beyond the meta of his being a continuing character?

Kill him and you've killed a federal agent, and someone begins to wonder if maybe there was something to his suspicions. Discredit him, and no one's going to listen to him at all.

Finally, I realized something tonight: when they're in the dollhouse, the actives talk like lolcats. "I have a book!"

Ha! Okay, now that's my favorite part of the episode: the lolcats comment.

Sigh. Sorry. Did not like this ep much. Was this the Joss episode? Thought it was heavy handed and manipulative, and don't really think that turning Mellie into the Manchurian Candidate redeems the fact that her whole character is based on a bunch of overplayed, sexist cliches.

I think what's bugging me is that these characters aren't people to me. Hell, most of them aren't even people in the context of the show. They are just points being made in somebody's argument.

So far, I think my favorite episode was the sect one. Who wrote that? Tim?

That episode finally had some snap, and some honest recognition of the totally skeevy nature of the dollhouse as well as giving the dolls (or someone) some agency.

And also it seems in the past few episodes that someone finally got the distinction between writing about an exploitive situation and being exploitive themselves.

Kill him and you've killed a federal agent, and someone begins to wonder if maybe there was something to his suspicions.

I dunno. Can't they do it in ways that tie in with his being apparently crazy? For that matter Mellie could have drugged him while he was unsuspecting, they could have grabbed him and programmed him to commit suicide, or better yet do something stupid that would get him killed.

Totally putting money on disgruntled lab assistant girl as the insider.

Topher shouldn't have ordered her to fetch his lunch. It was bound to piss her off.

Finally, I realized something tonight: when they're in the dollhouse, the actives talk like lolcats.

This is brilliant.

There must be some reason the Dollhouse higher-ups want Ballard alive aside from simply covering their tracks. Killing him might draw attention, but transferring him to the FBI's New York office and burying him under a mountain of paperwork investigating criminal mortgage firm cases wouldn't raise any eyebrows. They definitely have enough pull to make that happen given that he's already discredited in the Bureau.

Despite being up against the series finale of Battlestar and CBS March Madness, Dollhouse held it's own. According to Media Week, FOX are considering a second series.

second season...right?

I know Brits and US call "seasons" "series"

Good point. Season, even.

Maybe Ballard is part of a brilliant, self-policing, on-going security check process the Dollhouse uses to test public theories and speculations like the man on the street interviews at the beginning of the ep. Ballard is an active and both he and Mellie have their progams renewed as they sleep. Getting them together in the same bed was a labor-saving manuever to save time and money in the shifting economy.

Whoever the higher ups are, use the Ballard/Echo interactions as case studies for seeking venture capital.

Or...nothing like that, but it's where my mind went when I saw the camera in Ballard's vent and speculated on why the Dollhouse wouldn't take some of the fine recommendations upthread to bury him out of reach.