TV episode review
US airdate 18 December 2009 (Fox)

Victor's contract with the Dollhouse is up – but Rossum aren't finished with him yet...

Once again, Dollhouse demonstrates far more potential in one act than it showed in entire episodes during the first season.

The repercussions of recent episodes has left Echo pretty much in control of all the 40 personalities she's either been programmed with or which were dumped in her head by Alpha last year. The idea of this gestalt mind is mirrored in Victor's situation, where he's kidnapped and forced to become a member of a group of supersoldiers run by the Rossum Corporation, who are all linked into one all-seeing, all-knowing unit. Only his attraction to Sierra remains of his former self, which Echo and Sierra (reprogrammed with her own original template) use to reach him.

All the while, DeWitt is losing control of the Dollhouse until she finally realises how much the others are running rings around her. Olivia Williams effectively portrays the woman's self-loathing and self-destruction, and the eventual return of her icy persona, and her final act – sending Echo, Victor and Sierra to the Attic – shows that she's simply not going to release control ever again.

It may not make up for some of the excesses of the first year, but at least Dollhouse is going out in style. Paul Simpson

VERDICT: 7/10