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Title: “Epitaph Two: Return”
Written by: Maurissa Tancharoen Whedon, Jed Whedon & Andrew Chambliss
Air Date: 29th January 2009

Here it is, the final episode of Dollhouse ever.  It’s not as monumental an event as it will be when Lost airs it’s final episode sometime in April, but for fans of Eliza Dushku’s and Joss Whedon’s action sci-fi drama it’s something of note.  I’m not what you’d call a true diehard fan of Whedon or Dushku.  I don’t think Firefly is as good as it’s become in the eyes of many, and I’m still not convinced of Dushku’s acting chops, but I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt simply because of my undying love for Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Buffy is the only reason I sat through the first half of Dollhouse’s first season, having faith that Whedon had a plan and would soon begin executing it.  That plan began to form around episode six “Man on the Street” and from that point on Dollhouse improved exponentially.

This season has been great from start to finish with each episode seemingly building on the mythology developed during the tail end of the first season and the futuristic unaired first season episode “Epitaph One”.  It’s only fitting that after the previous two episodes where the gang took on Rossum in an attempt to destroy the technology that we get another Epitaph episode which picks up soon after the original story.  The three survivors from “Epitaph One” are making their way to Safehaven under the guidance of Caroline in the little girls body.  They’re soon apprehended and taken as bodies for Rossum execs Harding (Adelle’s one-time successor originally played by Keith Carradine) and Ambrose (previously seen in “Echoes”, “Meet Jane Doe” and “Getting Closer”).  Echo and Ballard have already infiltrated the complex in order to rescue Topher who’s being used to develop advanced tech for Rossum.  In his disturbed state Topher says that he can return the world to how it was and restore all the people affected by wipes to their original selves.  All he needs is access to the Dollhouse back in LA.  The whole gang go back to LA and find Alpha protecting dolls in the Dollhouse.  Topher’s tech is to be shot into the stratosphere and this will allow it to dissipate across the globe.  However, because Echo, Priya and Victor don’t want to go back to their original selves they must stay underground in the Dollhouse for the next year whilst the radiation (?) from the bomb fades.

Whew, as you can see a lot of stuff is crammed into this final episode in order to give a proper sense of closure to the Dollhouse story.  It does feel a little rushed at times, but because “Epitaph Two” is set ten years in the future it allows the writers to present circumstances that fit storywise without the need for exposition detailing how the circumstances have changed so dramatically for the characters.  For example, Priya’s and Victor’s breakup is presented as stemming from a choice Victor had to make between her and the tech without any flashback to illustrate this, and Alpha is now a somewhat balanced person I assume because of him taking on Ballard’s personality in a previous episode, but this is not alluded to in any fashion.

Just like “Epitaph One” it takes a little while to adjust to the future setting with ten years of history gone by, new characters, old characters in new bodies, and new goals, but once this is done it becomes as engaging as ever.  And although this episode ends on a slightly more uplifting and hopeful note, it’s just as bleak as “Epitaph One”.  But you know what, I really like the tone of the show in these last few episodes and especially both of the Epitaph ones.  Not everything has to be peaches and cream.  The characters are going against the odds, they are dealing with dangerous technology, and that technology does raise both moral and philosophical questions about what it means to be human.  If this type of story was told any other way I’d be sorely disappointed.  Thankfully Whedon and company understood this and we all got a great finale for a show which grew stronger and stronger as it went along.  In fact, as finales to Joss Whedon shows go I may rank this higher than both Buffy and Angel.  I’m not saying that Dollhouse is a better show than either Buffy or Angel, but I do think that it had the most fitting sendoff of the three.  Dollhouse didn’t start out very well with the constant imprint-of-the-week episodes, but once it got rolling and the scope of the story was revealed it was an absolute pleasure to watch.  I’m hopeful that Joss Whedon will return with something new soon and that he’ll be given longer than 26 episodes to tell the story he wants.

FINAL RATING: 8/10

Title:  Epitaph One
Written By:  Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon and Joss Whedon
Air Date:  None.  DVD only.

Plot:
It’s 2019 and the world has gone to hell.  The technology of the Dollhouse has found it’s way into the general public and propagated the world over.  Those that haven’t been imprinted are known as actuals.  A group of the actuals stumble upon the Dollhouse and through a series of flashbacks and imprints they seek to discover how the world ended up the way it is.

Wow.  That’s pretty much all I can say.  This looks and feels absolutely nothing like any of the previous episodes of Dollhouse.  It’s infinitely darker than any of the previous episodes and it paints a devastatingly bleak picture for mankind’s future.  It drops you into the future right from the get-go, and it was only when they found the entry into the Dollhouse that I figured out where the story might be going.  I was thinking that there would be some kind of resolution to the story, but the episode ended in an even better way by simply showing the three remaining characters climbing a rope ladder outside the building to somewhere.

I like episodes which end on an ambiguous note because it allows the viewer to envision the future for the characters themselves.  A friend of mine really disliked the ending to Angel I assume because he wanted to know one way or the other whether they would survive the ensuing battle.  I liked that the showed ended as it did because it was in line with the overall theme of the show, that of surviving and redeeming yourself, but also because it allowed me to finish the story as thought it would go.  I think episodes which don’t give a clear outcome are best served to be the final episode, not one that falls within the flow of the show, and in that regard “Epitaph One” would have been a damn near perfect final episode had Fox cancelled Dollhouse.  That being said, I think this kind of non-linear storytelling could work well for Dollhouse because whilst the first half of the first season was OK, it wasn’t until “Man in the Street” that Dollhouse really started to find it’s groove.  I think that “Epitaph One” will serve as a great way to give the show a direction and some momentum, an end point if you like.

All of the series regulars return, in a mostly reduced capacity, but a decent amount of screen time is devoted to the future characters.  Felicia Day is the noteworthy member of the future group and it’s been confirmed that she’ll be returning in the second season.  More pleasing than the presence of Felicia Day is the return of Mr Dominic (Reed Diamond) and his small scene with Miss DeWitt (Olivia Williams).  They have a great chemistry and their characters work well together.  There interaction during the first season was some of the best stuff on Dollhouse, and I’m hopeful that Mr Dominic will play a part in the second season as it’s obvious that he wasn’t killed when he was taken to the Attic.

As good as the return of Mr Dominic was, the scene between Miss DeWitt and Topher (Fran Kranz) was amazing.  Their heartfelt connection and the look on Topher’s face when he came to the realisation that he was the one who unleashed the technology on the world was some of the very best stuff I’ve seen on Dollhouse.  I’ve enjoyed Kranz’s hyperactive overexcited performances all season but I wouldn’t have thought that the best scene from the show so far would have come from him.  It really was very moving, especially considering how cold Miss DeWitt has been portrayed so far, so it was great to see that she had a connection beyond her liaisons with the male Doll.

Joss Whedon commented at Comic Con that the content in “Epitaph One” will absolutely form part of the second season, but it’s not to be taken as gospel because a lot of it are memories, and memories can distort over time.  That seems like a somewhat convenient way to get out of what was shown, but I think that the ultimate end of society is something that’s a set future.  That plays too much of an important part of the episode to be anything other than a concrete future.

CONCLUSION
I can understand why Fox didn’t air this, or buy it, or whatever the business reasons are, but I think that had the show not been renewed it would have been a brilliant way to end the show.  The episode starts off so different from a typical episode that it’s a little jarring, but once the future group discovers the Dollhouse everything begins to come around.  Amy Acker gets a good deal of screen time as Whiskey, but the future group get the bulk of it.  By far the best thing about this episode is the amazing scene with Miss DeWitt and Topher.  It was just brilliant.  Beautiful, heartfelt and moving.  Just fantastic stuff, and I have to admit that despite my love of all things Whedon related, I was very surprised that something this good was in Dollhouse.  I’d have expected Buffy to have a scene like that, but because Dollhouse has been a little bit of a disappointment so far I was blown away by it.  This is one of the best Dollhouse episodes yet, but it goes to show that the show can be so much better than we’ve seen so far.

FINAL GRADE: B+

It looks like things might be picking up for Dollhouse fans as buzz around Fox is that the show will be back for a 2nd season with a 13 episode order.

Apparently a large part of the final decision is gaining Joss Whedon’s approval on a significantly reduced budget.  But hey, if that’s what it takes to get Eliza Dushku back on TV in skimpy outfits then I’m all for it.  Fingers crossed that Dollhouse makes the cut when Fox announces their official decision on Monday.

[via The Ausiello Files]

© Fox

We’ve reached that time again, you know the time right?  That time of year when we all start worrying about the likelihood of survival of our favourite shows.  No self-respecting TV addict is immune to that awful feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you know that some exec is gonna pull the plug on a show you enjoy.

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