Dollhouse 2x11, "Getting Closer" (Now With Coherancy! Sorta.)
1. My OTP is FUCKING AWESOME. Haters to the mother-fuckin' left. HATERS TO THE LEFT.
Oh my god. I just...oh. My. GOD.
There was so much D/D 'tastic goodness in this episode, you guys. I was losing my mind.
It's just! The flashbacks! The vintage! With the "ma'am"ing, and the powerwalking, and DEAR LORD, THAT PART AT THE END, WHEN THEY'RE IN ARIZONA AND WEARIN' ALL DARK COLORS AND BOTH LOOK SO BAD.ASS. AND SEXY AND FLIPPIN' AWESOME AND THEY'RE ALL "TEAM D/D" AGAIN AFTER SOOO LOOOONG?? ALFJSDKD;; I DIED. (Seriously, Adelle was rockin' that coat, you guys. And Dom was all in sync with her as her muscle, and - seriously, THE ELEVATOR?? THEIR FACES, BUT MOST ESPECIALLY, THAT SMIRK. SQUEE! Haha, he is such a jerk sometimes, and I love it!)
("Who else knows about this?"
"Just us."
US. Oh lord, I should not get SO SQUEEFUL over hearing them referred to as an "us" again. BUT I DID. *swoony sigh*)
God, they are just so perfect together. So awesome. SOAWESOME. And I just love that this is where I am right now, that we have an dialogue exchange where the gist is like, he's admitting maybe he tortured some guy, and they're both trying not to laugh over it, and my reaction to that is: "Awwww."
I ship deranged pure concentrated morally ambigious awesome, yo. And it makes me smile really big.
...God, but I missed seeing them together.
Which of course, brings me to THE OTHER THING. Because, OH YEAH. RIGHT. The present.
"No - you bitch, I'd rather die."
"I"d prefer it if you didn't."
*Flails off into the wild*
...'Kay, I'm back.
I just. YEAH. THAT RIGHT THERE. THAT.
Well, I think we have sufficiently covered why he's so pissed off and possibly a little bit crazy in the future, because DAMN. DAMN DAMN DAAAAMN. Can you even...being stuck in the Attic, finally just barely managing to break free, being out in the real world again for just a few hours and then, having to go right back to that hell again. Can you even imagine?? Can you? I can only think as bad as the nightmare of the Attic is before, it would probably be even worse if you'd already been, gotten out, and then had to go right back in again. I just...oh man. Damn. DAMN.
(And I think this probably explains/covers the "what you did with my body" part too - except oh my god, I just realized; something entirely else even more awful could've happened. Because who was it that was in charge of getting Dominic back to the Attic? Wasn't it Boyd AAAAAAAAAAAHH. More on that in a minute.)
Don't get me wrong, obviously I am glad he's not dead, but I'm still cringing and wailing for him. Because......DAMN. I just...DAMN. THAT SUCKS, SO SO BAD. THAT POOR, POOR MAN. DAAAAMN.
And, dudes - she doesn't want him to die. I mean, yeah, obviously she's still pissed and bitter and part of that whole thing was being handled in her sometimes unfortunate, ruthlessly cold and practical way (kinda of like imprinting Mellie - oh god, poor Madeline is going to die, and she won't even get to be herself again, will she?? *cries premptively* WHY DO I EVEN WATCH JOSS WHEDON SHOOOWS), BUT STILL. She doesn't want him to die. After what this particular pair has been through, THAT MEANS SOMETHING. It fucking MEANS SOMETHING, IT DOES. She has value for him, if nothing else, and he fucking shot her.
I AM READING DEEP VALUES OF MEANING INTO THIS BECAUSE THEY ARE CLEARLY **THERE**, DAMMIT, AND YOU CAN'T TELL ME OTHERWISE. *plants her flag, stands firm*
And, and - the part of me that's a liiittle bit into hurt/comfort was twitching and flailing at the part with poor GoingIntoShock!Dominic. AAAAAAH. Y'all, he dragged his in-a-chemically-induced-coma-for-A-YEAR ass down who knows how many flights of stairs to WARN THEM, YOU GUYS. He passed out as soon as he found Echo, clearly he was barely hanging on in and in no small amount of pain. BIG DAMN HERO.
And, and - that part that started their first flashback of sexy awesome? Where Adelle did, like, that whole body doubletake? OH GOD. *dolphin noises* I love her, you guys. LOVE. LOOOOOVE.
She's their general. *sniffle* Rock on, you dudes. Now just to sit tight until her rightful lieutenant gets back. *salutes*
2. "With your life." AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!
So we finally get the reveal and get to find out who the mastermind behind the evil Rossum conspiracy is, and oh: it's Boyd.
It's...it's Boyd. It...what. WHAT. I...it just...but it can't...he was...but he...guh...whah...
OH MY GOOOOOOOOOD-
*flails off into the wild again. does not return for several minutes*
*pants* Sorry, I needed that.
Because JESUS FUCK SHIT GODDAMN HOLY CRAP SON OF A BITCH MOTHERFUCKING BASTARD WHAT WHAT WHAAAAAAAAAT.
I can't even wrap myself around this piece of...brilliant mind-fuckery. My mind is blown, my soul is shattered, my heart is breaking.
Did ANYONE think it was going to be Boyd? ANYONE?? I mean, the end sum of the theories I heard was where it seemed like the show itself was trying to make us think Adelle (to which, like, my collective flist was pretty much like "Bitch, please"), and a lot of people were jumping on the Clyde-Clive name similarities and thinking Clive Ambrose had something to do with it, although in restrospect I can see how that would have been a pretty serious anticimax. But I guess I just wasn't able to think of how anyone close to them could have been in on it, and even if I had, BOYD?? BOYD. NEVER. NEVER, EVER EVER IN A MILLION YEARS BOYD.
Jesus christ, this sure puts his insistance on being close to and protective of Echo in a whole new light, doesn't it? GYAAAAAH.
I just...oh god, Boyd. Boyd is the evil mastermind. I think I need to go hug a pillow and cry. It's like you just told me that Big Bird was secretly Stalin.
It's kind of...awesome, in that way where you want to shake a fist at the sky and wail at the emotional manipulation, to think about the whole episode knowing that in context. Because, yeah, this is what Joss Whedon does: before he makes it hurt, it makes sure it's gonna hurt even more by layering on the warm fuzzies and happiness first. Because there was SO MUCH Boyd-awesome in this ep. The reveal with him and Claire, and you're all happy to see them together, and he hugs Echo and it's beautiful, and he shoots the bad guys threatening DeWitt and it's awesome, and he takes a bullet in the process and you're all OH NOOO BOYD, and then there's that tearful goodbye scene with him and Claire, and then he comes back and saves Echo by snapping some dude's neck just in the nick of time (like a boss) and he puts his hand over Echo's, and tells her to hold on - and at this point you're just sitting there like, damn, isn't Boyd awesome, I love him SO MUCH - and then, KAPOW. SURPRISE, MOTHERFUCKER. And suddenly you're on the floor, crying, because your pony just kicked all of your teeth in.
I still can barely wrap my head around the...sick, sick genius of this. Damn. Joss Whedon IS my god now. I don't even......DAMN. Because NUUUH, BOYD. WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE...IT ISN'T FAAAIR. WAAAAH!!
Seriously though, I love how this dramatic turning of events has suddenly turned Boyd's smiles and charms from fuzzy and aww inducing to terrifyingly creepy motherfucker. Or was I the only one that had that reaction to him at the end, and then...that preview for next week?? HOLY SHIT, GYAAAAH. I'm like, crawling out of my chair and onto the ceiling with the quibbling terrors over here. Nyyyyaaah. (I have this feeling like Harry Lennix got that script and was like, "Oh, I am all over this". And apparantly then proceeded to own that shit, because DAYUM. Rock on, dude. Just...yeah.)
And, oh yeah, of course there's the other major complete 180-turn heartbreak facepunch of this episode. OH MY GOD CLAIRE. SHOT BENNETT. IN THE HEAD. NYYYYYYYOO!!
And it was the same damn thing, even, with the Joss Whedon twisted bastard manipulative emotional buildup because - dudes, I was not even shipping Topher and Benett at all before this episode, like, really. And then they were all cute and geeky and spazzy together (his delivery on that whole "show you mine" line - oh god), and by the time they were kissing ("Ow!" "I'm sorry!" "Ow, ow!" "I'm sorry!") I was sold, I was all giggly and flaily and picturing them, like, getting martied and having brilliant socially-disfuntional babies, despite how I really should've fucking known better, from having seen The Shape Of Things To Come and all that jazz, if nothing else, but that's what Joss Whedon does to you, goddamn him, the sexy bastard: he makes you forget. You should so know better, and he makes you forget. You get happy, and then you never see it coming.
But lord, THAT SCENE fucked with my mind. Because I had this twinge of alarm when Claire came in, like "Oh shit, something's not right, oh shit, her hands are hidden behind her, she's got a gun or something" and then - I'm not even sure what happened. The scene kept going, and badness didn't ensue, and I guess I brushed it off as paranoia without even registering it or something - LOOK, HE MADE ME **FORGET**, OKAY? Just in time for Topher to walk in and CLAIRE SHOOTS THE WOMAN HE JUST DECIDED TO LOVE IN THE FUCKING HEAD AND SPRAYS HER BLOOD EVERYWHERE. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOD.
*flails off, yet again*
...Sorry. I really gotta stop doing that.
(And if somebody makes a horrible crossover icon with an image of Bennett afterwards that reads "Bullet in the brainpan, squish", I will take it and use it often, even though it will kill my soul a little bit each and every time.)
(Joss universe crossover shout-outs in ep, BTW: "Bet you can kill me with your brain." Heh. Except until after you've watched the whole episode, because DDDDDDD:)
And btw, WHAT THE HELL UP WITH CLAIRE. Like, I know the in-ep explanation was a sleeper imprint, which works until the end of the episode, because what was the point? If you thought EvilRossumMastermind! plan was to stop Echo from becoming Caroline again, then yeah, stopping Bennett from re-assembling the wedge would make sense as a mission, but after the reveal at the end it almost seems like that was the plan all along or something. In which case, it seems disturbingly, terrifying like Claire wasn't even "Claire" anymore, she was maybe imprint with somebody else who was possibly a TOTAL FUCKING PSYCHOPATH (and given the preview for next week, doesn't seem so far out) and it was almost like she did in Bennett just to FUCK WITH TOPHER.
And oh christ, TOPHER. Oh CHRIIIIIST. He just...oh goooood.
I think, suffice to say, we may be starting to see where he begins to come undone. And I cry, A LOT. Because jesus fucking christ goddamn shit fuck whhhy.
3. The title of this episode is so accurate, and IT SCARES ME.
We are here, guys. You can totally see where pieces of "Epitaph One" are fitting in (one of them did, LITERALLY in this episode!) and it scares the ever living fuck out of me. After waiting for all this, and having so many questions, (and there are still some real headscratchers, but I have something like a terrified sense of faith that he is indeed going to make them all fit before this is over, at this rate - what we've seen so far is ripping any sense of doubt right away), and finally seeing us getting there, I am so CREEPED OUT I CAN'T EVEN I DON'T HAVE WORDS.
This episode, guys. It's taking us there. IT. WE'RE GETTING CLOSER. WE'RE ALMOST THERE. THE APOCALYPSE FOR US AND THE CHARACTERS AND THEIR WORLD, IT IS JUST AROUND THE FUCKING CORNER - I CAN'T TAKE IT-!
*flails off, screaming*