Dollhouse: Man on the Street Rewatch

October 9, 2020 9:31 AM - Season 1, Episode 6

Ballard gets a lead on a possible Dollhouse client and he finds more than he expected. Meanwhile at the Dollhouse, an active is being abused, possibly by another active.

Ballard finally meets Caroline / Echo and gets closer to Mellie. Boyd flushes out Sierra's abuser. A great reveal for Mellie. Ballard gets suspended from duty.

AV Club: A

posted by Kyol (7 comments total)

So I originally went into this blind, I didn't know there was an episode where it would all suddenly come in to focus, so on first watch this episode was incredible - all of the intrigue plots that had been getting set up over the course of the prior 5 episodes just started paying off. On rewatch it still has the same sort of spine-tingling energy that things are getting turned upside down and what you thought you knew about the series was all wrong.
posted by Kyol at 9:34 AM on October 9, 2020 [1 favorite]

Ahh yes, The One Where It Gets Good. I'm rewatching along with these posts, and in retrospect it just seems so obvious that Mellie is a Doll, but I remember being totally blindsided at the time. I think revealing Victor a few episodes earlier was a nice sleight of hand on the show's part.
posted by Ragged Richard at 1:01 PM on October 9, 2020 [2 favorites]

And I remember thinking at the time that Oswalt's character's deal with his deceased ex-wife felt very much like a Devs thing, just a decade earlier.

And yeah, I think part of what hit so strongly about Mellie's reveal was, ok, right, the dollhouse has revealed their hand, and it was Victor. And then Mellie too? Who else is in on this conspiracy?!?
posted by Kyol at 1:25 PM on October 9, 2020 [2 favorites]

Little known fact (because, really, why would anyone know this): Victor's substitute handler in this episode is named Bicks, and might or might not have been named for me because of my heavy involvement in Whedon fandom at one point in my life. His character description in Joss' script was, "twitchy, unreliable-looking", and anyone who'd encountered me during my convention days might very well have come across with that impression. I've never tried to get confirmation, because why ruin the mystique of it.
posted by bixfrankonis at 5:38 PM on October 9, 2020 [2 favorites]

Mark Sheppard once again as a great villain.

For sure! The show only gets good once the real storyline drops.

I recall that the first time around, I was totally surprised that Mellie was a doll, too!

"The third flower is green."

Dominic is definitely not in the loop re: Mellie.

Geeze, Patton Oswalt. He lost his wife early in real life (after this). He's addressed it publicly too (and parodying/ homaging it in tv too) but, geeze.

Great writing and amazing acting for the role. Another one of Oswalt's peaks. Nice bitto Ballard: "Go live in the real world, if you ever did!."

First time(s) 'The Attic' is mentioned?

Speaking of clues, Boyd mentioning that he doesn't need a bonus.
posted by porpoise at 12:16 AM on October 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

Oh, nah, the Attic is mentioned as early as the 2nd episode when Dominic is expressing his concern that people seem to die around Echo and pretty much every episode between then and now in the coda. Admittedly, mostly Dominic going "grr, you belong in the Attic, grr", but...
posted by Kyol at 8:50 AM on October 12, 2020

That's what makes Dominic so great.
posted by bixfrankonis at 1:04 PM on October 12, 2020