He's trying to find his high school sweetheart, who left him at the altar because he was too creepy and obsessive? (He's been obsessing creepily about her ever since.)

if there are candidates coming in to avoid presumable prison time,

I assume that Caroline (and, now, Sam) are in the Dollhouse not to avoid prison time, but because Rossum knows that *they* know the dirty secrets about the experiments with fetuses, etc.

I don't think that Caroline (and Sam) would have made it to prison, or, if they had, that they would have lived very long inside. I think Rossum would have wiped them out.

This way, they serve a term for the Dollhouse, and before they're released back into the world, their Rossum-memories are permanently removed.

Oh, and -- I love you, Liese, for how well you articulated the ick about this show.

Wasn't there an article where Joss said something very confusing about how we won't find out what drives Ballard this season, and leaving that a mystery was somehow the best narrative structure? Dude. We need *something* on Ballard to make us care. Hopping into bed with Mellie to prove that Bouncy the Rat guy was wrong doesn't cut it.

I agree. Drop a few hints. Otherwise it is a bit too mysterious to make any sense.

It's so mysterious I don't even realize there's a mystery, and just end up bored. And that's just wrong when we're talking about Tahmoh.

I'd like an episode where Tahmoh doesn't have to take his top off and they actually give him some acting to do. Radical, I know.

They apparently don't give us any Paul backstory this season, which is knobish since I can't see there being another due to the ratings. He's like Paul from The Inside - nice enough, but back the fuck off, kthxbai.

Joss on Sierra: [link]

It was a weird episode. Caroline-manque's storyline interested me, and I like how consistent it was with what we've seen before (right down to the lack of a clear exit strategy). November's was kinda meh -- at least it gives a reason, which I like. Sierra's... wow. It definitely points up the EVIL EVIL EVIL, especially as she'll presumably be sent back to him again. And the fact that they're not all volunteers.

Thing is, I'm okay with it being evil, even with semi-sympathetic characters who just aren't questioning enough... I'm just afraid of it having the Spike-in-Season-? problem of sometimes-Evil inconsistency.

I was thinking about this. Actually, none of them are volunteers. They seem to be put in a situation of imprisonment, and given the option to "choose" to be a doll. Don't know if that counts as volunteering. And what happens if the person is ugly?

And what happens if the person is ugly?

Ugly Dolls