Dollhouse

The Dollhouse is bigger than I ever thought it was.

Every time I look deeper, I find more clients,

larger amounts of money

and a web of financial and political connections all over the world.

I think the Dollhouse is underground.

Not underground like it's a secret.

Underground like it's somewhere beneath los angeles.

You work for the NSA.

You haven't figured it out?

Use your deductive skills.

You're a doll.

Why did you want to bring down the Dollhouse?

If it weren't for me, Paul Ballard would've found you already.

Do it.

Congratulations, Mr. Langton.

For what?

For becoming our new head of security.

I've seen this before.

Alpha.

Alpha is dead.

After what he did...

they tracked him down and put a bullet in his brain.

They'd never lie to us about something like that.

Would they?

"As soon as the prince kissed her,

the spell was broken and Briar Rose opened her eyes.

And as she looked at the face of the handsome young prince,

the whole kingdom began to magically awaken all around them

the cooks in the kitchen and the boys in the yard

all rubbed their eyes and looked around them. "

This is crap.

I'm sorry?

Crap.

Don't you know what that means?

You don't like the story, but the others are listening.

So, maybe we could talk about this afterwards.

The spell was for a hundred years.

So, he shows up on the last day and takes credit for saving her?

Okay.

What's your name?

That's Susan.

Really?

My name's Susan, too.

That's a really good point,Susan.

She knew the curse.

- You will touch a poison spindle on your 15th birthday. - Right.

So, if it's me, I'm not exploring the castle on my 15th birthday,

groping any spindles I find lying around,

especially when I think she might've actually had a vague idea what the hell a spindle is!

I don't think her parents told her about the curse.

If she knew, maybe they could've hid her.

Or she could've just run away!

Or what about this?

She could've just woken herself the hell up!

It was a curse; she couldn't...

just should've woken herself up! Susan, stop. That's enough.

Let me go!

Leave me alone! Let me go!

Okay, that's it for today.

Everyone back to your rooms, and I will check.

Well, guess I hit a trigger.

Yeah, something reminded her of what she's been through.

I'm not surprised.

That story always bugged me, too why I picked it.

Sorry if I blew your routine.

You...

thought that could happen?

Someone told me I could help her.

I was going to ask you to point her out.

Guess I didn't have to.

But when are you going?

Where?

I don't know.

Is this about Caroline?

Did you find her?

No.

Were you going to tell me?

If I'd come by tomorrow instead of today...

Paul, talk to me!

What is there to say?

Just tell me why.

We're not good for each other.

Around you...

we're not good for each other.

No, no. Paul.

You're in my way.

You're under a lot of stress.

I've been smothering you.

I'll back off; we can take a break.

That's probably a good idea.

But just a break is all we need.

Can you talk to me anyway?

You think you can't trust me.

And you're right to pay attention to that feeling

but you need to make sure that you're laying the blame where it deserves to be.

Look at me!

Look at the real me,

and really think about whether I've ever told you anything

I didn't believe with all my heart.

You know, you just said exactly what I needed to hear.

And that's why I'm leaving.

What?

I'll deal with this later.

Please, this is...

Stop being so cruel. Can't you see this is killing me?

You'll get over it.

What's on it?

We don't know.

It was hand delivered for Mr. Dominic today.

We haven't been able to unlock the data that's inside.

You think it's from the NSA?

We know he was their inside man.

With him suddenly off their radar,

this may be them reaching out, trying to find him.

What do we need to open it?

A tech expert?

I mean, surely we ca imprint an active with the skills we need.

I think we can assume they've taken precautions

so that Mr. Dominic is the only one who can retrieve the data without corrupting it.

Well, you'd better ask Mr. Dominic then.

Right.

Right.

Mr. Dominic is in the attic.

You don't really think we should let that stop us, do you?

We keep placing her in foster homes and she keeps bouncing back.

She cuts school and gets in fights.

We've taken five knives off of that girl.

Different times.

I don't even know how she gets those.

Steals them off other kids, shoplifts them,

some deli's just have cups with steak knives in them on the tables.

You can get in and out.

The mother died of a drug overdose when she was very young.

And the girl was left with the woman's boyfriend,

a small time drug dealer, part time pimp.

Probably thinking that she could start earning money for him when she got older,

but turned out that last part wasn't necessary, half the age, twice the price.

You know anything about Susan that wasn't in the report when they handed her to you?

I'd be shocked if you did.

She's not going to tell you.

She lies to her therapist; she's useless in group.

That's pretty specific for someone who's known Susan for all of five minutes.

I've known her much longer than that.

They're not the same.

They kind of are.

Look closer.

This one is the imprint I gave Echo this morning.

This one is the 11 year old.

Yeah, I see similar response patterns,

signs of depression and instability.

So, what's the deal?

The kid's a mess.

Past trauma has her emotions, reactions,

intellectual development all frakked up beyond recognition.

But if she gets help, really works,

deals with the soup of her life, she gets to be...

a nice lady with the tragic past but...

the healthy head.

Echo's imprint is the kid grown up?

Names and dates, tiny details changed, but in general, yeah, this is her.

If she grows up okay.

Echo's like the living example of the kid's best possible future.

So, she thinks she's a volunteer helping a kid like her...

but she knows exactly what to expect.

And the kid sees that maybe there's a decent future for her.

Whole approach, my idea.

Whole engagement, actually.

How did you sell Dewitt on it?

Everybody wants to be righteous when they can afford it.

Even Topher Brink.

This feeling, it is not unlike pride.

Topher.

Okay.

End of the pride parade.

Tell them to bring up Victor.

I don't know.

I don't know what I did wrong.

It's okay.

I tried so hard.

I did everything I could think of.

Right here.

It was right here.

Can I?

You keeping that book?

I'm fixing it.

I see that.

They call that editing.

You could make a living out of it.

You really hate that she didn't save herself, don't you?

Of course, she was 15.

That's pretty big.

If she was littler, say

- six or seven or eight... - You can always run away.

Really?

I couldn't.

When did you want to run away?

In the middle of the night,

it always seemed like I could run away when it would get light.

Sometimes I'd get dressed and lie there waiting for the sun.

But when it came up, he'd be there, pretending things were normal.