Dollhouse Rewatch: "Gray Hour" (1.4)

[VisionGirl]

Echo is sent on a high-tech heist to recover stolen art for the Greek government, but the job goes badly when one of her accomplices double crosses them. It gets worse when, during a phone conversation with Boyd, she is remotely "wiped" by an unknown party and returns to her child-like state without any of the skills she had been imprinted with. With help from Sierra and Boyd, Echo barely manages to escape. Topher suspects only Alpha could have managed the remote wipe, and finally DeWitt confides to him that her security had indeed failed to kill Alpha.

Source

There's not tons of exciting trivia to go along with this episode. Since I have an interest in the subject of childbirth, seeing Echo as a midwife was kind of cool, but if a baby is having shoulder dystocia (when the baby's shoulders get stuck), a midwife will not insist on mom pushing on her back. She'll get her in a more favorable position (hands and knees is better).

OK, so my pickiness aside, I was kind of bored with the heist engagement ("Blue Skies" is too much like "Five by Five", the latter of which Eliza says more convincingly) of course until Echo got remote wiped. And I guess I should start to learn that I will probably continue to be bored with the initial engagement until something wacky happens, and that's probably the point lol!

I'm glad we see the "grouping" scene from the unaired pilot, as well as Echo in the pool. Both go really well with this episode. Of course the further development on Alpha is great. And ooh, there's Ivy! She's so cute, I almost forgot about her. 🙂

Adelle keeps saying poignant things that refer to the Actives, or what she believes about the Actives: "Michelangelo believed his sculptures already existed inside the marble, waiting to be freed." I do think she was genuinely upset about the possibility of losing Echo though.

Couple of other thoughts:
-Whoa Boyd is carrying that guy on his back, damn!
-the Ballard/Lubov scenes are really uninteresting to me in this episode, and kind of filler.
-love the ending with Echo looking in the mirror, trying to figure out whether she's "whole" or "broken", like the Picasso painting.

 

[Washburne]

Considering the end of ”Stage fright” I'm not really sure how to take Sierras confusion about where to sit. I know that the scene is from ”Echo” but still. Has she no memory left now (as it should be)? Echo herself doesn't seem to mind either so yeah, not sure if it makes sense since they've been sitting together for some days now.

Lying to the clients or putting to much faith in computers? ”No one knows the details of your engagements, but you.”

Even if I was a little bit suspicious I fell for the act until I saw Echo checking out the combination to the door. In real life I'd definitely fall far it. I'm gullible and need to be protected. 😉

Taffy is very confident. Need to be I guess. Like how she's insulted when she's in Sierra because they didn't go to her first. 😛

Took me long enough to get into this kind of thinking about the imprints. Do we get to know how they get a hold of them?

Spoiler

I know the client in Ghost.

There must be loads and loads and since Dollhouse is a secret I want to know. Wipe their memory? Seems far fatched.

Remote vipe. Who saw that coming? Trouble. Obviously. 😀

”Humility is part of the learning process.” Look who's talking.

”You remember. Bonnie and Clyde? Were they here too?”

”I don't like this room anymore. Where are the better rooms?”

Ok so Echo can't remember prison but general speak and of course room, boot and bra. I wonder there the limit is drawn? What they need to ”function” in the dollhouse? Haven't paid attention to bras but not sure they need to know what boots are. 😉

I agree that the Lubov/Ballard scene mostly felt like a filler but it shows that Paul's not 100% nice guy. Nearly getting killed can do that to you. 😉

 

[VisionGirl]

Even if I was a little bit suspicious I fell for the act until I saw Echo checking out the combination to the door. In real life I'd definitely fall far it. I'm gullible and need to be protected. 😉

Haha, me and you both!

Took me long enough to get into this kind of thinking about the imprints. Do we get to know how they get a hold of them?

Spoiler

I know the client in Ghost.

There must be loads and loads and since Dollhouse is a secret I want to know. Wipe their memory? Seems far fatched.

Yeah, I don't quite get if these are "synthetic" personalities created in a lab, or from real people. Which of course brings up the question how did they get them?

I think it's funny how since I've only watched dollhouse once, I feel like I have had my mind wiped! I can't seem to remember the details.

I agree that the Lubov/Ballard scene mostly felt like a filler but it shows that Paul's not 100% nice guy. Nearly getting killed can do that to you. 😉

LOL, so true!

 

[Vamp Jenny]

I like the beginning. Echo as a midwife made it a lot different than the other engagement we saw her on so far (apart from when she helped that other girl in the unaired pilot). I found it refreshing.

I like the way it turns out as a "thief" engagement. Give it more of a crime movie twist (kinda like the Danny Ocean serie mixed with The Thomas Crown Affair, but à  la Whedon 😀)

It's funny how the guys get so excited by just seeing Taffy open the vault door. Pigs 😛

I feel bad for Paul... I know they're just protecting the Dollhouse, but he keep being played and he doesn't even know it... and even

Spoiler

Mellie is a doll

though we're not supposed to know it right now 🙁

Bald guy is working for himself, what a surprise... I was kinda waiting for something like that to happen. But Echo's wipe out? That was a surprise!!

Ivy and Topher's interactions are my favorite!!! I just love their hate/love relationship 😀

Someone push Dominic through Adele's office window.... Topher and Adele are on alert mode, trying to understand what happened and how to save Echo and all he does is put his grain of salt in everything... He's annoying me to no end!

Suddenly Topher's no longer #1 son!

The tone of his voice, as if he really felt like he was Adele's son. I know we haven't seen a lot of interaction betweem them so far, but considering that he's been in the dollhouse for quite some time...

and just like that I'm not worried for Paul anymore. He gets back on his feet as fast as a cat 😀

Seeing how Adele and Topher are scared makes me wonder how dangerous Alpha really is...

Once again, uncoherent(sp??) thoughts from my part. I just write while I watch so it's all over the place XD

 

[VisionGirl]

It's still bugging me: why would that couple hire an Active to deliver their baby? Why not hire an actual midwife? I'm sure there's more to the storyline that we don't know.

 

[Taake]

It's still bugging me: why would that couple hire an Active to deliver their baby? Why not hire an actual midwife? I'm sure there's more to the storyline that we don't know.

Lol, that bugs the crap out of me every time I see that. I feel like it's put there to show that Actives don't only act as love dolls / hired criminals or whatever but I can never wrap my head around why anyone would hire and Active/midwife instead of a real one.... seems like it would be unreasonably costly when there are actual professionals who could help them in that area...

 

[VisionGirl]

Lol, that bugs the crap out of me every time I see that. I feel like it's put there to show that Actives don't only act as love dolls / hired criminals or whatever but I can never wrap my head around why anyone would hire and Active/midwife instead of a real one.... seems like it would be unreasonably costly when there are actual professionals who could help them in that area...

Yes, and I do get your point about showing us the variety of the engagements. I kind of made up in my head that there has to be something else to it- like the parents could be real famous & didn't want a doctor or midwife blabbing publically about their birth, or they're bad guys in some sense. Something that had to involve secrecy.

 

[Taake]

Yes, and I do get your point about showing us the variety of the engagements. I kind of made up in my head that there has to be something else to it- like the parents could be real famous & didn't want a doctor or midwife blabbing publically about their birth, or they're bad guys in some sense. Something that had to involve secrecy.

But why wouldn't they just bribe someone?

I think I've settled on that it might be one of Dr Saunders pro-bono cases. It seems to be the only thing that makes some kind of sense to me.

 

[brinkster130]

As others have mentioned, I found it very odd that someone would go through the trouble and cost to hire a doll as a midwife. I suppose they are just trying to show us the range of things people use the dolls for but it still seems odd.

I'm a little surprised that the Dollhouse doesn't ask about the activities that their actives will be doing while they are on assignment. Surely they wouldn't need details about the dates and sexual relations but I would have guessed they'd care to know if their actives were out committing crimes while on assignment. I know in this case they were stealing stolen art, but it still seems like a bit of a risk to me. If the active gets caught I suppose they would be stuck with their current identity but I wonder a) how long the imprint would last and b) would they just leave the active in custody or try and get them out? It just seems like there are numerous added risks involved when the engagement involves criminal activity...

The new development with the remote wipes was really neat; the whole Alpha situation is getting really interesting. I'm enjoying the way he's toying with the Dollhouse.

Took me long enough to get into this kind of thinking about the imprints. Do we get to know how they get a hold of them?

Spoiler

I know the client in Ghost.

There must be loads and loads and since Dollhouse is a secret I want to know. Wipe their memory? Seems far fatched.

I've wondered the same thing. I've sort-of come to the conclusion that since they have the technology to wipe memories they also have the technology to duplicate memories and that's what they have been doing to people they find could be useful to add to their database. I'm guessing these people are either bribed or blackmailed into doing it then have the memory of it erased and go on living their lives without ever knowing anything of the Dollhouse. I've also wondered how much they could alter these personalities and skills in the lab.

I think it's funny how since I've only watched dollhouse once, I feel like I have had my mind wiped! I can't seem to remember the details.

Me too! 🙂 I'm surprised how much I've forgotten or missed on my first watch.

 

[Washburne]

About the midwife thing. They're seemingly alone, high up in the (snowy) mountains. Perhaps Echo has some more skills imprinted than a "regular" midwife? Not saying it's the case but it'd make sense to me.

 

[Jules]

Like most of you have said it isnt very clear why someone would hire a doll to deliver their baby, other than showing its not always bad situations that the dolls are put into.

Considering the end of ”Stage fright” I'm not really sure how to take Sierras confusion about where to sit. I know that the scene is from ”Echo” but still. Has she no memory left now (as it should be)? Echo herself doesn't seem to mind either so yeah, not sure if it makes sense since they've been sitting together for some days now.

I just assumed that Sierra was unsure that Echo would want her to sit with them after Echo shook her head at her at the end of the last episode. The audience knows why Echo did it, she's more aware of being watched, but Sierra as a doll has a child like innocence and maybe took it that Echo didnt want to be her friend.

I was really shocked at the twist. I really bought Echo's act about being a victim! Then when she took out that guard. I also loved the second twist were Echo gets wiped!

I was uninterested in the Ballard scenes, like everyone else has said they felt just like fillers.

I liked the interaction between Echo and that thief, how he was explaining art to her and then he tried to save her. It was sweet. It was a good example of her personality that she didnt leave him.

I really cant wait to find out more about Alpha.

 

[Washburne]

I just assumed that Sierra was unsure that Echo would want her to sit with them after Echo shook her head at her at the end of the last episode. The audience knows why Echo did it, she's more aware of being watched, but Sierra as a doll has a child like innocence and maybe took it that Echo didnt want to be her friend.

Good thinking. Didn't think of that.

Also, loving to see you posting.