Also, I wonder if the people are held against their will ors something. Estelle told Caroline that they'd been doing the dance for two years, so what was the story? Did the DH have her locked up?

I would assume that for the most part only people so desperate as to consider suicide a viable alternative

That didn't looklike Caroline to me. At the end of her options, sure, but she didn't strike me as the sort that would include suicide as an option.

Did the DH have her locked up?

Maybe she'd been running that long.

I just watched the last episode again with a friend. And, well, this time I quite liked it. The writing is often times pretty good - Caroline's friends appeared as actual friends instead of exposition people for example. The production was the problem for me; the wardrobe for Echo, the clearly rough editing, the red pipe. I still think the episode felt a bit weird though, and the squick without dealing with it absolutely bothers me.

Which is interesting if you consider Mellie. She remembered her encounter with Paul, which makes me wonder if Mellie is her real personality, but one that has been implanted with suggestions. If the person's real personality is the one they want, why not just plant the suggestions of what they need plus the triggers for "treatment" (or assassination as the case may be).

This is what I thought she was, not implanted with a personality, but that she has a fight-girl trigger.

But they needed her to do some specific things--do you think they just asked her?

Maybe she volunteered for some sort of psych experiment to get extra money in college, and this is what happened :)

I can imagine the Dollhouse running at different levels -- If they can do a 'full' wipe and install, I can imagine that they can do an edit. Mellie is close to her real self, but with a trigger.

Anyone else cringe at that opening scene about the drug? That had to be one of the worst attempts at exposition on TV. NS345TZU attacks the blah in the something followed by a monologue about what drugs do. All they had to tell us was: "Very bad drug! Look, it's all neon and green!"

I would assume that for the most part only people so >desperate as to consider suicide a viable alternative >would take the Dollhouse's offer in the first place.

Most of the world still lives in grinding poverty, eats out of trashcans or breaks into houses to get some money for the next fix. If you offer them to take care of their families and a comfortable living in exchange for 5 years of their life I think you could wrap the line of volunteers around NY. Of course a lot them wouldn't be TV pretty.

I would assume that for the most part only people so desperate as to consider suicide a viable alternative would take the Dollhouse's offer in the first place.

You'd probably be in the ballpark to consider it, yeah. But my own experience with depression tells me it's not so out there to think that there are a fair handful in circumstances where they might jump at the chance to "just not be me anymore." In the real world, that's not an option. In tv world, well, it's not a good option. But even so.