"Alfa" or "Alpha"? The spelling "Alpha" is used in English versions of the phonetic alphalbet. British Armed forces and other exclusively English speaking organizations employed this spelling. "Alfa" was utilized in international theaters, for consistency.

We did see Langdon outside of work in the pilot (martial arts gym), and the only way for him to be Alpha would be with multiple personality disorder, which could be interesting, but unlikely.

I agree that Alpha was clearly trying to induce memories in Echo through drugs and extreme stress. To what end is as yet unclear.

Boyd = Alpha is also somewhat unlikely -- presumably, if the Dollhouse caught him, they'd know what went wrong and would not repurpose him w/o first fixing the problem. Thus, if would be unlikely that Alpha would resurface.

I thought this ep was OK in terms of overall plot and backstory development, but I thought the acting/directing was pretty poor. Jenny was all bad-ass up until she became prey, and then suddenly she runs like a little girl, leaving an obvious trail, in panic, etc. And then, she meets Boyd, and does another 180, and turns hunter. It just didn't flow for me. The thrill of it should have excited her, stimulated her, if she were to keep with the character. She should have turned on Richard much sooner.

Finally, as for Richard - Alpha, they didn't say so directly, but the implication was that nothing out of the ordinary happened with this body -- i.e. he was still dead.

Instead of complaining about the show let's talk about some of the stuff no one's seemed to pick up on.
Alpha is smart, really smart. He was watching the whole time Echo was being chased, he sent the FBI agent the information about Echo/Caroline and he already had a connection with Echo when he went crazy leaving her alive and now trying to get her to become Caroline again. He's also still a psychopath because he murdered the people of the house he was sitting NAKED in when sending the info to the FBI.
Secondly I think the original concept for Dollhouse was different probably set in the near future and was probably a powerful Corp. I also don't like that no one at the FBI thinks its real, but its there. It aso gives our storyline a twist when Echo does realize who she is and the FBI agent goes rogue. The show seems very Aliaseque.
Finally, I also find it odd that Langdon is this loyal lapdog, but in my mind I wondered if he is also a doll. We don't seem him outside of work and he pretty badass. Its completely plausible that the handlers are just like the dolls and programmed.
As for the episode concepts. They are still playing around and taking a very difficult concept and making it pliable not only to viewers, but to corporate hollywood.
Finally I was very happy to see Middleman hotty with his big arm muscles. Hubba Hubba. If they have canceled middleman this guy needs more screentime.

"Why do we build robots to do things that we, humans, are perfectly capable of doing?"

1) To save on long-term labor costs with an initial capital investment; 2) to perform repetitive actions with speed and consistency to exacting standards and high tolerances; and 3) to work 24/7/365 with no need for sleep, sick-leave, vacation, injury, etc.

Your question presupposes that people are perfectly capable of doing things when in reality, we're very bad at doing most things. Those things that do require a human due to very specialized knowledge and experience, such as surgery, have not (and likely never will be) replaced with robots.

But the dolls are no better than any other human. They can still get sick, break a bone, etc, and they can't build mechanical parts to within one ten-thousandth of an inch the way a robot can, no matter what programming the dollhouse puts into their heads.

Hutch: but they're NOT perfect! They're healthy and attractive, and in good shape (though surely there are people in better shape), but that's it. First of all, it was explained that they get the programming from real people - so the dolls/actives can't be better than the person from whom their programming originally came. Second, it was explained by Topher that they have to program in flaws like nearsightedness, allergies, asthma, etc. for the programming to work right, or something like that (it didn't make any sense to me). So they have their flaws just like regular people.

As far as I can tell, the only advantage of a doll over a regular professional is that they will have their mind wiped afterwards, and thus they are great when confidentiality is needed. Thus, there are only two legitimate uses for such a person - secret government operations, and criminal actions. If the dollhouse is really so secret and underground, only criminals would be able to find it. You're telling me the FBI can't find it, but a parent with a kidnapped kid, a crazy sportsman, and a Brittney Spearsish teenybopper singer can find and contact the Dollhouse whenever they need it?

Besides, there's a huge disconnect between the dollhouse being some secretive, highly illegal underground operation with an unyeilding FBI agent constantly on the search for it, and the dollhouse renting out its people to save little children and protect innocent people. I thought the point of the show was that the dolls were used to conduct illegal operations. I also thought they'd have some special abilities, somewhat like in The Matrix - they could be programmed with lots of special skills, to always be superduper computer hackers, kung-fu masters, helicopter pilots, etc. That's not the case.

You need a bodyguard, you can hire Kevin Costner, or you can hire some normal person programmed with Kevin Costner's bodyguarding memories for 100 times the price while breaking the law. Hiring the dollhouse certainly constitutes conspiring to break whatever federal laws the dollhouse is breaking such that FBI agent Ballard is after them. It's giving financial support to a criminal organization. Why would anyone do that for no obvious benefit? And again, how can anyone but a serious criminal know how to find/contact the Dollhouse?

Macguffins (I missed the g key on my keyboard) or not, the whole premise of the show makes no sense. It's illogical. I love sci-fi, and there are plenty of great, creative ideas that could be based on mind-wiping and programming people with memories and skills. This one just doesn't make any sense at all. I predict it won't even get a full first season.

Perhaps it seems that I'm the only one who thinks that last week's episode wasn't bad at all (especially for a premiere), but this week's episode was rather good especially when it comes to character development.

As much as I like to trash poor writing and lazy development, I think this show is really creative and innovative. Is there anything like this right now on television? No, and that's what makes it unique.

If the Sarah Connor Chronicles were as novel as this show, it wouldn't be facing cancellation at the end of this run. The problem is that Dollhouse is a much better show and clearly outclassing it. Too bad for TSCC.

Can't wait to see what's going to happen on this show next week.

> If Richard wasn't Alfa (which is likely),
> then he still had an appropriate name
> since he was such a Dick.

How old are you -- 13?

I just don't see the point of this show. I don't get the point of the Dollhouse. Unless they're having the dolls doing illegal things (quite the opposite), or unless the dolls have superhuman abilities (which they don't), what's the point?

For example, next week Echo is hired to protect a singer. Why would anyone pay an extremely high fee to some secret and illegal underground operation to get a mind-wiped human programmed to be a bodyguard when you can just go out and hire a bodyguard?

The only legitimate purpose of something like a dollhouse would be to use the dolls to act as criminals, to smuggle drugs, sex slaves, etc so if they got caught, they'd have no memories of anything... they're basically expendable. Another legitimate use would be as prostitutes, of course.

But to use them to conduct not only legitimate, but noble services, to help people and make people happy in legal ways, defeats the whole purpose of an illegal underground operation. There's just no real point to this show. I can handle macuffins to move a plot along, but I can't tolerate a show whose sole existence makes no logical sense.

To close the "Alfa/Alpha" debate: in non-English countries, the NATO phonetic alphabet does use "Alfa" for "A" -- however, in the US, the ANSI standard is "Alpha", as it is likewise in the British armed services.

Plus, as was pointed out, it clearly shows "ALPHA" on the file folder during the pilot, and second episode recap.

Amy (scar-lady) is working with Alfa?

I still rolled my eyes at this episode (still giving it a chance though) until the very end with the "shoulder to the wheel move" by Echo. That raptured my attention. I will be staying tuned to see if Echo goes "composite" the way of Alfa, or to see what other S**t hits the fan.