Dollhouse 2x09 "Stop-Loss", 2x10 "The Attic"
...Or, "Hey-na, hey-na, my boyfriend's back".
* Okay, first of all? I think we can clearly say that anyone who's been complaining or bitching about Adelle or has lost faith in her and says she's gone over to the dark side over the last couple of episodes needs to SIMMER DOWN AND SHUT THE FUCK UP.
Because school is in session, and the HBIC is your headmaster. Prepare to be schooled. MOTHERFUCKERS. (I believe the phrase I am looking for here is "HELLS YEAH".)
Seriously, it's like a perfect, beautiful demonstronation of the sheer, terrifying awesome that is Adelle DeWitt, that after spending exactly one episode at the bottom of her spiral and in a drunken stupor, she picks herself up, (gives us a nice moment of classic sexay in the shower) recomposes herself and goes straight right back to striding around running the show and owning the shit out of everyone else.
AND IS NOW TRYING TO TAKE THE DOLLHOUSE DOWN. FUCK, YEAH.
(I am beginning to suspect that this entry may end up having an abundance of swearing and the all-caps.)
...Of course, knowing the full context of what she was really telling all her employees in those private meetings of scary, that puts a bitter, bitter twist on Topher's remark of how she's going to "take them all to hell." (Because we've seen hell. They keep showing it to us. Hell is not cool.)
* Randomly, I love that Topher's immediate reaction after finding out his boss was Ms. Lonelyhearts...was to horrifiedly remember all the old lady jokes he's made about their "client" while in her presence. Hee! Oh, Topher. Never change. (No, really, please don't. At least in the sense that you get any less sane. Please? *wibble*)
* Boyd was away from the House for a lot of time taking care of "something personal"? *GASP* Do you think that it might have been Claire? Can it please have been Claire?? Oh please, oh please?? I didn't ship them at all in S1, but S2 has brought me around to them in a big way! (Also, there was totes some Ivy/Topher in there. Don't pretend that there wasn't. Actually, I was mainly just glad poor Ivy got to hang out with the mains and actually do things. Even though I think in Joss Whedon tradition that this automatically graduates her to "prime emotional cannon-fodder". GodDAMMIT!)
* "Eventually, he's gonna realize what we took from him."
Was it his libido? Can it have been his libido? Please? Because that would make me laugh until the proverbial cows come home. (Sorry, but I...really don't like Paul. God knows that I've tried...but, god knows that I don't.)
Actually, in all seriousness, I really am intrigued to find out where this one is going. It can't have been his memories or feelings toward Caroline/Echo/whothefuckever he thinks she is, because the way he went all "PAUL SMASH" on DeWitt when he heard she'd been sent to the Attic pretty much rules that out. So, what did they rewire out of him? Couldn't have been anger, clearly (which, IMHO, pretty bone-headed move on their part; way to miss that prime opportunity there, boys and girls. Yes yes, I know, mindrape is wrong. But just this once? For me?). Judging from their "shifty-eyes" behavior, it has to be something he'd actually miss once he found it was gone, so...
...Yeah, no, sorry, I've gone straight back to "libido" again. Apparantly, I am twelve.
* The first episode was one solid hour of prime Victor/Sierra palooza. (Oh, I'm sorry, I mean Priya and TONY - which, by the by, it is ABOUT DAMN TIME, SHOW. The fic writers thank you for ending their time of hair-pulling frustration and need. Gigity.) Which both makes me squeeful, and, um, is probably kind of a good thing, because...the first episode was otherwise kind of lame? *wince* Sorry, but once you take away all the lovely Victor/Sierra Tony/Priya-ness, I felt like I was left with a random plot that came out of nowhere and then promptly vanished into the wild once they were done with it. I guess the main point was to let us know that Rossum, on top of everything else, was building an actual army, and clearly they are up to even more no good than the no good we already knew they were up to, and literally trying to take over the world.
...Or something.
But, again, the shippiness totally saved it. I loved that scene of them "introducing" themselves to each other in the midst of the battlefield. "So, you're from Australia?" HEE! ♥ And then they were just so sweet and cute together! Like when they were all smoochy in the back of the car, and all kinda giggly, like, "I think that's our first kiss". Awwww, cute Dollhouse ship, you really are so cute.
And how simulataneously giggle-inducing and heart-achey was that part where Echo was all trying to stress to Victor that he wasn't coming back, that he needed to say goodbye...and he turns around all cheerfully and waves "Goodbye!" Hahahahahaha aww. *wibble*
* So...the Attic. They crygogenically semi-freeze you, cover you in plastic wrap, stick electrodes in your head and then trap you in an unending mental nightmare loop for all eternity - or until you get worn out right into cardiac arrest - while simultaneously using your brain as a computer processer. I think out of all the theories and explorations of what the Attic is I've seen in the fandom, that is both nothing like and a thousand times more terrifying than ANY of them. Because Joss Whedon is a brilliantly twisted and sick man.
Really, that is the main thing I was looking forward to with the Attic's whole mental mindscape scenario. Because ain't no party like a Joss Whedon mindfuck dream sequence party. And boy oh boy, did this one ever deliver. ("Enjoy myself". Never ever has one repeated semi-innocuous line been twisted around to punch you right in the face in such a Fridge Brilliance-y way that I have ever, ever seen. "Oh! I get it! When he kept saying he had to try and 'enjoy himself', he meant that he....gyaaaaahAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.") Everything was all creepy and far-out and twisted, and with some perfect moments of dark humor. "And that? That's a long story." HEE! (Raise your hand if you were waiting for the guy with the cheese to make an appearance at some point. I know I kinda was.)
* And oh, right, the other thing about the second episode that I loved: DOMINIC. DOMINIC DOMINIC DOMINIC. Lookin' all hawt. Bein' all snarky. (And I love how it seems the stress of the Attic has made him about 90x more snarky than he already was. You know, as a coping mechanism. Which is awesome. Seriously, was it me, or did it almost seem like they purposefully wrote this episode around getting to show off as much Dominic snark as humanly possible? "Good times"?? I LOVE YOU, SHOW.) Totally rocking it BADASS style. YAAAY!! *manic happy fangirl dance*
So, I guess Dominic was stuck in whatever his hell-loop was (hence the "trapped for years" line at the beginning that had me really confused for awhile) but then "Arcane" tried to bust in and kill him, and instead Dominic was just all "bitch, please" and not only fought him off but STARTED CHASING HIM THROUGH THE MATRIX INSTEAD. (And I'm sure the whole time "Arcane" was just like "Shit shit shit shit! Kicked the wrong dog! Kicked the wrong dog!!") And Dominic kept chasing him and fighting him and trying to stop him from killing the other minds trapped there, learning how to jump from one world-mind to the next, ALL WHILE STILL CONVINCED HE'S STILL TRAPPED IN HIS OWN NIGHTMARE-LOOP, AND STILL TRYING TO STOP THE BAD GUY ANYWAY. Because Laurence Dominic is PURE EPIC BADASS, and I love this show SO GODDAMN MUCH for giving us an episode to showcase that. And then Dominic and Echo team up, and basically are TEAM BADASS and it is AWESOME, and I punch the air and squeal a whole lot more, because DOMINIIIIC.
And then, at the end, instead of escaping when he had the chance, he totally CHOSE TO STAY so he could try and SAVE EVERYONE. IN YOUR ***FACE***, everyone who thought Dominic was a bad guy. FACE. IN YOURS. MWAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!! Oh god, I love him so much. Oh, god.
And was that a glimpse of him stumbling around in his Attic wetsuit I saw in the previews for the next couple episodes?? I THINK IT TOTALLY WAS. This means OTP closure, right?? BECAUSE OH MY GOD, IT HAD BETTER.
* So, yeah, come to think of it...we never actually got to see what Dominic's Attic-induced this-is-your-brain-on-Windows-Vista nightmare loop was. (Because I'm assuming him chasing "Arcane" around was some whole other ball of wax.)
So...some fic writer is gonna be getting on this, right? Prime chance for some Dominic angst and sexy, sexy torture? And because it is a scenario that totally could involve the OTP?? YES?? I mean, come on, we're all assuming his worst nightmare/impossible problem he could never solve automatically somehow had to involve his not-girlfriend, right? I mean, hello: fangirls. (Anyone else notice that he referred to her as "Adelle", not "DeWitt"? BECAUSE, HI, I TOTALLY DID. IT IS THE LITTLE THINGS IN LIFE. ALSO, I AM CRAZY, WHEN IT INVOLVES MY SHIPS AND **SIGNIFICANT USE OF FIRST NAMES**.)
Seriously, this episode was great because it had both halves of my OTP being totally badass. You know what would be even better? Them getting to be all badass TOGETHER. STANDING NEXT TO EACH OTHER. USING GUNS. POWER-STRIDING IT UP. COME THE FUCK ON, ALREADY. There is going to be some kind of closure with this relationship before the series ends, right?? I mean, there had better. Again: I am so sure that that was a glimpse of a de-Atticfied Dom in the preview, so at least we know that his character's gotta come back. Which: GLEE. But there has to be at least another confrontation with him and Adelle, right? I swear to god, it's not even about me wanting to them to make out or anything - alright, okay, fine, obviously it is that a little - that is clearly a character relationship arc that needs something in the terms of closure. And desk sex. But mainly closure. Which could be hot desk sex, if we could work that somehow. THESE TWO NEED TO **SEE** EACH OTHER AGAIN. THEY NEED TO **TALK** TO EACH OTHER. COME ON, JOSS. DON'T LET ME DOWN NOW.
* Speaking of nightmare scenarios: Nolan Kinnard. STILL SKEEVY AND CREEPY AS FUCK WHILE UNDEAD, AND ALSO A HALLUCINATION. Possibly now MORE SO. Um, the "rigor mortis" line? JESUS. I mean, JEEESUUUS.
(Also, the fact, that they actually stumbled into/showed us again the "Epitaph One" armageddan scenario had me going "HOLY SHIT" out loud. Oh yeah, AND THEN TONY STABBED PRIYA. AND GOT RIPPED TO PIECES BY MIND-FRIED ZOMBIES. THERE ARE NO PULLED PUNCHES ON DOLLHOUSE, ONLY THE KIND OF PUNCHES THAT RIP RIGHT THROUGH YOUR SPINE AND COME OUT THE OTHER SIDE.)
* I don't know necessarily whether or not we were supposed to, but I actually kinda liked Clyde. (You know - once we found out he wasn't really a brain-space evil ninja, but rather a mercy-killing wee British man who kind of reminded me of a librarian.) He was sweet, and mildly awesome. And I am totally on board with this idea of him and Dominic being this wacky weird "They fight crime!" adventure-team mind-hoppin' duo. Somebody write THAT graphic novel miniseries, stat. It would be kind of bananas, and also totally boss.
Of course, the only problem is that Clyde also smacks, to me, of being a venue of the "doomed, totally doomed" character Joss Whedon would throw at us. (This is the only problem with being a Whedon fan, yo. We know his types.) You know, sort of woeful and unlucky, semi-plucky everyman, kind of stuck being along for the ride with people that are a thousand times more magic and badass, yet still managing to be kind of awesome in how they choose to just **hang in there** anyway? He's totally gonna die tragically. Which means I shouldn't get attached. And yet I'm getting attached anyway, because CLYDE. HE'S SUPER CUTE. AWW. Dammit, why does this always happen?? FUUUCK.
* So now they're on the hunt for Clyde's evil partner and his ambitionless back-stabby Clyde 2.0 double. Anyone else automatically thinking of Harding and Clive Ambrose?
...of course, that's almost too obvious? Maybe that's what they want us to think? Or maybe that's what they want us to think that they want us to think?? Idek, I am so mildly overwrought. I think my brain just tried to eat itself with this crazy trying-to-untangle-the-knots-of-the-TV-writers'-conspiracy shenanigans.
* Random thought: You know as soon as Joss found out one of his regulars had a twin, he was mentally going, "Wait, does this mean I totally have a way to emulate a cool special effect for super-cheap on my non-existant budget? I could so write an episode around this. *Joss Whedon crafty face*" (Actually, trufax - towards the end of Battlestar Galactica I started idly wondering if the PTB ever thought, you know, since they were going to be doing crazy split-screen effects all the damn time anyway, just going ahead and casting twin actors as one of the Cylons to save themselves some friggin' time.)
* Of course, now I'm just totally confused as to where the hell this all puts us at to regards with "Epitaph One". Because, okay, they said "The flashbacks are unreliable". Fine, sure, I can take that...but as of episode ten, I feel, um, as if that's been upgraded to "Some of these flashbacks could've NEVER POSSIBLY HAPPENED".
I mean...the scene with Ambrose's imprint in Victor trying to sell him off to the highest bidder? HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK?? He's not Victor anymore, he's Tony, ergo he shouldn't being getting imprinted...unless they make him into Victor again for some reason? But, why?
And what about the conversation with DeWitt and Dominic: his entire end of that doesn't make any freaking sense anymore - because that did not sound like a man who is aware the apocalypse has been scripted, and got a glimpse at the press release. That was very much a man who woke up with no clue what was going on and had to educate himself right quick. The fact that he's been still thinking and self-aware and evolving as a character this entire year or so he's been gone does not gel with the way he was acting in that scene at all.
Oh, and, now we apparantly know for a fact that one of those "flashbacks" from "Epitaph One" was not in fact a flashback to real events at all, BUT TO AN ATTIC-INDUCED HALLUCINATION. UM, HELLO-WHAT.
Seriously, bear with me here, I'm riding off into the forest to cut me down an epileptic Christmas tree: what if the flashbacks in "Epitaph" were not "unreliable" at all in that sense, but in fact altered? Like, made up, or purposefully made "unreliable" to tell a different story from what happened? That could work, right? If so, you know who makes sense as being the one that altered them? Caroline. FUCKING CAROLINE. Because all of the "flashbacks" in "Epitaph" were set up to make her look kind of awesome, like the hero-key at the center of it all, and the imprint "map" was strongly implied as being set up by her, and the end sum goal of the scavenger hunt was supposed to be finding her imprint and bringing it back. It makes a sort of sense.
IDK, I'm not saying any of this is necessarily the case, but I still feel like it would be kind of radically awesome if it turned out Caroline was the real Big Bad. I mean, how's that for your twist? (And, okay: it would also imply that the "Epitaph" apocalypse happened, but that the characters may not have come to the ends that we were shown to anticipate, and yeah I'm fully self-aware that I am grasping at whatever desperate straw I can find that opens that door for me once more. I love that this is how I am: it's not even that the world goddamn ended that has me all depressed - it's that the world ended, and Boyd is missing, and Claire is no longer Claire, and Topher is crazy, and DeWitt and Dominic are not having the sex or possibly even speaking to one another, and Tony and Priya are no longer snuggling, and Echo is gone in favor of goddamn Caroline. THAT is why I am scared of their future. Not the global mindrape. Not the fire or panic in the streets. Not the end of all civilazation as we know it, no - it's because Team Ambigious Skeevy Morals apparantly fell apart somewhere as a result, and it makes me broken inside.
But then you know, maybe that's it, really. It doesn't really feel like an apoclypse until you go and make it personal. Apocalypse? What apocalypse? Those buildings on fire outside? Nah, that's just a really cool dystopia. It's only when the characters we watch and know and love start acting all depressed and cynical and turning on each other and we have to see it that it actually feels like the world has actually ended.)
But really, again, raise your hand if when Echo said it was time for her to meet Caroline, your reaction was to go "Um...do you really have to?" Because IT WAS MINE. I...don't like Caroline. I can't help but feel that maybe I am not supposed to, given that Echo has been clearly made to doubt whether or not she should become Caroline (though it did seem like she took a slight backtrack on that idea this week) and clearly shown to be a whole other person that is ECHO, and happy to be ECHO, and FUCKING EXISTS FOR CHRISSAKES, GODDAMN YOU. And there almost seems to be something minorly sketchy going on with Caroline's story now, between Bennet's flashback and what we learned this week culminating to indicate that Caroline must've broken into Rossum before, or something (in order to learn about Whoever Guy and also Clyde Mark Two), and...look, I don't even know. The fact that I can say I like Echo but I don't like Caroline would appear to indicate they are actually two seperate characters, yes? And the fate of one should not therefore be entirely dependant on that of the other. I am just saying.
* Okay, first of all? I think we can clearly say that anyone who's been complaining or bitching about Adelle or has lost faith in her and says she's gone over to the dark side over the last couple of episodes needs to SIMMER DOWN AND SHUT THE FUCK UP.
Because school is in session, and the HBIC is your headmaster. Prepare to be schooled. MOTHERFUCKERS. (I believe the phrase I am looking for here is "HELLS YEAH".)
Seriously, it's like a perfect, beautiful demonstronation of the sheer, terrifying awesome that is Adelle DeWitt, that after spending exactly one episode at the bottom of her spiral and in a drunken stupor, she picks herself up, (gives us a nice moment of classic sexay in the shower) recomposes herself and goes straight right back to striding around running the show and owning the shit out of everyone else.
AND IS NOW TRYING TO TAKE THE DOLLHOUSE DOWN. FUCK, YEAH.
(I am beginning to suspect that this entry may end up having an abundance of swearing and the all-caps.)
...Of course, knowing the full context of what she was really telling all her employees in those private meetings of scary, that puts a bitter, bitter twist on Topher's remark of how she's going to "take them all to hell." (Because we've seen hell. They keep showing it to us. Hell is not cool.)
* Randomly, I love that Topher's immediate reaction after finding out his boss was Ms. Lonelyhearts...was to horrifiedly remember all the old lady jokes he's made about their "client" while in her presence. Hee! Oh, Topher. Never change. (No, really, please don't. At least in the sense that you get any less sane. Please? *wibble*)
* Boyd was away from the House for a lot of time taking care of "something personal"? *GASP* Do you think that it might have been Claire? Can it please have been Claire?? Oh please, oh please?? I didn't ship them at all in S1, but S2 has brought me around to them in a big way! (Also, there was totes some Ivy/Topher in there. Don't pretend that there wasn't. Actually, I was mainly just glad poor Ivy got to hang out with the mains and actually do things. Even though I think in Joss Whedon tradition that this automatically graduates her to "prime emotional cannon-fodder". GodDAMMIT!)
* "Eventually, he's gonna realize what we took from him."
Was it his libido? Can it have been his libido? Please? Because that would make me laugh until the proverbial cows come home. (Sorry, but I...really don't like Paul. God knows that I've tried...but, god knows that I don't.)
Actually, in all seriousness, I really am intrigued to find out where this one is going. It can't have been his memories or feelings toward Caroline/Echo/whothefuckever he thinks she is, because the way he went all "PAUL SMASH" on DeWitt when he heard she'd been sent to the Attic pretty much rules that out. So, what did they rewire out of him? Couldn't have been anger, clearly (which, IMHO, pretty bone-headed move on their part; way to miss that prime opportunity there, boys and girls. Yes yes, I know, mindrape is wrong. But just this once? For me?). Judging from their "shifty-eyes" behavior, it has to be something he'd actually miss once he found it was gone, so...
...Yeah, no, sorry, I've gone straight back to "libido" again. Apparantly, I am twelve.
* The first episode was one solid hour of prime Victor/Sierra palooza. (Oh, I'm sorry, I mean Priya and TONY - which, by the by, it is ABOUT DAMN TIME, SHOW. The fic writers thank you for ending their time of hair-pulling frustration and need. Gigity.) Which both makes me squeeful, and, um, is probably kind of a good thing, because...the first episode was otherwise kind of lame? *wince* Sorry, but once you take away all the lovely Victor/Sierra Tony/Priya-ness, I felt like I was left with a random plot that came out of nowhere and then promptly vanished into the wild once they were done with it. I guess the main point was to let us know that Rossum, on top of everything else, was building an actual army, and clearly they are up to even more no good than the no good we already knew they were up to, and literally trying to take over the world.
...Or something.
But, again, the shippiness totally saved it. I loved that scene of them "introducing" themselves to each other in the midst of the battlefield. "So, you're from Australia?" HEE! ♥ And then they were just so sweet and cute together! Like when they were all smoochy in the back of the car, and all kinda giggly, like, "I think that's our first kiss". Awwww, cute Dollhouse ship, you really are so cute.
And how simulataneously giggle-inducing and heart-achey was that part where Echo was all trying to stress to Victor that he wasn't coming back, that he needed to say goodbye...and he turns around all cheerfully and waves "Goodbye!" Hahahahahaha aww. *wibble*
* So...the Attic. They crygogenically semi-freeze you, cover you in plastic wrap, stick electrodes in your head and then trap you in an unending mental nightmare loop for all eternity - or until you get worn out right into cardiac arrest - while simultaneously using your brain as a computer processer. I think out of all the theories and explorations of what the Attic is I've seen in the fandom, that is both nothing like and a thousand times more terrifying than ANY of them. Because Joss Whedon is a brilliantly twisted and sick man.
Really, that is the main thing I was looking forward to with the Attic's whole mental mindscape scenario. Because ain't no party like a Joss Whedon mindfuck dream sequence party. And boy oh boy, did this one ever deliver. ("Enjoy myself". Never ever has one repeated semi-innocuous line been twisted around to punch you right in the face in such a Fridge Brilliance-y way that I have ever, ever seen. "Oh! I get it! When he kept saying he had to try and 'enjoy himself', he meant that he....gyaaaaahAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.") Everything was all creepy and far-out and twisted, and with some perfect moments of dark humor. "And that? That's a long story." HEE! (Raise your hand if you were waiting for the guy with the cheese to make an appearance at some point. I know I kinda was.)
* And oh, right, the other thing about the second episode that I loved: DOMINIC. DOMINIC DOMINIC DOMINIC. Lookin' all hawt. Bein' all snarky. (And I love how it seems the stress of the Attic has made him about 90x more snarky than he already was. You know, as a coping mechanism. Which is awesome. Seriously, was it me, or did it almost seem like they purposefully wrote this episode around getting to show off as much Dominic snark as humanly possible? "Good times"?? I LOVE YOU, SHOW.) Totally rocking it BADASS style. YAAAY!! *manic happy fangirl dance*
So, I guess Dominic was stuck in whatever his hell-loop was (hence the "trapped for years" line at the beginning that had me really confused for awhile) but then "Arcane" tried to bust in and kill him, and instead Dominic was just all "bitch, please" and not only fought him off but STARTED CHASING HIM THROUGH THE MATRIX INSTEAD. (And I'm sure the whole time "Arcane" was just like "Shit shit shit shit! Kicked the wrong dog! Kicked the wrong dog!!") And Dominic kept chasing him and fighting him and trying to stop him from killing the other minds trapped there, learning how to jump from one world-mind to the next, ALL WHILE STILL CONVINCED HE'S STILL TRAPPED IN HIS OWN NIGHTMARE-LOOP, AND STILL TRYING TO STOP THE BAD GUY ANYWAY. Because Laurence Dominic is PURE EPIC BADASS, and I love this show SO GODDAMN MUCH for giving us an episode to showcase that. And then Dominic and Echo team up, and basically are TEAM BADASS and it is AWESOME, and I punch the air and squeal a whole lot more, because DOMINIIIIC.
And then, at the end, instead of escaping when he had the chance, he totally CHOSE TO STAY so he could try and SAVE EVERYONE. IN YOUR ***FACE***, everyone who thought Dominic was a bad guy. FACE. IN YOURS. MWAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!! Oh god, I love him so much. Oh, god.
And was that a glimpse of him stumbling around in his Attic wetsuit I saw in the previews for the next couple episodes?? I THINK IT TOTALLY WAS. This means OTP closure, right?? BECAUSE OH MY GOD, IT HAD BETTER.
* So, yeah, come to think of it...we never actually got to see what Dominic's Attic-induced this-is-your-brain-on-Windows-Vista nightmare loop was. (Because I'm assuming him chasing "Arcane" around was some whole other ball of wax.)
So...some fic writer is gonna be getting on this, right? Prime chance for some Dominic angst and sexy, sexy torture? And because it is a scenario that totally could involve the OTP?? YES?? I mean, come on, we're all assuming his worst nightmare/impossible problem he could never solve automatically somehow had to involve his not-girlfriend, right? I mean, hello: fangirls. (Anyone else notice that he referred to her as "Adelle", not "DeWitt"? BECAUSE, HI, I TOTALLY DID. IT IS THE LITTLE THINGS IN LIFE. ALSO, I AM CRAZY, WHEN IT INVOLVES MY SHIPS AND **SIGNIFICANT USE OF FIRST NAMES**.)
Seriously, this episode was great because it had both halves of my OTP being totally badass. You know what would be even better? Them getting to be all badass TOGETHER. STANDING NEXT TO EACH OTHER. USING GUNS. POWER-STRIDING IT UP. COME THE FUCK ON, ALREADY. There is going to be some kind of closure with this relationship before the series ends, right?? I mean, there had better. Again: I am so sure that that was a glimpse of a de-Atticfied Dom in the preview, so at least we know that his character's gotta come back. Which: GLEE. But there has to be at least another confrontation with him and Adelle, right? I swear to god, it's not even about me wanting to them to make out or anything - alright, okay, fine, obviously it is that a little - that is clearly a character relationship arc that needs something in the terms of closure. And desk sex. But mainly closure. Which could be hot desk sex, if we could work that somehow. THESE TWO NEED TO **SEE** EACH OTHER AGAIN. THEY NEED TO **TALK** TO EACH OTHER. COME ON, JOSS. DON'T LET ME DOWN NOW.
* Speaking of nightmare scenarios: Nolan Kinnard. STILL SKEEVY AND CREEPY AS FUCK WHILE UNDEAD, AND ALSO A HALLUCINATION. Possibly now MORE SO. Um, the "rigor mortis" line? JESUS. I mean, JEEESUUUS.
(Also, the fact, that they actually stumbled into/showed us again the "Epitaph One" armageddan scenario had me going "HOLY SHIT" out loud. Oh yeah, AND THEN TONY STABBED PRIYA. AND GOT RIPPED TO PIECES BY MIND-FRIED ZOMBIES. THERE ARE NO PULLED PUNCHES ON DOLLHOUSE, ONLY THE KIND OF PUNCHES THAT RIP RIGHT THROUGH YOUR SPINE AND COME OUT THE OTHER SIDE.)
* I don't know necessarily whether or not we were supposed to, but I actually kinda liked Clyde. (You know - once we found out he wasn't really a brain-space evil ninja, but rather a mercy-killing wee British man who kind of reminded me of a librarian.) He was sweet, and mildly awesome. And I am totally on board with this idea of him and Dominic being this wacky weird "They fight crime!" adventure-team mind-hoppin' duo. Somebody write THAT graphic novel miniseries, stat. It would be kind of bananas, and also totally boss.
Of course, the only problem is that Clyde also smacks, to me, of being a venue of the "doomed, totally doomed" character Joss Whedon would throw at us. (This is the only problem with being a Whedon fan, yo. We know his types.) You know, sort of woeful and unlucky, semi-plucky everyman, kind of stuck being along for the ride with people that are a thousand times more magic and badass, yet still managing to be kind of awesome in how they choose to just **hang in there** anyway? He's totally gonna die tragically. Which means I shouldn't get attached. And yet I'm getting attached anyway, because CLYDE. HE'S SUPER CUTE. AWW. Dammit, why does this always happen?? FUUUCK.
* So now they're on the hunt for Clyde's evil partner and his ambitionless back-stabby Clyde 2.0 double. Anyone else automatically thinking of Harding and Clive Ambrose?
...of course, that's almost too obvious? Maybe that's what they want us to think? Or maybe that's what they want us to think that they want us to think?? Idek, I am so mildly overwrought. I think my brain just tried to eat itself with this crazy trying-to-untangle-the-knots-of-the-TV-writers'-conspiracy shenanigans.
* Random thought: You know as soon as Joss found out one of his regulars had a twin, he was mentally going, "Wait, does this mean I totally have a way to emulate a cool special effect for super-cheap on my non-existant budget? I could so write an episode around this. *Joss Whedon crafty face*" (Actually, trufax - towards the end of Battlestar Galactica I started idly wondering if the PTB ever thought, you know, since they were going to be doing crazy split-screen effects all the damn time anyway, just going ahead and casting twin actors as one of the Cylons to save themselves some friggin' time.)
* Of course, now I'm just totally confused as to where the hell this all puts us at to regards with "Epitaph One". Because, okay, they said "The flashbacks are unreliable". Fine, sure, I can take that...but as of episode ten, I feel, um, as if that's been upgraded to "Some of these flashbacks could've NEVER POSSIBLY HAPPENED".
I mean...the scene with Ambrose's imprint in Victor trying to sell him off to the highest bidder? HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK?? He's not Victor anymore, he's Tony, ergo he shouldn't being getting imprinted...unless they make him into Victor again for some reason? But, why?
And what about the conversation with DeWitt and Dominic: his entire end of that doesn't make any freaking sense anymore - because that did not sound like a man who is aware the apocalypse has been scripted, and got a glimpse at the press release. That was very much a man who woke up with no clue what was going on and had to educate himself right quick. The fact that he's been still thinking and self-aware and evolving as a character this entire year or so he's been gone does not gel with the way he was acting in that scene at all.
Oh, and, now we apparantly know for a fact that one of those "flashbacks" from "Epitaph One" was not in fact a flashback to real events at all, BUT TO AN ATTIC-INDUCED HALLUCINATION. UM, HELLO-WHAT.
Seriously, bear with me here, I'm riding off into the forest to cut me down an epileptic Christmas tree: what if the flashbacks in "Epitaph" were not "unreliable" at all in that sense, but in fact altered? Like, made up, or purposefully made "unreliable" to tell a different story from what happened? That could work, right? If so, you know who makes sense as being the one that altered them? Caroline. FUCKING CAROLINE. Because all of the "flashbacks" in "Epitaph" were set up to make her look kind of awesome, like the hero-key at the center of it all, and the imprint "map" was strongly implied as being set up by her, and the end sum goal of the scavenger hunt was supposed to be finding her imprint and bringing it back. It makes a sort of sense.
IDK, I'm not saying any of this is necessarily the case, but I still feel like it would be kind of radically awesome if it turned out Caroline was the real Big Bad. I mean, how's that for your twist? (And, okay: it would also imply that the "Epitaph" apocalypse happened, but that the characters may not have come to the ends that we were shown to anticipate, and yeah I'm fully self-aware that I am grasping at whatever desperate straw I can find that opens that door for me once more. I love that this is how I am: it's not even that the world goddamn ended that has me all depressed - it's that the world ended, and Boyd is missing, and Claire is no longer Claire, and Topher is crazy, and DeWitt and Dominic are not having the sex or possibly even speaking to one another, and Tony and Priya are no longer snuggling, and Echo is gone in favor of goddamn Caroline. THAT is why I am scared of their future. Not the global mindrape. Not the fire or panic in the streets. Not the end of all civilazation as we know it, no - it's because Team Ambigious Skeevy Morals apparantly fell apart somewhere as a result, and it makes me broken inside.
But then you know, maybe that's it, really. It doesn't really feel like an apoclypse until you go and make it personal. Apocalypse? What apocalypse? Those buildings on fire outside? Nah, that's just a really cool dystopia. It's only when the characters we watch and know and love start acting all depressed and cynical and turning on each other and we have to see it that it actually feels like the world has actually ended.)
But really, again, raise your hand if when Echo said it was time for her to meet Caroline, your reaction was to go "Um...do you really have to?" Because IT WAS MINE. I...don't like Caroline. I can't help but feel that maybe I am not supposed to, given that Echo has been clearly made to doubt whether or not she should become Caroline (though it did seem like she took a slight backtrack on that idea this week) and clearly shown to be a whole other person that is ECHO, and happy to be ECHO, and FUCKING EXISTS FOR CHRISSAKES, GODDAMN YOU. And there almost seems to be something minorly sketchy going on with Caroline's story now, between Bennet's flashback and what we learned this week culminating to indicate that Caroline must've broken into Rossum before, or something (in order to learn about Whoever Guy and also Clyde Mark Two), and...look, I don't even know. The fact that I can say I like Echo but I don't like Caroline would appear to indicate they are actually two seperate characters, yes? And the fate of one should not therefore be entirely dependant on that of the other. I am just saying.