Dollhouse 2x13

Dollhouse, “Epitaph Two,” Los Angeles 2019 ... chaos, anarchy, the end of civilization as we know it... Another year later in this post-apocalyptic state and half the world has been wiped and imprinted to kill the other half. Our savior, humanity’s hope for survival, Caroline/Echo, has been imprinted into this young girl, named Iris in “Epitaph One” ... but she and her sidekicks get abducted and taken to Neuropolis ... “The City of Minds,” young Caroline explains (in case you don’t speak neo-Greek; it actually means “nerve-city,” but who turned on the History Channel, right?) ... where once Tucson, Arizona, used to be ... where the Rossum Corporation used to have its headquarters ... and where they developed the vaccine against neurological imprinting... Had they not blown up Rossum’s laboratory, would its technology have been safe? It sure doesn’t seem to be in the right hands now... Young Caroline ends up locked inside with the real Caroline (Eliza Dushku), who’s still with Paul Ballard kicking ass. Then they bump into genius whiz kid Topher, who’s on the brink of reversing the effects of imprinting, “bringing back the world,” as he puts it...

Adelle DeWitt is living in some agrarian community with Priya (beautiful Dichen Lachman) ... and then Echo barges in with Ballard, Topher, Iris and her sidekicks ... “The world still needs a hero,” Ballard blurts out, and finally they call him corny. Fortunately that’s when things get interesting! The compound gets raided by some poor Mad Max imitation, oh, wait, it’s Victor speaking whatever foreign language, and he’s here to help (with another sexy Asian toting guns). Alas we soon find ourselves in the mid-episode dip, when things get mushy and melodramatic in some unsuccessful attempt at psychological depth ... the kind of sentimental blah-blah I’ll spare you... “You got a hundred people living inside your head, yet you’re the loneliest person I know” ... that kind of crap, but then again, they’ve already called Ballard corny.

Anyway, they drive into L.A. where Armageddon is still on its last legs ... to get inside the Dollhouse ... fighting, confusion, lots of guns are fired ... and Big Bad Ballard takes a bullet in the head trying to protect one of Iris’ sidekicks (and I still don’t rokin give a dam)... Then they find the Dollhouse is in fine working order, thanks to Alpha (the original rogue Active). Victor’s sidekicks get anxious and start pointing guns hoping to become masters of the universe, but Alpha, Echo and Victor take them down easily. Some alone time in his old bunker bed and a video of Bennett Halverson (that awfully cute Summer Glau) allows Topher to finish the “Pulse” tech to reverse imprinting. We get some more pseudo-religious crap about shepherds leading the flock, while Topher sacrifices himself for the salvation of mankind and atone for his sins. Then, whoosh, all is forgotten ... well, not for “Actuals,” they all remember everything ... and Caroline walks to the chair to be with Ballard one more time... The End. (Next week I’ll give you a final analysis of the show.)