Dollhouse S02E05

The Public Eye

United States Senator Daniel Perrin has been trying to bring down the Dollhouse for months, but he becomes much more of a threat when he comes into possession of a material witness: Madeline Costley. High-ranking Rossum executive Matthew Harding (Keith Carradine) orders the staff of the LA Dollhouse to do nothing, claiming Rossum has enough dirt on Perrin to keep him quiet; Echo is the one to point out what it is: Cindy, Perrin's wife, appears to be a Doll herself, presumably of the same "sleeper" variety Madeline herself was. While Echo is imprinted as "Bree," a hooker who discredits Perrin by creating a celebrity sex tape of the two of them together, Adelle asks Ballard to kidnap Madeline against the fear that Cindy will be ordered to kill her. Topher gives him a "disruptor," a device that will incapacitate a Doll... but when Paul uses it on Cindy, she remains unfazed while Perrin breaks down. Perrin, the careless-playboy member of a political dynasty, was "upgraded" by Rossum with ambition and drive; Cindy is his handler. He and Echo, now awakened to their true natures, try to escape, but they are captured by Cindy and taken to the Washington, D.C. Dollhouse and its head programmer, Bennett Halverson (Summer Glau), a socially awkward young woman with a permanently paralyzed left arm. Bennett, upon seeing Echo, recognizes her as Caroline Farrell, and then begins to torture her. Ballard is unable to sway Madeline from her decision, and she goes to testify to the Senate. Adelle determines that the LA Dollhouse is being framed and resolves to stop Rossum.