The world is a very simple place
at first.
Then, as we grow up, it grows around us,
a dense thicket of complication and disappointment.
Unbearable for some.
And even for the luckiest of us, still sometimes
more than we can handle.
Less than we'd hoped.
I know you've heard colorful rumors about what an Active is.
Robots, zombie slaves.
Mostly people think they're just very good liars.
They are, of course, quite the opposite.
An Active is the truest soul among us.
Baby,
you are so beautiful.
You know what I feel when I look at you?
Blessed.
I don't know, Eddie. I'm just...
It just doesn't feel right.
Don't I take care of you?
Don't I always hook you up, make you feel good?
Hey, I love you.
Then, why do you want me...
They're friends,
a few friends. They'd lay down their lives for me.
So I wanna show them something beautiful.
Give them a gift.
And you are a gift.
You are so beautiful.
Hey, Eddie.
Am I beautiful?
What? You don't think I look good anymore?
I think I look good.
What... I don't even know you.
You don't know me?
Get away from him!
He tells you you're beautiful, right?
He used to tell me that. I think you've lowered your standards.
You're crazy.
You think you look good, huh? You think you're a gift?
Baby, that bitch is high.
No, this is Eddie the prince, giver of gifts.
You don't think he has five girls just like you
that he can dope up and drag out to his little parties?
Or did he tell you his friends are agents or casting directors?
I didn't ask.
Eddie, she lacks ambition.
You are a dead woman.
Then how can you possibly hurt me?
Get out!
Eddie?
He was crying. Did you see him crying like a tiny woman?
Stay away from me.
Or you'll what?
What do you want?
I want you out.
You go to a hospital, dry out
and get your mother to take you back to Crib Death, Iowa
or wherever it is you're from.
So you can have Eddie all to yourself?
Were you asleep just now?
I'm talking about you having a life.
What life? I'm gonna go back to nowhere and what? Wait tables?
There's a lot worse things to be than a waitress,
and you're already most of them.
You don't know me.
I am you, dumbass.
I'm the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come.
I was a gift. Then I was a frigging hand-me-down.
Then I was gone.
My big break, one of Eddie's friends
put me in the hospital long enough to clean up.
I can't have a drink
or a child.
But maybe I get to stop Eddie from killing someone else the way that he killed me.
This is why I'm here. To save you.
Well,
what if I'm not worth saving?
There is only one moment in your life.
Everything comes from now.
Do you wanna live?
Or do you want another drink?
Mmm. Yum.
So, where are you honeymooning?
Oh. We've rented a villa in Nice.
I mean, nothing elaborate.
But so beautiful.
And did Richard say you're fluent?
Well, I mean, I get by.
Ah! I can't even order a steak.
Oh, my God, Richard.
You hear it, too?
This is one of ours.
Thank you so much for including me tonight.
Well, thanks for coming.
Care to sweep me off my feet?
Apparently, they met at some old person's tango class or something.
Thank God you dumped him or you'd be out there risking an ankle.
Yeah, well, good for Richard.
Oh, he's flaunting.
You know, I figured it was just a pity date,
but the way she looks at him...
You know what, it doesn't matter.
This is the happiest day of my life.
Yeah. But where does a girl like that get the...
This is the happiest day of my life.
What about you, chica?
Are you scared?
That'll be the day.
It all seems pretty clear to me.
Does it?
Whatever I want, right?
Within reason, yes.
Reason?
Well, the kind of money that I laid out just for the background check alone,
well, I was under the impression that reason wasn't gonna be a factor.
Where reason applies is in the safety and well-being of our Actives.
I got no interest in hurting anybody.
I don't object to a little adventure. I'm a physical fella...
Everest twice. I got that from Newsweek.
Our Actives can keep up. You sure?
The personality imprint extends to muscle memory, as well.
Whatever our Actives are called upon to do,
they will, in effect, have spent their entire lives preparing for it.
Doesn't seem possible.
Would you be here if it did?
Suppose I just want somebody to pretend that they're in love with me?
Then you are out of luck.
If you engage an Active, then he or she...
She!
She.
Then she will see you
and totally, romantically, chemically fall in utter and unexpected love with you.
The imprint would make her your exact match,
the girl who has waited her entire life to meet a man like you.
Not the money, the man.
And we're alone?
I mean, assuming that there is a amorous side to the engagement,
do we got the whole staff listening in on our business?
Of course not. That's the point.
But if you're supposed to protect...
A Handler monitors an Active internally for signs of danger or distress.
If your engagement involves criminal activity,
then the Handler might listen in, yes,
but otherwise, he has no idea what's happening.
Nobody knows.
This couldn't work any other way.
The... What do you call them? "Active. " She knows.
She's got all the secrets. You really telling me that she forgets?
The moment the engagement is over,
she will have an overpowering urge to return to our facility
where she will be wiped of all memory.
What happens is always and only between you and her. Do you see?
You are a man who can have everything he wants.
If what you want is to have someone dress up as a cheerleader
and tell you how big you are, you can hire a thousand women
to do that quite convincingly for the price of one day with an Active.
This isn't just about what you want. This is about what you need.
An Active doesn't judge, doesn't pretend.
This will be the purest, most genuine human encounter of your life.
And hers. It is a treasure.
One I guarantee you will never, never forget.
This is one of ours.
Hey, Eddie.
Go to a hospital, dry out...
You're okay.
What if I'm not worth saving?
Hello, Echo. How are you feeling?
Did I fall asleep?
For a little while.
Shall I go now?
If you like.
Nice view.
Yeah, look at all the pretty lights,
and the people look like ants,
and I can see my house from here.
You trying to get me killed? I wasn't followed.
You think you weren't made outside Nikolai's?
Feds have a tent pitched outside that joint. One more agent isn't news.
You cannot be sniffing around the family and talking to me.
The Borodins see us together, we both get a death.
And I don't get the nice one.
Your family's that scary, maybe you shouldn't rat on them.
Hey, you don't know me, okay?
I owe a guy, who owes a guy,
so I give you the time of day and you thank me for it.
Besides, the family's clean on this.
They traffic girls.
Maybe, maybe not. But they don't brainwash them.
I thought you had something I could use.
Yeah, yeah. It's called common sense.
Give it up. I did what you asked.
I start throwing the word "Dollhouse" around, my people,
they look at me like I'm a tourist. I can't afford that.
Maybe you're too small time.
It's a myth, okay? It's an urban legend.
Young people having their personalities replaced
so that they could be the perfect date.
It's alligators in the sewers.
No. You got no leads.
Anything you think you had led you to me, and I'm a dead end.
You don't know what I got.
What you got is the nicest version of fired the BI has.
See, you don't know me, but I checked you out plenty, Agent Ballard.
You don't close.
You get blocked, you rush in, you don't make nothing but a mess.
Bureau takes pity, gives you the one job you can't blow because it doesn't exist.
The technology exists. I've seen the reports.
Somebody made a monkey tango, right?
It doesn't mean it's being used on people.
It does. It means that.
How do you know?
We split the atom. We make a bomb.
We come up with anything new, the first thing we do is
destroy, manipulate, control.
It's human nature.
Yeah, people are mostly crap.
I don't think there's a Dollhouse.
I hear different, I'll get word.
Personally, I wish there was.
How come?
So I could sign up, wipe all my terrible burdens away.
I'll keep you in mind.
Not a care in the world. Okay?
I start over, I wanna be Doris frigging Day.
We'll fix this up.
A couple of days, you won't even be able to see it.
Good day.
I wasn't certain where to sit.
This smells very good.
I think so, too.
I swam 30 laps today.
Good for you.
I'm tired now.
It's important to exercise.
I try to be my best.
Are you?
Excuse me?
Are you your best?
I'm not sure how to know that.
I think if you always try, that's best.
Right?
Every day is a chance to be better.
I'm gonna climb the rock wall after lunch or maybe swim.
They're eating lunch. Thank God you called.
They're eating lunch together, man-friend.
Echo, Victor and Sierra.
Topher, I had three days in that van outside the hospital...
Third time this week. Same three. Even the same table.
They're grouping. Are you saying
they remember each other?
No, no, no. The wipes are clean.
This goes deeper than memory into instinctual survival patterns.
Flocking. A whole mess of sparrows turning on a dime.
Salmon trucking upstream.
This isn't a book club, man-friend. This is the herd.
They're not bison, Topher.
They're a little bit bison.
Well, they didn't used to be.
What is this? Have you been hanging around the Phantom?
The Phantom? Dr. Saunders.
That self-lacerating crap reeks of her.
She's a glorified GP, Boyd,
and BTW, she is the reason you were at that hospital.
I didn't say it was a wrong job. I'm just tired.
Dr. Saunders is operating under the radical theory
that those people are still people.
People who volunteered for this.
So we're told.
Wait, you are not allowed to have conspiracy theories
when you're in the employ of the conspiracy.
These folk elected to give us five years of their lives,
after which they will be blissfully ignorant and very wealthy.
And what about during?
What about those things we program them to do?
Even if they did sign up, they didn't know what they were signing up for.
Lay down your burdens, old man.
They have what everybody wants.
They live every life,
have every skill, every experience. They fall in love.
Hey, real love with unreserved passion.
There's nothing real about it. They're programmed.
Does that tie keep you warm?
What? No.
No, it's just what grown-up men do in our culture.
They put a piece of cloth around their necks
so they can assert their status
and recognize each other as non-threatening kindred.
So what is this, the '60s? Are we gonna burn our draft cards?
You wear the tie because it never occurred to you not to.
You eat eggs every morning but never at night.
You feel excitement and companionship
when rich men you've never met put a ball through a net.
You feel guilty, maybe a little suspicious,
every time you see that Salvation Army Santa.
You look down for at least half a second if a woman leans forward.
And your stomach rumbles every time you drive by a big golden arch
even if you weren't hungry before.
Everybody's programmed, Boyd.
Damn. You really spent some time on your self-justification.
Not the case. I don't care. This is an awesome gig.
This is cutting-edge science in a house full of hot chicks.
Morality is programming, too.
So you think Echo's the initiator?
It's looking like.
I might go ruffle through the Phantom's files,
see Echo's physical progression.
If she is really evolving beyond the wipes...
Then sooner or later, she'll wind up dead.
And we might, too.
Well, I guess we have our own little conspiracy, man-friend.
Don't call me that.
We're not friends?
We're not men.
Hey, Ballard. We got a call.
A couple of kids found a house in the woods
all made of candy and gingerbread.
Thought that might be up your alley.
Oh, my God, that's hilarious.
Where'd this come from?
Granny left it.
Man, her teeth looked big.
Because three days is when I can get to it.
You scan the face, you look for a match. Computer does all the work.
I got plenty of faces to scan
for people much more impressive than you.
But not as charming.
Was that flirting? I think so.
Uh...
It's been a while.
Tell me what I gotta do.
Okay.
You know what? The scan for a dog.
A dog?
Black lab, two-year-old.
Pets or meat? I don't want a dog.
I got a black lab I gotta get rid of.
Why?
Because my terriers don't like it.
I don't want a dog.
Well, you can't leave it in the country
and you can't toss it in the river.
You gotta find it a good home.
Is it house-trained?
That's a complicated question.
No, it's not.
Well, this is spectacularly unacceptable.
Our man in the Bureau flagged it.
There's no match. There's no trail.
There's the picture.
This is the same agent?
Paul Ballard, yeah.
Victor was supposed to throw him off.
He never said anything to Victor about a picture.
We have to assume it came after.
From whom?
We can shut this man down.
It's not an ideal scenario, but there's no indication he's going away.
And given what's at stake...
I'm well aware of what's at stake, Mr. Dominic.
Yes, ma'am.
Taking him out is a last resort.
If he has the picture, he may have more.
We do have some loose ends dangling,
and if he's got his kitty claws into any of them...
We need to bring him out, get him talking.
I can make him talk.
You won't make him.
He'll talk because he wants to.
Yeah, it used to be called the Devonshire Hotel.
You know, big noise back when Hollywood still had its dignity.
If it's abandoned, what am I looking for?
The basement.
If people were being held, they probably would've been down there.
Hey, I'm getting this third-hand.
I still think it goes nowhere.
Then why call?
Because you inspire terrible pity. Watch your back.
Get off of me!
Don't move!
Hands! Hands!
Don't shoot me.
ID.
I just wanna get home. Please, you don't have to hurt me.
Step forward. In the light.
This is you? Yeah.
This is you, Shauna Vickers? Yeah.
Middle name?
Daltrey.
Shauna, I'm gonna holster my weapon.
If you try to run, do anything sudden or hit me with anything made of metal,
I'm gonna unholster my weapon. Are we clear?
Are you a cop?
I'm Agent Ballard, FBI.
"Paul. " That's right.
Middle name?
What are you doing here, Miss Vickers?
I'm looking for someone.
My sister.
Why would your sister be here?
She's not.
You gotta be straight with me... Do I?
Because you people have been pretty fricking bendy with me.
Eight months she's gone and nobody moves a muscle.
I get doubletalk and excuses. They call her a whore.
She's gone. My little sister drops off the face of the planet
and nobody in the system
can lower their donut long enough to follow a lead!
I have your picture.
What?
Somebody sent me a picture of you.
Why? I don't know.
Well, are you sure it was me? Can I see it?
Trust me.
You here alone? Yeah.
Come with me.
Dr. Saunders? Phantom?
You seem a little out of place.
Uh... Hey.
Dr. Saunders, I...
I think you're aware of the policy on Active evaluations.
Well, I think you know how I feel about rules.
Or you might not. I feel oogy about them.
The policy is open book. All records are to be shared,
and you have access to them whenever you want.
Well, I wanted. But now I don't. It passed. Like gas.
Do we have a problem?
I don't have a problem.
You're stealing things you have a perfect right to.
All right, I'm busted. Get out the thumbscrews.
Look, can you promise to keep something to yourself?
No.
Okay. Hell with it. Look...
A couple of the Actives...
It's Echo. That's her file.
Well, that pro bono deal that you've been pushing, the good works,
I think it's stretching them a little thin.
Echo had an engagement and...
The girl in the hospital. I know.
Yeah. The girl in the hospital had Echo by her side for three days.
It was supposed to be one.
These things, they're unpredictable,
and they're a drain on the Actives.
Boyd is still bitching about the three-day stint in the van,
but that's actually kind of funny.
I'm compiling a report.
I'm making a paperclip Eiffel Tower.
The report is conclusive. In every case, including Echo's,
we've seen improvement in muscular response,
cellular cohesion, in stamina.
All of the Actives who have been sent on pro bonos,
on totally altruistic engagements, are physically improving.
Wow. Emoticon.
Have you cross-checked their cognitive response?
It's not my job to improve them, Doc.
I have to keep them right where they are.
You of all people should know what happens when one of them...
This is different.
This is about their experience of the world.
Which they forget.
The standard engagements,
the partying, the sex, the crime...
That's not all they do.
There is a physical need
for something other than fulfilling the whims of the rich.
They fall in love.
Love is a selfish emotion.
And altruism isn't?
Break it down. Helping others makes us feel good about ourselves.
It's not that simple.
I program them so that it feels good.
What? So I'm a monster, right?
I'm compiling a report.
After she stopped writing, I came out. The boyfriend was gone,
so I talked to his friends and their friends,
just circling lower and lower.
Where did you hear about Dollhouse?
Couple of times. Mostly as a joke,
but a guy told me
people were being taken off the streets and, like, hypnotized,
doing stuff they don't remember.
This guy was, well, a pimp and so I didn't...
I'm sorry. You want a drink or something?
Do you have a wine cooler?
I didn't know they still made those.
I've got a white wine in the fridge. I never opened it.
I think it's a sweet kind. German.
Ex-wife leftovers?
How did you know I was divorced?
Wife.
Ex.
You should maybe have my job.
I do. They're just not paying me for it.
And the Phantom pops out. Nearly gave me a coronary.
Wait a minute. You got Dr. Saunders involved?
She crept up on me. And, no, I totally played her.
I got her ranting about her precious pro bonos.
I don't get what your beef is with her.
Uh, she's creepy.
Come on. I mean, she could have something done about those scars.
Maybe she wants to remember.
Remember? Alpha.
We all remember Alpha.
Doesn't mean I'm getting him tattooed on my face.
It'd be an improvement.
Oh.
This pimp say he knew anyone personally involved?
He said there was a man who looked like a cop
who was talking to his girls about a better life.
I asked for his name, but I didn't have any money,
and he said he'd only give me information for
trade.
Maybe we'll go look him up. Maybe he'll trade with me.
I'm sorry.
No, I...
I'm trying so hard not be such a girl.
I think you blew that with the wine cooler.
Tell me what you know.
I know the science is there.
I know it's working at a very high level. It's not a back-street op.
And I've had enough people tell me I'm crazy to know I'm probably not.
Do you have a file or leads, something I could look at?
Am I allowed to look at that stuff?
Yeah, give me a sec.
Oh.
You okay?
Okay...
Wine might've been the wrong idea right now.
You eat today?
A little. I'm on a budget.
And I had a gun pointed at me. That doesn't really help my equilibrium.
I'm sorry.
God, I'm not. You make it real.
Everything I've been through, everything I...
I'm trying awful hard not to go all white knight on you, but...
I am not the white knight, Shauna.
I've been butting up against this case like a moth on a screen door
for longer than I'd like to admit.
Nobody thinks it'll make, which is a pattern with me.
Everybody tells me, "No. Give it up. Back off. "
Even the missus tells me, "No. No more. No thanks.
"So long. "
I go a little nuts. Is it real? Am I anyone?
And then you show up.
Then I remember. I remember yes. I remember connection.
I'm so relieved, and I think,
"Who tells me exactly what I want to hear?
"Who gives me just what I need?"
Nobody. So I think maybe that's who you are, nobody.
Please...
So maybe I'll take nobody down to lockup
while I run her prints.
I can get them from your fingers whether they move or not.
Get up.
I'm not nobody.
Are you Caroline?
What the hell is this?
I got made.
Guy was dangling. Next second he nearly takes my head off.
Help me with this.
I thought this was a recon. You had a kill order? On a Fed?
Nobody's ever made me. I'll check the bedroom.
Topher, you made Echo an assassin?
I thought that she was looking for her sister.
No, no, that was just her cover.
Her character had to be in on the grift so she'd ask the right questions.
She had to be in on it and I didn't?
I'm not the boss of you.
Come on, who gets that response time?
I got the wallet.
He hired a girl. It got ugly. She took his stuff.
It's a classic tale. It'll stick.
Would you look how lonely this poor schmuck was.
You gonna have a lady over, you'd think he'd tidy.
We need extraction. We're cut off from the van.
Heading down Montero.
Son of a bitch made me.
What did he say?
I don't know. Nothing.
He grabbed me. I had a gun at my skull. I didn't chit chat.
I pulled this act on a hundred guys.
How come this one doesn't buy it?
You're usually not lying.
Where the hell is the car. It's been...
No, that's a bad call. There's no way she can...
What is it?
It's not a 187.
What?
We got a guy at St. Peter's.
It's looking like you didn't hit anything vital.
No way. No.
What are you doing?
My job.
You can't go near that hospital. It's...
It's gonna be stuffed with cops.
I've been slipping past cops since I was five.
I don't leave a job unfinished.
Please!
Just think about this.
Stay away from me!
Eyes on the road, sweetheart. I'll let you know when you can get out.
Can't you just shut her down?
Uh...
A remote wipe is very twitchy.
And Echo out there without an imprint,
she'd be helpless and pretty noticeable.
She's about to noticeably shoot her way into an operating room.
Hey, I imprinted her to be a sociopath, not an idiot.
Look, the orders from on high are to complete.
Even if you could stop her,
what do you think they'll do to you if you do?
Judith, I thought I told you to...
Hello.
The decision was mine.
I thought containment was...
It's being handled.
Immediately. Yes, sir.
Thank...
Judith.
We got the stand down.
Job isn't finished.
It's finished.
I don't complete, I don't get paid.
You're gonna get paid, kid.
Job isn't finished.
Nobody's ever made me.
Maybe that's who you are, nobody.
Are you Caroline?
A kill order on a Fed.
Hi-ho, the glamorous life.
A kill order the Handler doesn't know about is reckless.
This whole operation is based on not being reckless.
Nonsense.
We walk the wire, man-friend.
We live in the Dollhouse, which makes us dolls
and the people playing with us, little children.
Children break their toys, Boyd.
Hello, Echo. How are you feeling?
Did I fall asleep?
For a little while.
Shall I go now?
If you like.
You're doing wonderfully well, Echo.
We're so glad you're staying with us.
I try to be my best.
Agent Ballard lives.
Point blank, two slugs, and he'll be walking in a week.
How is that possible?
I gave her the skills. She knew where to aim.
Or where not to.
She had no reason not to complete.
The agent is a problem.
I want to make sure that Echo isn't, as well.
Pay very close attention to her,
and if she shows you anything you don't expect...
We're in this together.
The day we forget that will be our last.
Caroline.