Last week on Dollhouse, someone hired a man to hire the Echo (Eliza Dushku) out and then kill her. Obviously, it didn’t work and Echo escaped but we learned that Echo might not be forgetting everything she learns during her engagements.
At a pop concert, the pyrotechnics go awry and the star is rushed off stage when one of her backup singers catches ablaze. A menacing nerdy boy with red hair stares on in intrigue.
Back at the Dollhouse, Sierra (Dichen Lachman) trips and Echo catches her. They have a conversation about how they’re friends and friends help each other out. Langton (Harry Lennix) meets with Dr. Claire Saunders (Amy Acker) as she wraps up his arrow wound. Langton requests she certifies him because he needs to protect Echo.
Lubov (Enver Gjokaj) tries to break into Agent Paul Ballard’s (Tahmoh Penikett) apartment. Paul’s neighbor, Mellie (Miracle Laurie), catches him and he tries to invite himself in. He leaves her a message for him.
Adelle Dewitt (Olivia Williams) meets a man named Biz (Jim Piddock). He announces someone’s trying to kill Rayna Russell (Jaime Lee Kirchner), the pop star from the beginning of the episode. Biz gives Adelle a pile of stalker letters. He requests a bodyguard for Rayna, but someone Rayna wouldn’t know is supposed to be her bodyguard.
Echo auditions for the position left open by the girl that caught on fire in the show mishap. Biz tries to trick Rayna into not liking her by telling her she has “attitude.” Rayna takes the bait and hires Echo on the spot.
Dr. Claire Saunders confronts Topher (Fran Kranz) about sending Echo out on a high-risk engagement. He explains that he made her a singer whose main unconscious directive is to protect Rayna. She doesn’t even know she’s a bodyguard and besides, they are sending backup in the form of Sierra.
Echo bonds with the other backup singers when they explain to her that there’s increased security and that Rayna’s fan mail goes straight to the police nowadays. Rayna freaks out during rehearsal when she smells someone eating a mint. She leaves rehearsal but grabs Echo to go to sound check with her before she exits.
Paul Ballard goes to meet Lubov at a party. Lubov explains the Bore dines have nothing to do with the Dollhouse. In fact, he believes it’s a myth. Ballard isn’t even shaken when Lubov tells him he’s checked him out and knows exactly who he is. He leaves, saying he’ll keep looking.
Langton checks in with Topher just before the gig as he finishes up with his patient: Lubov, who he calls Victor. Enter creepy redheaded nerd. I wonder who the bad guy is in this episode. Sierra enters acting as a crazed Rayna fan that won a trip backstage.
Rayna attends the after party, where both Sierra and the ginger creep are waiting. Sierra, named Audra, is supposedly the winner of the online video contest. Rayna insists Audra drinks some champagne. A guy goes up to say hi to Rayna and Echo kicks his butt. Her excuse, she’s a “Southie.”
Lubov calls Ballard and tells him to visit an abandon hotel’s basement, where he might find something. Two men are waiting for him and ask him, “Did you want to mess with the Bore dines?” and then they shoot him in the side. Ballard uses one as a human shield and then knocks the other one out after he says he knows nothing about the Dollhouse.
Heam, Sierra’s handler, and Langton sit in the van waiting for the engagement to finish. They wait as Echo visits Rayna in her dressing room. She finds a letter from a crazy fan and deduces that Rayna’s been communicating with him. She explains it’s only because he’s her “number one fan.” After Rayna leaves, Echo finds “tonight will be your last” underneath her flowers. She races after Rayna and asks her not to go on stage because the crazy fan is going to kill her. Rayna says, “I’m not crazy, I just want to be free.”
Crazy Red Head loads up his gun as Rayna starts her performance. Echo runs around backstage looking for Biz. Rayna brings ‘Audra’ onstage as her number one fan. Biz tries to get them to stop the show and the stage manager refuses. Echo runs on stage and grabs the spotlight, trying to find the shooter. As soon as she finds him, he shoots two shots on stage.
Back in her dressing room, Rayna yells at Echo for saving her. Echo calls her the newest Britney Spears and tells her she has nothing to be miserable about. Rayna explains that she doesn’t exist as a real person. She’s only everyone’s fantasy. She feels nothing. Echo tells her that the last thing she ever thought Rayna would be was weak and then she leaves.
Reddie grabs Sierra outside. Crazy decides to make Rayna a video message with Sierra. He has her tied up with a gun pointed to her head. He tells her, “I killed for you, you die for me” and then demands that they meet in person so he can fulfill his side of the bargain. When everyone in the room realizes what that means, Rayna runs off. Biz asks why Echo didn’t go with her and she answers, “I was fired.” He asks her if that matters and of course, she says no. She says, “I must protect her” but is looking at the picture of Sierra on the screen instead.
Dominic (Reed Diamond) tells Adelle Dewitt that Sierra’s been captured. Their plan was to distract from Rayna. Evidently, her handler is waiting right outside for their team.
Rayna’s being a crazy, just practicing her dance moves in front of the mirror, is startled by Echo’s presence. When asked how she can help, Rayna says there is no way. The police are taking care of it. Echo bashes Rayna on the head with a chair when she refuses to help Sierra because “Friends help each other out.”
The Dollhouse SWAT team enters the redheads place. They find a voicemail left by Echo telling him to meet Rayna at the original meeting place. Dominic is pissed at Topher, again. Echo has Rayna tied up. They meet on the raptures of the concert venue. Langton enters below, confused as to where Rayna’s screams are coming from. He races up and asks Adelle if he should take out the threat. She tells him to wait. Echo pushes Rayna off the rafters and the fan rushes forward to save her. Luckily she’s tied to safety with a rope and Echo beats the crap out of the fan. Echo pulls Rayna back up as she screams, “I don’t want to die. I want to live.”
Dominic and Adelle argue about Echo. Dominic recommends they put her in the attic. Adelle says no because Echo helped save Rayna from the person who wanted her dead – herself.
Langton and Dr. Saunders talk about how special Echo is and Claire explains that Echo wasn’t always the best. Langton picks up some concern for Echo in their conversation. Below, Echo shakes Sierra off when she tries to approach her because Sierra’s handlers are watching.
-Kim Wetter, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
(Image Courtesy of FOX)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
