So Dollhouse keeps getting better, and although I still think that "Man on the Street" is the best episode of the season, "A Spy in the House of Love" was a close second. In addition to presenting various revelations, the episode moves two characters in new directions. The structure of the episode was very interesting, as the first act showed Topher discovering the existence of the mole and followed Echo as she saw pieces of various events which led her to ask Topher to imprint her with a personality that will allow her to help find the leak. The next four acts each started with one of the four main dolls getting imprinted with a personality, and followed them through their engagement.
November had the Mellie imprint uploaded again, and she was sent back to Ballard's building. Ballard discovered the Dollhouse's surveillance equipment in his appartment and got paranoid, so now Mellie will be the Dollhouse's last remaining way to monitor his activities. (Un)fortunately, the mole chose to make contact with Ballard again, but this time through November. Ballard got (minimal) new information about the Dollhouse, but the price was learning that the girl he was starting to fall for didn't really exist.
Sierra was imprinted to be a spy with a mission to infiltrate the NSA, who we learned employed the mole. Echo was also imprinted with a personality to catch the mole, but she became an interrogator. Victor was out on a routine engagement, but it turned out to not be so routine after all. It turns out that Adelle is lonley (as is Dr. Saunders, but her refusal to leave the Dollhouse may also be based on fear as well as her supposed lack of friends), and she has been engaging Victor to satisfy her in the way that only a perfect doll can. Victor is sent to some random woman's house so that his handler won't know who the real client is, then he takes off in a little sports car and provides Adelle with everything she needs.
I said a few weeks ago that having Ivy, Topher's assistant, be the mole would be the obvious choice (though because the "obvious" choice is rarely the actual culprit, she was the seemingly obvious choice), and it looks like Whedon and company agreed. When she was "revealed" as the mole, I was a tad disappointed, but when the real mole was uncovered, I was certainly surprised, and a little sad that a certain character likely won't be coming back any time soon (looks like I was right about something else I said a while back, and although he/she is out of play for now, I do think that the writers left a small door open to allow for his/her return). But Echo's ability to request to help out while in a wiped state has finally proven to Adelle that she is special and definitely worth keeping around. She has plans for Echo, and I am very excited to learn what they are. Also, Langdon is moving up in the hierarchy in spite of his hatred of the Dollhouse, which may allow him to take the place down some day...
I also have a new crazy theory about the goings-on in the Dollhouse. When Topher discovered the mole, Dominic told the imprinted Sierra that Topher was able to decrypt part of the chip, but not all of it. I realized that they would need to imprint her with the ability to have the skill to decrpyt the remaining part, and if that was true, why couldn't they imprint a programmer for the dolls themselves. What if Topher is a doll?! How would they know who to trust when recruiting "geniuses" to act as programmer? I'm sure they could lure people in with the promise of such astounding technology, but what guarantee would they have that somone with loose morals like Topher wouldn't sell them out?! How many of the janitors and security people can be trusted? What if the Dollhouse is staffed by dolls?
Up next: The art of failure...
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