Episode 4 - Gray Hour
28 March 2012
Synopsis: Echo is stealing one of the Elgin marbles from a hotel when her mind is remotely wiped and she returns to her innocent state. As her co-conspirators try to escape from the vault they are trapped in Sierra is loaded with the same personality to talk Echo through her next move. Echo escapes in the shootout with the guards but Topher realises Alpha was responsible for the wipe. Agent Ballard refuses to help Lubov (Victor) who the Borodins now want to kill and throws him back out onto the street.
The Good: This is a very detailed and complex episode which keeps your attention throughout.
The mysteries and complexities of the Dollhouse are on full display here. We learn that Echo, Sierra and Victor have formed a “friendship” within the Dollhouse on an instinctive level. It’s a fascinating concept even when not connected to the show as it examines the behaviour of humans who have no memory to guide them. It also sheds light on Echo’s behaviour last week where she warned Sierra off public acknowledgement of their friendship. We now see it more clearly as an instinctive learning curve which Echo is on as she begins to vaguely remember things about her surroundings.
Then there is the hierarchy of the Dollhouse. Adelle has to deal with her own boss just as she is admonishing Topher for calling an Active without her permission. Adelle also senses that Boyd would have trouble killing Echo because of the bond he has formed with her. The complexities of office politics are a bit of a substitute for character development here but they do give the Dollhouse a clear organised structure with rules which guide behaviour.
The ongoing tension over Alpha’s interference in Echo’s life is interesting too (see The Unknown). He definitely provides a source of great intrigue as we don’t know if he is hunting Echo to try and help her or testing her for his own strange agenda.
The Elgin marble mission itself also provides some entertaining moments. Particularly the opening twist where the writing plays with our perception that Echo goes on a lot of sexual missions. Instead her interaction with the hotel employee was an act all along but it was a well hidden twist. His desire to hush her up to cover for his rich clients is an interesting parallel with the secret engagements which the Actives engage in. Then the discussion of art between innocent Echo and the tech guy was a nice change of pace, a quite moment amidst the drama. It was interesting that he disliked bossy “Taffy” but warmed to innocent Echo.
Boyd has already marked himself out at the shows most likeable character. His motives are the least conflicted and his desire to protect Echo makes him very likeable. Here he plays the professional better than anyone. He takes no crap from the art expert and just shoots him in the leg when he tries to escape. In so many shows a simple gun shot to the leg would feel like the solution to standoffs. And Boyd isn’t angry or unkind to the man he has captured just honest and matter of fact. It’s a very welcome contrast to the agendas and baggage which the other characters carry. Finally Sierra being loaded with the same personality was a nice sensible solution to the problem (in an intriguing sci-fi way). And it offers up so many fun acting possibilities if the writers chose to go that way.
It’s nice to see Topher get a sidekick in Ivy. Hopefully he will be able to showcase his humour and personality better with an underling to play off rather than constantly be questioned by his superiors.
The Bad: The big plot hole comes when Echo escapes from the vault under cover of a smoke grenade. There was just no plausible way for that to happen and for Boyd to enter the building so easily to help her. But that is the least of Dollhouse’s problems at this stage.
The Agent Ballard story takes another weird twist. He seems to literally send Lubov to his death even though Lubov comes to him for help. It makes Ballard seem so cruel and vicious. The whole story is confusing though. It would seem Victor was sent to infiltrate the Borodins by Adelle in order to throw Ballard off the scent. But that’s just an assumption, it hasn’t been explained well and it’s not clear what the Borodins connection to the Dollhouse is at all. Worse than that though the Ballard scenes seem so heavy handed and needlessly gritty that they almost feel like they shouldn’t be in Dollhouse at all.
The problems with Ballard’ story may get cleared up but they feed into the larger issue of Dollhouse’s complex web of characters. We just don’t know who to route for. Now there is nothing wrong with sophisticated storytelling. There’s nothing wrong with morally grey characters. But on some level people need a moral centre of some sort to be able to feel things for a television show. “Gray Hour” is a suitable name for this episode because the story is so grey that it’s difficult to know how to react to it at all.
The Elgin Marbles are a real world thing. The Greeks want them back because they feel they were stolen from them while under occupation. So the engagement to steal them back could be seen as a good mission. But the people on the mission are professional thieves and they do slap Echo around a bit so we want them to get caught right? I suppose but we don’t want Echo to get caught right?
Or do we? We still don’t know if there is good intentions behind Adelle’s decisions or those of her superiors. Should we be rooting for Echo to break her programming or should we be glad she is spending five years here rather than some worse fate? Because we don’t know that, we don’t know whether Alpha is good or bad. Is he Echo’s saviour or a bad guy who shows the path we don’t want her to take? Is Topher a good guy we should be laughing along with or a dangerous man with too much power? When Echo’s missions go wrong is that bad because she might get arrested or good because she might achieve self awareness?
There is just so much we don’t know that none of the drama or tension has any real emotional resonance for the viewers. The episode felt intriguing until it finished when I realised how flat I felt about all that had gone on.
The Unknown: Was Alpha wiping Echo’s mind for a reason or was he just experimenting? Was he testing her as we have seen him do before (102)? If so why? What was Victor’s purpose as Lubov? If Ballard has sent his details to the FBI then won’t he get arrested while out on a different engagement? The Greek client is assured by Adelle that she doesn’t know the details of his request. But that’s a complete lie right? Topher and Boyd know what it is and surely Adelle knows by the time it starts going wrong? Who are Adelle’s bosses and what is their endgame?
Best Moment: Just a little touch of realism did it for me. Laurence picks up the marble and almost drops it as he carries it out of Adelle’s office.
Epilogue: Dollhouse still has no moral centre. It’s too grey for any humour or drama to get viewers involved. But it remains full of intriguing possibilities and they are carrying the show right now.
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