Needs

"Needs" is the eighth episode of Dollhouse. It was written by Tracy Bellomo and directed by Felix Alcalá. It aired on April 3rd, 2009.

Synopsis

When Echo, Sierra, November, Victor and Mike awaken in the Dollhouse with their original personalities, Echo leads the charge to free the Actives from their apparent captivity and escape the Dollhouse forever. Meanwhile, Ballard discovers the Dollhouse is closer than he thinks.

Engagements

Engagements

Active	Client	Alias	Personality	Mission
Echo	In House	Caroline Farrell	Original Personality	Liberate the Actives and find Closure.
Mike	In House	Unknown	Original Personality (?)	Control Subject
November	In House	Madeline Costley	Original Personality	Grieve for Katie and find Closure
Quebec	Unknown	Unknown	Soldier	Unknown
Sierra	In House	Priya Tsetsang	Original Personality	Confront Nolan Kinnard and find Closure
Tango	Unknown	Unknown	Sally Bowles from Cabaret	Unknown
Victor	In House	Anthony Ceccoli	Original Personality	Protect Sierra/Priya Tsetsang and find Closure
Whiskey	In House	Claire Saunders	Scarred Physician loyal to the cause	House Physician

Continuity

Chronology

• This episode is among the first (if not the first) to establish a timeline within the series, with Topher Brink saying that the year is 2009. It is also the first hint to how long Caroline Farrell has been Echo, when she asks Topher how long she's been in there, he replies "Kinda... more." to "A day? A month?".

Episode connections

Past episodes

• Paul finds the hidden camera installed by the Dollhouse, which was used by Adelle in "Man on the Street."
• Adelle mentions an Active going off mission and another showing urges, referring to Echo (in "Echoes") and Victor (in "True Believer"), before recalling the events surrounding the drug (in "Echoes").

Future episodes

• After Caroline meets with Dr. Saunders, she speculates that Saunders is also a 'prisoner' of the Dollhouse. This later proves to be more-or-less true in "Omega". Similarly, when Caroline and Adelle lead the dolls outside at the end of the episode, Claire is seen walking among them.
• Sierra goes to confront Nolan Kinnard who, as she claims, put her in the Dollhouse. This will be the subject of the episode "Belonging."
• In the message Caroline leaves Paul, she mentions she is "somewhere underground". Paul will bring this fact up in front of Mellie in "A Spy in the House of Love" and use it to find the Dollhouse in "Briar Rose."

Cast

Main cast

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

Recurring roles

• Amy Acker as Claire Saunders
• Reed Diamond as Laurence Dominic
• Miracle Laurie as November/Mellie/Madeline Costley
• Angel Desai as Sophie Alvarez
• Vincent Ventresca as Nolan Kinnard

Guest starring

• Teddy Sears as Mike
• Skyler Stone as Jimmy
• Emma Bell as Tango
• Joe Wandell as Adams
• David Law as Quebec

Background Information

Reception

Cast & Crew

Joss Whedon said about the episode: ""Needs" was one of the first episodes that I ever dreamed up. It was one of the first episodes I pitched. Tracy Bellomo wrote such a beautiful script and [director] Felix Alcala just made a beautiful show. Gorgeous to look at and well-paced. Everyone was just firing on all cylinders. And it was like, "This is the kind of story we're trying to tell."

Critics

"[T]his is a very compelling episode – one I liked even more than "Man on the Street", thanks to the stronger characterizations."

―IGN Recap

"This is a good episode, it’s an interesting, logical story. It has acting and writing to recommend it. But it still leaves me uncomfortable and without a bond to it."

―The TV Critic Review

"All in all, this was a pretty great episode, even if it lost a little bit of its suspense after we realized this was all just Adelle's game."

―io9 Recap

"Complete with lots of humor, intimate romance and twists and turns aplenty, "Needs" is another example of the potential "Dollhouse" has in its serialized form."

―Airlock Alpha Recap

Ratings

"Needs" a 2.2/4 Rating/Share,a 1.46/5 Rating/Share in the 18-49 demographic and a 1.7/5 in the 25-54 demographic. The episode was watched by 2.865 million viewers Live, 3.436 million viewers Live+SD and 4.392 million viewers Live+7. The episode averaged a 1.17 Rating in the 18-49 demographic Live, a 1.46 Live+SD and a 1.96 Live+7. Overall "Needs" had 1.527 million DVR viewers. 34.8% of all viewings of "Needs" happened via DVR, that's the third greatest percentage of DVR viewing for broadcast TV shows of that week.

The half-hour breakdown showed 3.51 million viewers and 1.4/5 Rating/Share in the demo between 9:01 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., and 3.46 million viewers and a 1.4/5 between 9:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.

Deleted scenes

• The self-aware dolls are at an art class. Anthony and Madeline use drawings to communicate their escape plan. Caroline observes other Actives and visibly becomes compassionate.

Goofs

• Caroline and Adelle's conversation just before Caroline leads the dolls outside, filmed as a shot/countershot, has a visible inconsistency: when the camera points at Adelle, Caroline is seen holding her gun with one hand, when the camera points at Caroline, except for the last shot, she is seen holding her gun with two hands.

International titles

• French: "L'Échappée belle" (The runaway)
• Italian: "Ferite aperte" (Open wounds)

Promotional Photos

External Links

• "Needs" at the Official Dollhouse Wiki
• "Needs" at tv.com
• "Needs" at IMDb