Writer: Tim Minear
Grade: C
I’ll start by saying that Alan Tudyk is awesome, even if this episode is not. And it definitely is not, since it pretty much craps all over everything the writers seemed to be building up to this point.
Remember the implications that the Dollhouse procedures are not perfect? That people can be damaged by the process? That some brains take to it better than others? And remember how it was the Dollhouse’s fault that Alpha went psycho and “composited,” because he was one of those brains that maybe didn’t take to the process as well as others, and maybe Caroline/Echo was the same way? Apparently it was mostly bullshit, because a) the “composite event” was caused by a completely random and accidental fuck up on Topher’s part, and b) Alpha was “broken” before the Dollhouse ever touched him. This means that Echo was never in any danger of compositing unless Topher fucked up again, the chances of which were extremely slim.
The Dollhouse is also somewhat absolved of responsibility for what happened with Alpha. Not completely, of course, because a) they experimented on convicts, b) the Dollmaking process is flawed in that it can’t completely erase what was there before (as we were shown in “Needs,” though apparently Adelle and co. were too dense or stubborn to apply the same concept to Alpha). However, this episode made it seem like the process in and of itself is incapable of producing a psychopath/superheroine from scratch, which is both boring and contrary to what we were led to believe for the entire season.
The way compositing was presented throughout the season made it seem like it was some sort of aggregation of imprints, that little bits and pieces were escaping the wipes and coming together to form a new person. That’s actually a fascinating concept, and it’s why I hate the idea that the original Caroline is sacred and should be preserved at all costs. Caroline is boring and obnoxious. The idea of original flavor Caroline as the ultimate goal, the endgame, the thing we’re all supposed to look forward to completely pales in comparison to the idea of “building” someone new one piece at a time and completely by accident. I thought the writers were going for the latter for the whole season, only to be punched in the face with the former at the last minute.
The end result is that I don’t feel like I was rewarded for paying close attention and sometimes even re-watching episodes. I felt like I had a decent grasp of what was happening on the show, only to have the final two episodes pull the rug out from under me, and not in a “Whoa, that was awesome!” kind of way.
Even the little things don’t add up in this episode. If Alpha is so uncontrollably schizo with the “multiple personalities”—as this episode led viewers to believe—how did he hold it together for so long as stoner engineer Kepler in the previous episode? Now that is bad writing. It’s one thing to contradict something from the early part of the season (which happens a lot in this episode…), but it’s quite another to contradict something from the episode right before this one.
It also doesn't help that Dushku’s performance in “Omega” was one of her worst. She didn’t play “38 personalities in one body,” she played one “generic badass action girl.” Tudyk didn’t show us all 48 of Alpha’s personalities, but at least he created some semblance of more than one person living in Alpha’s body.
I’m also feeling a bit anxious about what they’ve done to Victor. I hope he’s not going to end up getting the same treatment as Whiskey, i.e. one semi-permanent imprint. I’m sure Enver can nail whatever they give him, but limiting him to one character would be a waste of the actor’s range. It might even make some viewers suspicious that they’re “punishing” him for outshining the show’s star in the acting department.
Honestly, I’ve been a Whedon fan since the Buffy days, but I can’t believe he okayed this steaming pile.
Of course, there were a couple of bright spots. The development between Topher and Claire was pretty much the highlight of the episode for me because I adore Topher and find Claire intriguing. Claire’s exact words were: “Why did you decide it was so important for me to hate you? I think that's strange.” I took that to mean that she’s figured out that Topher somehow programmed her to dislike him. I have no idea what led her to that realization, but the wording and the reactions of both characters heavily imply that that’s the case.
There’s the possibility that she was being sarcastic, along the lines of "Way to go, you ensured that I hate you." But the "I think that's a little strange" that followed doesn't really work with that, and something about the way he said “You didn't open the file?” felt like he was confirming her suspicions and saying that if she looked at the file, she'd understand why he made sure she hated him.
There’s also the possibility that Claire believes that Topher tried to make her hate him through natural means, but while it's always been obvious that she disliked him, I can't say that his behavior seemed designed to push her away and encourage that dislike (which is what I'd expect if he didn't program it but thought it was important for her to hate him). With her, he's always just been a slightly blushier version of the Topher he is with everyone else on the show. Which is part of why the idea that he programmed her dislike is interesting, since he obviously doesn't dislike her, and in fact probably could have ensured the opposite emotion in her if he'd wanted to.
I suppose it's also possible she was referring to the unnecessary computer skills, i.e. he gave them to her purposefully so she could hack the system, find the truth, and turn her dislike into hate. Or maybe whoever Whiskey was before she was Whiskey genuinely hated Topher for what he thought was a good reason, so he made sure that carried over when she was given a semi-permanent imprint.
There are a ton of fascinating possibilities, but whatever the case, I think there’s definitely a romantic component. The bizarre “man reaction” exchange from earlier in the season could take on a whole new meaning depending on what their history really is. I definitely got the impression that he was uncomfortable talking about anything sexual with her, which makes me think he's never had sex with her in any form and doesn't really want to torture himself by talking about it with her. Whoever she was to him, I don't think it ever went that far between them. The overall vibe feels like “unrequited love” to me, and if we ever found out that he slept with one of Whiskey's imprints, it would undermine everything we learned about him in “Haunted” and turn it into misdirection.
Whatever the case, at least the show was miraculously renewed (my altar to Kevin Riley is thataway), so we'll probably be able to learn what this development is all about, as long as Amy Acker is able to make a few appearances in between filming her new (negative buzz generating) series Happy Town.
The closing montage was pretty nice, too. Echo putting her hand over Topher’s heart was interesting. Despite the numerous missteps in “Omega,” Echo’s behavior with Topher seems to suggest that the writers may continue to treat her as a changing, developing being after all. What role would Caroline serve in that scenario?
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