Meet Jane Doe

"Meet Jane Doe" is the seventh episode of the second season of Dollhouse and the twentieth episode overall. It was written by Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon and Andrew Chambliss and directed by Dwight Little. It aired on December 11, 2009.

Synopsis

After her entanglements with Senator Perrin and the Washington, D.C. Dollhouse, Echo finds herself out in the world-at-large as she struggles to control her multiple memory downloads. Topher discovers the dangers of science that will have devastating effects on the future, while Adelle engages in a power struggle with Harding, and Boyd gets a mysterious phone call.

Plot

We open with Topher declaring that he won't "trust another woman as long as I live." Apparently, his experience with Bennett in D.C. still haunts him. "She totally went all Cylon on me," he explains. Boyd and Adelle, in the meantime, desperately need to find Echo. "Even if it's in a ditch somewhere," Adelle says. Speak of the Doll, Echo, filthy and hungry, gets caught stealing from a grocery store. To her credit, she was trying to provide food for a Spanish-speaking woman whose food stamps were rudely turned away by the clerk. The cops arrive and end up in a heap after Echo unleashes the high-kicking the fury upon them. She flees, but the illegal immigrant is arrested.

THREE MONTHS LATER. Echo, cleaned up and looking fine, is working as a nurse at a hospital. Her new name is Jane. Echo/Jane goes to visit someone in the area jail as part of her nursing duties. It turns out to be none other than the food-stamp woman, who is handled roughly by the same cop that Echo beat up once upon a time. Luckily, the cop doesn't recognize the newly minted nurse. In Spanish, Echo assures the woman that she will help her. Echo then hands her a vial of pills. "I'll be back," she says.

The L.A. Dollhouse has undergone some changes in the last couple of months, the most major of which is that Matthew Harding has taken control while Adelle has been reduced to acting as his assistant running menial chores. A new class of client is being catered for... specifically, those who want to hire dolls to live out their violent fantasies (with the violence being directed towards the Active). Topher has been put in charge of Research and Development creating new tech for Rossum, and has imprinted Victor and Sierra as his assistants.

Later that night, Echo returns to her apartment. Out of the darkness comes Paul. Echo immediately takes him down. He gets up smiling, though. Apparently, it was only a drill. "Next time don't wait for the attack," he says. "Take the offensive like we've been practicing." She smiles back. Turns out the two have been playing house. Echo explains that her 36 personas over the years have come in handy in terms of medical training and linguistics. She also tells Paul that it's their last night together as a couple. "If I can get Galena out, that means I'm ready," she says. "It's time to go back to the Dollhouse." Paul seems disappointed. Over dinner, they discuss her true identity -- whatever it might be. "I'm not her!" Echo says of Caroline. "My name is Echo!" We'll see.

Cut back to the lab, where Topher and Adelle discuss the many new improvements around the office. Adelle wants to know what Harding has put into place. Just then, Harding enters and extols the virtues of Topher's new technologies. He then turns to Adelle. "Don't you have a ghost to chase?" Harding sneers. Ouch. Boyd, meanwhile, gets a call from Paul. "I'm bringing her in soon," Paul says while Echo is showering. "I think her headaches are getting worse -- she's deteriorating." Echo then enters and asks who is on the phone. "Boyd," Paul says. "He's ready when we are."

Cut to the prison, where nurse Jane/Echo examines Galena. The woman is nearly comatose. Echo blames head trauma, but it is clearly the result of the pills she gave Galena the day before. Echo then administers a shot, warning Galena in Spanish that it will severely slow her heart rate. Indeed, Echo is soon able to convince the abusive guards that their punching bag is dead. Just as Echo wheels the woman out of the prison, though, she suddenly sits up and GASPS. The medication has worn off! The guard recoils -- then narrows his eyes at Echo: "What the hell are you up to?"

Cut to the L.A. Dollhouse, where Harding introduces Adelle to the head of the new Dubai operation. Harding explains that the "cream of the crop" Actives will be transferred to Dubai. Later, in the elevator, Boyd urges Adelle to take back the L.A. Dollhouse from Harding. But how? Topher, meanwhile, introduces his remote wipe gun. "You only need to be within 50 yards of the Active," he explains. He demonstrates on Kilo, imprinted as a surly and argumentative person, who suddenly becomes docile. Harding congratulates Topher, but then notices Victor and Sierra kissing passionately in response to Topher's success. Harding assures Topher that Actives grouping together does happen and intends to create a permanent solution, marking Sierra to be transferred to Dubai. Topher doesn't look so happy anymore.

Echo, in the meantime, is in trouble. She and Galena are being held in a cell. Echo, like a sexy MacGyver, uses the underwire from her bra to pick the lock. Once again, she busts the guards skulls before "remembering" how to disable the electronic lock that leads outside. They hop on a motorcycle and peel out! The lead guard is about to follow when Paul appears, claiming to be an FBI agent investigating prison abuses. That stops the guard cold, allowing our ladies to escape. Back at L.A. Dollhouse, Adelle confronts Topher. The geek explains that he thinks Harding and the other Dollhouses -- specifically D.C. -- are trying to develop a very dangerous toy. "I think they're trying to build a portable device that will be able to imprint anyone -- without any Active architecture in place," he says. In other words, everyday civilians could suddenly have new personalities. Topher and his counterparts in the other houses have each been tasked with developing and building components... however Topher has managed to develop the blueprints for the finished device. "This is something that Harding must never know," says a seemingly aghast Adelle.

Cut to Echo saying goodbye to Galena, who thanks Echo for all her help before leaving with a new identity. Echo says she's ready and Paul warns her that what they just pulled off was a test run and that it's going to be a lot harder once they get back to the Dollhouse. Echo pulls Paul and kisses him. He's barely responsive and then suddenly it turns passionate. Echo begs him to have sexr just once when it's just the two of them and Paul questions if it really is just the two of them. She stops and sadly agrees that it's not.

Boyd enters and asks Echo if she is ready to come home.

Topher goes to look for his blueprints where he hid them and finds them missing. Adelle has taken them directly to Harding, getting her Dollhouse back in the process. Topher yells at her, saying that he couldn't believe she would hand over those plans and calling her the coldest bitch on the planet. Adelle smacks Topher in response telling him he is off R&D and returning to his old position, warning him to follow every single one of her commands as if they were his heart's deepest desire. She tells him that she rules the house and she won't let anyone challenge that ever again.

Just then, Paul and Boyd enter with Echo. Boyd claims that Paul spent the last three months looking for Echo, and Paul says that he only found her the previous week and spent the time nursing Echo back to health and that she's having headaches. Topher says he'll do what he can about the headaches with her treatment and Adelle stops him. She says that Echo Will have to tolerate the headaches even longer because Echo needs to be in solitary and will get no treatments until she approves them. Adelle then tells Echo menacingly that it's good to have her back.

Continuity

Echo's evolution

• During the three months spent outside of the Dollhouse, Echo in her doll state has become a complete person, separate from Caroline Farrell.
• Echo can now seamlessly use the knowledge and skills of her imprints, although it comes with migraines.

Episode connections

Past episodes

• In the first scene, Topher is still obsessing over the events of "The Left Hand."
• Throughout the episode, images of Echo's previous personas appear throughout the episode, overlaid on her present self as she remembers them.
• Echo can now access her imprints at will, but it comes with headaches, a notion introduced in "Epitaph One."
• Echo recalls using her knowledge as a nurse and speaking Spanish, which she got by being Rebecca Mynor from "Man on the Street" and, presumably, Eleanor Penn from "Ghost."
• Echo credits Bennett's giving her her memory of Caroline for her evolution, which happened in "The Left Hand."
• Paul reminds Echo how she tracked down his cell in "Needs."
• Echo starts falling for Paul, but he turns her down. Their complicated relationship in the future has been brought up in "Epitaph One" when Claire commented that Echo and Paul are still together and Echo replied "jury's out on ‘together'."
• Echo mentions that she has been made "blind and, at least seven times, gay." She was blind in "True Believer" and a flashback from "Vows" showed her and Whiskey as what seemed as gay lovers. Dr. Saunders also stated in "A Spy in the House of Love" that same-sex engagements were very common.
• Topher mentions that the imprinting process takes minutes thanks to him. A flashback in "Epitaph One" shows that on his first day he offered ideas to cut the two hours it previously took down to five minutes.
• After stating that such technology is risky and untested in "Gray Hour," trying and failing to use it in "Belle Chose," and creating the disruptor by reverse engineering it in "The Public Eye," Topher finally manages to create a remote wipe.
• After using Kilo as a test subject in "The Public Eye," Topher uses her again.
• Echo flashes back to Taffy from "Gray Hour" before using her knowledge to escape from the holding cell.
• Echo conjures her memories of how to ride a motorcycle. She rode motorcycles during her engagements with Matt Cargill in "Ghost" and "Echoes."
• Topher comes up with technology that would allow to imprint anyone and Adelle gives it to Harding to get the L.A. Dollhouse back. This explains their shared guilt for the end of the world caused by said technology in the future, as seen in "Epitaph One."

Future episodes

• Echo's apprehension about being imprinted/reunited with Caroline will be brought up again in "Getting Closer."
• Unbeknownst to Adelle, Boyd is keeping contact with Paul and is aware of Echo's developments. He will explain his reasons in "The Hollow Men."
• Adelle seemingly turns to Rossum's side at the end of the episode. Her charade will last until the end of "The Attic."
• On Echo's return, Adelle places her into isolation where she'll spend most of the next episode "A Love Supreme."

Cast

Main cast

• Eliza Dushku as Echo
• Harry Lennix as Boyd Langton
• Fran Kranz as Topher Brink
• Tahmoh Penikett as Paul Ballard
• Enver Gjokaj as Victor
• Dichen Lachman as Sierra
• and Olivia Williams as Adelle DeWitt

Recurring roles

• Keith Carradine as Matthew Harding
• Liza Lapira as Ivy
• Philip Casnoff as Clive Ambrose

Guest starring

• Anna Claudia Talacon as Galena
• Jonathan Del Arco as Mr. Caviezel
• Unknown actor as Talib Raj Amin
• Glenn Morshower as Sheriff Rand
• Kevin Linehan as Deputy Merrick
• Maurissa Tancharoen as Kilo

Background Information

Production

Principal photography commenced on September 29th, 2009.

Reception

Critics

"This is a good episode. It feels like the story which the show needed to tell from the start. The really interesting part is Echo moving away from Caroline and becoming her own person. Finally we have a reason to care about her, to feel sympathy and to see her evolution in terms of standard character development."

―The TV Critic review

Deleted scenes

• After fighting back against the cops, Echo runs away through a gate. Time skips to three months later where a now socially adjusted Echo walks through the same gate. She is greeted by the owner of the store who calls her "Jane" and "[his] favorite customer."
• Topher plays with a VR interface, only to declare that the goggles do nothing and take them off. Imprinted as a scientist, Sierra comes to ask him about workplace romances, as she is developing feelings for the electronics expert, who is obviously Victor. Sick of this subject, Topher notes how she tells him this every day, much to her confusion, and offers to talk about it "tomorrow."

Goofs

• Paul claims Echo has 36 personalities. Back in "Vows" Topher said she had been imprinted with 39, and that was before Emily Jordan, Kiki Turner, Terry Karrens, and Brie.

International titles

• French: "Incognito" (Incognito)
• Italian: "Donna non identificata" (Unidentified woman)

Trivia

• Keith Carradine is billed as a Special Guest Star.
• This is the first episode of Season 2 since the premiere in which the entire main cast appears.