'Dollhouse' Season 1 Favorite Episodes

*Possible Spoilers*

Original Pilot "Echo" (Written, and directed by Joss Whedon)

Agent Ballard gets new wind in his investigation of the Dollhouse when he receives a photo of Echo. DeWitt and the handlers become nervous when the Actives begin to exhibit signs of self-awareness.


Episode 6 "Man on the Street" (Directed by David Straiton , Written by Joss Whedon)



One of Echo's engagements is disrupted by Agent Ballard. Ballard's interrogation of the client (guest star Patton Oswalt) first makes Paul aware that his interest in disrupting the Dollhouse is becoming obsessive. Paul defies this by beginning a relationship with Mellie, but is further shaken when Echo is sent to assassinate him—only to go catatonic and recite a message from a spy inside the Dollhouse. Meanwhile, Sierra begins to show signs of trauma, and Victor is implicated as her assailant. However, Boyd stages a sting operation and discovers that Sierra's handler, Hearn, has been raping her. DeWitt sends Hearn to kill Mellie, only to reveal that she is a "sleeper Active" by activating her latent combat training, which she uses to eliminate Hearn with ease. Finally, acts are bookended by clips of a TV reporter preparing an exposé on the Dollhouse.



Episode 8 "Needs" (Directed by Félix Enríquez Alcalá, Written by Tracy Bellomo)



Echo, Sierra, Victor and November awake with most of their original personalities intact, and Echo attempts to escape from the Dollhouse with her fellow Actives, reclaiming bits and pieces of their past as they do so. Sierra discovers that she was forced to become a Doll after turning down sexual advances from a well-connected man; Victor is finally able to act on his attraction to her; November grieves over her dead infant daughter, Katie; and Echo, after guaranteeing the other three have escaped, re-enters to the Dollhouse and forces DeWitt, at gunpoint, to release all remaining Actives. Thereafter all four "escapees" fall asleep due to subliminal programming; the entire process is revealed to have been masterminded by DeWitt and Dr. Saunders, allowing their Actives to achieve closure on their personal issues before putting them back to work.



Episode 11 "Briar Rose" (Directed by Dwight Little, Written by Jane Espenson)



Echo helps a young girl deal with her traumatic past, using the fairy tale of Briar Rose as a vehicle; a corpse apparently slain by Alpha turns up in Tucson, Arizona, with Sierra imprinted as an FBI forensics expert to investigate; and a thumb drive arrives for Dominic, who is imprinted onto Victor's body for questioning. Ballard's investigation leads him to the Dollhouse's agoraphobic, pothead architect, Stephen Kepler (guest star Alan Tudyk), and with his forced assistance manages to sneak into the Dollhouse. Though Ballard finds Caroline, Boyd manages to detain him; he takes Ballard to DeWitt for questioning, where they learn from Sierra that the Tucson corpse is that of the real Stephen Kepler. Ballard's helper is actually Alpha, who reveals himself by attacking Victor and Dr. Saunders. Alpha imprints Echo with a memory that makes her recognize him; with Sleeping Beauty now awakened, the lovers escape the Dollhouse together.



Episode 13 "Epitaph One" (Directed by David Solomon, Written by Maurissa Tancharoen & Jed Whedon (teleplay), Joss Whedon (story))



The year is 2019. A group of "actuals" (non-imprinted humans) are attempting to get underground to avoid technology and "butchers." The Rossum Corporation has let imprinting technology slip from their hands and China has created a way to spread the imprint through phone lines and also blanketing areas with a wave, and as a result the humans of the world have been imprinted to kill those who have not been. The group discovers the Dollhouse and the chair. Through a series of memories left on a tablet, they discover how the world came to be as it is.