MiracleLaurie

Suppose you were the head of a real-life Dollhouse that wiped volunteers' personalities, downloaded new ones into their brains, and rented them out to the super rich and privileged. Would you let your Dolls walk away, no strings attached, after they've honored their contract?

Yeah, me neither.

The last episode of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, "Instinct," featured the newly liberated November/Madeline (Miracle Laurie) returning to the Dollhouse to undergo a "diagnostic." According to Adelle, the procedure is necessary to make sure Topher's tech didn't permanently blow a fuse inside Madeline's pretty head. Madeline was understandably cautious when Adelle came to visit her and prod her into getting the check-up. "I have this irrational fear that if I say the wrong thing, men in suits are going to throw me in a black van and take me away," she said.

Can you blame her?

(S02E02) So, um, what happened? Dollhouse came back last week and posted its lowest ratings to date. It's a shame, because the show continues to find its footing. What was impressive this time was that the episode was compelling and dramatic, and it had virtually nothing to do with the overall story-arc for the series.

Just like some of the best episodes of The X-Files were "monster-of-the-week" installments, this "imprint-of-the-week" chapter was simply brilliant. It explored the full capabilities of the Dollhouse technology, where we got our first hint that Topher's genius can sometimes push him to doing things he shouldn't. At least not without testing. It's this character flaw that led to his failures in "Epitaph One."