Well, my version, anyway.  Don’t get sniffy.  I need to amuse myself in the face of many pending apocalypses, unpaid vet bills, and a dead lawn mower. 

I was going to do a whole convoluted thing about dolls and Cylons and interchangeable atoms, with reference to the clever throwing of Br'er Alpha into the briar patch.  But the end may be nigh, and  I'm tired of  trying to make it more than it is.   The Whedonits were right after all - Dollhouse doesn't hold a candle to Firefly.  However...

Now that I was just getting resigned to Dollhouse being a something of a wash, Wash himself has rescued it.  You remember that time Wash performed the Crazy Ivan maneuver that got Serenity clear of the clutches of the zombie Reavers?  That’s my take on what happened in Dollhouse episode 11, “Briar Rose.”    I am almost resentful of this, because now I am going to be really annoyed if we are to see no more of the adventures of Alpha after the season finale this Friday. 

The eleventh episode cancelled out my misgivings, Jane Espenson redeemed herself for the “Haunted” horror, and even Echo was bearable, in her glitching doll persona.  Getting back to the real story of the Dollhouse worked wonders.  So did having a great actor.  I hung on every word and tic of the estimable Alan Tudyk, and the scene he had with Amy Acker gave me fits, both of them were so good. 

I came very very late to Battlestar Galactica (i.e. while the first adopters were whimpering over the series finale, I was watching the first mini-series). Further along in both series now, I finally understand why there has been such wild speculation about who is or isn’t a doll.  Beyond that, I’ve been wondering why I get so horrified about Cylons being put out of airlocks, when I haven’t been appalled at all by the Dollhouse business of stealing/hiring/switching bodies and identities/memories.  At least I wasn’t until I saw Dominic come to in Victor’s body.  Suddenly, Laura Roslin  and the Cylons are all looking like models of humanism compared to Adelle DeWitt and company.

And so just as things are getting really good, there is now only one episode left for sure in Dollhouse (I’m ignoring the fabled 13^th episode as I can’t believe it goes anywhere good).   I’m going to take advantage of what may be my last chance to speculate wildly.

My Predictions (aka Wishful Thinking)

Boyd is the mole.  Actually, I don’t think he is the official mole – the one communicating with idiot Paul.  Boyd is acting on his own, as your basic good guy renegade.  At least I hope that’s the case, because Boyd seems too smart to need idiot Paul’s blundering into the Dollhouse to “help.”  I say put Paul in the Attic.  Anyone who refuses a get-out-of-jail-free card so blatantly shoved in his teeth when he’s been backed into a corner deserves a time-out in the Attic. 

No, the real mole is Dr. Claire.  Amy Acker’s rendition of  extreme fear combined with rueful guilt makes me think Claire really regrets what she has done, and not just because Alpha carved her up for it.  Except that Dr. Claire is a doll.  But this now makes total sense, because a real doctor would cost the Dollhouse a fortune. Claire keeps the medical expenses affordable.  And Dr. Claire as a renegade doll, engaged in her own private war, makes perfect sense.  She’s remembering her Hippocratic Oath.  Topher screwed up on that one. 

November is dead.  She is a goner.  No more use to the Dollhouse, and way too many mug shot files in the FBI to be healthy.  November has to be dead, because otherwise, the announced spoiler that a doll will die before the end means – noooooo – it will be Dr. Claire (now that I’ve set her up as the doll mole).  So I‘m really hoping it’s November.  Maybe the life indicated by those mug shots had something to do with how her child died.  If it weren’t too, too predictable, I’d be waiting for the Dollhouse to frame Paul for her murder.  Maybe they can program Dominic to murder Paul and November. I could live with that.

But Boyd is such a problem now, with that darn morality of his.  Still, he’s going to have his hands full with the new king and queen of the doll insurrection.  I see Alpha and Echo as the Dollhouse version of Spike and Drusilla, wreaking havoc from afar. That would be kind of great.

Or there could be a major methane build-up in the doll pods, leading to a general system failure and subsequent explosion of the entire Dollhouse. 

I don't know.  I'm going to go watch River Tam shoot people with her eyes closed again.