This show has been officially cancelled... and that's a shame. No, this isn't Joss Whedon's best work, but this showing has become very entertaining, and in a world where most sci-fi drama's follow a specific script, Dollhouse continues to offer surprises around every turn.

The genius is in the pacing. Whereas many mythology-driven shows only have a handful of secrets and continue to dwell on and manipulate those mysteries, Whedon is quick to reveal things in Dollhouse that other shows would take seasons to reveal. He's not afraid to change up the expectations. The character growth of Paul Ballard is evidence of this.

This review is for two episodes, as they were continuations of one another and both aired on Friday night. I'm not sure if this will be the case with next week's two episodes.

After a Senator reveals that he's gotten former doll November to testify before a Senate hearing about the supposed Dollhouse, the team begins to investigate the Senator - especially after the Rossum Corporation stays Adelle's hand and tells them that everything is under control.

They suspect the Senator's wife of being a doll, so they send Echo in the guise of a prostitute to gain blackmail evidence from the Senator, while Ballard attempts to rescue November. The tables turn however, as the Senator realizes that Echo is a doll and decides to take her with him to see his wife, and when Ballard attempts to use a new mind-wipe device on the Senator's wife... it doesn't work. It turns out the Senator is a doll!

While Ballard escapes his fate with the D.C. Dollhouse, Echo and the Senator go on the run as they begin to experience memory downloads. The Senator begins to realize that his marriage is a sham, while his mind has been manipulated to get him into a Senate seat for the Rossum corporation. Eventually they are both captured and brought to the D.C. Dollhouse where we meet... Summer Glau!

Turns out Summer Glau plays Bennett, the D.C. Dollhouse's resident genius and counterpart to Topher. She is seriously mentally disturbed from a traumatic experience involving Echo, which left one of her arms useless due to neurological damage. I'm also pretty sure she's autistic.

Adelle and Topher infiltrate the D.C. Dollhouse, but not before Bennett let's Echo and the Senator escape. While Topher and Bennett work together with their mind maps to try to bring the two dolls down remotely, Bennett turns the Senator into an assassin and tries to get him to kill Echo.

Topher knocks out Bennett and then calls up himself (he put his own personality into Victor so that they could work together) to try to fix the situation. After a chase scene between the Senator and Echo, the Tophers eventually succeed, but not before the Senator kills his fake wife.

Left grief stricken, the Senator stays awaiting the Dollhouse, while Echo flees. Though the events are never shown, it's pretty clear that he surrenders himself, allowing them to mind wipe him. When he appears late at the Senate meeting, he reveals that his wife is dead (the result of a car bombing) thanks to competing pharmaceutical companies attempting to bring down Rossum. He says that there is no Dollhouse and that November is seriously disturbed. In the end, it looks like the Rossum Corporation just created themselves a presidential candidate.

The second episode ends with November a prisoner of the D.C. Dollhouse and Echo out in the world on her own.

This was a great two-part episode that clearly showed character development and some trademark Whedon humor (with the two Tophers). Again, it's a shame this season is the end of the road for Dollhouse.