Season 2, Episode 4
Written by Jed Whedon and Marissa Tancharoen
Directed by Jonathan Frakes
Original Airdate: 23 October 2009
“The cold reality is that everyone here was chosen because their morals had been compromised in some way. Everyone except you, Topher. You were chosen because you had no morals. You had always thought of people as playthings. This is not a judgement. You always take good care of your toys. But you’re going to have to let this one go.”
Adele
REGULAR CAST
- Eliza Dushku as Echo
- Harry Lennix as Boyd Langton
- Fran Kranz as Topher Brink
- Tahmon Penikett as Paul Ballard
- Enver Gjokaj as Victor
- Dichen Lachman as Sierra
- Olivia Williams as Adele DeWitt
SPECIAL GUEST STAR
- Keith Carradine as Matthew Harding
GUEST CAST
- Vincent Ventresca as Nolan Kinnard
- Carlease Burke as Pam
- Clyde Kusatsu as Dr. Makido
CO-STARRING
- Natalie Graziano as Attendant
- Alan Pietruszewski as Handler
- Sean Solan as Soldier
- Andrea Walker as Rich Woman
SYNOPSIS
Priya stands on a beach, painting under the open sky. Her work catches the eye of a man named Nolan, who commissions a piece and cultivates what seems like a friendship. Others encourage her to take a romantic interest in him, but something in his presence unsettles her.
Later, Nolan displays Priya’s finished painting in his home, boasting about it to a gathering of guests. Victor, appearing as an Italian art dealer, engages her in conversation, and Priya finds herself drawn to him instead – someone who understands her passion without coercion or manipulation. Nolan grows increasingly frustrated by her disinterest. At his door, she firmly rejects his advances, unaware of the consequences that will follow.
Time moves forward. Priya, now Sierra, leaves Nolan’s home regularly under circumstances far removed from her former autonomy. Her camera, once used to capture artistic moments, now stores a collection of images taken by Nolan, preserved alongside countless others. Back where she now resides, she paints a bird consumed by an ominous black void. It’s always there, she says, even though she despises the color.
Echo senses something wrong, taking the painting to Topher, urging him to pay attention. He dismisses the concern, but later revisits Sierra’s medical history. He uncovers a horrifying truth – Priya was never afflicted with schizophrenia but was drugged to appear mentally ill. Shocked, he shares his findings with Boyd, then with Adelle, whose authority is overshadowed by a higher power that insists Sierra remain as Nolan’s possession.
Resistance is whispered among those who care. Victor, who shares an unspoken bond with Sierra, attempts to erase the black from their world, washing the paint away, yet it lingers even in his own mind. Echo’s awareness sharpens, marking her surroundings with hidden messages, leaving clues for herself in the depths of her confinement.
Topher’s guilt weighs heavily as he follows orders, imprinting Sierra once more and sending her to Nolan. But when she arrives, she is no longer the version of herself he expects. Priya stands before him, fully aware yet missing the memories of the stolen years. Nolan rationalizes his abuse, insisting that in every incarnation she had loved him, enjoyed his company, embraced his desires. Priya sees through the illusion, recognizing her reality – she loves someone she has never met, and Nolan is nothing but a destroyer of truth.
His reaction is violent. He tries to end her rebellion, but she fights back. The blade he wields slips from his grasp, and in a moment of rage and survival, Priya turns it on him. The conflict ends with his lifeless body at her feet.
Topher arrives soon after. He had tried to help her once, but his help had been a lie. Now, forced to reckon with what he had done, he helps to erase Nolan’s presence, covering up the murder alongside Boyd. Priya does not revel in her freedom – she grieves the nightmare she has lived. She wonders whether her love for Victor was real, and Topher, with the weight of his choices hanging over him, assures her that it is.
She steps back into the machine willingly, asking that if she is ever revived again, the memory of this night never return. Topher agrees, though he doubts whether he can live with the burden.
Elsewhere, the quiet rebellion grows. Echo finds in her book a pass for unrestricted access, left for her by Boyd with a note: for the storm. Sierra and Victor, though stripped of memory, find solace in each other, resting together in a shared space.
Darkness lurks beneath the surface. The storm is coming.
TRIVIA
This episode shares it’s name with an episode of Angel season 2. This is the only time in Mutant Enemy’s shows that duplicates a title.
CONTINUITY
The episode’s plot of Nolan Kinnard’s obsession with Priya was originally introduced in Needs.
While working on a remote wipe, Topher talks to himself like Alpha did in Omega, a comparison he himself brings up. He also recalls that Alpha got a remote wipe to work through the phone, which happened in Gray Hour.
Matthew Harding brings up Adelle’s repeated engagement with Victor as “Miss Lonely Hearts” which she thought was a secret. This repeat engagement had been mentioned in True Believer, hinted at in Echoes, and shown in A Spy in the House of Love.
In the flashback to a year ago, Topher mentions having finished with the previous Sierra’s very last engagement. In Stage Fright Sierra’s handler Joe Hearn mentioned that she “got the job done.” Both support the fact that the previous Active codenamed Sierra simply finished her five-year contract and left the Dollhouse.
The final flashback of Priya’s arrival to the Dollhouse, the one where Echo walks in while Topher leads the efforts to install the Active architecture, is a scene from Ghost.
Victor breaks down after flashing back to a war memory. It will be revealed in Stop-Loss that he joined the Dollhouse to cure his PTSD.
Boyd lets Echo evolve and develop her personality in secret. He will explain his reasons in The Hollow Men.
Priya will have nightmares about Nolan’s dead body coming to life in The Attic.
Topher will disobey Priya’s request to erase the events of this episode from her memory for Victor’s sake in Stop-Loss.
Echo will use the keycard Boyd gives her in this episode to look for Paul in Stop-Loss.
Echo’s apprehension about being imprinted/reunited with Caroline will be brought up again in Getting Closer.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
EPISODE
Belle Chose / The Public Eye
STORY ORDER
Belle Chose / The Public Eye
The Watcher's Guide 