NOTE: This review is meant for those Dollhouse fans who watched Episode 4, “Gray Hour,” Friday night on Fox.  If you have not seen the fourth episode, read at your own spoiler risk.

The fourth episode of Dollhouse teases us with one terrific back story, but “Gray Hour” only partially delivers due to plot holes in the main story line.  This is starting to look like a trend with some of the early episodes.

First, let me get the major plot holes out of the way so I can talk about what I genuinely enjoyed about this episode.  When “Gray Hour” starts out, we find Echo (Eliza Dushku) performing as a midwife on a snowy, remote mountain range.  The main problem many people often find with the show is — why wouldn’t the client just hire a real-life person to perform the duties an Active is doing.  If an obvious answer isn’t apparent, the scene become wholly unbelievable.  I believe that’s what happens here.  Why wasn’t a real-life midwife, nurse or doctor flown in?  We can guess that maybe Echo had to do some sort of dangerous cross-country skiing or had to parachute in, but we shouldn’t have to guess.  It seems like if the couple was wealthy enough to afford an Active, they easily could have hired a doctor to live with them for four to six weeks.

There are a few other minor plot holes and one major one we run into after the initial setup.  This happens at the end of the heist when a room full of security guards storm the area.  I understand that Echo and her team threw a smoke grenade, but even with limited visibility, it would be next to impossible for a single person to escape by the guards and through the gunfire without being seen or without being injured… yet we’re led to believe Echo and her injured accomplice made it through there without additional security blocking off exits either.  It’s a little implausible — even for a show dealing with memory wipes and embedded personalities.  (And for those who might say they went around another way… there is no other way… it’s a safe!  That would defeat the purpose!)

Those plot holes aside, there were a lot of things to really like about this episode of Dollhouse. First of all, it appears the trademark Joss Whedon humor is back.  Here’s a snippet from the end of Episode 4:

Adelle: Finding [Alpha], confining him… we’re not all powerful.
Topher: I’m scared… I’m scared like a little girl.

Hilarious moments like that dot this episode and make some of the dialogue instantly quotable.  (They’re a littttle bit bison.)

After her stint as a midwife, we next see Echo as an ice-cold safe cracker on a mission to retrieve stolen art.  She has a small crew of three, including an art expert who double-crosses the entire gang.  It was fun seeing Eliza as a badass beauty again even if it lasted just a short while.  Also, one of the really cool things about this episode was when the Dollhouse imprinted Sierra (Dichen Lachman) with the exact same imprint Echo had.  It was very, very cool to see the two talented actresses essentially play the same part.  (I have to hand it to Dichen… she was particularly impressive.)  I also enjoyed how Sierra made them show her the money she was supposedly going to get paid before she would help.  That really helped put her in character.  And the fact that Echo could messed up even with Sierra’s help was well written because having lost the imprint, she wouldn’t have had those same steady-handed, safe-cracking skills.  Well done.

But the story line that keeps most Dollhouse fans coming back week to week can be summed up in one, simple, goosebump-inducing word: Alpha.

Maybe this is the vision Joss had all along and Fox pressured him to add more of the standalone story arcs, but this is clearly where Dollhouse shines.  Early reports indicate this back story comes center stage in Episode 6, and I for one cannot wait.

We already told you which actor plays Alpha, but we learn a lot more about Alpha’s past in this episode.  Not only can Alpha wield sharp objects better than Dexter Morgan, he also apparently knows a thing or two about computers and memory wipes.  He’s even smarter than Topher (Fran Kranz).  That might mean they gave him that knowledge through an imprint, but I rather ask this question — what if Alpha was the scientist that designed the Dollhouse?  What if he is Alpha because the first experiment he tried was on himself?

The possibilities are endless.  We already knew Alpha was alive.  Now everyone else is slowly figuring it out.  Two more episodes and maybe we get to meet Mr. Alpha for the first time.  One can only hope.

As for the show, is Dollhouse gold or fools gold?  It’s still too early to tell.  The back story is definitely intriguing, and it’s one I believe will latch onto viewers and reward them for their patience.  That being said, wading through some of the early, plot-thin episode arcs is getting a bit tiresome — even if the dialogue and action meets our Whedonesque expectations.

Stay tuned Dollhouse fans.  The main story arc gets just a C, but the back story lifts it up.

The Good: Alpha: the back story is getting good — pure, honest, creepy good.

The Bad: A few bothersome plot holes continue to drag down episodes.

The Ugly: “Did I fall asleep?” I swear to God, if I hear that even once more tonight, Fox is responsible for the postal killing spree I go on.

ActiveDollhouse Grade: B

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