Plot
The episode opens with a TV report on the “Dollhouse” legend. A reporter explains how the Dollhouse supposedly works and asks passers-by about it. Agent Ballard is watching the report too, sitting at his desk and going through all the evidence once again. He seems to have found something, because he suddenly says: “It can’t be that simple.” At that moment a note is snatched out of his hand.
A second agent first declares that it is his case and then that it is closed anyway. Ballard just replies that he has a lead and would like to reopen the case. The other agent teases him a little about the pictures of Caroline lying around everywhere and gets a grip in return that makes him cry out in pain. When he keeps making fun of Ballard, Ballard throws him out of the office.
In the Dollhouse it is mealtime. Victor and Echo sit together at the table; Sierra does not join them. Victor says that Sierra usually sits with them and just did not see them. He goes over to her and gently touches her shoulder – and the young woman screams loudly and jumps away from him. After the incident Dr.
Saunders examines Sierra. She asks the doll whether she feels unwell, which Sierra denies. She also says that Victor likes to pretend that he and Sierra are married, which makes Dr. Saunders swallow.
She tells Boyd and Hearn (Sierra’s handler) that Sierra has had sex. Hearn says that is impossible, since her last engagement had nothing to do with it. Dr. Saunders replies that it must have happened in the Dollhouse – which confuses both handlers. Hearn suggests going through the surveillance videos and, if in doubt, eliminating Victor.
The doctor explains that there is a big difference between feelings and abuse and that she does not believe Victor is the culprit. At that moment Echo appears in the office and says that Sierra cries in her bed at night.
Meanwhile Agent Ballard has made some progress with his research. With a colleague’s help he discovers that a certain company transfers a certain sum to a fund at the same time every year, as does the payer’s subsidiary. Both companies belong to an internet millionaire named Joel Mynor, who likes to show up at parties with a different woman every time.
Ballard suspects he is a client of the Dollhouse and asks his colleague to dig up everything about Mynor. She declares him crazy but promises to do her best.
In the evening Ballard has dinner with Mellie and tells her about his progress – including that he is close to catching a possible Dollhouse client red-handed and getting a whole step further. Then they talk about Mellie’s boyfriend, with whom she has already broken up again. Ballard tells her that she is lovely and her ex is an idiot.
The next morning Mynor is waiting outside his house. Shortly afterwards Echo drives up and calls him “honey”. She runs to him and kisses him; the two seem very close. Agent Ballard breaks into the house and listens in on them. When he comes into the kitchen with his gun raised, he recognises Echo – a.k.a.
Caroline – at once. He speaks to her, but Echo claims to be Rebecca Mynor, Joel’s wife. He tries to tell her that her name is Caroline, but the young woman does not take it in at all. Then one of Mynor’s bodyguards attacks Ballard and a fight breaks out. Out of nowhere Boyd appears and takes Echo back into his custody.
Ballard then asks Mynor about the Dollhouse. When Mynor mocks him and talks about a doll’s house, the agent asks more directly. Mynor explains that Rebecca is his wife, to whom he has been married for six years. Ballard loses patience and tells Caroline’s true story, but Mynor does not take him seriously and suggests that the agent is in love with Caroline and that his work has therefore become personal rather than professional.
After a while Mynor tells Ballard the true story of his wife. She died in a car accident a few years ago, and once a year he has her “resurrected” to be close to her again and to give her the newly bought house that he never got to show her back then.
In the Dollhouse, Dr. Saunders and Topher examine Victor. They ask him about Sierra and record his reactions. He says Sierra makes him feel good. Boyd and another Dollhouse employee watch and talk about it; Boyd says he thinks all the dolls are “broken”.
He goes to the dolls’ sleeping quarters and tries to find out how the abuse of Sierra could have happened. He orders Victor to be removed from the sleeping area. Shortly afterwards a Dollhouse employee is led away, protesting. He insists it was not him – and disappears.
At home the injured Ballard goes to Mellie to have his wounds dressed. He tells her he has seen Caroline. Then he kisses her, and Mellie tells him not to think of Caroline when he kisses her. It gets a little awkward, and they decide to go back to being just neighbours. Ballard tells her what happened during the day.
Later that evening they end up in bed. Afterwards Mellie encourages him to keep looking for Caroline. Ballard is a little surprised and then asks her to help him go through the files.
In the Dollhouse it turns out that it was not Victor who abused Sierra but Hearn, her handler. He leads the young woman to a remote room and asks her if she wants to play the game. Then Boyd appears and knocks Hearn down…
Adelle reprimands Boyd for his behaviour. Still, she thanks him and offers him a bonus, which he turns down. Adelle has Hearn brought to her. She offers not to have him killed if he kills Mellie in return – his chance to redeem himself.
It also becomes clear that Adelle knows very well that Ballard is on their trail. She has installed a camera in his living room and can watch him talking to Mellie. Adelle tells Dominic to arrange another meeting between Echo and Ballard.
It takes place while Ballard goes out to get food after the night with Mellie. In the window of a door at the Thai takeaway he spots Echo and follows her. The two fight, and almost the whole kitchen is wrecked, as are the back door and the car behind it. At some point Ballard ends up on the ground. Echo tells him that the Dollhouse is very real, that the people in charge know the agent is after them – and that they do not want him to drop the case.
But she also tells him he is going about it the wrong way, because the people running it have access to political and economic power. She makes clear that the Dollhouse deals in fantasies; that is its business, but not its purpose. Finding out what that purpose is, is his job. He will be contacted again, but he has to let the Dollhouse win.
At that moment a police officer comes round the corner, and Echo shoots him with Ballard’s gun. Then she tells him to disappear; everything has been arranged. He will be held responsible for it, but that is part of the plan. The Dollhouse does not want him dead – but everyone else does.
At the same time Mellie is attacked at Ballard’s home by a man in a black mask. The phone rings and the answering machine switches on. Adelle’s voice is heard. She says a phrase in response to which Mellie turns into a fighting machine… Through the camera Adelle watches her kill Hearn. When the man is dead, Adelle says another phrase and Mellie returns to herself. Then Ballard storms into the apartment and takes the sobbing Mellie in his arms.
Ballard has to hand in his gun and badge; he is suspended. Everyone stares after him as he leaves the building. The news has reached the Dollhouse too. Everything has gone according to their plan, although they know that this will not make him drop the case. An undercover doll is also mentioned, and the question of whether she should be taken off the case – which Adelle says no to.