That line screamed, "I am so ready for quotage".
Anyhow, this two-parter was... well, you can work it out.
Echo is in most of it.
Is it good or bad?
It is mostly bad. Not only that, but I am reminded why I was disappointed to hear season 2 didn't follow directly from "Epitaph One". This episode had lots of twists and turns and then it got railroaded to fit the future. The ending just didn't work.
The problem with super-sci-fi tech is that once you make a rule, you stick to it. When Echo explains she remembers everything and she's essentially Alpha, it doesn't work when she does things Echo doesn't want to do but the imprint does. There is no reason for Echo to pretend to be Bree. This is what aggravates me. Echo knows what she is and has control - she's demonstrated several times, almost every damn episode.
By the same token, Topher is staring at Perrin's brain and can work out if he's in assassin mode and what not, and yet doesn't see the final play. And how could he see him anyway? Didn't they take out the GPS things that had the bio-link? Doesn't that mean that Bennet couldn't imprint the assassin? Blah blah blah.
And Rossum's plan is stupid. I hate these super secret societies whose plan is so overly complex, no one in that situation would ever allow it to happen. Rossum wants a president who works for them.
They can do that with something called "money'. Campaign financing. If they DID want a doll, all they had to do was pick any damn senator who looked like he could be president and "enhance" him to like Rossum. And then, they can use him to "enhance" more people (please meet me in the oval office alone - zap) and you've made a coup without anyone knowing your name. Why would you create a plan which, if it doesn't succeed completely will leave you as a company branded with human trafficking and murder? Why? Why not just do it without anyone knowing? See... if you're a secret organisation, then you stay secret. It's a stupid ass plan and it made no sense. The "shock twists" were predictable. I knew, as soon as Echo said Mrs Perrin was a doll, that Perrin was going to be the doll. I knew because that's the cheap-twist it was going to be. What I couldn't work out was why. Why would Rossom do it? And it occurred to me, "Oh, because it's a double-bluff". Here's the thing, who are they double-bluffing? These gambits wind me up because all the double-bluffing is to bluff the audience. That's right. Rossom was trying to outbluff us. Or the writers were. It's just blerg. Winds me up so damn much.
Especially since, if Perrin has to be a doll, why not make him a doll for a company like Rossum but not actually Rossom? Why not a rival Dollhouse. That has recruited Alpha. That will WAR with Rossom and create the doom future. What if, as bad as Rossom is, they're one step behind a much worse, much more despicable corporation. What if Perrin is supposed to destroy Rossom and help out this new company, and it ends with Rossom switching it to exactly the speech Perrin just made?
Yay! The Dollhouse and Rossom saved the US from an evil corporat... waitaminute. We've seen Epitaph One. We know where this is going.
Now imagine the ending montage with everyone happy, DeWitt and Topher rewarded, Rossum in charge of the White House, and an ominous glance from Echo and Ballard as they realise that Rossum is going to abuse Perrin just like the competitors would've...
No. Instead, let's have the episode end with Echo getting a bump on the head, which messes up the imprint, and she has to run away from a man who's trying to kill her until she finds her inner strength and beats him up. Let's do that. Every ****ing week.
Badness aside - I adored Victor as Topher and I adored Topher and Bennet. In other words, Topher is awesome. Also, DeWitt's "bluff" was ****ing wonderful.
