Dollhouse Scoop!

Dollhouse only has five more episodes until it’s wiped, but the action will be non-stop, promises Enver Gjokaj (pronounced joke eye), who plays Victor, the male half of the Victor/Sierra romance. Gjokai gave TV Guide Magazine a preview of tonight’s double feature and offers up some hints about the final three shows (airing January 8, 15 and 22) and whether Echo and her pals can stop the really bad future that was shown in the seen-only-on-DVD episode “Epitaph One.” Brace yourself for MAJOR SPOILERS.

In this week’s Victor-centric episode, will we learn who the Dollhouse boy toy really is?
Yes, but it’s not a flashback. Adele [Olivia Williams] basically gets her heart broken on one of her dates with him. Even though he’s imprinted as her lover, he breaks up with her and say he’s in love with another person—though he doesn’t quite realize it’s Sierra [Dichen Lachman]. Adele gets into a really dark place and even though his contract isn’t quite up, she kicks him out of the Dollhouse. It turns out his real name is Anthony and the deal with him was that they’d take away his post-traumatic stress syndrome if he joined the Dollhouse.

So he was a soldier?
He served in Afghanistan. The government was cooperating with Rossum Corporation, which has what’s best described as a Blackwater-type private guard unit, filled with broken soldiers who’d been in various Dollhouses. After he’s back in the world, he’s quickly kidnapped by Rossum and coerced into this unit. They’re actually neuron network soldiers, linked together in one hive mind. The longer you’re in the unit, the more your individuality disappears. When he falls off the radar, Echo [Eliza Dushku] tracks him down with the help of Sierra and uncovers the unit.

That can’t make Rossum happy.
After Echo breaks Anthony out of the Rossum fortress, Adele sends Echo, Victor and Sierra to the Attic, where they put Dolls who are dangerous. You’ll see the Attic in the second episode.

Finally! What is it?
It’s so wild. To summarize, the Attic in the Dollhouse is a dream state in which you relive your worst nightmare over and over again on a loop. They do it to keep your brain stoked in adrenaline. It’s very trippy; the writers went insane. I won’t tell you more except that you’ll see all of our nightmares and how Echo tries to get us out.

I hear your real life twin brother is in the Attic. Are you identical twins? And who does he play?
He’s pretty identical. His name is Demir. He’s a real estate analyst making his acting debut. My character’s nightmare has him pinned down with his unit in Afghanistan and he has to kill a sniper or be killed. When he tries to kill his attacker the guy turns around, and it’s himself. So my nightmare is being played by my brother!

How did he get the role?
He came to the Xmas party last year and once Joss and the writers saw him, they wanted to do something with him. Joss likes to use our real lives. That’s how I got to play Kiki in episode 3. Some writers and I were at a club and I was drunk and dancing, but hopefully not quite as girly as Kiki was. We had a blast in the fight scenes. My brother’s more used to spread sheets than shoot-outs.

Any other familiar faces in the Attic?
Mr. Dominic [Reed Diamond]. Adele sent him there last season when she discovered he was an NSA agent. He’s in there trying to hunt this bad guy. There’s an entity in the Attic that’s killing people. If you die in the dream world, you die in the real world… And the creator of Rossum and its technology turns out to be there as well! The end of the episode is a huge shocker and a plan starts to form to defeat Rossum and maybe change the future of the world that we saw in “Epitaph One.”

Very cool. Got any hints for January’s episodes?
In episodes 11 and 12, you’ve got some more really big twists and turns that have to do with what happens in the finale, “Epitaph Two—the Return.” The finale is like a little movie. It’s set 13 years in the future. The whole crew from “Epitaph One” returns, plus a lot of familiar faces. We’ll find out who runs Rossum. Alpha will be back. It’s a big twist when he returns. There’s so much action. We’ll be going out with a bang and blow people’s minds!

What happens to the lovebirds Victor and Sierra?
When they break Anthony out of his hive mind, he and Sierra, whose real name is Priya, know they love each other but they really have to get to know each other. It’s cute. But then we learn in “Epitaph Two” that all has not been well for them in the intervening years.

Any major characters die?
It’s Joss Whedon. You know the answer.

That’s a yes. Does the finale wrap up the storyline in a satisfying way?
I’m sure given the opportunity, they could have delved deeper, but they really wrapped it all up. Two or three months back, a writer said, “if we get a third season, we’ll be in big trouble because we’re pulling out all the stops for the second season finale.” And they did. The fans are going to be so happy with the way it resolves.

Source: TV Guide Magazine