'Dollhouse' Keith Carradine joins & the issue of rape emerges

Well, we know one thing now: the writers of "Dollhouse" sure like their "Natural Born Killers," don't they? Actually, we know two things: in a show in which the central character's mind is continually erased, it's damn hard to achieve any sort of epiphany, even in a season/series finale. The jury's still out on exactly which of those tonight's episode actually was, but once again the show's high concept prevented it from truly achieving greatness in what may have been its swan song.

OK, altogether, on the count of three. One...two...three...WASH! If you're a "Firefly" fan, that made sense, and if you're not, dear God, go find a friend who has the DVDs and dig in. But I'm not here to pimp "Firefly," I'm here to praise an outstanding episode of "Dollhouse," which was a little heavy on the allegory but incredibly dense on mythology, narrative advancement, and enough confusing sexual hang-ups to fill a few dozen doctoral dissertations.

Talk about wasting a great idea on a lousy execution. Life extension via an active is a fascinating concept, and worthy of building not only an episode, but an entire series, around it. But "Dollhouse" chose to use the idea in service of a lame "whodunit" in which almost no one likeable or remotely interesting was involved. It was a weak start to the final leg of its initial season.

"You need to investigate why it exists. The Dollhouse deals in fantasy but that is not their purpose. Investigate their purpose." So sayeth the mole inside the "Dollhouse," via Mellie (aka November) to a completely confused Agent Ballard in tonight's solid episode. It's the second time that the mole has delivered this message to Ballard so far, but it's unclear still what that purpose is. Maybe we should ask Adele. She's not unlike the former head of the Hair Club for Men: not only is she the president, but she's also a client!

It was the great philosopher Descartes that once said, "Tell me whatcha want, whatcha really really want." Least, I think it was him. Maybe I'm screwing that up. In any case, tonight's episode of "Dollhouse" centered around desire; namely, those yearnings that were causing recurring glitches in several of the dolls. Rather than repress those desires, one employee decided it was high time to unleash them.

For everyone out there complaining that "Dollhouse" doesn't bring the funny the way Whedon shows of old did, this one was for you. This was its "Band Candy." This was its "Spin the Bottle." This was the episode in which everyone was allowed to act supremely silly while under the effects of something inherently diabolical. Amidst the (literal) insanity, Echo functioned as the straight man, burrowing deeper not only into the source of everyone's big bag of crazy but into the reason she ended up a doll in the first place.