Episode Discussion 1.06 "Man On The Street" - Aired 3/20/09 (FOX-USA)

Echo is turned into a model wife for an Internet mogul (Patton Oswalt); the identity of Sierra's attacker is learned; Mellie's life is endangered; Ballard comes face-to-face with Echo.

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Start discussing!!!!

So i guess we met November tonight huh?

This epsiode was way better than it was hyped up to be in my opinion words can't describe how amazing this episode was I loved everthing about.

Favorite funny scene- When Echo(Rebecca)see's the bed and points "PORN" LMAO
Favorite disturbing scene-Definitley the attempt rape scenes those 2 just got me scared and made me think Mellie was gonna die plus the music in Mellies was creepy.
Shocking scene-When Adelle seems to be saying Mellie needs to be killed so i assumed the rumors of her not being an active was false until the code came up and I scream "What The !?!?" at my screen.
Pairing-I loved Pellie and Vierra in this episode its really sad that Pellie may never develop seeing Mellies a sleeping active.
Favorite Scene-1 of my favorites was when Boyd and Claire are talking and Echo joins in.
Rating-DEFINITE 5/5!

Kudos to Tahmoh cause he rocked this episode!

I'm shocked I actually for once liked Dominique in this episode espicially when he was being protective of Adelle. Lastly the preview for next weeks episode is amazing and I think one of the best promos FOX has made. I loved when they showed all of them being drugged espicially Dom then when Mellie (Is her active name November?) says her code and Adelle looks like she just crapped her pants for the first time!

I hate to say this, because I know it probably comes across like I'm some pathetic fanboy expressing this so early in Dollhouse's run, but Dollhouse has officially become my favorite Joss Whedon project. I've enjoyed it all up to this point more or less, loved the premise, thought it could be executed a bit better, but at the same time I'm been completely engrossed in it. And with this episode, the show has lived up to its full potential. The acting and writing was top-notch. Eliza did an excellent job, and now I'm much more invested in Echo, Victor, Sierra, and the employees of the Dollhouse.

I'm trying to decide on what my favorite part was but I'm having trouble. I'll just list the ones that come to mind:

- Firstly, the fight scene between Paul (I think that's his name?) and Echo. AMAZING! I haven't seen a fight scene that good on TV since Alias.
- The fight scene between the neighbor doll and the guy Adelle sent.
- Adelle! She's a villain but I love her anyway, despite the fact that she's running this horrible organization. That really says something about how she's written and acted.
- Echo as the guy's wife. "Porn!"
- Echo's revelations...WOW.
- Boyd (I think that's his name? haha) punching the guy who's been raping Sierra.

And next week looks pretty damn awesome, too.

I wouldn't say it's my favorite Joss show - Too early to say that, imo. But it's definitely my favorite show on TV right now.

Tonight's episode was fantastic. I loved every last second... Even Ballard's stuff.. Which I usually get bored with.

But the scene with Millie (you know... THE scene) just blew me away. The attack on her was brutal and as he strangled her I just felt so damn sad... Until "There are three flowers in a vase.. The third flower, is green.."

Enter OMFG moment.

One of the best things Ive seen on tv in a long time. I also love who Echo was not a main focus in this episode. She was more off to the side, making room for Victor/Sierra screen time. Which is another thing... I ADORE any moment within the dollhouse between Victor - Sierra and Echo.

When Victor was trying to figure out why people were acting all weird I seriously felt bad for him. His concern and fear felt so real. And Echo's "She cries at night" Sent shivers down my spine.

And the finale with the wifeless guy and Echo.. Really sparks mixed feelings.. in such a brilliant way.

Amazing episode. Next week looks really crazy as well. I'm officially sold on Dollhouse.

I'd like to say finally. So far Dollhouse has only been an ok show with lots of potential to me. And truth be told I'm not sure I would have even bothered anymore if it wasn't for Joss and Eliza. But now we're really getting started. Hopefully it isn't too late. You can only live on "having potential" for so long. I'm glad it's starting to show some of it. 🙂

Overall loved it, but parts of it just had me couch-dancing. Top 3 were the tricky martial arts scrap - Paul versus Echo, Mellie getting the code word, and that big reveal from the imprint implant in Echo's head just had me going what the... Who is that in there?

Come to think of it, gotta watch that last one again a few times.

Oh, and perfect fit on the addition of that When Harry Met Sally spliced-in documentary trick.

OMFG!!! I Loved it! LOVED it!!!

So many revelations! I KNEW Victor wasn't the problem! There is just no way...and evil handler guy...kinda suspected. I was honestly hoping though...they'd put some killer imprint in Sierra and make her kick his ass. But the whole Mellie(November) thing....HELLS YEAH! Awesomeness....sleeper active....gotta love it! The poetry of it all was funny....I wonder what the red flower in the vase would do... (Green, Yellow....the third has gotta be red).

It was kinda obvious that "someone" had done something to Echo's imprint...that exchange between Boyd and Topher and then the after bit...I was like "okay, someone has messed with that" But I didn't think it would end up the way it did. I kinda want it to be Claire....I know it probably isn't. But I like the idea that she wants to free expose the Dollhouse for whatever reason. Either that....or Alpha has hijacked Topher's system somehow and has his own "Doll" in the Dollhouse (how is THAT for wild speculation"?). I liked Ballard for the first time ever in this ep. LOVED the fight scene between Echo and Ballard. That was the kick.

Love Boyd and Adelle...Boyd being all kick ass as he always is, I want him as my manfriend. Adelle...I think she's just awesome, I think she likes Echo for the fact they are similar. They think outside the box in whatever way seems fit and still manages to get whatever job it is, done.

I think we can basically throw the "big bad" theory out the window, in terms of whether it's the Dollhouse or Alpha...let's face it, it's a bit like season 5 Angel...there's just a general badness, and you're trying to turn it good, but the inherent badness means that you get sucked into it, and the way you try to make good come, will actually be bad. I'm just rambling on thoughts and things...but yeah....I'm not really seeing an actual bad guy. The system is inherently bad. It's kinda cool that way.

PORN! Lol! A lot of subtle Joss wit as well.....I just loved it! LOVED IT!!!!!!

This was everything I hoped Dollhouse would be. Here are some random thoughts:

- Really felt sad for Victor. He was scared because he didn't understand what was going on. It was touching when he said to Echo on the couch, "Nobody will tell me?" when she asked him what he did that was bad. The renewal of Sierra's friendliness with him at the end was touching.

- The remote activation of Mellie was just straight up badass.

- I love that we know that there are over 20 Dollhouses now. This means this season we can see Echo save this particular dollhouse, and the show will still have legs going into other seaons (if there are any).

- Sending Ballard the message via Echo was really cool. I suspected something was weird when Topher returned to his harddisk after being interrupted by Boyd, but I just forgot about it while I watched the rest of the episode.

- Overall, the direction, writing, cinematography was a step up from all the previous episodes. I loved the 'man on the street' clips thoughout the episode and the dialogue between Paul and the internet guy in the house was just perfect. Guess that's why Joss is da man.

Need to watch this again.....

Best episode so far.
Some really great action. Liked the fight in the kitchen and the rape attempt was really disturbing.

Still think that having the neighbour as a doll (or sleeper active) is a bit much. Feels like everyone around Ballard is a doll, it gets kinda old.
The activation phone call was cool though, didn't see it coming.

Boyd feels like a good candidate for the inside man (or one of).
Otherwise it was a very lucky brake that he pulled Topher away at the exact right moment.

Best thing with the show is that you really like the bad guys.
Running such a thing like the Dollhouse seems so wrong in many ways. But in a strange way I still kinda root for Adelle and her organization. 🙂

/SK

Let me jump on the bandwagon here and say I loved it, as well. I can definitely tell that THIS is how Joss meant Dollhouse to start--the man-on-the-street interviews were obviously meant to be an introduction to what the Dollhouse does, what people think about it, etc. They had to blend some of the previous storylines into it, obviously, and there was a definite difference in writing style in those scenes. The Joss scenes were incredibly obvious, wonderfully written, and had me laughing so hard I couldn't breathe ("PORN!").

I'd been watching for Mellie being a doll, and as soon as Adelle sent Mr. Icky after her I figured she wasn't--I actually said, "Oh, God! There's been happiness! This is a Joss show! She's going to DIE!"--but then I also figured that it might be a setup to kill Mr. Icky. I wasn't entirely sure which one it was until the trigger words, so go Joss for keeping me guessing.

I believe Dollhouse is finally living up to its potential and I hope it continues to get better from here.

Oooooh, this was good. 😀 I loved every bit of it, I wanted the ep to be longer! Can't wait to find out what the hell is going on. I love it.

FANTASTIC!

IT WAS INCREDIBLE! I admit, I wasn't sure it was going to be anywhere near as good as everyone was saying it was, but it exceeded my expectations. I spent the whole hour staring at the screen like this: :jaw_drop:

This was clearly the episode where Joss took the wheel, since his writing was so easy to recognize. The humor was totally his style, too...I was laughing so hard at "PORN!" and the guy in the street who was talking about hiring a guy to hook up with while his wife just looked at him like, "O.O". Also, even though I'm very good at predicting things in TV shows and am very rarely surprised, I didn't see a single plot twist coming...I literally screamed at the TV when Sierra's handler told her to pull up her skirt and when Dewitt gave the code to Mellie and she started kicking his ass. Oh, and the fight scenes? Awesome!

Oh, also, it is official. I am in love with Paul Ballard. I had trouble focusing on anything else when he was onscreen, especially in the shirtless scenes...GUHHHHHH. He's freaking GORGEOUS! How does Joss find so many hot men for his shows?!

I don't know who the fight choreogripher is, but those fight scenes were Great. the FBI guy's Muy Tai training matched Eliza's MMA style perfectly.

One goof. The computer genius with the new house: "My first check had more zeroes than the Luftwaffe." The Germans flew Messerschmidts, it was the Japanese who flew zeroes.

Great episode! I wonder who the inside people are. Boyd would seem like an obvios choice but maybe too obvious! I'm really hoping for Claire too but that's mainly because I love Amy. (sw)

A truly outstanding episode.
A lot of material to mull over until next Friday.
Great job, Joss and Company! 😀

sk73 said:

Still think that having the neighbour as a doll (or sleeper active) is a bit much. Feels like everyone around Ballard is a doll, it gets kinda old.
The activation phone call was cool though, didn't see it coming.

/SK

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Who? The neighbor and Echo? That's two, and the reason the neighbor is there is because Ballard is investigating Caroline and the Dollhouse so the Dollhouse put an Active there to keep track of him, which I think is logical, myself.

And, oh, wait...there was Victor, but he was also a plant.

If he was running into all these Actives unintentionally I would agree with you, however. 😀

Damn, now I feel bad for Paul. He kinda sorta really likes Mellie, and she's not even real... That makes him an unintentional hypocrite then, right? 'Cause at the beginning he was telling the Internet mogul guy how weird it was to hire a doll to be his wife?

And does anyone know the song that was played at the end of the ep?

I really liked this episode so much to mull over! 😀
Some funny lines and great story! 🙂

If Mellie the Lasagna Girl (I love that name! 😀) is an Active, then what bad stuff did she do to merit a brain-wipe? Was she running and hiding from something? Was she a criminal in her earlier guise? What were her earlier missions (if any)?

I loved that telephoned trigger: "There are three flowers in the vase. The third flower is green."
And the second: "There are three flowers in the vase. The third flower is yellow."
(Kinda reminds me of the trigger-phrase from The Manchurian Candidate: "How about a nice game of solitaire?"

Too. Many. Questions.
Need. Painkillers. STAT!