Twists. Joss Whedon loves twists more than he loves kung-fu fighting barbie dolls. Maybe that's why “Getting Closer”, the third-to-last episode of Dollhouse is one big series of them. And boy howdy were they all awesome. As much as I regret the cancellation of this show, I think the shortened lifespan gave the plot some urgency that it otherwise wouldn't have had. We really are at the endgame. Bodies are piling up, terrible secrets are being revealed and a whole mess of dark clouds are gathering around our heroes. Given a third season, I doubt most of the incredible action tonight would have happened.

Because this episode jumps around a lot chronologically, I think it's best to just go at in relationship-based sections. First of all, we finally get the full story behind Echo's relationship to Bennett Halverson. The one-armed tech lead at the Washington D.C. Dollhouse started off innocently as a mousy college student in Tucson. When aspiring terrorist Caroline stumbled onto her file at a Rossum operation, she made sure the two of them became friends. Together, the two of them use Halverson's recent employment in the Dollhouse project as a way to take down the company. Then, when a bombing run goes wrong, Caroline leaves Halverson behind in a bid to save her from Rossum's wrath.

Fast forward to the present, the folks at the L.A. Dollhouse are getting equipped to fight a full-on war with Rossum. To do so, they kidnap Halverson (and Mellie/November) so they can use her skills to reconstruct the damaged circuits holding Caroline's personality. She's resistant at first, but a little negotiating and some googly eyes with Topher bring her over to the good guys.

This is when it's important to remember that you're watching a Joss Whedon show. Whenever a character is in the throws of too-cute love, they're pretty much guaranteed to die. It happened to Tara in Buffy and Fred in Angel, so naturally Halverson's single moment of happiness had to be punctuated with a bullet through her skull. The recently returned Dr. Saunders, who has been shacking up with Boyd, makes the kill for reasons that aren't even vaguely apparent until the last moments of the episode.

As for those last moments, that's where the biggest twist of the series comes in. When Echo finally recovers Caroline's memories, she learns that Boyd Langdon, the man who has been the most gung-ho about taking down the Dollhouse, is actually the CEO of Rossum. You've got to hand it to the writers on Dollhouse. They managed to take a show with what's probably the most creepy premise currently on TV and make it somehow extra creepy by planting the Big Bad right beside us the whole time. Bravo.

Best Moment: I've gotta pick? I know this is probably lazy of me, but I'm gonna say everything that happened in between the commercial breaks.

Notes: I didn't get to any of the business with Paul Ballard: Scowling (former) FBI Agent, Dollhouse Handler and Real Boy. Long story short, Topher took away his love for Echo to bring him back to life. This combined with some other relevant data leads me to the following conclusion: Joss Whedon hates love.

Episode Rating: 5/5- Joss Whedon has relied on The End of the World as his main premise for most of his career. Dollhouse is the first time that it really feels like the stakes are that high. I've been loving watching this particular universe fall apart.