A Love Supreme

Season 2, Episode 8
Written by Jenny DeArmitt
Directed by David Straiton
Original Airdate: 11 December 2009

“You’re in for the ride. You’re not going to get loose. One of my imprints was an Eagle Scout, another one was a sailor. There’s a dirty joke in there somewhere.”
Alpha

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

GUEST CAST

Brett Claywell as Matt Cargill
Patton Oswalt as Joel Mynor
David Lee Smith as Clay Corman
Alan Tudyk as Alpha

SYNOPSIS

A man confesses his love for Echo, lamenting that he spent his fortune chasing a fantasy. Alpha listens, cold and calculating, before swiftly ending his life. Love wasn’t enough.

Elsewhere, Echo suffers in isolation, plagued by the weight of her accumulated identities. Victor, imprinted as a psychologist, questions her about her time away, while Adelle attempts to prod Ballard into revealing details of their absence. Ballard refuses to engage, but his frustration is evident. Boyd warns him – Adelle wants him to crack, and giving her anything would be a mistake.

Victor, in his analysis, describes Echo as entirely childlike. He insults Adelle before being promptly wiped. Topher, when consulted, agrees with Victor’s assessment but confirms that, physically, Echo is unharmed. Yet when Boyd and Ballard reveal the truth – that Echo retains every imprint and can control which memories surface – Topher is shaken. Her brain scans defy logic, pushing past every known limit.

Adelle makes her move, forcing Echo back into engagements. But when Topher attempts to imprint her, she does it herself. No chair, no process – just sheer will. Echo arrives at her assignment only to find the client already dead, another casualty in a growing list of men who sought affection from her. Alpha’s presence lingers – a note left behind confirms the killer. Boyd and Ballard investigate, but Adelle orders Echo back into isolation.

Alpha isn’t done. Sierra returns from an engagement, uttering his name, the first direct evidence tying him to the attacks. A deeper search reveals Alpha arranged for Sierra’s assignment, a deliberate message. Then another warning arrives – his next victim has been chosen. Adelle takes action, ordering all Actives wiped, but it isn’t enough. Alpha strikes again. Ballard and Boyd locate him with a hostage strapped to a bomb. Boyd attempts diplomacy, but Alpha’s motivations are more primal – jealousy over Echo’s perceived love for her clients. His bitterness turns lethal, and the hostage is destroyed before he vanishes once more.

Joel Mynor remains the last surviving target. Ballard and Boyd bring him into the Dollhouse, using Echo’s Rebecca imprint to coax him into cooperation. Adelle, furious at their defiance, sends Echo back into isolation. But Alpha infiltrates the facility, confronting Adelle in her office. She tries to negotiate, but he needs nothing from her—only chaos. He reveals photos of Ballard and Echo together during their absence, seeding further discord. Then, he takes control.

Through remote imprinting, Alpha forces every Active to turn against the staff. The facility erupts into violence. Echo, unaffected, breaks free, racing to intervene. Adelle locks herself away while Ballard, arriving in Topher’s office, is attacked by Victor.

Alpha secures Ballard, strapping him into the imprinting chair. He demands to know the truth about Ballard’s feelings for Echo. Ballard insists there’s nothing between them, but Alpha refuses to believe it. Echo moves quickly, rescuing Adelle and leading her, Topher, Boyd, and Joel to safety. Joel reveals Alpha’s location, but Echo is already too late. The process is complete – Ballard has been wiped.

Topher and Boyd rush to regain control. In Topher’s office, Echo finds Ballard’s unconscious body. Alpha is still there, and the fight begins. Echo dominates, but then something shifts – the Ballard imprint within Alpha takes control. He uses a trigger phrase to manipulate Echo into killing him, but she resists. Alpha, momentarily stunned, escapes before the staff regains control.

With the Actives restored, the damage is assessed. Echo cradles Ballard, now a hollow shell of himself. Joel says his final goodbye, unable to hold onto what was never real. Adelle, watching from a distance, studies Echo – once a construct, now something more. The battle has changed her.

And it isn’t over.

CONTINUITY

Boyd reminds Paul he used to be Echo’s handler as well. He was hired to be Echo’s handler as seen in a flashback in The Target, served as such for most of the first season and got promoted to head of security in A Spy in the House of Love.

Paul says Echo still has everyone Alpha imprinted her with, which, as stated by Topher in Omega and repeated in this episode, is every imprint she’d ever had. He is adamant he has wiped her completely clean since then, just like he was in Vows. He later asks, incredulous, if Echo is still Eleanor Penn (Ghost) and Terry Karrens (Belle Chose).

Just like in Briar Rose, Alpha has killed a person and moved the body. He also calls Echo “my Number One” in a note, prompting Echo to remember Whiskey’s previous status as the Dollhouse’s number one, which was seen in Omega.

Paul refers to Alpha as the only person aware of the Dollhouse and obsessed with Echo, only for Adelle to comment that Paul himself used to fit the bill. He was indeed tracking down the Dollhouse even despite losing his FBI badge in Man on the Street until he got caught and recruited in Omega, and was obsessed with Caroline/Echo ever since he got her picture in The Target.

Matt Cargill was the first client seen in Ghost, who also made an appearance in Echoes. As Boyd points out, he books Echo on his birthdays, and Ghost showed him doing exactly that.

Joel Mynor from Man on the Street is heavily featured in the episode. Echo also assumes the persona of his dead wife Rebecca twice.

Alpha once again proves his extensive understanding of the imprinting technology, which he has demonstrated earlier in Gray Hour and Omega, and which was mentioned in Epitaph One. This time he manages to implant a virus in Sierra’s imprint, which then spreads to the chair and every doll wiped in it.

The audio signal Alpha uses to trigger the virus is identical to the one he used to remotely wipe Echo in Gray Hour. Echo immediately recognizes the signal when she hears it.

Alpha shows Paul the pictures of him and Echo living together in Meet Jane Doe. He also takes the credit for introducing them, confirming he was the naked man seen at the end of Ghost.

Topher uses the remote wipe he invented in Meet Jane Doe to subdue the infected dolls.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

EPISODE
Meet Jane Doe / Stop-Loss

STORY ORDER
Meet Jane Doe / Stop-Loss