Nothing is what it appears to be.
It seems pretty clear to me.
Because you're only seeing part of it.
I'm talking about a clean slate.
You ever try and clean an actual slate?
You always see what was on it before.
Are you volunteering...
I don't have a choice, do I?
How did it get this far?
Caroline, actions have consequences.
Oh, God, you're loving this, aren't you?
I'm sorry you don't understand what I'm offering here.
But what we do helps people.
If you become a part of that, it can help you.
Right. You're just looking out for me.
Perhaps better than you have.
We can take care of this mess.
After your five-year term, you will be free to...
I don't deserve this. I was just trying to make a difference,
trying to take my place in the world,
you know, like she always said,
and now I'm...
I know.
I know. Actions have consequences.
What if they didn't?
Here it comes, you better use it
You're gonna need her when you least expect it
Money runs, what do you spend it on
You are too busy just to take what you need
This heart could heal
If you had the courage just to say what you feel
Speak mother tongue You're gonna come
Into the fold where you all feel good
Did you want advice for love and life
Well this was all we knew
We visit here but once my love now, what you gonna do?
Here it comes, I better use it
I think of nothing as I'm spinning on an axis
In place Do you dedicate?
Oh, my mood will always turn
And sweeter skin
Happy birthday, man.
No way. No way. You cheated.
How did I cheat? You did something
that will prove to have been cheating. This isn't over.
Oh, my God, you are a sore loser.
I wouldn't know. I've never lost.
That's okay. The first time, you're always just a little bit sore.
Wow, that's funny,
coming from a cheater who is also a little bitch.
You sure you didn't let me win?
Two out of three, huh?
Nah. Let's just dance.
What's going on, on the floor?
I love this record baby, but I can't see straight anymore
Keep it cool What's the name of the club?
I can't remember But it's all right, all right
Just dance Gonna be okay
Da doo-doo Just dance
Spin that record, babe
Da doo-doo Just dance
Gonna be okay Just dance
Dance, dance, just, just dance
Dance, dance, dance
Are you having a good time?
The best.
Listen, I know at the beginning of the weekend,
we said no strings.
And then we also said no ropes,
and look how long that lasted.
Yeah, I remember. I remember it all.
I always will.
What, like I'd forget?
You think this is a normal weekend for me?
Maybe?
Wow, I had no idea you were a moron.
Look, it's little, it's stupid, but...
I want you to have it.
You're an amazing guy, Matt.
When you say it, I almost believe.
Thank you. For everything.
It's getting late.
You're not getting out of another dance.
Of course not.
I'm just going to go grab a drink.
Okay.
Are you ready for the treatment?
I think it's time.
Did you have a nice time?
I met a guy.
Dude, where's your friend?
It's time for her to go.
Had to get to her carriage before it turned into a pumpkin.
What?
Stroke of midnight.
Midnight?
The end of the ball.
Dude, it... It's like 5:00.
Hey, you think you could take me
back to the party after my treatment?
I'll wait right here.
You're good people.
Right.
Maybe I shouldn't go back.
I mean, the last thing I want to be is clingy,
but you know when you just, you meet someone and... You know?
If I'm wrong, I'll know. I mean, Matt can't lie to save his life.
If he gives me that look, I'll walk away.
But I don't know, I think he feels it, too.
And I think I found something real.
I'm glad.
This is going to pinch a bit.
Did you have a nice time?
I met a guy.
I want you to have it.
You ready to be a sad second place, then?
No obligations.
Really?
No pressure. It's just an experiment.
How much fun can we have in three days?
Hello, Echo. How are you feeling?
Did I fall asleep?
For a little while.
Shall I go now?
If you like.
Everything go all right with the wipe?
Why don't you just ask Echo?
That's right. Because she can't remember.
Of course it went all right.
Imprint's gone. The new moon has made her a virgin again.
Is there some reason it shouldn't have?
Something happen during the engagement?
I think she finally met the right guy.
You're so jaded at such a middle age.
She had fun, right?
She thought so.
There's nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so, man-friend.
We gave two people a perfect weekend together.
We're great humanitarians.
Who'll spend their lives in jail
if anyone ever found this place.
We're also misunderstood, which great humanitarians often are.
Look at Echo.
Not a care in the world. She's living the dream.
Whose dream?
Who's next?
I don't understand.
You don't have to understand.
You just have to do as I tell you.
They'll find out, you know.
And why should I care about that?
They'll laugh at me. Everybody watches it.
It's all they talk about.
That's 'cause their brains are melting,
and that reality crap is the reason why.
I finished my homework.
Well, if you finished your homework, you should get a present.
How about knowledge?
Knowledge.
I hate you. You have that right.
Why are we stopping?
You know, I could watch it, and you'd never know.
Yeah, well, I'd see it all over your face even when you were sleeping.
Some kind of roadblock.
I gotta go.
And I'll know.
Tyrant.
She's completely helpless.
I mean, she's 12 years old, just a kid.
How much are they demanding?
Five million.
And you'll pay it.
Thanks.
In Mexico, kidnapping is a thriving business,
which is part of why we live here when my factories are there.
But if you pay, there's a better chance...
Have you contacted the police?
I was instructed not to. They're useless, anyway.
I need this to go smoothly. I need Davina to be okay.
Mr. Crestejo, you're a valued client.
We will of course provide what you need.
But there is a risk factor involved.
I don't want Rambo. I want a negotiator.
This goes like clockwork, you understand?
That's who I need.
Clockwork.
Well, our Actives are not robots,
but I think we can make this work for you.
Mr. Dominic will discuss the security details with you,
and you can enter the rest into the confessional.
Please remember, the Active won't know they came from here.
Any discussion of this place will only confuse them,
and possibly send them right back.
I know how important it is that not happen.
Yes. Thank you.
I'm terribly sorry for all this. We will help.
Yeah, this feels very tight.
I think you fell on it with something heavy.
I don't remember.
Well, it's going to be fine.
And your blood work and internals are all shipshape.
I'll just ask one of the staff to work on that knee.
Would you like a massage?
They're relaxing.
Yes.
I'll set that up.
I don't remember what fell on me.
Does that bother you?
Should it?
We'll look after you.
Does someone look after you?
Why don't you wait in the massage area,
and I'll call for someone to work on that knee?
She's not asleep.
What...
Just keep mapping the tissue.
Hey, Echo. What are you doing here?
She hurts.
She does.
That's because it's her first time,
and we have to do more extensive work on her.
Work?
We're making her better.
In a little while, she'll be strong and happy,
and she'll forget all about this
and you will have a new friend living with you.
Her name is Sierra.
Sierra.
Aren't you supposed to be getting your physical
with Dr. Saunders, far from here right now?
We're ready for your massage, Echo.
Something fell on me.
I bet it was something great.
Agent Ballard, you were assigned to case designate
Dollhouse over 14 months ago.
How would you describe your progress to date?
Slow.
I'm actually very impressed by what I see here.
You've physically threatened a senator,
disrupted a seven-year human-trafficking investigation,
been arrested for trespassing on Prince Amoudi's yacht.
The only legal action you've successfully
followed through on is your divorce.
Paul, let me ask you. After all this,
do you think the Dollhouse really exists?
I know it does.
You've seen it, then? You could, like, take us on a tour?
Look, we all know this assignment is a joke.
If it's a joke, then pull me off it.
Except you can't,
because someone bigger than you thinks it isn't a joke.
I'm a billionaire. I can hire anybody for anything.
And I'm going to go to an illegal organization
and have them build me, program me, what, the perfect date?
Confessor, assassin, dominatrix, omelet chef?
I'm paying a million dollars for that? I can get that.
I have everything I want.
Nobody has everything they want. It's a survival pattern.
You get what you want, you want something else.
If you have everything, you want something else.
Something more extreme, something more specific.
Something perfect.
Put it like that, it doesn't sound so bad.
The only way to imprint a human being with a new personality...
Which we've yet to prove possible.
...is to remove their own. Completely.
We're talking about people walking around
who may as well have been murdered.
Which to me sounds pretty bad.
Is that why you interfered with the Russians?
The Borodin case?
They're top of the heap in human trafficking.
If people are disappearing, well...
That is an ongoing investigation!
All right? We have a chance to dry up
a major pipeline of girls being smuggled into this country,
and you do not jeopardize that for a fairytale!
You will stay out of everyone's way,
and you will stop pissing off powerful public figures
without any evidence!
You've been out of line, Paul. You have to back off.
You need to keep away from the Borodin case. Do you understand?
Are you able to back off?
That won't be a problem, sir.
Hello, Echo.
Would you sit down, please?
The situation is a kidnap and ransom,
12-year-old girl named Davina Crestejo.
The girl's supposed to be exchanged for $5 million,
which her father is willing to pay.
And we are going to help him do that.
Kidnapper's Latino, probably Mexican,
refers to himself as Mr. Sunshine.
This is a high-risk engagement,
so you'll have both eyes and ears this time.
Audio off a wire, and we'll tap you
into his security vid on the house and grounds.
Anything goes wrong, or feels wrong,
you extract Echo immediately.
Her purpose is to facilitate the exchange, nothing more.
No one is to be brought to justice.
We'll skip any ex-cop heroics, if you don't mind.
Not a problem. My only priority...
Is Echo.
Good.
So, who does she think she is?
Gabriel Crestejo?
I'm sorry, who are you?
You asked for me. I'm here to help.
I'm Eleanor Penn. Our mutual friend referred me.
I'm sure he did. I'm a little surprised, though, that he sent you.
I'm good with people. I put them at their ease.
In my experience, a beautiful woman
never puts anyone at their ease.
Fatherly types do that.
They're warm and comforting, make people feel safe.
A beautiful woman distracts people,
makes them nervous or jealous.
I can't afford that. Not with what's at stake here.
I think our friend sent the wrong person.
Fatherly types.
Like Edward James Olmos.
I hope there's no offense.
None taken, and I'm not leaving.
You can hire someone else, give them my fee,
but I'm the one best qualified to save your daughter.
I've been doing this my whole life. Just this.
You want people to feel comforted? We're past that.
These men are stone professionals.
They took her from your house.
Not on the way home from school or in the park,
they came inside your house, your seriously fortified house,
in order to tell you that they could.
I've dealt with the others, amateurs,
men with a grudge or an urge.
You want a professional, a man who knows the business.
Knows how high the stakes should or shouldn't go.
The percentage of successful negotiations goes way up.
And what's the percentage?
Not 100.
Is her room in here?
I'll show you. We haven't touched anything.
Glasses, Topher?
She's nearsighted.
Is that supposed to make people take her seriously?
Like the librarian thing is going to hide the fact that she's...
Am I speaking Urdu? She's nearsighted, Boyd.
You can mess up her eyesight?
I can mess up the neural connections to her eyesight.
Make her brain process the information it gets any way I want.
As, for example, blurry.
But why would you? Why handicap her in a job like this?
You see someone running incredibly fast,
the first thing you've got to ask is,
are they running to something,
or are they running from something?
The answer is always both.
So these personality imprints,
they come from scans of real people.
Now, I can create amalgams of those personalities,
pieces from here or there, but it's not a greatest hits,
it's a whole person.
Achievement is balanced by fault, by a lack.
Can't have one without the other.
Everyone who excels is overcompensating.
Running from something. Hiding from something.
The past?
Sometimes.
So what's in the past that you gave Echo?
That's her business, Boyd.
She's right for the job.
She spent her life
profiling and negotiating with kidnappers.
That's the person they needed, so that's who Echo is.
The expert.
Who's nearsighted.
She also has asthma.
What took you so long?
Is this Mr. Sunshine?
Where is Gabriel?
He's right here.
My name is Eleanor Penn, and I'll be handling the transaction.
I told him no cops!
Put Gabriel on. I'm going to cut his little girl
so he can hear.
He can hear.
I am not a cop. I'm not FBI.
And I have no interest in justice.
I'm here only to facilitate a private transaction
and make sure no one is hurt during it.
No, you're a federale. You think I'm stupid?
I think you knew Gabriel wouldn't call the authorities
if you took Davina, which was not stupid.
But Gabriel can't do this alone.
He's afraid and angry,
and he knows those emotions are of no use right now.
So you'll deal with me and everybody will get what they want.
You may call me Miss Penn.
I may?
I call you Miss?
I think I call you Ellie, since we're becoming such good friends.
I will not answer to Ellie. You may call me Miss Penn.
Oh, so you're the schoolteacher now, huh?
What, you going to rap my knuckles if I'm bad?
It's unlikely.
You're telling me how it's going to be?
I have the girl, okay?
I make all the rules.
You want $5 million?
That's right.
Let's make it eight. What?
$8 million. That's $2 million apiece.
Call back in 40 minutes and let Davina talk to her father.
There's no way you're just going to give me an extra three...
You have the money.
It would have been polite to ask.
They have to get used to doing it my way.
Right now, they're getting very used to it.
Or they think she's messing with them.
I am. But you'll give them the money.
You have to get used to doing things my way, too.
The last time a family's head of security
let their daughter get kidnapped,
she was recovered in three days. His body never was.
Speak out of turn again and I will scold you.
How'd you know there was four of them?
You said, "$2 million apiece. "
Guy didn't blink.
You heard him not blink?
Four's the median number in these cases.
Three guys with ambition, one with information.
What more can you tell me about them?
I'll tell you when it's useful for you to know it.
They better put her on.
They will.
In 38 minutes.
You're the boss, Ellie.
Miss Penn.
What, you don't believe me?
This immigration guy, he's patting me down, he's feeling me up,
he's starting to get very personal, right?
I tell him he should buy me a drink,
tell me I look pretty if he wants to grope me like that.
You're a talker, new guy.
It's Lubov. Velnik asked me to come,
give Mr. Borodin my respects.
I like a talker.
Immigration, he doesn't even crack a smile. Then out comes the rubber glove.
I'm serious.
Loomis, I got a name for you.
Hello?
You got $8 million for us?
That's right.
If it's that easy, I think we going to make it an even 10.
What, what are you doing?
You hang up on me again, I chop her up right now
and I'll use her for bait!
Is Davina ready to talk to her father?
You've got one minute.
Papi?
Mija... I'm scared.
Mija, I'm right here.
Papi, I'm sorry.
No, no, no, mija, it's not like that.
You just do as the men say, I'm going to bring you home.
It's okay, it's going to be okay.
I'm scared.
All they want is money.
They yell at me. Except the one with the mask, he doesn't talk.
It's dark in the room, but I can hear the...
Davina.
I'm a friend of your father's.
I need to know if they're hurting you.
Not much. But they push me around.
Did they feed you?
A little.
And they wouldn't let me use the bathroom at first,
but then they did. It's the small kind...
Your father wants to tell you something.
I...
I... I want you to be strong, Davina.
Remember that I love you
and I will never let anything happen to you.
I love you, papi.
Please put the man back on.
The money tomorrow.
I call you at noon to tell you where.
And she'll be there.
Maybe.
There are only two ways for this to go.
Either everybody gets what they want or nobody does.
We will not pay if she's not there.
You told me you're good with people.
I misspoke. I'm good at people.
She was trying to tell me something!
And I needed her not to.
Suppose they figured out what she was trying to tell you before you did?
Do you think this would endear her to them?
If we could find her before they do something...
And what, rush in with tear gas?
These people don't handle surprises well.
They get their money or they dig a hole.
You have to trust that I've done this many, many times.
I have to trust that, right.
Yesterday, you weren't a nurse or a clown in the circus.
What? You're the best.
The best one they could send. Why is that?
What makes you so good at this?
I don't have any hobbies.
No, no, no, no. You have to do better than that.
You have to make me believe, believe like you believe. Who are you?
You want my résumé? I studied psychology, forensic science,
profiling from former instructors at Quantico.
Been licensed seven years, handled over 12 negotiations...
Why, why, why?
What made you do all those amazing things?
Did something terrible happen in your childhood?
Did horrible men come and snatch you away?
Yes.
You were kidnapped.
When I was nine.
How long did they... Three months.
And they did things to you.
Unprofessional things.
Is this helping you in some way?
You don't remember?
Maybe it's all made up.
There was one.
He got rid of the others after they were paid, and...
All the terrible memories these men put in your head.
Why would they do that?
Sometimes the bad things just happen
and no one can protect you from them.
I'm okay.
I'm fine, I'm okay.
I'm sorry.
Forget it.
I'd like to get some sleep. We've got a long day tomorrow.
I'll have Maria make you up a bed.
Don't move.
Hey, make sure the ladies at my table have what they need, huh?
The champagne never stops flowing. The good stuff.
For the first few bottles, the good stuff.
After that, the house is fine.
You're about to make a very bad mistake.
Dollhouse.
What? Dollhouse. Say it.
Dollhouse. Say it again.
Your, your brains are...
Okay, dollhouse. Doll freaking house.
I'll keep saying it, it's fun to say.
Dollhouse, dollhouse, dollhouse, dollhouse.
You see the Borodins, you say it some more.
You think you want to mess with the Borodins?
No, but they supply girls,
some of them very high-end, to fine, upstanding clients.
There's one client I'm interested in.
Find out who's connected to the Dollhouse,
the Borodins won't be touched
and you'll never see me again.
I haven't seen you yet.
You will. Wash your hands.
And your shoes.
You look better than on the phone, chica.
It's still Miss Penn.
The money.
Please. This is not your first time.
Let's go. Come on, let's go, let's go.
Davina! Davina, mija, it's okay. Papi's here.
Okay, now you show.
We take that on the boat. Your daughter steps off.
You don't move towards her until we are away.
Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Hey, Boyd, what's going on?
We're good so far. No, no, no, no.
Echo's not good. Something's not good and Echo knows it.
This is maybe your first time.
It's just a condition. We're not making trouble.
Are you trying to blow this?
Don't let them on the boat.
But you said that's the way it is.
They're not going to give her back.
He's not going to give her back.
No, wait, wait, wait, wait. She gets off first.
Get the hell back.
You give me my daughter!
We need an ambulance. The client is shot.
Extract the Active. Do it now.
Is it bigger than your thumb?
Echo...
Is it, is it bigger than your thumb?
Miss Penn, look at me.
You can't fight a ghost.
You ready for your treatment?
You can't fight a ghost.
It's so dark. Of course it's dark. It's better.
You don't see, you don't make a sound.
You forget his face.
Whose face?
He's all thumbs.
What happened on the dock? What went wrong?
He doesn't give them back.
Who, the man in the mask?
He's old now. She's the same age.
I'm proportionately similar to a girl, a small girl.
The older man. You know him.
He's the one that took you. They never found him.
He said he was a ghost.
You can't fight a ghost.
But he was heavy, the weight of him...
Ghosts aren't heavy. Ghosts are sheets with holes cut out.
He took you away.
And now...
It's unprofessional.
He's taken Davina.
She's proportionately similar to a girl...
He won't touch her until he's taken care of the others.
The other two men?
They'll be dividing the money
and make sure there's no tracers, no dye pack.
They'll get excited. They won't see him coming.
Six hours. Before he kills them?
And takes her away.
On the boat? It's been seen.
They were planning to beach it, anyway.
It's a Houlberd, 30-footer.
It's got a decent range.
And it was riding high.
They haven't bothered to fuel it, good.
Let's place them anywhere from here to here.
Still a lot of choices.
I'm missing something. The...
The man on the phone, what did he say?
The mask.
Only one man wore a mask.
Because she knows him. He doesn't just have information.
He's in her life.
We find him, we find the ghost.
How does she know him?
Something the other one said.
We need to do my treatment now, and we need to do it fast.
Miss Penn... Come on, Langton.
A client's in critical, weapons discharged.
You think I'm going to let you hold her hand while Topher scrubs her?
Two minutes. You have any idea
of the crap that's raining down on us?
Handler intervention triggers an immediate debriefing
to make sure that we weren't exposed.
We're close.
As soon as I finish my treatment, we'll find her.
He won't do this again.
I need to talk to DeWitt.
You need to tell me everything that went down today.
It wasn't a glitch. The imprint was rock-solid.
There was a weird spike last night,
but what happened at the dock happened to Eleanor Penn.
Or the people we made her out of.
I need you to do this quickly.
I live to serve.
Barging in here isn't going to help your situation, Mr. Langton.
Echo can find the Crestejo girl.
I'm sorry. He's faster than you'd think.
You cannot wipe her right now.
I can do any damn thing I see fit.
Echo botched the engagement.
She jeopardized this entire operation.
You botched it, Miss DeWitt!
You gave her the memory of an abused girl,
and you put her face-to-face with her abuser.
She recognized one of her kidnappers.
And she can find him again.
She's the only one who can.
Ma'am, we need to distance ourselves from this.
We don't know if the client's going to live.
This is becoming news.
I'm sorry, Mr. Langton, but this is complicated.
No, it isn't.
Echo's in pain, but she's the right girl for the job
and she knows the territory.
She can find Davina before that man lays a finger on her.
You wipe her, you've lost all of that.
We do not have a client!
We have a mission!
We prefer to call them engagements.
You have not been here as long as some of the others,
so I will overlook the error.
I've been here long enough to know
that you like to tell yourself what we do helps people.
Let Echo help this girl.
Where are my glasses?
I know how to find her.
It was the first call. The kidnapper said,
"You're the schoolteacher now. "
He stressed "you're," like there's already a teacher in the mix.
The one in the mask.
Check her school. See who's missing.
He's been close to her. He's probably not Latino.
Ms. Penn, I'm Laurence Dominic.
Security contractor. Yes, ma'am.
I have a chopper standing by.
I'll need a radio contact while we're en route.
That'll be Mr. Langton. He's staying here.
She needs backup. Not from you.
I'm her Handler.
Miss DeWitt will decide what you are.
James Shepherd, Caucasian male, 33.
Out sick 12 consecutive days.
Has a sister with an isolated house six miles from the dock.
I'm going to need a clean and quiet touchdown with zero chance
they'll see or hear our approach.
With respect, the last time you went
head-to-head with these people, you folded.
My man's fully... Your man gives me 10 minutes
or Davina will die.
How is she?
See the blue areas? That's fear.
It all looks blue.
That's where I'm going with this.
The persona we developed?
Bunch of different people. Yeah.
And one of them was abused by the guy she ran into.
I know.
Yeah, I looked her up.
She killed herself. Last year.
She never got away from him.
What are we playing at?
It's the woman. What?
From the drop?
Damn it!
Who else? You see anyone else?
I'm alone.
Please open the door.
Don't do it, man.
Listen to me.
Who knows where we are?
Everyone's going to know very soon, Mr. Shepherd.
You left a wide trail, but that's not your problem.
He is.
Hell you on about?
As soon as that money's counted,
he's going to kill both of you.
You think we'd fall for that crap?
Turn us on each other?
You tell us how long till they come, you talk.
Or I find something to stuff that mouth up.
I think I'm a little old for you.
The man that shot Mr. Crestejo is dead.
He will be identified as the ringleader.
You two haven't killed anyone.
You can let me leave with Davina
and get out of the country very rich men.
The girl's not here.
She's in the fridge. You unplugged it and pulled out the shelves.
You had to rope it shut, of course,
'cause these days, they don't lock.
We were going to tell people where she was.
You were going to die.
'Cause there's something this man wants even more than $8 million.
Shut your mouth!
Hey! Lady seems to know a lot.
I know everything.
All the girls he kept till he was through with them.
Till he got bored, or just broke them down.
I even know about the one he dumped in the river
before he was sure she was dead.
It's over.
You can't hurt me anymore.
You can't fight a ghost.
We're going now. We'll be okay. Here.
Go now.
I told you to wait.
There were shots. We made a call.
We were coming out.
Is she injured?
Are you hurt?
Then get over it. The money's here.
I want it bagged and our presence swept in three minutes.
You're okay. You're okay, okay?
You're free.
It's a solid win, ma'am.
The client's stabilized. We have the payment, plus the $8 million.
And both Actives performed admirably.
It nearly came crashing down on us.
It was contained.
Yeah.
Yes. Now tell me how we're going to contain this.
No, no, no, no, get that thing out of my face.
It's for the video yearbook. Say hi to your mom.
Okay. Hi, mom! Are we done?
Is there someone you'd like to say goodbye to?
Ditra and Meg,
life without you will be meaningless and bleak, my dormies.
And the girls of Sigma Tau, sisters forever.
Let's hope those venereal diseases make you all sterile,
you snobby-ass pack of hos.
That's definitely going in.
So... So what are you planning on doing
after graduation?
Yeah, I probably should have thought about that.
I'd like to take my place in the world, like Mrs. Dundee taught us.
Global Recovery, Doctors Without Borders.
The world is in need of some serious saving.
And I want to travel. Travel around the world as I save it.
In a private jet that I pilot and design.
Okay, go ahead and laugh, yearbook monkey.
I know, I'm such a cliché.
What can I say? I want to do everything.
Is that too much to ask?