Dollhouse Rewatch: "Epitaph Two: Return" (2.13)

[VisionGirl]

In the year 2020, one year after the events of "Epitaph One", Echo and her team rescue Topher and the last of the Actuals (guest stars Felicia Day, Adair Tishler, and Zack Ward) from the hands of the Rossum Corporation after he reveals that he can restore the world to order. After reuniting with Tony, who is a tech-head, Echo and her team race to Los Angeles, which is now a war zone. They fight their way in through the butchers, mindless killing machines, and Paul Ballard is killed. Echo breaks down, and Priya and Tony argue about why they are no longer together. Alpha (guest star Alan Tudyk) returns and reveals that he has taken over the Dollhouse and is using it as a refuge for wiped beings, reformed from his past. Tony renounces the tech, and Priya reveals that her son T is Tony's son and is named after his father. Topher uses help from recordings of Bennett Halverson (guest star Summer Glau), and sacrifices his own life to detonate the wiping signal into the ionosphere, dispersing it over the world and restoring everyone's mind to order. DeWitt begins the clean-up process as Tony, Priya and T reunite as a family. Echo finds one final gift from the imprinting technology and downloads Paul's personality within her. With the memory of her lover literally living inside of her, Echo settles down to sleep in her old sleep pod to dream of Paul and of a world restored to sanity with a smile on her face.

Source

Trivia:

"Epitaph Two: Return" did not use a title sequence. Instead it uses footage from "Epitaph One" to set the story, followed by the intertitle. However the intertitle does not possess the pods in the background as it has during the series, instead electing for just a plain black background....

Although credited, Harry Lennix does not appear in this episode.

Rossum executive Clive Ambrose, previously played by Philip Casnoff, is shown in a new body portrayed by Nate Dushku, Eliza Dushku's older brother. Matthew Harding, played by recurring actor Keith Carradine, is now portrayed by Noah Harpster.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epitaph_Two:_Return

■Writer Jed Whedon has a cameo appearance in the episode.

■The "tech-heads" refer to the main characters as "Luddites." The historical Luddites were a movement of artisans opposed to the mechanization of labor during the early years of the Industrial Revolution. In modern usage, the term is applied derogatorily to anyone with a perceived anti-technological stance.

■Late in the filming of "Epitaph Two: Return," Eliza Dushku broke her left elbow, and the cast was then concealed through the remaining scenes through wardrobe changes.

■With this episode, the only three characters to appear in all 27 produced episodes are Echo, Adelle and Topher.
http://dollhouse.wikia.com/wiki/Epitaph_Two:_Return

My thoughts:
-Zone: "She's a tech-head Mag. She's a girl Mag!" This is probably the funniest & best lines in the episode.
-This near-future world seems so strange & foreign to me. Maybe especially since we only saw it in Epitaph One. Very Mad Max-like.
-"I think you've got 100 people inside your head and you're the loneliest person I know". This whole exchange with Paul & Echo was so sweet.
-"Kill your idols. Now that's a piece of truth."
-I love Alpha in this! But what happened to Alpha, what changed him? Was it due to imprinting himself with Paul? And why would Alpha want to become what he was before?

I wept during this episode, starting with Echo's breakdown after Paul's death, continuing through Topher's sacrifice and Echo uploading Paul's imprint. The song at the end was so beautiful. The entire episode was perfection, the way it was resolved, the choices they made in the end. I'm crying just thinking about it.

---------- Post added at 01:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:05 PM ----------

Oh, and it seems like we have gone ahead and decided to discuss the comics as well, so we'll start that next week. There are only 6 issues: the Epitaphs one-shot that was included in the season 2 DVD, and 5 issues of the Epitaphs mini-series. You can find them all digitally at Dark Horse: https://digital.darkhorse.com/search/?q=dollhouse. The Epitaphs Bundle contains all 6 issues and is $6 cheaper than buying them separately. Dark Horse did release all of these in a TPB (http://www.darkhorse.com/Books/18-400/Dollhouse-Volume-1-Epitaphs-TPB), so you might be able to find it at your local public library.

 

[Washburne]

Eliza's brother Nate play the part of Clive Ambrose. He has also worked with her on Tru Calling and The alphabet killer.

“We are lost. We are not gone.”

Didn't take long before they “met” Echo and Paul.

Topher! Awww. Topher. My dear Topher. What have they done to you.

I wasn't a huge fan of Zone in the first part but at the dinner table I find his comments amusing.

“The world still need heroes kid.” Everyone laughing. Not a fan of cliches in the future?

Priya and Anthony sure has gone their seperate ways. Is it Anthonys soldier instinct that's caused it. At least it seems that he doesn't want T to go the some way.

“She's a tech head Mag. She's a girl Mag.” 😀

Is the girl really Caroline, the original? Because in Epitaph one she say that she hope they find her alive but she's not Caroline here, she's Echo. Do I make any sense?

Mag shot in both legs followed by Paul getting killed. Joss seem to enjoy fast unexpected (kind of) deaths.

Alpha. So did you think he was evil or good? 😉

Echo's breakdown. 🙁

The ending is just heartbreaking. Tophers sacrifice, everyone walking out, Echo and Paul. Emotions supreme.

The show might not have gotten off in the best way possible but the ones sticking with it until the end has gotten to see a wonderful show.

 

[VisionGirl]

@Washburne: Is the girl really Caroline, the original? Because in Epitaph one she say that she hope they find her alive but she's not Caroline here, she's Echo. Do I make any sense?

Yes, it's a bit confusing. Because she calls herself Caroline, but she is clearly not the original Caroline. She's Echo.

Alpha. So did you think he was evil or good?

I think he evolved. I just got done watching the special features on the DVD & in the "Looking Back" segment Joss & a bunch of the actors are sitting around the table talking and they touch on this topic. Joss says that that's the point: that we all have the capability to evolve past just our starting point or what life hands us. Which is interesting to me because I think that's a different "message" than "You can't erase a soul". Looking back to Alpha's other appearances, he is clearly more "in control" of himself in "A Love Supreme" than he is in season 1. So he was already evolving. I personally think the addition of Paul's imprint made a big difference too- a stabilizing, moral force maybe? I've only read the comic one-shot & not the other issues yet, so I don't know what happens to him there. We'll find out next week!

The show might not have gotten off in the best way possible but the ones sticking with it until the end has gotten to see a wonderful show.

Yes indeed. It's funny, watching this again that I almost feel more "attached" to these characters & the storyline than I do the Firefly-verse. But we'll see if that changes when we do the Firefly re-watch.


Oh, if you guys have the DVD make sure to watch the special features. The outtakes segment is short but hilarious. "So are you saying that you want me to touch my boobies?" Also in that segment I mentioned before, Joss goes into what his original plans were more for Madeline/November. Someone started a thread on that so now I have to go comment LOL.

 

[Vamp Jenny]

Felicia Day!! 😀

I like the irony of changing Tucson's name to Neuropolis. It's very comic book-like. Totally recognize Joss in this.

Harding has become the epitome of the "7 sins"... Disgusting.

PAUL!! 😀

Oh Topher 🙁 He's so damaged...

I just love how Adelle always protects Topher from everyone.

Anthony, the super soldier.

Lmao Zone is so surprised Mag likes girl. He's known her for a while and he didn't know? I guess guys really are blind.

The tech-heads are scary. If they ever forget what they work for, they could become more dangerous than Rossum...

Joss is very good at depicting apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic scenes and battles. He should make a show with it being the main scenery.

Paul :'( He can't die like this...

Oh the big bad wolf's back (well, not so bad afterall🙂) Nice to see Alpha again

Wow, tech-heads are technology addicts... Kinda creepy...

I feel so sad seeing Topher acting like a 10 years-old. He's so smart it's slowly killing him...

There it is, Echo's break down made me cry.

When the end of a TV show makes me cry, it usually means they've done their job.

Echo and Paul reuniting at the end, Priya with Anthony and T, Meg with the Tech-Head, Adelle making sure everyone's okay. All is right. But Topher :'(

 

[Jules]

Shouldnt Whisky have been in this episode since it seemed that she had only used sleeping gas? Everyone else was up and about.

I thought this was a fitting ending. I can understand Anthony's progression back into Victor and being a tech head. He's always been willing to do what was necessary to help protect Pryia, like in the last episode were he gets his fitting upgrade. I can understand Pryia being angry with him as well. She's never wanted anything to do with the Dollhouse and was forced into it, unlike everyone else who got some kind of choice. I love that they were the happy family at the end.

I love that Alpha came back. I think he should have stayed in the Dollhouse though. To chose to go back to what he was before and try and evolve from that is going to be hard work. But I suppose its hard work to put up with all the voices in his head as well. I thought he was so funny when he interupted the moment between Topher and Adelle.

Adelle has come full circle. She starts of protecting the Actives and then moves onto teaching them to become the people they once were. She is a natural leader. I felt so sorry for Topher. He is definately the most tragic character. Being driven crazy by having people shot in front of him every day until he fixes the tech. That guilt, added onto the original guilt he felt for inventing the tech in the first place would drive anyone mad. The fact that he was the one to sacrifice himself to save the world was fitting but incredibly sad!

Paul and Caroline's relationship had shifted from him being the one to keep her away because there were too many people in her head to wanting to be with her but her not. I've never been on the receiving end of Joss' character deaths before. By that I mean that him killing a character and ruining a 'ship for me. I was never a Angel/Cordy fan or Wes/Fred even though I did like them. I do wish he hadnt killed Paul. I think Topher's death was heartbreaking enough.

It was a great episode to finish on though.

 

[Vamp Jenny]

Shouldnt Whisky have been in this episode since it seemed that she had only used sleeping gas? Everyone else was up and about.

I don't think it was sleeping gas. Probably some kind of gas that kills you slowly. And by the time Alpha and the others came back (and Echo and the rest of the gang afterward), the gas must have been release in some ventilation conducts still open.

 

[VisionGirl]

It really never was clear if Whiskey had died or not. We assume so, but it wasn't spelled out. I need to finish the comics- speaking of that, I was supposed to start a new post last Friday, oops!

 

[Washburne]

Maybe it was just me not wanting Whiskey do die but I didn't see it as a deadly gas. Anyway, there's so much more to her story. Why is she Whiskey, who decided to remove the scars and what's happened to her since we saw her last?

If people died by the gas who cleaned everything up? I know Zone didn't want to return but did it have anything to do with the gas at all?

 

[Jules]

Also were did all those other Doll's come from? I just assumed that Alpha found them in the Dollhouse after being knocked out by the gas and helped them, putting them in the old Dolls clothes. I dont see how he could have gotten them through the streets and into the House. Everyone who seemed to be wiped and in Doll state seemed to be very violent if they were on the streets.