I thought the woman giving birth in episode 4 or whatever it was said "I don't want to forget", though I could have mis-heard.

That's what I heard too.

And you've reminded me of how much I loved Ballard's "I don't care if you're her, I'm going to fuck you up" face when he was fighting Echo. When he threw stuff at her it was marvellous. He just has this way of closing distance that's the hottest thing he's done.

I do wonder what they're going to do with him now that they've taken away everyone we may have liked seeing him with. No harshing on Tahmoh, but I don't know if Paul can hold my attention.

Judging from my appreciation of the show, Eliza can't, really. She's so not the most interesting or entertaining part of it for me.

Victor is the doll I like to watch. He goes from little innocent boy to competent in charge to mob guy -- and they are different yet him.

and they trying to understand the Dollhouse. Not the actual answer -- more the process and the way ( boy I sound like a librarian )

Victor's definitely my doll. His dollness is interesting, which Echo's isn't, despite her retaining so much. And his characters have been fun so far.

It's a shame Ballard can't bring the Dollhouse down simply by kicking the crap out of random Russian mobsters and private security guys, because that would be entertaining (and I agree with you, ita, about his "I'm gonna fuck you up" face during his fight with Echo.) His actual investigations, sans Lubov and computer chick, not so much.

Of the principles, the weakest for me are Ballard, Dominic (snarky/drugged!Dominic in the most recent episode aside) and sadly Dr. Saunders. As much as I love Amy Acker, she hasn't been given much to work with so far, beyond being the disapproving/"Don't do this dangerous thing you're going to do anyway because if you didn't there'd be no show" person.

I did love Topher's line about her and Boyd having scowly babies, though.

I'm also kind of annoyed that they haven't sent Echo to the Attic (whatever that is).

It's starting to sound like a pretty empty threat. Then again, maybe the point is to make them seem like bad parental figures.

I kinda feel like the previews for next week revealed the inside man, but that might have been a misdirect.

Judging from my appreciation of the show, Eliza can't, really. She's so not the most interesting or entertaining part of it for me.

fwiw, I never found SMG or Buffy the most interesting or entertaining parts of BtVS. I didn't dislike her, and I actively liked a lot of her work, but I was always engaged with the show as an ensemble piece. Is Dollhouse seeming like it might have that ensemble vibe developing, or is it very much an Eliza vehicle at this point?

It's not really ensemble-y. Although individual characters are starting to blossom.

I suppose it's a compliment to Dushku's acting that I found this week's personality so boring. There was NO badassness in her at all, and that's something that's pretty much always there at least a little bit with ED. But man, Alice was... bland.

I really enjoyed this episode. Particularly what's-his-face (why the hell can't I remember his name?) -- "I tried to burn you alive. Who does that?" And Boyd not maintaining control of the situation, and Topher & Ms. Thing -- "I don't pronounce hard r's!" I also liked that they ran the situation anyway, rather than the usual TV-drug "everyone reverts to children" situation.

Basically, I laughed. It was cool. I so hate the promos, though -- don't throw all the HSQ into the damn commercials, people!

One other thought -- on a totally meta level, this episode provided an important service by showing us that Topher & the upper-level people aren't actives. So that was nice.

I think the inside person is Miss Cross from Rushmore (what's her name on the show? I can never keep it straight). They've established that she recruited Caroline extensively over several years, and she seems to be striving to keep her from The Attic. Olivia Williams plays her with an overstressed and overly clenched attitude that suggests that she has a secret beyond the secrets of the Dollhouse (although I have no idea if this is intential or just Olivia Williams being Olivia Williams). I'm guessing she has a reason to try to bring the whole organization down, but having gotten herself into the position she's in (somewhat like Angel in Season 5), she has no idea how to proceed.