Dollhouse. Getting into some crazy psychological shit.

Whoa. I have to say that the first half of this episode kind of bored me. Echo auditioning, meeting people, having to take her top off backstage, Boyd worrying about her performance, etc. I started wondering if I was watching Fame or something. BUT, then, it veers into some pretty dark territory, with Rayna contacting her stalker and pretty much agreeing to let him kill her. I had to agree with Echo (or whatever her name was during the engagement) when she was like "You are seriously unwell!" For real lady.

But of course, in some ways, Rayna is Echo, someone who cannot have her own wants and needs because it is her responsibility to fulfill those things for others.  Would Rayna be happier if she was wiped of her own desires?  They hammered the idea home a little too pointedly ("You weren't grown in a lab, but I was!"), but still made some interesting points about identity and ownership of one's own self.  Rayna and Echo are stripped of ownership of their own bodies and minds, but only one of them knows it.  So far. 

By the way, my DVR is broken again (Damn you Charter Communications!!) so everything looked all pixilated and weird. Even with that, I felt like Dichen Lachman was great as Sierra/Superfan. I just felt like those two characters were so different and she really inhabited them both. Now maybe there's something to the fact that Echo still seems to retain her general Eliza Dushkuness (I mean they made the backup singer from Southie for god sake's!), because she is special, and seems to retain parts of all of her engagements. She is a composite, like Alpha, and someone wants her dead because of it. But, maybe they all are, since Sierra seemed to like Echo and to get it when she nodded at her when Laurence was there. Hmmm. Brains are crazy. That could be this show's subtitle.

So questions: 

Is Laurence totally evil?  

Could he be the one trying to have Echo killed?

Did he send Victor to set up Ballard so that Ballard would be killed?

Is Ballard kind of dumb for going to that abandoned warehouse alone? (Yes.)

Is Ballard's neighbor who REALLY likes him actually an active sent out by Adele?  

Do she and Laurence have dueling actives at this point?

What is up with Topher?  Evil, ambiguous, just following orders, just kind of a dick?

WHY is Echo special?  Just a "Brains are crazy" type thing, or is it something else?

Who and where is Alpha?

This show has been pretty dark so far, I mean we have men hunting women, suicidal singers and mass murder going on here, so I wouldn't mind a little of that trademark Whedon levity.  Topher is just not doing it for me, so someone else needs to grow a sense of humor, ASAP.  

I won't say I'm intrigued though, because I am.  In countless interviews Dushku has really been talking up the back six episodes, and I am most definitely on board through those.  Things are ramping up pretty quickly in this Alpha story, so it should be interesting to see where it goes.  

Next week: OMG I missed the preview again.  Damn it.