Dollhouse-Ep: 2

This evening was the second episode of Dollhouse and I don't know how to rate this one. It defiantly got better as the episode progressed. The rest of the review will contain spoilers for this episode and the previous episode, read with cation.

If you have seen the episode and don't need an overview of it, please skip down to the words in blue.

So the episode start off in a flashback and these will continue throughout the episode and most likely the whole season. But this flashback is right after Alpha escaped the Dollhouse after all of his personalities imprinted on him resurfaced simultaneously. In his escape, he killed several Actives and Dollhouse staff members, including Echo's previous handler, but he let Echo live.
Then straight to a new customer Richard O'Connell (Matt Keeslar) who wishes to hire to Echo for a weekend of fun up in the mountains. This would include; river rafting, hiking, rock climbing, and archery. Sounds fun doesn't it? Especially when she gets to have steamy sex with him in a tent. (Now this pisses me off, and I'll get to that later.) But he gets up and tells her that she has got five minutes to run before he is going to come after her with a bow and arrow. (And they say romance is dead.) And in that time I believe there was a flashback, to where we meet Echo new handler Boyd Langton (Harry J. Lennix) and we see that Alpha is the one that gave Claire Saunders her scars.
Now while Echo is having her fun, her handler is attacked, but later ties up his assailant, and goes to find Echo.
Echo has been run for awhile now, and stumbles upon a cabin. Once inside she finds a canteen, takes a drink and then hears a noise in the closet. (No girl you better not open that door, you know there is something bad in there.) And what do you know, it's a dead body of a forest ranger. Richard comes over the rangers walkie talkie and tells Echo that there is something in the water, that won't kill her but will 'put a spin on things'. Another flashback to where, Boyd and Echo are connected, Echo now will always feel safe and trust Boyd no matter what.
So Boyd and Echo find each other, but the bastard Richard shoots Boyd in the stomach, and Echo is forced to leave him while she tries to find Richard. After a little walking they find each other, face to face weapons drawn. (Boyd gave Echo a gun.) They shot and miss, but Richard starts to strangle Echo, but in a twist, Echo stabs him in the neck with his fallen arrow.
Echo gets her mind erased and all is well, but in the last shot of the episode you see her doing a scouts solute that Richard taught her.

Enough rambling about the episode, time for a review.

So this dude Richard (major asshole) hires Echo, it's one thing to do it for companionship, but for sex and then a game of cat and mouse. It's bull and in a way rape, I'm sure that the customers have to sign a clause saying they won't sleep with them. But what will really stop them, yes Echo enjoyed it and wanted it but, the real Echo had no idea. And as for the game of cat and mouse, that is a sick and twisted and eww. But we did get some more back story on the dolls and the dollhouse, and the FBI trying to get into it. And the possibility that dolls can remember the things they were activated to do. And Amy Acker more of her, I love her, she is so flipping awesome and it's great that we see her and even her back story, how she got her scars. The humor has really stepped it up also, Topher and Boyd have a very funny relationship, and healthy bit of back and forth dialog. And thank goodness, because in a serious episode like that, I needed a laugh that Joss is so good at giving.
The woman that runs the dollhouse Adelle DeWitt (Olivia Williams) truly think that what the dolls do really help people. Surely after what has happened to Echo she can't think that this helps people. This episode was better then the first and if your struggling through the first, please wait and watch this episode. Also during the episode Eliza appeared in a Hulu commercial. Here it is.