For those of us who watched "Epitaph 1", the unaired thirteenth episode of Dollhouse, little bits and pieces of "Instinct" have the weight of doom around them. According to creator Joss Whedon "Epitaph 1" is canon, so what we're actually watching now is the prelude to an apocalypse. To say the least, this lends a certain amount of ironic melancholy to the slivers of hope that pop up anywhere throughout the second season of the series.

The part of Dollhouse that's the most difficult to believe isn't the weird science, it's why they keep using Echo for engagements. She's beyond broken, glitching in new ways every single week. It's even less believable that the Dollhouse would use her for experimental engagements like the one in this week's episode. Echo is sent on another extended engagement playing house with a man who can't cope with the death of his wife, with the twist that he also has to take care of his infant son. Topher fiddles with the imprinting technology to not only make Echo think that she's a wife and mother, but to actually convince her body of the same right down to the glandular level.

But things never go as planned on Dollhouse. To quote Topher after a failed wipe of Echo, "Perhaps triggering lactation was a bridge too far." When the client tries to cancel the engagement, a normal wipe doesn't clear Echo's maternal instincts and she tries to kidnap the client's baby.

I'll admit, I found the resolution of this one a little hokey. The client talks Echo down by basically just spilling all of his character motivation at once. If it weren't for the interesting development between Echo and Paul just after that scene, I'd call the episode kind of a waste. At this point in the series, it seems that the story is all about describing exactly just how Echo is broken and moving her into a position to at least attempt to bring down the Dollhouse. As for everybody else, it looks like we're witnessing the manifestation of their good intentions going very bad.

It's clear with the Mellie/November/Madeleine subplot that Adele DeWitt sees her role in the Dollhouse as someone who makes people happier, even though she has to mess with things she doesn't understand to do so. Similarly, Topher is so fascinated with his own genius and the potential for good things using his inventions (teaching the human body to fight cancer, etc) that he's blind to the horrible eventualities of imprinting. All of this hangs over the series now and serves as a reminder of how dark things are going to get soon.

Best Moment: When the handlers first try to return Echo to the Dollhouse. I hope that scenes like that will help to finally put to bed all of those critical questions about Eliza Dushku's acting ability.

Notes: Apparently, it was also part of Madeleine's contract that they erased her sadness over the death of her child. That goes a long way to explain how the Dollhouse convinces people to join up aside from the money.

Episode Rating: 4/5- I wasn't thrilled with all of the vague "maternal instinct" stuff, but this episode definitely kept the series-long plot arc moving, plus there was some really excellent acting.