tmbreck | [Review] Dollhouse 1.11: Briar Rose (Reply)

Writer: Jane Espenson
Director: Dwight Little
Actors:Eliza Dushku, Tahmoh Penikett, Olivia Williams, Fran Kranz, Harry J. Lennix, Enver Gjokaj, Dichen Lachman, Miracle Laurie, Liza Lapira, Amy Acker
Guest: Aisha Hinds, Alan Tudyk, Judith Moreland, Hannah Leigh Dworkin

Ballard's investigation leads him to the agoraphobic designer of the Dollhouse. Echo helps a young girl deal with her traumatic past; Adelle goes to the Attic in search of answers; and Alpha reveals himself to set his end game in motion.

My Thoughts:

For those who don't know going in, Briar Rose is the name Sleeping Beauty lived under while the fairies/wise women hid her from the fairy/wise woman who had gotten pissed because Sleeping Beauty's parents didn't invite her to the celebration of her birth. Moral of the story? If you've got 13 fairies and only 12 gold plates, invest in a 13th gold plate, or switch to the china.

Anyway, onto the show. I'm going to ruin the surprise for those of you who haven't seen it [and why are you reading this then?] and let you know that Tudyk is really playing Alpha. And can I just say how surprisingly well built that man is? I only vaguely remember him from Firefly, so I really couldn't tell you if he was that buff in the show. Now, let's get away from the shallow.

The little girl, Susan, in the first scene with Echo!Susan had a really good point, for the most part about the fairy tale. She seems to be, at first introduction to be a very angry feminist in the making. Then the poor girl has a break down, and then we find out that Echo!Susan is there to help her. Her past, is very fucked up.

Listening to Echo!Susan describe her memories and the guilt she felt, it made me really uncomfortable, as it should. However, I absolutely loved Echo!Susan telling real!Susan to pretend to be the prince. And I love that the little girl trusted her enough to give her the blade.

I have to say that I really loved that Topher's the one the came up with the mission and how best to do the imprint. It actually makes me like him. He's got a human side!

My doom!ship, they broke up! Poor Mellie. Part of me is really pissed at Ballard for driving her to near suicide so he could follow her back to the Dollhouse. I kinda wanted to beat him with a large trout. Anybody else?

I love that they brought back Dominic, I just wish we would have used his original body, though I loved his freak out when he realized he was in Victor. Gjokaj [and how do you pronounce that? anybody?] did a fantastic job playing Dominic. The voice, the facial expressions, he was perfect, in my opinion.

Alpha. Just... Alpha. I loved the way he played Stephen Kepler.

"Carrots! Medicinal carrots. Personal use medicinal carrots that were here when I moved in and I'm holding it for a friend."

Generally, I just love the rant he goes into ones Ballard shows he's not there for anything other than the closed system. He plays reluctant very well. You just know Alpha was laughing his ass off on the inside, knowing he had played Ballard from the beginning. I loved their interaction getting into the building. It was just too funny.

Ballard and Boyd fighting, you know I was rooting for Boyd. But what I really loved was the reveal that Kepler was Alpha. With the way he was grilling Claire, it makes it glaringly obvious she's a doll. And while that's going on, Boyd looks kind of pathetic. I love the 60 watt bulb, but he really came off as a fool.

Personally, I think they should have ended the episode as they did, but with the little girl doing the voice over reading of Sleeping Beauty/Briar Rose and them leaving in slow motion. While a good episode all over, for some reason it still leaves me feeling kinda meh.