So bad news and slightly less bad news, "Dollhouse" fans. The very few of you there are out there besides me. The show is most certainly headed for a real cancellation this time, and it has been pulled from November sweeps entirely. This means the next episode will not be airing until December, and the current plan is to put the remaining episodes together in two-hour events. It would be nice to see all thirteen episodes before it is cut off altogether, however, and I appreciate that FOX is attempting to at least air them rather than simply give up altogether. We did all see this coming, especially with the ratings dropping regularly now, but it still hurts a little. Especially after last week's excellent, heartbreaking episode.

The fans have been clamoring for some time that Echo take a little backseat to the other interesting characters on the show, and this episode was a love letter to them. It heavily featured the lovely Sierra, and her incredibly tragic back story. We got a little picture of it last season when she confronted the man that 'forced' her into the Dollhouse, but the details are now apparent. And boy are they ugly. So ugly that Topher and Adelle can't stand it, for example.

A year ago, Sierra was a pretty Australian artist named Priya who attracted the attention of handsome, sociopathic doctor Nolan. He got her an art show and used the other Dolls to make her like him, but the natural chemistry between her and Victor won over even then. So Nolan kidnapped Priya and drugged her so she'd come off as completely psychotic, then convinced the Dollhouse to 'save' his poor mental patient from herself. Topher was happy to comply since it meant he could mess around with her brain, and a part of him was pleased to 'help' anyone. It's not until Echo notices Sierra painting scary black blotches that any of this comes out. She brings it to Topher and it causes him to dig deeply into the past, and he finds the truth. Surprisingly for him, he really cares.

Adelle does too, because they had some idea in their head that the Dollhouse is morally ambiguous, but it is not altogether evil. And what Nolan did was evil. However, he just kind of laughs at her threats and demands Sierra to be given to him full time immediately. Her superiors agree with him, since he's a big donator to the group. Adelle and Topher practically vomit all over the place when they agree to accept this, but you know it can't end there. Meanwhile, Sierra and Victor are completely cute as he tries to get rid of the black color she hates, and she paints him in the shower and holds him when he has a flashback. Aw. I'm going to miss them.


But Topher showed some back bone after all, and he might regret that by the end of this hour. Instead of programing a perfect woman for Nolan, he returned the original Priya back into her body. She is able to confront Nolan, tell him he's pathetic and that she's in love with someone else (Victor, she doesn't know his name), and then they fight. After a pretty realistic and ugly battle, she stabs him. Multiple times. Topher comes to try and protect her, and luckily for them both Boyd is on it too. He knows how to get rid of a body the right way, and Topher has to help him. In all of the disgusting, never-want-to-think-about-it-again glory. Grossssss.

Priya and Topher talk about the horrors she just had to live through (well they both did), and it has to be said that the acting on the part of these two is just superb. They sell every scene that they are in, especially Fran Kranz as Topher. He has the most incredible blend of horror, sorrow, guilt, and nausea on his face for this entire episode. Priya doesn't seem to mind going back to being a Doll, especially after seeing Victor and getting confirmation from Topher that their love is genuine. She requests he return her memory in time without the murder, and he wipes her clean. She goes to cuddle with Victor, while Topher slips even further down the road to self-hatred, and Adelle accepts Boyd's story without argument.

On Echo's side, she sticks to the side this episode but Boyd now knows that she's remembering things. She has a journal in her bed and has been reading out in the open. She tells him a storm is coming, and he sneaks her a security pass for the Dollhouse. She is so much more likable as a side character; that's a bad thing, isn't it?

Well. "Dollhouse" will be back in December. Pardon me while I weep.

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Story by Chelsea Doyle
Starpulse contributing writer

Follow Chelsea on twitter at http://twitter.com/mustbethursday.