to semi-consciously make use of skills from previous engagements. If that trend continues, Echo is going to be remarkably formidable. (And if nothing else, should Caroline be restored, there is now every reason to think that she would retain all these attributes.)

    In other words, the second season seems to be more than just the process of how Caroline regains her core personality. It also seems to be the process of how the Dollhouse inadvertently causes the end of the civilized world, while also inadvertently creating the perfect resistance leader to bring the world back out of chaos. After all, if the integration process continues on the same pace, Caroline/Echo would be all but immune to remote wiping/reprogramming.

    As if that wasn't enough, this episode also introduced the uber-disturbing (and disturbed) character of Bennett, played by Summer Glau. Bennett appears to be the DC branch's version of Topher, but with a lot more mental instability and an obvious cruel streak. What she might know about Caroline should prove to be quite a revelation, but it's also possible that her intentions towards Caroline/Echo could jump-start the whole memory integration process.

    This episode was simply stuffed to the gills, so much so that every moment is worthy of consideration. I especially liked the conversation between Paul and November, where she pointed out that his insistence on saving her was just another kind of control over her choices. The irony, of course, being that the Dolls are never quite themselves again, so November's personal choice to board that plane may not have been her choice at all. The writers keep coming back to that same central question: do we really know who we are and what we want? The disturbing truth is that the answer may be "no".moreless

  • Senator Daniel Perrin is about to expose the Dollhouse but Rossum has other plans.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By marvelfan89, Dec 24, 2009
    Excellent episode. I couldn't have explained it any better than the last reviewer.

    I've loved this show since Season One. While some episodes were better than others, I always felt that Josh and his fans who loved the show realized that it was a hit. It was only then a matter of whether the network would give it a chance.

    Wow this was extremely well done, it's such as shame it didn't air during the originally planed November sweeps (screw you Fox).

    The character of Madeline, Paul's lover.

    So we have a tense situation where the Dollhouse might be explored but not so fast? Whose playing who here?

    I enjoyed this story very much and the twist with Senator was excellently done. The character of Cindy and Summer Glau's character, Bennett were a treat to watch.

    A lot answers revealed but so were a lot of questions raised.

    I don't know how anybody unless there a hater can say that this show deserves to be canceled after watching this episode.moreless

  • Senator Perrin is going to blow the lid off the Rossum corporation and it seems that the LA Dollhouse is in the middle of the mess. Perrin has Madeline who use to be November and they have convinced her to speak to the Senate Subcommittee.moreless

    8.5
    "Great"
    By jyarter, Dec 07, 2009
    Nice change of pace for the Dollhouse as it seems that the Dollhouse itself is on the defensive an in risk of being outed. But there is a lot more going on below the surface and even afters Adele is told to stay out of this she starts to unravel the real secrets of the situation.

    We have Topher trying to get Echo infiltrated. Ballard trying to surgically remove Madeline from the Perrin's control. Topher comes up with a way to effect the Actives using technology similar to Alpha's. As Adele and Langton try to stay ahead of Rossum and whatever scheme they seem to have cooked up.

    As it turns out nothing is what it seems and in the end it seems that the LA house has been targeted to be brought down as the complete operation to cover Rossum's tracks.

    Lots of intrigue, changes in directions, and surprises highlight this episode of the Dollhouse. Thanks for reading...moreless

  • Better...

    8.0
    "Great"
    By Parricida, Dec 06, 2009
    I most say, I was positively surprised. I mean, there was a story.. there was developments, there was something unexpected and excitement. So, maybe the finally are getting somewhere.. not that it is too late now.. but still..

    I really liked how messy it all got: the idea that senator's wife is a doll, then that senator.. and where Echo and that man ended up.. and the connection that programmer there had with Caroline.. we are not sure what it is.. but I am sure, second episode will give the answer. Anyway, that was intriguing. So, I think, that was quite good episode..moreless
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