Dollhouse Spec

[nerd4hire]

Lots of theories floating around concerning secrets of the Dollhouse, so I thought I'd post a thread for speculation. Here's my spec...

It was hinted at in the discussion thread, but I'm going build on it. Alpha isn't acting independently. Somebody accessed multiple imprints and gave them to Alpha resulting in what they call a composite event. I suggest maybe Dollhouse has a mole.

What's his name, the psycho bowhunter, told Jenny (Echo as nature girl), somebody told him she was special - "He". "He" isn't necessarily Alpha. "He" could be using Alpha, and planning to use Echo as well.

Turning Echo into a target was a test. He has a use for special actives. By special in Echo's case it's "prove you're more than just an echo".

"He" also has a use for Ballard. Thus he sends Ballard an envelope with a picture of Echo, and a message "Keep looking".

---------- Post added at 01:04 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:14 AM ----------

Also I don't trust Doctor Saunders until they explain why Alpha let her live. She's my main supect for the mole, providing there is one.

I think Ballard's use to "He" providing there is one is special Dolls can be at least partially deprogrammed if they're confronted with their past. That's what "He" is hoping Ballard will do with Echo. Confront her with her past. For some reason He (or maybe it's just Alpha) wants Echo self-aware.

I hope it's not just the old Dexter, Alpha-is-her-brother thing, or something like that. I like the idea of "He" better.

 

[definition of insane]

Speculation thread! YAY!

/me spends all ther time in here from now on 😉

I was saying last night how I didn't think Alpha was working independently...but my thoughts (because I like them to be all wild and stuff) is that perhaps it is another organisation (possibly competition-like) that maybe at some stage had hired Alpha as an active but more to see how they do what they do....and then sort of work at an angle of bringing the Dollhouse down.

But then, that doesn't explain Echo. Recruit the best of the best perhaps? Or there is my other theory that Alpha (in his unconditioned, or reconditioned state) might actually be in love with her, but having not had that imprinted in, doesn't actually know how to act on it. So didn't kill her, and is now partially testing her to see if she is picking things up in her inactive state.

It is a wonder why he didn't kill Saunders, more of a wonder why management seems to have told her that he died. Like the idea that she might be a mole of some sort. I'm not sure how getting Ballard to follow Echo around might help, but I'm still thinking the Russian is a red herring doll, and the neighbour is a surveilance/distraction doll. I think the FBI is more involved than just sending a cowboy on a mission.

 

[nerd4hire]

Don't read the below unless you want to know the answer to one of your specs. Apparently you could figure it out from the old promos. There's a little more too.

Spoiler

I'm hearing Lubov - the guy Ballard is pumping for info - is Victor the third doll. I heard somewhere Echo, Sierra, and Victor form a little Dollhouse clique in future eps. Adelle doesn't like it. There's an insinuation if Doll's get self-aware they might be eliminated.

 

[Friendly Lurker]

It was hinted at in the discussion thread, but I'm going build on it. Alpha isn't acting independently. Somebody accessed multiple imprints and gave them to Alpha resulting in what they call a composite event. I suggest maybe Dollhouse has a mole.

What's his name, the psycho bowhunter, told Jenny (Echo as nature girl), somebody told him she was special - "He". "He" isn't necessarily Alpha. "He" could be using Alpha, and planning to use Echo as well.

It's very much possible but I like the idea of Alpha being... well, alpha. 😉 So I hope he's in charge of whatever happened instead of some other company using him.

The neighbour is a surveilance/distraction doll.

She's either a Doll or a rather creepy stalker! She seemed quite obsessed.

Also, thanks to N4H for hiding the spoilers. I know some people don't mind them but I'm sure I can't be the only one who would rather try to figure things out on my own. so I'd appreciate if spoilers from casting news etc. would be hidden. 🙂

 

[LaneMeyer]

Ok, here's my wild speculation for the day (I mentioned this in the ep2 thread):

I think Saunders got cut up by Alpha (but not killed) because Topher was in love with her. Interestingly, Topher was uninjured when Alpha stormed the Dollhouse (he had blood on his shirt and was shakened up, but that's all). I wonder if there was some kind of "prime directive" in Alpha's programming that Topher put into him to prevent him from hurting his 'creator' so Alpha did the next best thing... maime the girl that he loves. Killing her wouldn't be as tortuous to Topher... knowing that she'll have to live with the trauma for the rest of her life. This would explain why Topher gives long, sad looks at Saunders occasionally.

Also, why is Adelle covering for Paul Ballard? Don't think the Dollhouse is too worried about killing FBI agents. They're too powerful. There's something else at work between those two and a reason why she doesn't want him dead.

 

[Tueuse de Vampires]

Wow, everyone's got loads of speculations already, I see.
I only have a small one. I think the neighbour girl of the FBI guy is in some way associates with the Dollhouse. And maybe that's why Adelle is not really concerned about him getting too close: because she can use the neighbour girl to influence him.

 

[Relic]

I think the test that Alpha is giving echo with the hunter and the conviently not named drug is so she will get self aware...in a sense....like him.

I also believe that it was he that brought her into the dollhouse, or refered her.

I think he at heart is a violent fellow and she was his girlfrien/good friend pre induction, they got into trouble, etc. etc.. thats how they got there

I noticed that the little wheel they all sleep in has five chambers each. A-E, Alpha did not just spare Echo, he was housed with her.

I'm not sure about dollhouse having a mole, it could be a possibility, or it could just be a maggie/adam/initiave thing. he was the first with defaulto ninja programming....i think when that survival feature kicks in....under some circumastances at least...it meshes imprints. thats what he was trying to do by killing the dolls in a painfull manner... he was trying to activate their self awareness and was working his way B through D and stopped at echo, possibly beacuse she was the last one? (and/or as I like to think of it from FBI leads Alpha has presumably been feeding agent whats his name...he also recognizes/knows her pre imprint.) I think she had that defaulto ninja programming as well and it was wipped after the slaughter by alpha.

Alpha is alone and part of the sum of all of his imprints....I think he wants his frankenstein race as well as punishing those that made him.

Just my sleep deprived meanderings/specualtion....

I'm not saying anything about it is correct.

 

[goldenboy]

I'm kinda curious about where Joss is going with the "identity issues" stuff he wants to explore. Is Echo actually going to fully evolve to the point where she's actually her own person (apart from Caroline)? Would she cease to exist if Caroline is restored? Or is it just that Caroline would slowly reemerge because of Echo's discoveries, maintaining all the memories, skills Echo acquired. Makes me think of Connor's double life memories in Angel.

 

[Relic]

sorry, karma post was rubish.....with echo we have at least three possible personas. There is that of Caroline...once her tour of duty has expired, one of child like innocence Echo...as well as toddler echo who meshes with the blank slate gradually....then you have full bore sum of all the parts Echo.

The second and third is not to much unlike, growing up/getting wiser by trials. If that is, Joss takes this approach.

I have not saw Angel so i can't draw a Conner double life comment in earnest from it. knowing what i know about Angel, I'd say he is closer to Echo than Conner, as he has a triple life expiernce brought on by the curse, not a double.

If Echo does not fully evolve into her own person, I think i'll be disappointed. Judging by the end of episode two, and premise of the overall show by some discriptions I've read, I don't think her staying static is a probable expectation.

 

[goldenboy]

If Echo does not fully evolve into her own person, I think i'll be disappointed.

Think I tend to agree. The cheerful college girl in that video the naked psycho guy was watching didn't seem particularly fascinating as a character. She seemed a little more compelling when she was desperate, talking to Adelle. We shall see.

 

[nerd4hire]

You're so right Relic, and I totally missed that, but yeah. I always look for that ID/Ego/Superego thing, because you see it so much, and it always seems like an important framework. You, know like you have instinct stage, to a how-the-world-works stage, to the concerns about the moral and the spiritual.

Come to think about it in The Target Jenny hallucinates 3 stages of Caroline. I have to double-check, but as I recall 2 speak, but the third is silent. That would make sense if you see it as Caroline being stumped on the third stage, and maybe that's kind of what Dollhouse is about. Her development into a moral, spiritual being.

 

[goldenboy]

Come to think about it in The Target Jenny hallucinates 3 stages of Caroline. I have to double-check, but as I recall 2 speak, but the third is silent.That would make sense if you see it as Caroline being stumped on the third stage, and maybe that's kind of what Dollhouse is about. Her development into a moral, spiritual being.

OK, I'm really digging this setup if you're correct on the id/ego/superego stuff. I've not seen anyone, bloggers or otherwise, pick up on that. Gotta go back and watch...

 

[nerd4hire]

I don't think it is a thing writers do consciously, but if you go looking for it, you can almost always find it by looking for threes. Then it becomes interesting just to note the different ways it's applied.

 

[Harley]

I think "Caroline" is some sort of undercover name and Echo's original person is an FBI agent. That's why nothing could be found of her on the FBI's search and that's why the higher ups are pushing for someone to uncover the house.

Also, I think people are focusing on the hunter from episode 2 too much. When he says "someone told me you were special", I think he is just referring to the lady that sends out the girls (what's her name?) and not hinting at anyone else.

 

[Relic]

Yet, presumably Alpha was tying up loose ends in the same forest Echo was role playing; remember the hunters hired goon who he cut up. Granted he could just be stalking Echo, and was around her assignment just doing what he does and going thanksgiving turkey carver on folks...I just have a feeling he is in on it too.

I think he was a part of setting it up in order to try and turn Echo, or at the very least break her programming. The drugs and the high stress situation were tools to come to that end. It seems he had a minor success at it, too. In fact, I get the feeling drugs were Alphas idea, or whoever is working with him....maybe Saunders?

The reason why I say this is just opinion, but the whole drug thing for the hunters role makes little sense to me. If this hunter wanted to hunt something down and kill it, poisoning it and dulling it's survival edge seems odd, kind of against hunting. I don't think poison is fair play, so to speak. Why make her weaker yet.

Then there are the false credentials, how this mystery man was able to fake up his papers so that the doll House finds him acceptable. This seems to scream inside job, if not Alpha also.

I think the hunter was aware the whole time, that Alpha was watching. I don't think him saying he would be in big trouble if echo went splat while rock climbing was actually untrue.

I think Alpha told him hunt her and if you can, kill her, yet I don't expect he thought the hunter would succeed. In fact, I think Alpha was counting on echo having to kill the hunter and expected her mixed feelings on that traumatic act afterward affecting her ability to be programed. (In short they expected her to kill the hunter as part of her counter programming experiment.)

Heck, Alpha may have been even calling some of the shots during the hunt and making some of the rules...like when the hunter did not take a shot when Echo washed ashore after falling in the river.

Who knows, maybe she did actually hear Alpha's voice telling her to wake up/get up...and just contributed it to the hunter telling her the same thing on the walkie. My reaction to the idea that Alpha was standing over an unconscious echo whispering to her to wake up gave me the chills.

I realize this is a stretch, but what if it was Alpha's voice and he was doing the whole 'lock and key' thing like they explained about L. and his role as a handler/watcher needing a verbal 'lock and key' during programing.

This idea seems more credible to me if he was telling her to wake up; (as in don't 'go to sleep' and hold on to your experiences/imprints.) but I can't honestly recall what the walkie/flashback was saying. Was it get up, or wake up?
I dunno.

This show is such fun. 🙂

---------- Post added at 08:04 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:48 AM ----------

 

[nerd4hire]

Another thing that's suspicious about the Alpha thing is where is he getting his money from. Somebody had to pay the hunter's fee to the Dollhouse. Mercenary's aren't cheap. Also how was he guaranteed Alpha would be the one assigned to the gig? He didn't request her. Adelle told him she was assigning one of her best operatives. Somebody had to set that up. Inside men cost money.

 

[Relic]

^^^^

Your question is sort of self answering in some respects...as far as where is Alphas money coming from.....mercenaries not being cheap and all. Alpha can pull a smoke and mirrors on Doll House itself which seems pretty merc'd up. He seems sort creme de la creme & I don't think he'd have a problem financing himself and his activities with a background as a very capable assassin/thief/surgeon/whatever.

The multiple imprints and the proficiency of them sort of make him a mini company onto himself.

Now about the other thing, very good point by my opinion. Whoever falsified the papers knows what dollhouse looks for and screens for, and as I said that screams inside job. I wonder if the johns....err...clients can pick their doll from a spreadsheet of faces though? Like "I want that one and I want her to behave thusly."

If that is the case, the only thing Alpha needs to set up the encounter is a picture of Echo, which as I assume since I think it is him mailing a picture of Caroline to the FBI guy, he already has, and an acomplice to look at her picture and pick her and a most sutiable encounter engaugement personality for Alpha to try some counter programing.

The set up of the encounter and Echo being chosen does not suggest to me an inside job so much as additional alpha involvement, but the falsified papers do seem to say someone really knows there stuff about client/customer screening.

 

[Friendly Lurker]

I'm not shipping the inside job theory but if someone on the inside helped Alpha escape, it would have to be Amy! 😉

 

[Relic]

I really do not want it to be an inside job by a person who purposely initiated Alphas rampage and would rather prefer it just being a fall out of science/circumstance gone wrong, mostly because I think a conspiracy would confuse me!

I'd have no problem with a certain inside person being in love with Alpha and helping him escape and helping him further in trying to shut the house down by being an inside accomplace.

I just don't want the master plan to be anything other than Alphas. I don't want another string puller orchestrating Alpha. I don't like the dollhouse and see it itself as sorta a big bad, I would be rooting for Alpha if he wasn't so nuts with his methods. I want it to be his thing, his cause...with some inside help that answers to him.

Seems more poetic to me that way.

(sorry, not really speculation so much as a wish list, it's just i don't know where else to put this post!)

 

[itsxpaperdoll]

On the inside job theory, could Topher know more about Alpha than he's showing? If he made Alpha, on purpose I mean, it's also explain why he wasnt hurt when he went all ninja on the dolls. He might have wanted a gun because just in case, it wouldn't be the first time a creation turned against its creator.