The episode opens with Topher complaining about how Bennett Halverson tricked him in “The Left Hand”, but he’s not willing to tell Ivy, his assistant, all the details. Not at first. He does call Bennett “ice cold, truly wicked, with a shriveled-up raisin for a heart.” He’ll later discover that describes someone else.

Adelle asks Boyd if they have any idea where Echo and Ballard are. She’s worried that Echo can’t possibly survive in her doll state, even with 36 people inside her. She’s also worried what Rossum will do to her and her house if she doesn’t find them.

Echo winds up in Medina, Texas, dumpster-diving and looking for food. She’s unclear on how to get money, asking an ATM for cash. She also sees Galena, an illegal immigrant who only speaks Spanish, trying to use food stamps because she hasn’t eaten in 2 days, but the clerk won’t accept them. Echo steals some cookies and gives them to Galena, but they are approached by two deputies who don’t speak Spanish. This is important later. Galena is caught, but Echo gets away when she clobbers a deputy by remembering how to do that.

Three months later, Adelle is demoted to tea lady while Matthew Harding has taken over the L.A. Dollhouse. She sees how Rossum prefers to send Actives to any job, no matter whether they’ll survive it or not. She used to care about that because she could. Boyd wonders if Adelle is upset she’s not the boss, or the changes Rossum has made. It’s both.

Topher, though, is happy, because he’s got more resources, even as much as what Bennett has in her DC Dollhouse. He even uses Sierra and Victor as his assistants.

We also see Echo is now Nurse Jane, who volunteers to give flu shots to the local jail after the usual nurse got sick. We later learn it’s part of a plan to spring Galena out of jail, because she’s getting beaten up by the guards. Echo/Jane takes advantage of the fact the deputies don’t speak Spanish, and tells Galena what to do while the guards have no idea.

So how has Echo stabilized into Nurse Jane? She has help…from Paul Ballard. We learn she’s able to pick and choose from the people inside her. For example, we found out Rebecca, Joel Mynor’s wife, was a nurse. The other skills come from other people. It’s kind of like one part Matrix, one part Johnny Mnemonic. We also see they’re getting cozy in their small apartment, and it looks like she’s falling for him. She insists it’s real love from her real self. He’s not so sure. Even if that’s the case, he can’t love a girl with 36 people inside, her. Besides, he’s still smarting from his affair with Mellie/November.

Echo does say she’s disturbed about the memory of her old self, Caroline, that Bennett showed her last week. “I’ve been saving this body for her,” she says, “and I’m not her.” She is Echo, and Echo loves Paul.

But business is business, and what looks like getting ready for sex soon revels to be training and planning for Galena’s escape. It does look sexy, though.
Back at the Dollhouse, Topher brags of what he’s been able to do thanks with more R&D money. She asks what he’s doing, but Harding is also there wondering why Adelle is wondering. That’s bad, at least according to Bennett. It’s also clear Topher is Harding’s favorite. She does get good news: Echo’s been found…because Paul Ballard just called. He’s not giving the whole story to her, but will to Boyd. Paul tells Boyd that while Echo is getting smarter, her body is deteriorating. There’s some question how long she’ll last.

We ind out the plan is that Galena takes verapamil to fake her death, and Echo/Jane gets her out. She also learns from Sheriff Rand, who’s played by Glenn Morshower (aka Aaron on 24), that in regards to Galena’s injuries, sometimes the guards get out of control, but it’s all part of everyday life in the jail. Anyway, Echo/Jane’s plan almost works, and they’re brought back into the jail.

Back at the Dollhouse, Clive Ambrose (Mr. Rossum) and Harding tell Adelle they’re opening a house in Dubai, and should decide which Actives to transfer there. Let’s just say Sierra may be headed to the Middle East. Afterwards, she asks Boyd how she can get her job back. He says the Adelle he knows wouldn’t ask that question. This is really eating at her. She’ll do anything to be Queen Bee in L-A, and that is very unfortunate.

At the jail, Rand wants Galena and Echo to explain themselves, or else. After he leaves, Galena asks Echo what they should do. Echo tries to think of something, but the headaches stop her. Then, she goes into Taffy mode, as in Miss “Blue Skies” back in “Gray Hour.” They get out when she uses a hair pin and the underwire from her bra as a lockpick. Eventually Echo and Galena get away, and to keep the Sherriff from following them Paul hands the him a recording of him admitting the abuse in his jail. Echo was wearing a wire to get the proof.

Then the Dollhouse reveals some new toys that will send mankind on an express trip to the apocalypse in 2019. Topher demonstrates a new gun that remotely wipes an Active. He uses Kilo, who talks like Missy Eliot until he zaps her. She’s again played by Maurissa Tanchareon, one of the writers of this episode. However, he also tells Adelle about another device, the one that he believes Rossum ultimately wanted, that will remotely imprint anyone with a new personality, whether converted into an Active or not. She’s upset, and suggests Topher keep it well-hidden.

Back in Texas, Echo and Ballard send Galena on her way with cash and a new identity, No imprint needed here. It also means it’s time they to go back to the Dollhouse.

Speaking of which, we find out Adelle handed the Super Imprint Gun to Harding to get her job back. She’ll claim it’s to protect the L-A Dollhouse, but this is the real reason: “In the end, power is always used to get more power; and if Rossum has this much, I’ve little interest in being with the other team”.

Topher, in the “other team”, calls her the coldest *censormode* he’s ever met. She slaps, him, because she doesn’t care. She’s in charge again, and it will stay that way, no matter what. Just ask Laurence Dominic, if we can find him in the Attic. She also reminds Topher, chillingly, that he shouldn’t think about challenging her. Just do his job. That’s it.

Paul and Boyd get that message, too, after Adelle decides to keep Echo in isolation to see what else she can do. In other words, she’s been put in a very special Attic, where she won’t be a threat.

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Now, looking at the responses on Whedonesque, some are disappointed by Adelle’s decision. Some are hoping Adelle is only doing this to get deeper into the Rossum inner circle, and that’s when she’ll double-cross Harding, Ambrose and everyone else.

However, since when has she ever thought Rossum had to be taken down? That’s what Paul believes, and maybe Boyd and Topher, too. To quote a thing known as the First, “It’s not about right, it’s not about wrong. It’s about Power.” Power, and avoiding a life sentence in the Attic. This is all that Adelle DeWitt wants.

This has got to backfire, but let’s hope she’ll at least have time to partially atone.