Man on the Street Transcript |

Dollhouse Season 1 Episode 6 “Man on the Street”
Written by Joss Whedon
Directed by David Straiton
Original Airdate: 03/20/09

[Open on a gray screen that says the following:

(static)
Screen reads:
File # 659HQX 782
Testimonial Documents

Case Designated
DOLLHOUSE Interviews
Los Angeles, CA

[ ipz – Ob – 270 ] ]

[Cut to reporter on street]

Reporter: When you hear the words ‘dollhouse’ you probably think of little girls playing tea party. But for some people in Los Angeles, those words have a different meaning, a darker meaning.

Paranoid Guy on Street: Yeah, everyone knows that. They got people programmed to do whatever. Could be for sex or, you know, kill a guy. They’re out there. Dolls.

Reporter: Seeming to crop up first in the late ‘80s, the Dollhouse is one of LA’s most enduring urban legends. The story is simple. Somewhere in the city is an illegal establishment that rents out to the very rich and the very connected programmable people. People who can take on any personality except their own. Nothing more than science fiction according to most everybody, a big foot for the big city. But what’s interesting about this urban legend, is the wide spectrum of reactions we encountered from everyday Angelenos to the very idea of a Dollhouse.

Angry Black Woman on Street: Oh, it’s happening. There’s one thing people will always need is slaves.

Reporter: Well some of the versions of the story say the Dolls themselves are volunteers.

Angry Black Woman on Street: There’s only one reason someone would volunteer to be a slave is if they is one already. Volunteer. You must be out of your (bleep) mind.

Disgruntled Waitress on Street: So being a Doll, you do whatever. And you don’t got to remember nothing. Or study. Or pay rent. And you just party with rich people all the time? Where’s the dotted line?

Reporter: A spokesperson for the governor insists that this legend is nothing more than that. And stories of an FBI task force investigating the Dollhouse have been flatly denied…

[Move off image of reporter to reveal a TV screen. We continue panning to…]

Reporter: …But the rumors persist. And like every good fairy tale, the story grows more intricate, and more divisive, every decade.

[…a screen with the video of Caroline as a college student]

(TV clicks off, remote clatters to desk)

[We cut to Paul Ballard who is looking at a computer screen and glancing back at some papers.]

Paul Ballard: No. It can’t be that easy.

[Tanaka enters]

Tanaka: This is my case.

Paul: You closed it.

Tanaka: What, you come in my house, dig through my garbage, too?

Paul: You’re out of hand cream again.

Tanaka: This the alleged victim?

[He indicates the screen with Caroline on it and turns to it]

Tanaka: Guy said she had a face. Damn. No wonder you’re foraging for hand cream. Had a million bucks, I could blow it on that.

Paul: Did you track this payment from Crestejo? The Mayfair Fund?

Tanaka: Told you to stay out of my soup, Ballard.

Paul: Afraid you’ll have to reopen the case? Act like a federal agent for five minutes?

Tanaka: This is my report. If there is some giant conspiracy that’s sucking the brains out if nice, young people, this bit of trim that you’re chasing is A: effectively dead, and B: a whore. A mindless whore, just your type. No disrespect. I’m sure she still has a heart of gold.

[Tanaka grunts as Paul slams him against the glass door of the office]

Tanaka: What happened there, Ballard? I strike a nerve?

Paul: Yeah. Felt like this.

[Tanaka screams as Paul does something horrible to him]

Tanaka: You are not long for this world.

Paul: I think you’d better lie down.

Tanaka: I mean it. Someone’s going to put you down. And I pray to God I’m there to see it.

[Tanaka groans as he leaves the office]

Paul: Come by any time.

[Cut to Dollhouse where we see Echo and Victor eating together. Victor notices Sierra walk in and sit down alone at a table next to them.]

Victor: Sierra is alone.

Echo: I like to be alone sometimes.

Victor: It’s peaceful. Sierra sits with us most days. Am I wrong?

Echo: When we go to sleep, I hear her.

Victor: Maybe she didn’t see us.

[Victor rises and goes to Sierra. He touches her shoulder. She screams and jolts away from him, falling out of her chair. She continues screaming as Victor and Echo look on uncertainly.]

[Cut to an exam room, where Dr. Claire Saunders has just finished giving Sierra a pelvic exam. Sierra is still on the exam table.]

Dr. Claire Saunders: Do you feel uncomfortable at all?

Sierra: No. Should I?

Claire: No. Did Victor upset you? Do you remember?

Sierra: Victor wants to pretend.

Claire: “Pretend”?

Sierra: He pretends we’re married.

Claire: I see.

[Sierra leaves and Boyd Langton and Joe Hearn enter]

Joe Hearn: Something’s up?

Claire: Yes. Sierra’s had sex.

Hearn: No, sir.

Boyd Langton [to Hearn]: You know for sure?

Hearn: Her last engagement was with the governor’s niece at a children’s cancer ward.

Claire: I examined her post-engagement anyway. This happened while she’s been here.

Boyd: What did she say about Victor?

Claire: That he liked to play.

Hearn: Wait, the Dolls don’t have sex drives. That’s part of the deal, right? What do you guys know?

Boyd: Since when do you care what happens to her?

Hearn: Since I was hired to. Just because I’m not Andy Griffith with these guys doesn’t mean I want to see them abusing each other. If Victor’s off-program, then he could be Jekyll and Hyde-ing just like Alpha did.

Claire: We can’t jump to any conclusions.

Hearn: No, but we can go to the videotape.

Boyd: How long has she…?

Hearn: Two days. If Victor was alone with her, it won’t take long to find.

Claire: Mr. Hearn, when you figure out what happened…

Hearn: Then I go to DeWitt. If Victor is playing doctor when not imprinted with an M.D., then he goes to the Attic.

[Hearn leaves and the door slams behind him]

Claire: Victor wouldn’t…

Boyd: She did scream when she saw him. And we both know he’s been focused on her.

Claire: There’s a difference between being attracted to someone and hurting them.

Boyd: Has she shown any other sign? Anything you can remember?

[Echo enters suddenly]

Echo: When we go to sleep, when we go in the pods, Sierra cries.

[Cut to Paul in Loomis’ office, standing over Loomis at the computer]

Paul: Am I right? I’m right, right? Am I right?

Loomis: Tanaka’s going to the director. You know he threw up after you pulled that Vulcan grip crap. And yes, I think you’re right. This is the Crestejo account.
[We see stuff on the monitor while she explains all this stuff]

Big payment to the Mayfair Fund, which means nothing. Mayfair is a hedge, and it’s spread thin.

Paul: But that payment went in right when his daughter was kidnapped.

Loomis: And you still think he hired the Dollhouse to get her back.

Paul: I surely do.

Loomis: Now you have a similar sum transferred to the Mayfair Fund from Q-Field. And this is the fun part: you have the same amount, from Q-Field to Mayfair, every year on the exact same day.

Paul: Q-Field is a subsidiary of Redwing, a majority share of which is held by…

[Paul presents Loomis with a file with a guy on it who turns out to be…]

Paul: …Joel Mynor.

Loomis: And Joel Mynor is on your list of potential Dollhouse clients. Man, even I know about this guy. He’s that Internet mogul. He created Sorceress, E-Tilites, Bouncy the Rat. My kids fiercely love Bouncy the Rat.

Paul: dotcom billionaire with serious commitment issues, who shows up at every charity gig with a fabulous nobody on his arm. I’ve liked this guy for a while.

Loomis: You ever thought about asking him out?

Paul: I’m never going to get to Caroline. Whoever she is, the Dollhouse has buried her. I’ve got to get to them first, and Joel Mynor is my ticket. Whatever he’s paying for, it’s happening soon. I need everything on him.

Loomis: You mean everything admissible by a warrant that you got, because anybody in the whole wide Bureau believes you’re not insane.

Paul: I mean help me out.

Loomis: Getting shot didn’t even make you pause, did it? I’ll help you. The director sees what we’re up to, he’s going to help you out.

[Cut to Paul and Mellie eating Chinese food sitting on the couch at Paul’s apartment]

Mellie: So the one fund got transferred to the other fund, and that’s the same as the other other fund, and that’s all important.

Paul: That’s it. Exactly.

Mellie: You have a very glamorous job.

Paul: How do you think I can afford to take you to all these fancy places?

Mellie: Hey, this is the nicest offer I’ve had this month. Or last month.

Paul: Weren’t you, um, seeing someone?

Mellie: Hmm?

Paul: Rick.

Mellie: Dick.

Paul: Really? I thought it was Rick.

Mellie: Oh, his name is Rick.

Paul: Ooh.

Mellie: Mm-hmm. He said he didn’t see me as “a long-term investment.” Said he wanted to, uh, “dump the stock before it went public.” He talks like that. He works at a doughnut shop.

Paul: What a rick.

Mellie: Yeah. Hey, I get that I’m not the gold standard in L.A.

Paul: Please, you’re gorgeous.

Mellie: But I do have access to important government information that I don’t understand.

Paul: It boils down to this: Today was a slightly better day for the good guys than it was for the bad guys. Just one more tiny step to get me closer to bringing her in.

Mellie: Them.

Paul: What?

Mellie: Bringing them in. You said “her.”

Paul: Oh. Well… “her” is being held captive by “them.” Along with a lot of other people, if I’m right. So if I really catch my client in the act tomorrow with a Doll, I’m closer to freeing them all. Including, but not limited to, “her.” Is that fair?

Mellie: It’s your job.

[Establishing shot of a very nice looking house. We move in to see Joel Mynor standing outside checking his watch, his head security peorson closing the door as he walks out to meet Mynor.]

Head security person: We’re all clear in there.

Joel Mynor: Okay, I don’t want to see anybody in the house or around the house, and that includes the boys.

Head security person: They get it. You’ll be very much alone.

Mynor: All right.

[Cut around back to see an Asian security guard walking around the corner of the house where he runs into Paul with his gun pointed at him, showing him his badge and indicating for him to come quietly. The guard nods and turns around with his hands in the air.]

[Cut back to the front where a car pulls up and parks in front of the house. Echo, imprinted as Rebecca Mynor, gets out and heads toward Mynor.]

Echo/Rebecca: Joel?

Mynor: Hi, honey.

Echo/Rebecca: Are you okay? You sounded so serious on the phone.

Mynor: I’m a serious guy.

[She reaches him and gives him a kiss]

Echo/Rebecca: You’re a dork. Louanne’s covering for me, so this can’t take forever.

Mynor: You may have to owe her one. I did something.

Echo/Rebecca: Something bad?

[Cut back to the situation with Paul. Paul takes the gun from the holster of the surrendering man, only to have the gut try to swing at him. Paul puts him down handily in a couple of seconds. Leaving him lying unconscious against the wall of the house.]

[Paul enters the house, walking into an empty great room and continuing to discover a bedroom lighted with candles and a bed covered in rose petals. We hear Mynor and Echo/Rebecca talking from another room. We continue on Paul as he goes toward the voices.]

Echo/Rebecca: Oh, Joel.

Mynor: The oven, uh, gets food so hot, it actually goes through this thing called the “cooking process.” It’s very scientific. (Echo/Rebecca giggles) Um, and I think there’s something in the fridge.

[Paul turns into the kitchen, gun raised. Mynor is visible, while Echo/Rebecca is hidden by the large refrigerator door.]

Paul: I’d like you both to turn around very slowly. What’s the matter, Mr. Mynor? Did you two want to be…

[Echo/Rebecca peeks around the refrigerator door. Paul sees her and falters, surprised.]

Paul: Alone?

[He lowers his gun and stares amazedly at Echo]

[Opening Titles]

[Open again on the grainy film of the cameraman who was with the reporter. We are seeing more interviews.]

Old Man on Street: If they’d had it in my day, I’d have had Betty Grable every night. Or Ida Lupino. Every man that fought for his country should have the right to an Ida Lupino.

Boy Crazy Woman on Street: You mean if it was real? If I could hire a doll and he could be anyone and do anything with no consequences, I would want him to… (giggles) Oh, my God, I’m so not going to tell you.

[Cut back to the kitchen with Paul, Mynor, and Echo/Rebecca]

Mynor: Okay, whoever you are, I think you’ve made a mistake.

Echo/Rebecca: What’s happening?

Paul: Caroline?

Mynor: Okay, you’ve definitely made a mistake.

Paul: What do you call her?

Echo/Rebecca: Please put the gun away. My name is Rebecca Mynor, and this is my husband, Joel. We just bought this house. [to Joel] We did, right? You didn’t just break in to impress me?

Mynor: No, it-it’s paid for. This is all a big mix-up. [to Paul] Please, tell me your name.

Paul: I’m Paul Ballard. I’m with the FBI.

Echo/Rebecca: I knew it.

Mynor: What?

Echo/Rebecca: It’s porn, isn’t it? The Internet venture that suddenly pays off. You did porn! My husband does porn!

Mynor: No, I don’t do porn! [to Paul] You’re in huge trouble.

Paul: You’re name is Caroline. You don’t know this, but you’re being fooled. You’re being used.

Mynor: Okay, I’m giving you one last chance to leave.

Echo/Rebecca: Joel, please don’t make him angry.

Paul: I would never hurt you.

[A taser is suddenly heard clicking and Paul grunts in pain and doubles over onto the island. Head security guy is revealed holding the taser.]

Head security guy: I’m so sorry, Mr. Mynor, he attacked one of our men.

Echo/Rebecca: Who is this? You know this man? Is this a porn man?

[Cut to Paul spasm-ing on the island, head security guy doing something to him. I think he’s removing the taser cords from Paul’s back. Back to the couple.]

Mynor: No, there’s no porn!

Echo/Rebecca: Don’t yell at me.

Mynor: I’m not yelling at you. I just…

Echo/Rebecca: I don’t like this house.

Mynor: Sweetie…

Echo/Rebecca: I…

[Paul has regained his ability and is now beating the tar out of head security guy. Echo/Rebecca is screaming. Mynor makes a run for it but Paul kicks him in the ribs and puts him down. Paul takes on another security guard, throwing him over the island. Yet another guard comes in and begins fighting with Paul. While Paul struggles with this man, Boyd comes running in. He grabs the frightened Echo/Rebecca by the arm.]

Echo/Rebecca: Joel!

Boyd: You need a treatment.

[Boyd and Echo/Rebecca hurry through the house as chaos is created by the force that is Paul]

Echo/Rebecca: Joel…

[Boyd and Echo/Rebecca make their way past the bedroom door. Echo stops and looks at the bed strewn with petals. She points indignantly.]

Echo/Rebecca: Porn!

[Paul takes on two or three more guards, putting them all down as we hear an engine start and tires squeal away from the house. Paul looks at the pile of men for a second before walking back into the kitchen, where Mynor is raising himself to his feet.]

Paul: Hope you’re not thinking about leaving, Mr. Mynor.

Mynor: Can I assume none of my security guys need as ambulance or a hearse?

Paul: They’ll be fine.

Mynor: Why don’t you, uh, tell me what you’re looking for?

Paul: I found what I was looking for.

[Mynor sits down at the kitchen table]

Mynor: Really? Figured you’d be a lot happier right about now.

Paul: Tell me about the Dollhouse.

Mynor: (laughing) The Doll… Uh, it’s pink and it opens up and there’s teeny furniture, and you put the boy doll on top of the girl doll and we learn about urges.

[Paul violently overturns the table and flips a chair around, straddling it backwards]

Paul: What’s her name?

Mynor: Rebecca— she told you.

Paul: Really? How do you know Rebecca?

Mynor: We’ve been married for seven years.

Paul: (chuckles) So that’s your fantasy? All the money in the world, the most elaborate, high-class underground organization ever designed, and you just want to play house? I guess the rich really are different.

Mynor: Why, what’s your fantasy?

Paul: Oh, I’m okay right here in the real world, thanks.

Mynor: No, no, you have a fantasy. We all do. We need it to survive, and I think your fantasy is about my Rebecca.

Paul: Her name is Caroline.

Mynor: Right.

Paul: A few years ago, she was a student, and then she had her identity ripped from her so she could play love slave to every loser with a wad of cash.

Mynor: But then the brave little FBI agent whisked her away from the cash-wielding losers and restored her true identity, and she fell in love with him.

Paul: It doesn’t go like that.

Myno: I saw how you were with her.

(Paul scoffs)

Mynor: I saw how you were with her. It was, it was almost cute.

Paul: We’re not here to talk about me.

Mynor: Hey, I don’t have to be here at all. I mean, you’re not going to arrest me. Pretty sure you’re not going to kill me, so… if we’re going to talk, we’re both going to talk.

[He rises from his chair while he’s talking and picks up two champagne flutes, and removes a bottle of champagne from the fridge]

Mynor: I mean, she, she changed things for you. So you’re the head of this FBI task force to uncover the Dollhouse, and you’re working hard, you’re chasing leads, you’re cracking skulls, but it’s just work. And then you meet this girl or you… you see her somewhere, huh? Caroline? And suddenly… (cork pops out of bottle) …it gets personal.

[Mynor pours champagne and holds it out to Paul, who shakes his head ‘no.’]

Mynor: Tell me you haven’t thought about it. You know, her, her grateful tears, her, her welcoming embrace, her warm breath. Are you married?

Paul: Was.

Mynor: Oh, that’s… Is there someone in your life right now?

Paul: This is getting old.

Mynor: Of course not. No, there’s no room for a real girl, is there, when you can feel Caroline beckoning? (chuckling) You know, I have to say I-I think your fantasy is even sadder than mine.

Paul: Won’t know until I hear it.

Mynor: Well, it didn’t involve drinking alone.

[Cut to a close up of Victor’s eye on a monitor]

Claire: Victor, can you tell me about Sierra?

Victor: Sierra is beautiful.

(typing)

[Pan over to Victor, who is hooked to the computer]

Topher Brink: There’s a lot of beautiful girls here, bro, it’s pretty much the idea. Beauty.

Victor: Sierra is different.

Claire: How is she different?

Victor: I’m sorry.

Claire: Victor, do you remember being in the showers with Sierra? You were watching her? How does Sierra make you feel?

Victor: Better.

[Cut to outside the exam room where Boyd and Bicks are watching through the glass.]

Bicks: I can’t believe this. I’m filling in for Ramirez for a week and my Active invents rape?

Boyd: We don’t know what happened yet. Victor might have just triggered a memory.

Bicks: Well, Hearn’s out for blood.

Boyd: Hearn hasn’t found anything on the tapes. Nobody has.

Bicks: How is that even possible? Every square inch of this place is monitored. If two Actives are going at it… What do you think DeWitt’ll do? You think she’ll come down hard? It was probably just a mistake. These Dolls, they’re smiling all day. Then Sierra’s crying in bed? Why always then? Maybe she’s broken.

[Realization spreads across Boyd’s face as Binks talks]

Bicks: You figure she’s broken?

[Boyd turns to leave]

Boyd: They’re all broken.

[Boyd hurries off down the stairs]

[Cut back to two filled champagne flutes. Pull back to see the table and chairs properly placed. Mynor is sitting down while Paul stands across from him. A bowl of strawberries sits with flutes.]

Mynor: Rebecca was amazing. She was a nurse and… (laughing) …I was a basket case, so you know, not a, not a bad match. I was the guy with the almost great idea– Floogle and Blahoo! And Facebooger. I was, I was just always one step behind, and she was cool with it.

Paul: And did she look exactly like Caroline?

Mynor: No, but— eat it, F-Bitch-I— she was beautiful and she knew it and she loved me. I mean, I had been… (sighing) I had been given a gift.

[Paul sits down and grabs a strawberry, popping into his mouth]

Paul: And now you’re hiring zombies.

Mynor: You know Rebecca’s dead because you’ve done one iota of research in between beating up licensed security people. Right? And you know I don’t live in this house.

Paul: Place is empty. Shame— big place.

Mynor: (scoffs) This place. This place would fit in my bathroom. I mean, this place could fit in my guest bathroom. All right? I mean, I finally got one step ahead.

Paul: “Bouncy the Rat.” Kids love it.

Mynor: Ooh, they do. I mean, long story still kind of long, my first check had more zeros than the Luftwaffe.

Paul: The Japanese—they had the zeros, not the Germans.

Mynor: (sighs) It was money. All right, it was roll-around-in money and Rebecca had no idea. She’d been supporting the both of us for years. I mean ridiculous hours. We were living in a one-room shack, and I knew this house was exactly her type. I paid cash and I called her up. I said, “Meet me at this address, it’s really important,” and she was worried, you know, I could hear it. Sh-She probably thought this was a police station or something, but… you know… thinking about the look on her face when she saw this place and I told her it was ours. Sanitation truck… sideswiped her car… three blocks from here, and I heard the impact and… (sighs) They said it was quick. I guess that, you know, they always have to say that. Right? But she never got to see this house, and she never knew I made good. So every year on this date, I pretend she does. You know, I get to see that look on her face and I get to show her our extraordinary home.

Paul: And then you sleep with her.

Mynor: It is a fantasy.

Paul: I’m sorry for your loss, Mr. Mynor. It doesn’t make you anything other than a predator.

Mynor: Well, I’m sure I’m in need of some serious moral spankitude, but, uh, guess who’s not qualified to be my rabbi.

Paul: Well, I’m perfectly happy to let a federal judge…

Mynor: Throw you in jail, hmm? I mean we got trespassing, we got assault, and what you’ve got is a girl you’re obsessed with, who I think we can both agree is not here. I mean, this is not “beat up the geek,” big guy. This is the Internet establishment. You put me in front of a judge, he’ll take you down. He’ll throw the Kindle at you.

(siren wailing)

Mynor: (chuckling) Oh… oh. I, I think one of my guys must have called 911. Um, do you want to stick around, see who gets cuffed or…?

Paul: This is all going to come apart. You might not be punished and I might not be alive, but this house will fall.

Mynor: The first hurdle in my business is the people who will not accept the change that’s already happened. Go. Go live in your real world.

[Paul gets up and head out]

Mynor: If you ever did.

[Paul leaves Mynor alone at the table. He raises a glass.]

Mynor: Happy anniversary.

[Go to black]

[Again with the street cam]

Pretty Blonde on street: If you could have somebody be the perfect person, the moment you wish for that you know you’re never going to get, and someone signed on to do that, to help you… I think that could be okay. I think that could be maybe beautiful.

Lady on Bike: It’s human trafficking, end of story. It’s repulsive.

[Cut to Boyd standing in the pod room, looking around. We follow Boyd into a hallway where he takes note of the cameras monitoring the area. He discovers there is a blind spot leading into a room at the end of the hall. Boyd takes out his cell phone.]

Boyd: This is Boyd Langton for Mr. Dominic. Yes, you need to take Victor off the floor. I’m sure. Isolate him… and his handler.

[Cut to Victor sitting alone. Echo walks to him and sits down]

Victor: I did something bad.

Echo: What did you do?

Victor: Nobody will tell me.

Nurse-looking woman: Victor, I need you to come with me, please.

Victor: Where?

Nurse-looking woman: I need you to come with me, please.

[He is taken away by three people]

Victor: (to Echo) Why did Sierra scream at me?

Bicks: Who authorized this? I didn’t rape the Doll. Lawrence, Lawrence, I didn’t so this.

[We see Bicks struggling as Lawrence Dominic and another man usher him along. Echo is watching.]

Bicks: You know me, man. I wouldn’t do this, man. Come one, you know, I didn’t do this! I didn’t do this!

[Echo walks over to Boyd and Hearn]

Echo: Where are they taking Victor?

Hearn: Why don’t you go paint something? (to Boyd) Nice work, man.

[Hearn walks away]

Echo: Where are they taking Victor?

Boyd: Echo, I’m trying to protect Sierra.

Echo: Sierra cries.

Boyd: Not anymore.

[Cut to Paul’s apartment, where we see a very shirtless Paul with a bandage covering a wound on his lower abdomen. Mellie appears and hands him a large bag of ice.]

Mellie: Is this enough?

Paul: Thanks.

[He goes to the kitchen. Mellie goes to the other side of the counter.]

Mellie: Are you, uh, always gonna show up bleeding? ‘Cause it’s kind of funny how I’m not getting used to it.

[Paul wraps the ice in a towel and holds it against his shoulder and makes his way into the living room.]

Paul: It was her.

Mellie: You met Caroline?

Paul: I saw Caroline. I met Rebecca. And I let both of them get away.

[He is now standing in front of Mellie]

Mellie: So, it’s all true.

Paul: I knew it was true. I just didn’t expect… If it had been anybody else, the jail cells would be full, and I’d be busy writing the great American arrest report. I never thought it would be her.

Mellie: Did you get the guy? The… john, the… client. What are they called? I talked to him.

[Paul drops the arm holding the ice to his side.]

Mellie: And?

[Paul moves forward and kisses Mellie. It’s really sweet. They feel something.]

Mellie: And you kissed him?

Paul: I’m sorry.

Mellie: I’m not. I mean, I am. I- I mean you are. Don’t do that. Don’t inflate the stock before you dump it. Uh… don’t think about her and kiss me.

Paul: I wasn’t, I…

Mellie: Forget it. I think it’s best we forget it. Would be stupid, anyway. We’re neighbors, we should just…

Paul: We should be neighborly.

Mellie: Great. Yes. Neighborly. Can I borrow a cup of sugar?

[She lightly knocks him in the arm as she asks the question and they both laugh nervously]

Mellie: Like that. So why don’t you tell me about today.

Paul: The guy’s name was Joel Mynor.

Mellie: Joel Mynor from Bouncy the Rat?

[Cut to the hallway Boyd was walking in before. Two male Dolls, Sierra, and another female Doll enter the hall. Sierra breaks from the group and enters the room Boyd discovered was not visible to the cameras. The door closes behind her. Through the frosted glass we see her silhouette joined by that of a man. His hands go to his belt.]

Hearn: Do you trust me?

Sierra: With my life.

Hearn: Do you want to play the game?

Sierra: No.

Hearn: But you remember to be very quite during the game, right?

Sierra: Noise is upsetting.

Hearn: Lift up your dress.

[As Hearn begins to remove his jacket, Boyd’s fist collides with Hearn’s face sending him flying through the frosted glass. Sierra and Boyd look at the crumpled form.]

Sierra: That wasn’t quiet.

(Hearn groans)

Boyd: Wasn’t meant to be.

[Hearn’s face is all bloody.]

[Cut to Adelle DeWitt’s office, where she is with both Boyd and Dominic]

Adelle: Why didn’t you tell us you were setting up Hearn?

Boyd: He had to be clear. He had to be flush with success, or he’d never have tried again.

Adelle: You will never take action like that on your own again inside these walls. Am I clear?

Boyd: You’re clear.

Adelle: A bonus has been wired to your account.

Boyd: I don’t need a bonus.

Adelle: Well, I need to give it to you. That’s all.

Boyd: Ms. DeWitt.

[Dominic opens the door and Boyd leaves]

[Adelle sighs and sits down at her desk]

Dominic: What do we do with Hearn?

Adelle: I’ll let you know.

Dominic: And you saw the other thing, the tap?

[Adelle clicks a button on the computer and pulls up audio/video from a camera that has been placed in the vent at Paul’s home.]

Mellie: Joel Mynor from Bouncy the Rat? He was on the cover of Wired.

[Mellie and the still shirtless Paul take seats in the living room]

Paul: You read Wired?

Mellie: You can see the cover in stores. Brownish hair, pudgy, kind of cute?

Paul: I don’t remember him as cute.

[Adelle pauses the video]

Dominic: Ma’am, do you have an exit strategy?

[Adelle gives him a look of death]

Dominic: We have a handler abusing an Active, a federal agent interrupting an engagement, spilling his guts to the nearest civilian. I take much of that as my responsibility, but the higher-ups will target you if this all goes south.

Adelle: Your concern is touching, but my bags are not packed. You will bring the handler to me. And as far as the intrepid agent… tell Topher to prep Echo. I think they’re ready for a second date.

[Go to black]

[Hey, street cam, I know you.]

Man with wife on street: Hey, everyone’s got their fantasies, right? A gut wants to know what it’s like, you know, to be with another man. Just once, nothing queeny. Two guys checking it out, and then the other one forgets. That could be sweet for some guys.

[Wife chuckles awkwardly]

[Cut to Topher and Ivy in Topher’s imprint lab. Topher is eagerly enjoying what he does best, creating an imprint for Echo.]

Topher: Oh-ho. You’re bad. Mmm. You’re a naughty girl. Oh. Okay. Uh… but you’re not that girl. That girl has control issues that don’t mesh well with the enhanced combat skill set.

Ivy: You can re-cluster the inhibitors to offset the dissonance. Don’t we want aggression?

Topher: And precision. I need a soupçon of rage. Hmm? Not a whole tasting menu. Mmm. And now I’m hungry. (sighs) Find out if the kitchen has the almond-crusted salmon.

Ivy: I live to serve lunch.

[Ivy leaves]

Topher: Uh-huh. And hello, gorgeous but deadly.

[Topher takes the imprint out of the machine and sticks it into the computer]

Topher: Upload imprint to file drive.

[Boyd steps in the door]

Boyd: Topher.

[Topher is jarred out of his flow]

Topher: I’m in my process. I’m…

[He follows Boyd out, closing the door behind him]

Topher: What’s the scuttlebutt?

Boyd: Echo’s been engaged.

Topher: Well, that does happen.

Boyd: I’m not on it. I’m on hold.

Topher: (chuckling) Yeah. You put another handler through a plate glass window, big guy. That’s 48 hours chill time, min.

Boyd: What is she doing?

Topher: Echo? Oh… life coach gig. You know, remind some doctor why he helps kids who have, you know, gross kids.

Boyd: They don’t think I can handle that?

Topher: Uh, not everything is about you, Infinite Ego Man. You know, you did nail the guy who was messing with Sierra. You should go out and get drunk and beat your chest. Echo will be here when you get back. Hey. How did you figure out it was Hearn, anyway? Is it a cop thing? Reading people?

Boyd: You do the work.

[Boyd walks away]

Topher: Well… Good work.

[Topher goes back into the imprint lab and takes the imprint out of the computer and presses some buttons on the imprint machine. Echo enters.]

Topher: Ready to play?

[Cut to Adelle and Hearn in Adelle’s office. Hearn looks to be handcuffed to a chair.]

Adelle: Can you imagine at all why it is you are not dead?

Hearn: You probably got something worse planned. You gonna erase my brain, turn me into one of your fantasy boys?

[Dominic appears behind Hearn]

Adelle: I find it a bit sad that you think of yourself as a candidate for anyone’s fantasy.

Hearn: Ah, you know you’re a little sweet on me.

[Dominic smacks him hard upside the head. Hearn screams and breaths heavily.]

Hearn: You think I’m gonna beg? You want to kill me? You want to put me in the Attic? I can’t stop you. The jig is up.

Adelle: How many times?

[Hearn pants and looks nervous]

Adelle: I can find out, but I want to hear it from you.

Hearn: Four.

Dominic: You’re disgusting.

Hearn: Don’t give me that. You put her under dome fat, old emir, it makes it better because she thinks she’s in love for all of a day? We’re in the business of using people.

Adelle: You understand less about this business than you think.

Hearn: And you don’t get how it actually works down there. You put a bunch of stone foxes with no willpower and no memory running around naked. Did you think this wouldn’t ever happen?

[Adelle goes to a filing cabinet and retrieves a file]

Adelle: Did it make it better? That she didn’t struggle?

Hearn: No. It made it easier.

Adelle: Mr. Dominic, would you leave us?

Dominic: Ms. DeWitt, I…

Adelle: I’ll be perfectly safe. Please.

[Dominic head out]

Adelle: We are in the business of using people. The question is, what is the best use for someone like you? This woman is a problem for us.

[Adelle presents Hearn with the open file. It contains a picture of Mellie.]

Adelle: She’s learned too much about the organization. It wasn’t her fault, really. I need her killed and it can’t be clean. This is your chance to avoid the Attic. You may even consider it something of a promotion. After all, this one will… probably struggle.

[We here heavy breathing and moaning as we cut to Mellie’s head falling onto a pillow. Paul’s head comes into frame as he kisses Mellie. We pull out to see that they are naked in Paul’s bed. They continue kissing. It’s rather hot.]

Mellie: My God. You’re so… neighborly.

(they both chuckle)

Paul: So… can I borrow a cup of sugar?

(laughing)

Mellie: I don’t think I got any sugar left.

[Again with the kissing. Paul shifts onto his side and groans from his injuries.]

Mellie: I’m not gonna freak out on you.

Paul: Uh… good.

Mellie: When you tell me this is all a mistake, and we should forget it ever happened, I’m gonna be very cool. You’re gonna be bothered by how cool I am.

Paul: What if I don’t say that?

Mellie: I’ll still be cool, but not as cool.

Paul: What if you tell me it was a mistake?

Mellie: Oh, God, you’re gonna be so clingy, weeping and moping, texting me. It’s too embarrassing.

[Paul lies on his back]

Paul: I am not a piece of meat, you know. I have a heart.

Mellie: (chuckling) Blah, blah.

[Mellie curls up next to him and he takes her hand when she places it on his chest]

Mellie: I was thinking about Caroline.

Paul: Well, I wasn’t.

Mellie: (laughs) I believe you. And…

[Melllie sits up]

Mellie: I believe you should find her. I think what they’re doing is wrong. And I don’t love seeing you get beat up and shot, but… I think your work is important.

Paul: Then help me out.

Mellie: Is this the part where you dress me up and use me as bait? ‘Cause those movies never end well.

[Paul sits up]

Paul: It’s the part where I run down to Tiki Port and grab us dinner and we go over my files and you give me your perspective on some stuff. Might see something I didn’t.

Mellie: You think I’d be helpful?

Paul: Yeah.

Mellie: That’s the sweetest thing you’ve done for me all day.

[She runs her fingers down his cheek]

Paul: Well… what about the, um… the other things?

Mellie: (chuckles) Fetch me spring rolls. Then we’ll bust this case wide open.

[Mellie lies back down]

[Cut to Paul standing at the desk at the Tiki Port.]

Paul: …and some beef chop suey, okay?

[The man he was talking to goes to the kitchen. Paul sees a reflection in the kitchen door. It’s Echo. He goes to the kitchen to investigate. He looks around and reaches into the back of his jeans for his gun. Echo comes up behind him and takes his gun, pointing it at his head.]

Paul: Whoever you are, I don’t want to hurt you. I swear, I don’t want to hurt you.

Echo: I know.

[She spins him around and punches him in the face. He goes down on his back. She grabs a large knife.]

Echo: I’m counting on it.

[Go to black]

[Look! It’s the street cam!]

Jaded Guy on street: You think it’s not happening? You think they’re not controlling you? Don’t worry about it. Just sit back and wait for them to tell you what to buy.

[Groaning as we rejoin the Echo/Paul fight already in progress. Paul goes down again when kicks him in the face. He’s pissed now and the jacket comes off. He throws it in her face. He grabs something off one of the counters and she swings a few punches. He blocks and sparring ensues. Paul swings her into the counter and blocks as she comes at him with the knife. He slams her wrist on the counter, making the knife fall away. She beats him away from her. They switch sides and she slams him into the counter. She catches him hard in the chest with a spin kick. She throws a pot at him. It lands around his feet. He chucks a frying pan at her head. She ducks and he comes at her (I half expect him to begin snarling). She kicks him and sends him sprawling over the counter onto the floor on the other side. She throws a large pasta pot at him. He blocks himself with a glass door, which shatters on impact. He kicks over some noisy things in anger and finally gets a kick in on her. She goes down and he throws her over his shoulder and out the back door they go. In the ally out back, he slams her down on the hood of a car. She slams him in the side of the head and knocks him into the opposite wall. Sparring again and then she flips him and he slams onto the ground. She literally kicks him while he’s down. More sparring in which Paul gets some good blows in, until she kicks him and he hits some cans or something. He spins around and slams her against those same cans before slamming her down onto the car. He jumps up there to hit her, only to get kicked off. Some fancy things happen on the car. He gets her onto the car and is about to punch her in the face. She looks all terrified and he stops. She uses this to knock him back and kick his feet out from under him. He goes down face first. She puts a foot on the middle ofhis back and points his gun at him.]

Echo: The Dollhouse is real. They know you’re after them and they are going to have you taken off the case. That’s why they sent me.

[She lets him up and he right himself, panting]

Paul: Why are you telling me this?

Echo: We have a person inside. This person corrupted the imprint while the programmer wasn’t looking, added this parameter.

Paul: Is this the person that sent me the tapes and pictures?

Echo: No. This is their first communication. Security inside is very tight.

Paul: Where is it?

Echo: You can’t know that. You’re going about this the wrong way.

Paul: I have to take down the Dollhouse.

Echo: There are over 20 Dollhouses, in cities around the world. They have ties to every major political power on the planet. You cannot possibly stop them alone. You’re going to help me? The person that sent this message is.

Paul: Why?

Echo: The Dollhouse deals in fantasy. That is their business, but that is not their purpose.

Paul: What is?

Echo: We need you to find out. We’ll contact you again— if possible with this same body. But you have to let the Dollhouse win. Make them back off. You have to trust me.

[A policeman comes running up and Echo puts Paul’s gun back in his hand]

Echo: He’s got a gun!

[She pulls the trigger in his hand. The cop goes down.]

Echo: You have to go now. He’ll live. You’ll be blamed.

[Paul tries to go to the man. Echo stops him.]

Echo: The engagement is complete; they’ll never know I spoke to you.

Paul: No.

Echo: You have to go. They don’t want to kill you, but they will protect the information.

[A man from the restaurant peeks outside]

Paul: Call an ambulance! Officer down!

Echo: Go!

Paul: You can’t just…

Echo: They will protect the information. They don’t want you dead. But anyone else…

Paul: Mellie.

[He runs like hell]

[Cut to Paul’s house. Mellie is straightening some files. She hears the door lock click and smiles as she goes to the door. Hearn, dressed all in black with a mask on his face breaks down the door and throws her to the ground. He picks her up and throws her into a wall, knocking down some books and a bar stool. He traps her on the kitchen counter and she tried to reach for some form of weapon. He throws her over the couch and she hits the ground.]

[Cut to Paul running like hell down the street. He’s got his cell phone to his ear.]

[Cut back to Mellie crying as she crawls along the floor. She screams as she is pulled back across the floor by her ankles. The phone begins ringing.]

[Cut to Paul still running with phone]

[Cut to Mellie who is flipped over and Hearn begins choking her. She grabs at his masked face, removing the mask. As he chokes her, the phone continues ringing. The answering machine picks up.]

Paul (on machine): Leave a message.

Adelle (leaving a message): There are three flowers in a vase.

[Hearn looks up in shock]

Adelle: The third flower is green.

[Mellie’s eyes change and she punches Hearn in the face. She is now November. She gets up and grabs him by the groin slamming him into the wall. He tries in vain to beat her off. She beats him up and throws him down. His chin catches on the table. In this position, November slams her foot onto his back, which makes a nasty crunching sound.]

[Cut to Adelle’s computer screen where she is watching the tap video, phone to her ear.]

Adelle: There are three flowers in a vase. The third flower is yellow.

[Cut back to November, who turns back into Mellie. Mellie goes into hysterics upon seeing the man lying on the floor. She sits down against the wall and cries. Paul comes in beat all to hell, his gun raised. He surveys the scene and goes to Mellie to make sure she’s okay. He checks out Hearn’s body to see if he’s no longer a threat. Satisfied, he returns to Mellie and holds her in his arms.]

[Go to black]

[Street cam… you’re in a classroom now]

Theologist, surprisingly not on street: Forget morality. Imagine it’s true, all right. Imagine this technology being used. Now imagine it being used on you. Everything you believe, gone. Everyone you love, strangers. Maybe enemies. Every part of you that makes you more than a walking cluster on neurons dissolved at someone else’s whim. If that technology exists—it’ll be used. It’ll be abused. It’ll be global. And we will be over. As a species. We will cease to matter. I don’t know, maybe we should.

[Cut to a shiny desk. Paul’s badge and gun are being placed on it. He walks from the office. Loomis looks on sadly after him. Tanaka sits there and smirks his ass off.

[Cut to a security screen in Adelle’s office]

Dominic: I understand, thank you. We’ll talk soon. Agent Paul Ballard was suspended of duty pending an investigation into the shooting of Officer Hardin. Accusations of violent paranoia, the attack on Mr. Mynor’s bodyguards, the feud with the Borodins, as evidenced by the break in at his apartment.

Adelle: Hearn’s fingerprints?

Dominic: Came up Russian. A floater, not linked to anyone with power. It’s all tied together, ma’am. With a pretty bow.

Adelle: And our sleeper Active performed perfectly.

Dominic: I replayed the tap.

Adelle: More than once? It did not lack for poetry. Bring her in so Topher can run a diagnostic.

Dominic: Are we pulling her?

[Adelle and Dominic get into the elevator]

Dominic: Now that Ballard’s off the case?

Adelle: No. A man like Ballard doesn’t take himself out of the game just because of this.

[She hits a button and they go down]

Adelle: Besides… she loves him.

Dominic: You played a good hand, ma’am.

Adelle: I played a very bad hand very well. There is a distinction.

Dominic: Of course.

[They arrive and get off on the upper deck of the main quarters]

Adelle: I want you to contact your counterparts in all the other houses, tell them about what happened to Sierra.

Dominic: That won’t look good for you.

Adelle: It can’t happen again. Anywhere.

Dominic: She’s all right?

[We see Sierra reading]

Adelle: Topher did everything he knows to remove the experience.

[We see Topher and Ivy hanging out in the imprint room]

Adelle: Ignorance in this case truly is bliss.

Dominic: I don’t think they’re as ignorant as they’re supposed to be.

Adelle: No. We’re working on it.

[We see Victor walking towards Sierra.]

Sierra: Good day.

Victor: You have a book.

Sierra: I enjoy looking at it. Would you like to see?

[Victor sits down next to her.]

[Cut to Boyd and Claire watching Victor and Sierra]

[Cut to Echo painting at a table. Adelle sits down across from her]

Adelle: Hello, Echo.

[Cut to Echo’s painting. A nice house with a man and a woman standing in front]

Adelle: You’ve drawn a picture. It’s very good.

Echo: It isn’t finished.

Adelle: The picture?

Echo: It isn’t finished.

[It is clear Echo is speaking about the engagement with Moyer. Adelle is intrigued.]

Adelle: You’d like it to be finished?

[Cut to Echo/Rebecca pulling up in front of Moyer’s house. Where he is standing. He smiles as she runs to him. He speaks to her and she looks around amazed. He holds her as they smile. They hug ans she begins to tear up. They are very happy. We end on their clasped hands.]

[All the little imprint pictures take us to black]

Grr. Argh.



Transcript typed by bluesun89
Much, but not all, copied directly from the captions on Hulu. So I apologize for a whole crap-load of punctuation bizarre-ities. I might go back through later. This was my first transcript. All the ones that follow will be properly corrected where I feel necessary.