Dollhouse ReWatch: "Spy in the House of Love" (1.9)

[VisionGirl]

While DeWitt is away on business, Topher discovers evidence of a spy in the Dollhouse, and four Actives are dispatched to deal with the problem. "Mellie" is sent to pacify Paul Ballard, but goes temporarily catatonic to deliver another warning from that spy. Sierra goes undercover at the National Security Agency, attempting to raid their databases for the spy's identity. Victor is dispatched on another "Lonely Hearts" gig; the recipient is revealed to be DeWitt. Finally, Echo volunteers to undergo imprinting to help with the investigation; after Topher turns her into a counter-intelligence agent, she helps Lawrence Dominic, the head of security, interview employees. She discovers the mole is Dominic himself, planted by the NSA to keep the Dollhouse (and its dangerous technology) from becoming common knowledge, particularly by staving off Paul Ballard. Dominic's personality is downloaded by Topher, and his body sent to "The Attic," to be employed whenever the NSA needs pacifying.

Source

This episode was written by Andrew Chambliss. He also helped write the Dollhouse comics and is the main writer of the Buffy season 9 comics.

Dollhouse Wikia says that "The working title of this episode was "Four Engagements." I'm glad they changed it, I love the actual title.

Sierra is impersonating a "Ms. Sato"- Toshiko Sato was a member of the Torchwood team in seasons 1 and 2. Don't know if that was purposeful.

More trivia from TV.com :
-"In this episode, Ivy (Liza Lapira), is wearing a jewel-encrusted flamingo pin on her lab-coat. This is is the same pin wore by Badger (Mark Sheppard) in Firefly, another Joss Whedon creation."
-"The name of the NSA agent in line ahead of Sierra is 'Solomon,' a nod to co-executive producer and episode director David Solomon."
-"The title of this episode was originally the title of a 1954 novel by Anaà¯s Nin. The novel follows the exploits of a married woman who has repeated affairs without any of the men being aware of the others. In keeping up this game she considers herself a spy of sorts, thus the title. The title has been alluded to in a number of places, most notably as a line in the song The Spy by The Doors (from the album Morrison Hotel)."

 

[Washburne]

With an opening like that your interest should be had.

It's got to be pleasant. Not so...
Out of the chair Echo.
That.

Hello mr nice guy Dominic.

Memory being wiped but they remember each others names too. Not just the words they need to live in the dollhouse. I want the specifics of what they know and don't know after being wiped!

Doesn't seem that the exercise in Needs worked on Echo. Seems she's very carefully listening to everything and paying attention.

Now November doesn't know Echo. Ah, she's now Mellie. It's hard to keep up. 😉

Did I just lose an argument to a doll.

One thing's changed. Echo doesn't mind sharing that she knows stuff.

Pauls more into Dollhouse than Mellie. Then discovering that Mellie is a doll. Can you say chock. And just like that he needs to pretend like nothing's happened. Tough.

The dollhouse deals in fantasy, but it's not their purpose.

I must say that I'm impressed by how fast they knew who to double to get into the building, dress Sierra like her and replace her on her way to work.

Miss Lonely Hearts. Did you see the that coming? I didn't. Fencing. Not what I was expecting either.

Roger discussing the dollhouse and dolls. Yeah that doesn't feel weird. I like it though.

Ivy surely is the perfect candidate for being the spy. Which makes it too obvious (it's tv not real life after all).

Ok so whomever Echo now is she isn't surprised by the fact that she's a doll or that Dominic tries to trick her. Also, even if she is very good she's still lucky not to get shot by Dominic. Could have hit as easily as missed.

Hating the dollhouse fine. Killing three people to keep his cover? Dominic. Yeah I still don't like you. Not trying to bring down the dollhouse but to control it. Not really the spy I thought.

He do have a point in everything. Still don't get why he wants Echo dead. When he wasn't caught he don't want another Alpha to happen but once he's set for the attic he wants her to take the dollhouse down.

How in the world can they let Dominic get a hold of a gun?

Echo got rid of her biggest threat according to DeWitt. That might be true but it was just a happy coincidence. Or did she know from the start.

Blood on the front of DeWitt but nothing on the back even if the blodspatter got on the window.

Echo taking care of the dollhouse, Boyd needing to take care of Echo but getting a new job. Things are happening.

 

[Vamp Jenny]

Intriguing beginning. Definitely makes you interested.

Echo as a dominatrix is... disturbing...

Cracker Jack job... Maybe there'll be keg... aww typical american jokes 🙂

Alede is either really not afraid or just plain stupid (which I doubt) to let Mr. Dominic in control of the Dollhouse while she's gone.

"They find out you talked to me you're fried.
Yeah, I didn't really think that through..."

Aww Topher....

When Echo witness Sierra's treatment, it's almost as if she knew what was happening.
Scratch that, she could tell.

Echo's growing up as a character! Deciding by herself to get a treatment because she wanted to help, that's new!

Imprint: November

Paul and Mellie: refreshing start... not.

Listening to Paul ramble on about the Dollhouse, some people would think he's going crazy...

I feel so bad for Paul now that he knows Mellie's a doll... 🙁

Imprint: Sierra

I had totally forgotten this was the episode where they break into the NSA building. AWESOME!

Very Mission: Impossible like 😀 I love when Sierra gets spy/thief engagements.

Imprint: Victor

Ah! Finally we meet Miss Lonely Heart!

A fight ending in bed, what a surprise 😛

I don,t know if it's just in that episode, but I kinda ship Victor/Adele.

Imprint: Echo

The attic! We get a little more information about that fatal place.

Echo/Dominic fight was GREAT! And she won 😀 (like I doubted that)

It's kinda scary how Dominic went from fighting everyone to a limp within a second... The attic is getting scarier than it was.

Adele not taking any aenestesic(sp??) and not showing any emotions... Is it because she's British or just because she doesn't want to get hurt... It's weird seeing her so closed off again after her breakdown with Victor.

It's nice how Echo's still looking at Boyd when she says "With my life."

 

[Taake]

I love this episode, although I'm probably one of the few who will definitely miss Mr. Dominic!

Okay, so where to start...

November:
honestly, my heart bleeds for Paul. It is so harsh when he finds out that Mellie is a doll. I mean, it's cold and brilliant but aww, this poor guy. Talk about being a puppet on strings.

Sierra
Go Sierra! Seriously, she's awesome, I want more of her.

Viktor
The loveliest part of this is getting to see Adele's more human sides, it's very moving to hear her describe clients as "delusional lonely souls" and when she starts to cry in the morning. It's nice to see that she's a person, it may be immoral to use Viktor but it's certainly understandable and gives us an insight to her as a person

Echo
I think Echo is progressing at a good rate, not slowly at all, she's very aware obviously and if it went any faster than it does I think it would have turned strange (e.g in "Man on the street" I find her to seem too calculative and a bit too aware)

I love Topher. Love love! I love him warning Boyd, I love the quirkiness of him and even though I don't love how he kind of regards the dolls as his play things again I can kind of see where he's coming from and can't help but feel that he'll learn....

Spoiler

as we know he will

Oh and I love the interrogation of Dr Saunders done by Echo. I feel the same as I did when watching "Needs", Dr. Saunders is this incredible source of mystery and intrigue. There's something more to her, it's obvious and it just makes me eager to see more of her.

What's funny in this episode, which I think is truly brilliant, is that I have so much affection for all of these characters and yet very little for Caroline. I want to see more of them all, love to see them in scenes and yet Echo kind of leaves me unmoved. It's not Echo's fault, I feel that it has more to do with Caroline - like I don't care about Caroline. She's an activist/terrorist whatever but I just feel like... there's nothing redeeming about her even though her ultimate goals may be 'admirable'. I just feel like it's hard caring for her because what little we know about her doesn't exactly make me feel like I want to see her come back into her body...

 

[Valjavertjinn]

Poor Dr. Saunders has no friends. 🙁
Anyway, I was sad yo see Dominic go. I always liked him as a villain.

 

[VisionGirl]

I don't think that I ever typed out my impressions from the episode. So far this is one of my favorites! I love that we see all 4 main Actives in different engagements. This episode is more equally split between them, which I prefer.

Thoughts:
-Echo coming on to Boyd- yuck!!
-"You think I'm a spy?" "not in a bad way" LOL!
-This is the closest to Echo volunteering for an imprint that we've seen
-Oh God, Paul finds out about Mellie. 🙁
-"Investigate their purpose. They deal in fantasy but that is not their purpose". 2nd time Paul has heard something along those lines.
-Sierra's kick-ass shoes!! How does she run in them?!
-I love Adelle's dress when they're standing on the balcony looking over the ocean. I want that house!!
-Who created Victor's imprint? I mean, his imprinted personality is purposely involved in a lie/coverup with Adelle. Does Topher know? Obviously not, but how can something this big escape him?
-Topher: "I'm kind of a genius"
-Boyd: "We're pimps & killers, in a philanthropic way"
-Awesome fight between Echo & Dominic
-"I'm not broken"
-So, there's two leaks: Dominic to the NSA and someone else to Paul. Plus, Victor's imprint (sorry, can't remember his name!) is lying to his handler & all the other Dollhouse staff.
-Erasing Dominc- why don't they give him a sedative from the very beginning?
-"She's still evolving". Yes, she is!
-This is a high emotion episode, involving questions of where do we put our trust? Can we trust anyone?
-I finally like Dominic in this episode. It still doesn't excuse his attitude & behavior toward Echo, but I like that there's depth to him. It seems like he's doing something altruistic by spying, but this episode begs the question whether anyone in power (i.e. the government) can ever truly be altruistic.

 

[Taake]

-Sierra's kick-ass shoes!! How does she run in them?!

Lol, just what I was thinking!

-Who created Victor's imprint? I mean, his imprinted personality is purposely involved in a lie/coverup with Adelle. Does Topher know? Obviously not, but how can something this big escape him?.

I know I got very thoughtful at this too because obviously it's a very complex imprint that involves the one adress that the handler knows about and then the fictional "Kathrine" at an another that at the very least Topher must know about. I guess it comes down ot him not knowing who this "Kathrine" is, but shouldn't he wonder why Viktor/Roger needs a decoy to drop off flowers to first? It seems not because he makes all of those old lady jokes about it...

 

[Vamp Jenny]

I don't think Topher needs to know everything about this imprint. Some parts, like what Katherine really looks like and where she is aren't things that have to do directly with how Victor behaves. Plus, it's a romantic engagement, so nothing really dangerous there. Since Topher thinks the old lady is the client, I don't think he cares about not knowing every detail of this imprint...

And maybe Adele was the one who told him how to programm the imprint the first time around and he just pops the hard-drive in the chair whenever he needs.

 

[VisionGirl]

One thing that I really realized while watching this video is how many Asian actors are in this series. I wouldn't say that Joss is known for being ethnically/racially diverse in casting, so it's nice/interesting to see.

 

[Jules]

-This is the closest to Echo volunteering for an imprint that we've seen

I watched the commentary by Joss for Man On The Street and Echo volunteers at the end of that episode to go back and finish her assignment. In this episode she actually asks out right to be imprinted so she can help 🙂

Even when the start of the episode focus' on Echo's point of view she's almost forgotten in the back ground. When Boyd and Dr Saunders, and later Boyd and Topher are talking they almost forget that Echo is in the room with them. I know it shows how observant she's being but everyone in the Dollhouse, even Dr Saunder's seem to be thinking of the Dolls as inanimate objects and not people.

Watching November's imprint and how Mellie goes back to Paul. I felt a little bit sorry for him. First he's crazy obsessed with the Dollhouse then he finds out about November.

Sierra's imprint was very action packed. I thought the man coming out of the lift was important. The one who said it had been done. He must have been on the phone to Dominic at the time.

Victor's imprint was such a shock. I didnt expect Adelle would use the lonely hearts program, but then thinking about it, she does believe in it so why not use it. Her crying at the end of her scene made her appear very human until you learn that she's just sent a work collegue of 3 years to the Attic. Betrayal or not that is cold.

I actually liked Dominic, especially his scene with Echo in the van.

I'm really getting into the show now.