Dollhouse Season 1 Episode 2: The Target

The second episode of Dollhouse is written by Steven S. DeKnight, the man who gave us Spartacus and the first season of the Netflix show Daredevil. The man is a genius writer who knows how to tell a story with emotion and action.

An alarm goes off and all of the dolls are put into the ground. We find out that a doll named Alpha has broken into the dollhouse. In the showers Echo sits alone, not touched by Alpha while dolls all around her are cut to pieces. What is so special about her?

A client comes to the dollhouse looking for an exciting date. Echo is assigned the job. Everything is going good on the date, Echo and this guy are rafting down the river and climbing mountains. It's more exciting than any date I've been on.

We see that Ballard is on the outs with his fellow Feds. They don't believe in the Dollhouse and think that he is insane for believing that. He investigates the scene of the kidnappings from last episode, he knows that dolls were involved he just can't prove it yet.

Just after Echo and the man have sex he tells her that she has just enough time to make it back to the mainland before he comes after her with his boy and arrow. She takes off running.

A flashback shows us Boyd Langton getting the job at the dollhouse as he is assigned to Echo. We see how precise Alpha is at killing people. It seems that Alpha has some how managed to combined all his different personalities into one. The doll has come to life.

Ballard is getting his information from Victor, not knowing that he is in fact a doll. He also gets a mystery package with a picture of Caroline Farrell, the girl that Echo was before she was wiped.

Echo gets hit by the arrow as Boyd gets captured by a man pretending to be a cop. Boyd fights with the man, taking him out. While Ballard is being declared a threat that needs to be taken out by the head of Dollhouse security. Topher breaks in and tells them what is going on with Echo. Who is still on the run while man hunts her down.

This guy is crazy, who wants to hunt someone for a living? What is this, the Pest? A great movie by the way! Echo finds a cabin with the real cop's dead body inside. The cops walkie talkie connects her to the man hunting her who tells her that the water she just drank was poisoned. Things are going south for Echo. 

Meanwhile back in the flashbacks we see that dolls always trust their handlers, no matter what. They are programmed. Echo sees flashes of Caroline, she is starting to undo her programming, much as Alpha did.

We meet Ballard's neighbor, a girl who clearly likes him. He doesn't seem to like her back. It's a bit sad, she seems like a sweet girl. Seems being the key word. Echo runs, not as fast as before but her drive to live keeps her going. She finds Boyd who gets shot as he tries to get her out of there. Saves her life, no matter how hard he tries to stay emotionally detached from her he can't.

Boyd gives Echo a gun and she starts to turn the table on him. It comes down to a Mexican standoff, her with her gun and him with his bow and arrow. They both fire and barely scratch each other, Echo tackles him but he manages to get on top of her. It is then that she sees Echo and all the other versions of herself that the dollhouse has made of her. It is what gives her the strength to beat him. She goes back to Boyd just as the people from the Dollhouse finds them.

Everyone makes it home safe and sound. It turns out that the man who hired Echo was fake. Everything about him was fake. Someone even went and killed the man who Boyd captured. It looks like Alpha's work. We also hear for the first time the term the attic. What it is, we don't yet know but it will play an important part of the story soon. Great second episode!