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.

After some delay due to traveling and whatnot, I finally caught up with Dollhouse this weekend. You're doing much better, Show!

I had intended to come in and rant about how disappointed I was about the developments with Mellie's character. But then I got to the end, and no one else saw what I saw, so... I have a feeling that I'm superimposing my Issues (of which, as I am the first to admit, I have so many I keep them on microfiche to save space) onto the character. Also, I'm tired, and just can't seem to work up the proper head of steam for a good rant.

I will say that, while I'm glad Mellie didn't get Mineared (and in what would have been record time too), I feel like making her an Active affects not only her character, but the character of Ballard as well. Ballard's my main "in" for this show right now (along with Boyd, but they're doing all right by him), and I don't really like it when we take too much of our "hero's" support system away. The one "normal" person he could trust and turn to for support is a tool of the far-too-powerful agency that he's hunting? He's being watched, they're controlling and manipulating him for their own ends? Why are you letting your character fight an unwinnable fight? Seems unfair.

(I still don't know how I feel about her character being "flawed" because she's programmed that way, rather than because they wrote her as a flawed personality...)

A theory on the inside man: One assumes that, if the Dollhouse is true to its word that after five years the person will be restored to their original personality (which we have no proof for yet, but...), then somewhere there has to be a "copy" of that personality, so that when the Active has completed their tour of duty they can re-imprint them with their original personality. What if those patterns have achieved independence from their storage devices? What if the inside man is Caroline's imprint? Caroline and the other actives could be infecting the process from the inside. (This is way more sci-fi than the show's been set up to be thus far, so I doubt that I'm right, but it's an idea that entertains me.)

Corwood - Olivia Williams' character is Adelle.

Ailleann --

I've had thoughts about Mellie's character, but I was distracted by the no pants and the funny.

Since I know from interviews about the shows inception and premise, I am seeing Mellie mainly as a symbol of the whole "LA-eats-actresses" thing that Joss spoke of in an interview somewhere. Maybe the world eats women, or at least projects ideals onto them as a way of comformity, but I was really thinking about LA and actresses as a specific. Don't ask me for the interview, cause I have no idea but I definitely remember reading it. Remember, Mellie kept going back to the "denied stock option" thing in addition to the "do you think of her when you're on top of me?" stuff. And she's already mentioned that she "knows she's not the gold standard in LA." Hmmm. I'd be interested in reading an interview with Miracle Laurie, and seeing what the actual's actresses perception of this is.

Anyway, I think that Mellie's basic personality is no more flawed than any of the other Actives; they all go back to that idea of the world eats women thing (and the male Actives are an interesting comment onperceived gender roles and passivity in our culture) but Mellie pings the LA-eats-actresses button harder because of her weight. And I'm thinking that Joss HAD to have cast a (very) slightly heavy girl who also was completely beautiful -- not pretty, but gorgeous -- otherwise the message might be lost in the "But she's a COW" reactions you know that can happen in the American viewership.