I guess I was the only one who didn't love this episode as much as I'd hoped. I didn't really see the trademark witty dialogue (except the kindle line), and I really thought the episode was disconnected.

"They'll throw the Kindle at you."

Wow. It's been a while since I laughed that hard.

On the client, the reason I say they go out of their way to make him less sympathetic is because they could easily have made him more likable:

- They could have made him sheepish and deferent towards Ballard (something I'm pretty sure the actor Oswalt could readily convey), but they didn't and instead made him confident and snide.

- They could have said he didn't sleep with the women and left his engagements as purely chaste and innocent affairs, but they didn't and made a point of saying he has sex with them.

- They could have made him intimidated by the idea of arrest and prosecution, but they didn't and instead had him counter Ballard's threats by gloating about how he'd never be convicted.

Yes! You don't like him, but that doesn't appear to be an accident. From the above, it seems like the writers were actively trying to elicit that from you, which brings up the question "Why?".

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It could be argued that human beings see their significance as a species (or 'why they matter') in terms of the ways in which they differ from and are above other forms of life, because considering how much pollution, ecological destruction, and species annihilation occur at the hands of people on a daily basis could you really say that human beings collectively interpret how they matter in terms of their role in the ecosystem?

Programmable machines was a metaphor, but most animals operate primarily through instinct, which is arguably a type of programming. What happens when our ability to think and operate individually beyond those terms is compromised? (Even you pointed to Topher's "bison" comment before.)

But this is all a matter of interpretation of the professor's words. That's what I took away from it, if you didn't feel the same, that's fine too.

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The drunk example is an interesting comparison but not an exact one and brings up questions.

The first question is a minor one due to your phrasing:

Is a casual deal with a friend or a friend of a friend equivalent to what ostensibly seems like the contractual consent of the Actives? (I believe Caroline/Echo signs on the dotted line.)

This part also leads into other questions as far as what kind of vetting of the Dollhouse is done by clients prior to engagements and what is their understanding of whatever arrangements have been made between the Dollhouse and the Actives?

The second more major question:

Can drunkenness really be equated with what's done to the Actives? When drunk you've diminished your inhibitions and limited your ability to make effective choices, but the option to say "no" (no matter how impaired you are, no matter what deals you've made, and no matter how far things have progressed) is still there, providing no ambiguity as far as law and morality are concerned.

This is where the key difference lies and where the show tries to move into the realm of extremely hypothetical: What if we had the technology to absolutely remove the option itself and have your choices dictated to a completely invasive degree by another party without having any memory of what happened? What if you understood and agreed to THAT arrangement?

In your scenario choice still remains, even if passive. In the show's scenario, choice is non-existent because it's been voluntarily erased along with all cognition of what may or may not have happened.

On the whole, I don't think the show is condoning the idea of the Dollhouse (or the actions of its clients). The problems we've seen, the potential abuses, the reservations expressed by Langton, the questions surrounding how Actives are recruited, and the fact that the narrative seems to be moving towards the efforts of the protagonists to end the Dollhouse seems to suggest that the writers agree that the idea of the technology presented by the Dollhouse is more wrong than right (if right at all).

I actually thought this was the worst episode yet, namely because it completely ignored previously established points and didn't make a lot of sense. For one, it started right out by ignoring the established point that the dolls don't remember their prior interactions within the dollhouse. Remember the bit in the fourth episode in which Topher compared the three dolls to bison? Watch it again -- he clearly states that they don't remember each other (implying that they start clean after each engagement), which is why he found the fact that they were eating together for the third day in a row to be so unusual. Yet in this episode, it was treated as common knowledge that they do remember each other.

Then there were those documentary segments, which I mostly found shallow and distracting. And the last one was just lame. "As a species, we would cease to matter." What makes a species matter, and how would the use of personality-overriding technology suddenly eradicate that worth? The last guy's interview was presented as if it were something deep and thought-provoking, but thinking about it just reveals how stupid it really was.

I think that's my biggest problem with the show in general, though.

I'm confused Brad; I thought before you said it was spelled "Alfa" and now you're saying it's "Alpha"?

This really is starting to remind me of "Alias". At least its first season. First the idea that there are active dolls all over the U.S. or world who don't even know they are dolls, and that there are numerous DollHouses, was very similar to how SD-6 was just one complex in a web of secret terrorist organizations fronting as goverment organizations. What is the DollHouses' main goal? Guess we don't know that yet.

I've liked almost every episode except for last weeks, wasn't that crazy about but this episode was amazing, hands down the best so far.

That fight scene with Ballard and Echo was amazing.

Mellie being a doll didn't surprise me, I thought she was from the first time we saw her, what surprised me was how brutal her alter is, that was amazing how she killed that perv.

The scene with Ballard and Patton Oswalt in the kitchen was really good, I almost did cry when he was describing what happened to his wife.

I knew there was a rumor Mellie was an active. The actress was hired to play November after all. But I really thought DeWitt would have her killed (active or not) to stop Paul. It was cool to see her activated. I like Millie and Paul. It will be devastating when he discovers she's not "real." You have to admit that DeWitt is very intelligent if not somewhat ruthless. I like the idea of someone being on the inside. It's too obvious to by the doctor or the assistant. Be funny if it was Dominick.

I liked the reason for Miner's "engagement." He just wanted to see his wife's reaction to the new house. You can almost see the sense in that. I really like that....not quite as nefarious/exploitative as some of the others. We need more of those.

>< ♥
i loved this episode so muchh.
it annoys me that fox didn't let joss have full control over everything from the start.
because if they did, i'm sure we've have this reaction right off, in stead of six episodes in.
i've liked every episode so far, but this was definitely my favourite :3(l)
joss is bossssssss.

By far the best episode yet. If Joss can keep things at this level then he should get a second season.