A Fifth of Whiskey...

...goes a hell of a long way.

**SPOILERS ABOUND**
So if you haven't watched the Dollhouse finale, I'd suggest you do so before venturing any further... and after looking at the length of this monster, I'd suggest you pack a lunch and take frequent breaks... I have way too much time on my hands--yet not enough to proofread, so good luck...

With a show like Dollhouse, you find yourself questioning just about everything. In a universe where anyone can be anyone, and reality is completely subjective, it's tough to nail down the edges and hammer out the exact details (annnd I seem to have stumbled into an unintentional carpentry metaphor... huh). Henceforth, at various points during the season, I've questioned who may or may not be a doll with just about every character in the show. That said, I'm thrilled to say that I honestly didn't see Whiskey coming and it made for a pretty delightful reveal.

When Wash was revealed as Alpha, it was fairly anticlimactic given that I had learned that this was the case well beforehand. As I watched the episode, and Alan Tudyk quickly shifted from meek scientist to psychotic killer, I couldn't help but to think that for viewers who didn't know that was coming, it must have been an awesome reveal. It then occurred to me that the only people watching Dollhouse would be people who would already know who Wash was and that he was going to be playing Alpha about 8 episodes ago. Nevertheless, it was well done and Alan Tudyk's performance was completely badass from beginning to end. An even better reveal, although I actually saw this one coming, was November. I suspected that she was a doll from the very beginning, but the sequence where Adelle flips the switch over the phone so that November can totally kick some ass was masterfully done. I suspected she was a doll, but I didn't see that reveal playing out like that at all. The cutaway from Paul calling the house as he raced back and then having the answering machine pick up with Adelle's voice was absolute genius and made that episode one of the very best of the season.

Those reveals were impressive enough, but the fact that I didn't see Whiskey coming made her reveal much more satisfying. I'm extremely glad I didn't know (even though as I'm typing this, I keep thinking, "I probably should have seen that coming..." and trying to decide if I'm a moron for not knowing) because the reveal, a true reveal this time, was fantastic. It was especially delectable because the reveal that Dr. Saunders was a doll, a doll that was closely tied to Alpha when Alpha first started to go off grid, answered a hell of a lot of questions. Though the revelation wasn't quite as thrilling as November's, it was much more meaningful.

When I saw the figure silhouetted, I assumed it was Echo (as I'm sure was the show's intention). That's kind of where I kick myself for not thinking about it harder and not seeing it coming that the dancing figure might not be Echo. I feel like I should have known. In my defense, however, I assumed that the show was simply reminding us of how very "on Fox" we were, because nothing spells Fox programming quite like a scantily clad dancing girl (and let's face it, it would have been about the dozenth time this season that Echo would have filled such a role). Whether I should have seen it coming or not, I didn't (I was going to lie and say I did, but in the interest of full disclosure, I'll admit to being a fool) and when Dr. Saunders stepped out from silhouette and was clearly a doll, a barrage of oh-well-that-explains-a-lot!s went off in my head. Awesomely, delightfully, brilliantly.

I spent the rest of the episode thinking of everything that had happened on the show and how Whiskey had been built up without my knowing it. I was so focused on how Echo and Alpha formed the crux of the narrative that Dr. Saunders somehow slipped by. That revelation goes back to pretty much every previous episode and explains a hell of a lot, and for a viewer, there's no better turn than one that informs on all other events. It's why the Sixth Sense was such a success. Seeing Whiskey and Alpha interact while they were on their Natural Born Killers assignment explains why he didn't kill her when he killed everyone else. There was a connection there. A connection that Alpha's real alter ego appreciated. That Dr. Saunders is a doll explains how she would have seemingly implicitly known that the actives needed closure in that episode where Echo, Victor, Sierra, and November were allowed to "wake up" and take care of things in their real lives. It explains why Alpha asked her if she had always wanted to be a doctor and then mocked her affirmative response. It explains why Dr. Saunders has always had a more sympathetic relationship with the dolls, because (whether she realized it or not), she related to them on a fundamental level. It also explains how she came to have such a job in the first place, why she never seems to leave, and how a young, attractive doctor would seemingly have no friends or associates outside the house. And most thought-provoking, it shed a curious light on Dr. Saunders' relationship with Topher, who programmed her in the first place, although that asked a lot more questions than it resolved. It answered all those questions and more and the flashbacks to her days as a doll helped outline what happened with Alpha, how Echo got mixed in with all this, and what imprint he gave Echo to get her out of the dollhouse. It was exceedingly satisfying and quite a delight as all those things that I had questioned fell into place all at once.

The season (series?) finale was at its best with its flashbacks and Whiskey-related revelations. I found myself much less interested in Echo's perils than with the good Dr. Saunders and her heartbreak at realizing she was a doll. This whole show has reminded me of Blade Runner since day one, and Dr. Saunders realizing who she is/was was as poignant as Deckard illuminating the fact to Rachael that all her memories were fake and that she was herself a replicant. Take into account the theory the Deckard was himself a replicant and the actives in the Dollhouse take on even more parallels and titillating dimensions. For me, the Whiskey storyline was at least as important as the Alpha/Echo craziness, and as far as I'm concerned, a lot more visceral and delivered more meaningful impact. The scene where Dr. Saunders confronts Topher was probably the best, most memorable, and most engaging event of the finale. To see Topher, who heretofore had basically been an amoral prick with a serious god complex, truly, deeply, emotionally affected by the situation was completely gripping. The confrontation begged so many questions about their relationship that I want to know the answers to, but more than likely never will (damn network--odds are my darling Dollhouse won't be coming back next year). I loved that she broached the confrontation with the fact that he programmed her with rather more computer skills than she would likely have had. He programmed who she is and he chose to give her a skill set that a doctor wouldn't need just because he wanted to. He also programmed her to hate him and seemed truly disappointed and even a little crushed that she didn't want to see who she really is/was. Why? Why does he care about her and no one else? Why would he made of point of keeping her at a distance? Was it their past? Did he know her real self? Did he recruit her into the Dollhouse in the first place? Is that how he came to be there too? Did he program her with enough computer skills to hack his system (which would have to be a hell of a lot of skills) because he wanted her to find out? Why does she not want to know who she was? So many whys, so few answers. Of all the crazy that happened in the finale, that interaction is the one the truly stayed with me and has me lamenting the fact that the show probably won't be back the most. Whiskey's revelation and Topher's emotional progression carried the most intrigue for me and hearing Topher's voice break as he wiped Echo at the end of the episode was perfect.

I'm sure as you're reading this, you're completely incredulous that with all the awesome Alpha stuff and all the crazy Echo everything, that Whiskey is what most caught my attention, but there it is. I think it's that Dr. Saunders is a consistent character. She's been the same imprint since the very beginning, so unlike Echo, I feel like I know her character and I genuinely care about her. Echo is someone new from week to week, and what little I know of Caroline wasn't enough to really endear her too me. That the wedge with Caroline on it was in danger was a concern to me, but more so because it was a concern to others (Ballard and Boyd), rather than a deep, intrinsic fear that her persona would be lost forever. I cared because characters that I care about cared, and in that sense, Echo's peril just didn't resonate with me in the most meaningful way...

That said, as enamored of Whiskey's storyline as I clearly was, Alpha's and Echo's journeys were the real A-plot and were what Whiskey's storyline provided the most backstory for, and I would be remiss not to pay it due attention.

Although the action/thriller/horror aspects to Alpha's story were enthralling and central to the overall season narrative, I found the more cerebral facets to be just as entertaining. I really loved the thought that Alpha's new imprint(s) could be angry and resentful at his true self for allowing himself to be wiped in the first place. That the new imprints would immediately destroy the original wedge really grabbed me. Was it mere resentment that his true self would be so stupid (not knowing, I suppose that he was a prisoner who likely had no choice), or was it some sort of survival instinct? Does each imprint realize that it can be wiped and essentially erased? It gave the whole concept of imprinting a fascinatingly parasitic quality that really struck me. It's a dynamic between characters that I've never really experienced before, and that's something special, something unique. I particularly enjoyed that Alpha clarified that it's not multiple personalities, it's multiple people (even though one of his people has multiple personalities--heh). I've seen multiple personality disorder before, where one personality is aware of all the others, but to see dozens of personalities all at once, and manifested in this way, was a very different and much appreciated experience. That dozens of individual, sentient beings (essentially) were governing Alpha's decisions led to a wide range of actions and reactions, motives and agendas, desires, fears, and vendettas that were wonderful to see played out.

I have to admit though, my conception of what the "composite event" that he experienced was far different that what I had expected. I had always assumed that his past imprints were somehow reactivated in his brain, as though they were never truly wiped from the mainframe. The actual composite event was much different, although the fact that his true self manifesting formed the basis for the event was spot on.

With a show like this, it's always difficult to know where you stand and what limits have been imposed. Unlike past Whedon productions where the rules are often explained in length (thank you, Giles, Wesley, Fred, etc...), the Dollhouse universe seemed to have a more empirical construction, and that made it all the harder to keep track of, but all the more rewarding to see it played out. Episode to episode, I had (and still have) numerous questions about the science of it all. Phlebotinum showed up in my explanations with astounding frequency, but I was willing to go with it. There are still issues that I find irksome (like how exactly did they get this giant catalog of personas? and how is it that a conscious, sentient being is extracted, not just their memories?), but I was willing to let those go by the wayside for the sake of the story. With Dollhouse, we mostly know what is possible because we've seen it in other characters. It's a sneaky way to construct the rules of your universe (especially when your universe isn't overtly furturistic or fantasy), but it allows for less exposition and a more natural learning process for the audience, which I appreciate.

With Buffy, a hell of a lot of things were explained and defined upfront and then episode to episode, as needed. Dollhouse had its fair share of exposition, but the most meaningful information was empirically proven or denied. Which brings me back to Alpha and Echo. The flashbacks of Alpha first seeing Echo and becoming inexplicably drawn to her, in a way that neither he, nor the Dollhouse, would have expected or understood, is entirely possible and believable because of Victor and Sierra. What may have seemed like a minor love-story subplot actually formed the basis for the entire narrative. The audience knows that this is possible and how it can manifest because they've seen it in others. That Alpha's true self was able to shine through is understandable and possible because we've seen it in Echo. That Dr. Saunders could be a doll and not even know it is possible in the same way. That the current persona could be cognizant enough to want to keep the body it's in is a reality because of the episode with Adelle's friend who died. Even something as seemingly meaningless and innocuous as the actives being programmed to want to be their best while in the doll state turned out to be absolutely pivotal. Take that fundamental wish, combine it when Alpha's obsession with Echo and his true psychopathic self shining through and Whiskey gets disfigured so that Echo can "be her best." The rules and parameters of this universe are neither clear nor finite, but they exist because we've learned them the way any newcomer would learn--observation, trial, and error. It makes the questions that arise week to week much more perplexing to answer, but that's part of the fun. Echo's journey over the course of the season has been almost as murky to viewers as it has been to Echo, Paul Ballard, Topher, Adelle, Boyd, and everyone else.

Essentially, the viewer had the same perspective as Ballard. Like the audience, he didn't know how the universe operated and had to piece things together based on observation, trial, and error. That he became so consumed with Caroline is largely because she represented a huge unknown. It's a big part of why the viewer cared about her too. She was the key to understanding the Dollhouse, so in spite of her new personality each week, she was the key to something much more fascinating. It's for this reason that I was less concerned with Echo's (and Caroline's) fate than with Alpha's, Dr. Saunders', Topher's, and Ballard's. At the end of the day, she's still just a piece of something much much bigger. And as counter-intuitive as it feels to discount the lead character in such a way, that's where I ended up, and I think it's where Ballard ended up to large degree as well.

I may not have seen the Whiskey reveal coming, but I did see predict that Ballard had selected November to be the doll released, not Echo. Aside from Echo kind of being important to the show and all, Ballard's fantasy is essentially over. He rescued Caroline, though he did so in a way that was far less glamorous than he ever could have imagined. Unlike the Sleeping Beauty fantasy he had constructed for himself where he'd storm the castle gates and rescue the blushing damsel, saving Caroline boiled down to catching a computer chip before it hit the ground. Caroline represented the unknown, the key to something much more intriguing than any one person could be, and now that Ballard has broken into that universe, Echo/Caroline is much less of a mystery and much less of a fantasy. He had only had an emotional connection with her in his mind, whereas November was a real flesh-and-blood person. A person he knew was a doll, but took advantage of her anyway. That's why he picked her. He was still wracked with guilt over his past actions with her and saw this as the only way. But, in a sense, he managed to have his cake and eat it too. In essence, he gave up what little was left of his fantasy of Caroline by choosing November instead, but he also got to keep his fantasy locked away in her little pod. What if Caroline wasn't all he had envisioned? What if it all ended with her walking out the door? At this point, Ballard is wholy and entirely invested in the Dollhouse and Echo/Caroline, and I don't think he wanted to give that up.

In this respect, the show threw me for a bit of a loop. Going in I expected to be completely invested in Echo and to see Echo's true self and her past imprints manifest over time, but at the end season, I found that I was much more invested in everyone else on the show. Echo proved to be merely a device for all the other characters to be presented. Her story was central and intriguing, but having a new personality each week began to wear on me. I found myself wishing she remembered what happened last time and focusing more on characters who did remember. Even the other dolls turned out to be more primary in my focus, particularly with Whiskey being revealed. For me, Echo was more of a gateway than anything else, and although she's beginning to remember who Caroline was, I'm not yet invested enough in Caroline to make her my primary concern. As the finale drew to a close and Echo whispered her real name, I was thoroughly bummed out that I'll probably never get to see Caroline truly find a place in my heart (as the show likely won't be back next season). I'm not sure why the other dolls grabbed me more than Echo, but I would have liked her to have had another season for her to become more sentient, more detailed, and ultimately more essential as an individual, not just a cog in a terrible wheel.

There are so many things I would have loved to have seen in second season. That Alpha is still out there is fundamental to the overarching story, but it's the shifting relationships within the dollhouse that I would most liked to have seen fleshed out. That Ballard has taken a position with the enemy, that Topher has a heart, that Dr. Saunders is a doll, that Boyd has questioned his allegiances, and that the entire organism has been tested ethically, procedurally, and technologically are all pivotal dynamics that I'd like to see more of. But, as mentioned previously, it's looking pretty grim. The ratings just aren't there and I don't see Fox taking a chance on anything that isn't a safe bet. The show started off a little uneasily, but really did find its stride and turned into a first tier show all the way.

All the half-naked Helo didn't hurt either...

I'll miss you, Dollhouse. I'll hold out for a miracle, but I won't be holding my breath. At least Castle's chances are looking better and better, right?