Episode Quotes
Caroline: Why are you so nervous? Whose office is it anyway?
Gabe: It's nobody's.
Caroline: Look, nobody's got a bar!
Gabe: Come on, you want to get me fired?
Caroline: No. I want to get you fired up...
Gabe: Oh, God, you're... you're a thief? I let a thief into the building?
Caroline: Relax, I'm not a thief. I'm a terrorist.
Gabe: Oh, I am so screwed.
Caroline: The woman who works here. What do you know about her?
Gabe: Nothing! I don't know anything. I work for a security company, I'm practically a temp.
Caroline: Rossum's not going to give a temp full access to one of their buildings. (looking at a file, sees a picture of Halverson) Hellooo, Carrie-at-the-prom! Off the charts smart.
(hits a remote, which pulls back panels showing closed circuit video from the Dollhouse below)
Caroline: What the hell's this?
Gabe: I have no idea. But that can't be in this building.
Caroline: Then let's bring down the building. See what's underneath...
Gabe: Who are you?
(Echo has just indicated her intention to add Caroline to her imprints)
Adelle: Caroline?
Echo: We need to know what she knows. Clyde said there was one person who had seen his partner face-to-face, and that was Caroline.
Boyd: She can I.D. the man in charge.
Echo: Or the woman.
Topher: Or hermaphrodite. Say, can we get back to the part where the chair-less imprinting tech that I designed, which you handed over to Harding in order to get this swank office back -- how that leads to The Apocalypse...? 'Cause I thought that was kind of an interesting detail.
Caroline: Doesn't matter where the tech comes from. We have to do more than disrupt production. As long as Clyde's partner is still out there, Rossum will go on. We have to cut the head off the snake.
Boyd: And Caroline is the only one who's ever met that snake.
Caroline: She's been behind the curtain. Now we need for her to take us there.
Ivy: What if she won't? I mean, you're impressive. You're carrying multiple constructs, and something in you has allowed you to fuse them into a super-ego. But Caroline isn't just one more personality build you'd be adding to the mix. She's real.
Sierra: Echo is real.
Victor: You're damn right she is.
Topher: Ivy's right. We actually don't know what dumping Caroline into Echo's brain will do.
(As they strap Echo down in the imprint chair)
Sierra: Is that really necessary?
Caroline: It's just a precaution.
Adelle: And not an unwise one. Unlike the rest of you I've actually met Caroline.
Echo: You okay?
Paul: I'm good.
Echo: We haven't really talked since you... died.
Paul: I guess we've both died since then.
Echo: Yeah. Weird week. So are you finally ready to meet the girl who started all the trouble in your life?
Paul: What? Janice Charles from my fourth grade math class is here?
(After Caroline has just scared off a couple rude girls in a crowded public seating area to free up a table)
Caroline: Care to join me?
Bennett: You're not ill...
Caroline: No. You see, the mistake you made is trying to reason with them. But I've found that even rude people don't like to be barfed on.
Bennett: I imagine that's true.
Caroline: (holding out her hand) Caroline Farrell
Bennett: Bennett Halverson.
Caroline: So, I'm just gonna guess. Neuroscience major.
Bennett: How'd you know that?
Caroline: Fish. Brain food. Also brain books (nodding to the pile of textbooks)
Bennett: (laughs, embarassed) I'm such an idiot.
Caroline: And a genius, probably.
Bennett: (with humility) Well, technically. And you?
Caroline: Not a huge genius...
Bennett: I meant, what are you studying?
Caroline: Still trying to pin it down. I see all the things they have to offer, and I figure, once I settle on one thing, I've excluded everything else. And there are a lot of things I'd like to be.
(looking at video footage of Caroline-as-college-student)
Adelle: She seems so innocent in a way, doesn't she? Unspoiled.
Echo: Yes.
Adelle: She wasn't, you know. Caroline Farrell left quite a trail of unhappiness in her wake and not a few bodies.
Echo: Are you saying she's evil?
Adelle: Worse. An idealist. I shouldn't be at all surprised it turned out her wedge had got up and walked out of here on its own.
Echo: I was glad when I heard it was missing.
Adelle: It's only natural.
Echo: But I didn't take it.
Adelle: I only considered it briefly.
(Breaking into the DC House, Paul is on the phone, and is referring to Bennett)
Paul: We're in. She's here. We got her.
Topher: Is she okay? Is she still cute? Don't you hurt her!
Adelle: And the flight. Not too exhausting, I trust?
Bennett: You used the company jet to abduct the programmer of a rival House.
Adelle: I'm certain I'll be kicking myself come holiday bonus time.
Bennett: I'm sure you'll be dead by then. (looking around at the LA House for the first time) It's a very open space. Quite a lot of beige. You let them roam. They roam like free-range chickens. We keep ours more like veal.
Adelle: Can I get you anything?
Bennett: A diet soda.
Topher: I have some! I mean, in my fridge. Come on. Well, lab's in here. You showed me yours. Let me show you mine.
Echo: (regarding November) You did a good thing.
Paul: Did I? She walked away from me and I let her. I never looked to see if she was ok. She was a person and now she's... nothing again.
Echo: We'll fix it. We'll make her right.
Paul: Once they've done this to you... can you ever be 'right' again?
Bennett: Why do you need this one restored?
Topher: Uh... Would it sound OTT if I said this could help prevent the end of civilization as we know it?
Bennett: I would need to understand the context.
Caroline: You'll still be you, just more you...
Bennett: I've often thought I'd like to be less me. More like... Well, you, actually.
Caroline: Me? I'm still undeclared.
Bennett: You know who you are. You're so fearless. I'd love to get a look at your amygdala.
Caroline: You'd have to buy me dinner first.
(Topher has a swollen and cut lip and is looking through the medical supplies)
Echo: What did you do?
Topher: Her left arm may be dead, but she's got a terrific right cross, if anyone asks. Actually... if anyone asks, don't say I got beat up by a one-armed girl.
Echo: What did you do to him?
Topher: Him? Him who?
Echo: Paul.
Topher: (clearly discomfited) I gave him his life back.
Echo: You made him a Doll.
Topher: I had to reconstruct his neural landscape based on the brainscans Alpha made when he damaged him. But he's still Paul. Same taciturn, self-regarding guy.
Echo: No, he's not the same. He's different.
Topher: Half his brain tissue was scarred. I had to do major rewiring. Which required healthy brain tissue. There were two pieces of real estate big enough for the job, the motor cortex or the cingulate gyrus. Either he could live his life trapped in a paralyzed body, or, I could take away something else.
Echo: Me... wasn't it?
Topher: Not his memories of you. He's still got those.
Echo: Our connection.
Topher: I think so. The freshest, brightest paths -- those were the ones I needed. I think that was you. Yeah.
(Dr. Saunders has just walked in unexpectedly after a long absence and indicated she'd treat the cut on Topher's lip)
Topher: How did you... w-wuh... You mean...(points at Boyd and Claire) You two? Wait... wuh-wuh-wuh...
Claire: Less talking would mean less bleeding. And I mean that in so many ways.
Adelle: Topher, that troublesome one-armed creature -- where is she?
Topher: I had to lock her up. Couldn't leave her in the lab unattended.
Adelle: And your charm offensive?
Topher: Mostly just offensive.
Laurence Dominic: I spoke to the security officer on duty that night. He admitted to it.
Adelle: Freely?
Laurence Dominic: Loudly. There was some pleading.
Echo: Hey, stud.
Boyd: Mother always wanted me to date a doctor.
Echo: Yeah... I wonder what mine wanted. I guess we'll find out.
Boyd: Scary, isn't it?
Echo: We need Caroline.
Boyd: We need you.
Echo: I keep thinking there is a me. That I'm real. But every time I talk to someone, they act like I'm doing tricks. Paul never believed Echo was a person, even when he cared. Now, he's just waiting for Caroline to kick me out.
Boyd: That's never going to happen. Look, I never met Caroline Farrell. But I know she drives DeWitt about as crazy as you do, so I figure she can't be all bad. But I know you. I've watched you grow. I've watched you... build yourself... From scratch. Against all odds. Against us. You're stronger than everyone here, Echo. Even Caroline. If she gets in there, I think she'll be proud to know you.
Adelle: Put him back in the Attic. It's his best hope.
Laurence Dominic: No. No, you bitch, I'd rather die.
Adelle: Well, I'd rather you didn't.
Adelle: Mr. Ambrose! What a lovely late night surprise.
Clive Ambrose: Are you surprised, Adelle?
Adelle: Surprised and delighted.
Clive Ambrose: (pointing at Boyd) He doesn't look surprised.
Adelle: He's paid not to look surprised.
Adelle: You have much to answer for, young woman.
Caroline: I do?
Adelle: You forced me to come to Arizona. I loathe Arizona.
Ivy: I can do this. I can do this.
Topher: I got it from here. You get your chance, you slip out. In the real world, you can write your ticket anyplace you land.
Ivy: I really do want to help you.
Topher: Then live. You have a remarkable brain. I think it should stay in your head. Ivy. Don't become me.
Topher: (to Bennett) You know I always had a crush on you, even when I thought you were a dude. This is better.
Paul: (hearing explosions) We're breached.
Echo: That's one word for it.
Echo: How long?
Topher: This is going to take just as a long as it... done.
Caroline: Why me?
Boyd:Because you're very special. You're going to help us in ways you can't understand.
Caroline: Not likely.
Young Man: You don't have a lot of options.
Caroline: So I'm going to be one of your zombies? Open up my brain like the rest of them?
Boyd: You'll never be like the rest of them. You won't be harmed in any way. You're... far too valuable.
Caroline: And I'm just gonna trust you?
Boyd: With your life.
Cultural References
Caroline: Well, hello,
Carrie-at-the-prom.
Caroline is referring to the title character in horror novelist
Stephen King's first published novel,
Carrie, published in 1974. In the novel, Carrie White is a teenager, the child of an ultra-religious and very repressed single mother, whose telekinetic powers begin to manifest with her late occurring menarche, which unfortunately occurs in a very public way. With her very religious mother insisting her powers come from the devil, and with some of the "It" crowd at her school mad at her, she eventually becomes the butt of a prank where pig blood is spilled on her just as she is unexpectedly crowned prom queen. Carrie goes berserk and uses her telekinesis to kill dozens of students and teachers, and then returns home and kills her mother after she mortally wounds her. The novel was made into a movie in 1976, directed by Brian De Palma, and starring Sissy Spacek, John Travolta, and Amy Irving.
Bennett: After
Apollo is accomplished, bring
Cassandra down for a full diagnostic.
Apollo is one of the most important of the Greek gods. In Greek mythos,
Cassandra was given the ability to foresee the future by Apollo. Since Bennett is clearly referring to the Dolls, this also reveals a detail previously unknown, which is that the different Houses apparently select the naming scheme for the Dolls independent of each other (probably deliberately exclusionary). The DC House apparently pulls its names from Greek mythology, while the LA House uses the
NATO/Aviation spelling alphabet. This makes sense in that it would avoid a possible point of confusion in the event of inter-House activities
Bennett: (looking around the LA House) It's a very open space. Quite a lot of beige. You let them roam. They roam like free-range chickens. We keep ours more like veal.
Veal is the term for beef that comes from underage cows. In the early part of the 20th century, chickens and veal began to be raised under "factory like" conditions, in tightly constraining cages which strongly limited their movement, feeding, and exposed them to sensory deprivation. As the century wore on, and more people became aware of the manner of treatment of the animals, there was a movement towards more humane treatment which led to substantial efforts to eliminate the factory-raised elements of the process. From this came the concept of free range (the other end of the spectrum for the most part) in which the animals (both chickens and the young calves) are given considerable freedom of movement more like their "natural" conditions.
Bennett: You know who you are. You're so fearless. I'd love to get a look at your amygdala.
The amygdala are two almond shaped pieces of the brains of all complex mammals, and appear to be strongly related to emotional processing, as well as threat recognition and perception. Erratic functioning of the amygdala can be connected to many psychological disorders.
Topher: Okay am I the only one thinking we're getting our maybe a little too much of our intel from
The Matrix or possibly
TRON, given the outfits?
The Matrix (1999) made comprehensible the notion of a virtual reality so "real" that it was indistinguishable from reality.
TRON (1982) set the groundwork for the concept of virtual reality in cinema, introducing the idea of computer landscapes and individuals transmitting their mental essence into the the landscapes and interacting with a world inside the machine.
The characters in
TRON wore bodysuits that resemble the one Dominic has on, hence Topher's comment, connected with the VR nature of The Attic, which also ties to the two ground-breaking movies above.