I wrote the last post on the Sierra-focused episode "Belonging", detailing her introduction to Dr. Nolan Kinnard and her eventual falling-out with him, as well as Sierra's passing encounters with her future Dollhouse companions Victor and Echo. However, all of those events took place within just the first few minutes of the episode. How Priya the young artist was forced to become Sierra is revealed much more slowly, yet the story still retains its impact once all is revealed.
Also, it's worth noting that this story is just as much Topher Brink's as it is Sierra. The normally amoral programmer of the Dollhouse feels somewhat responsible for Sierra, as it was he who decided to bring her to the Dollhouse. According to him, when Topher first met Sierra, she was a paranoid schizophrenic in a mental institution. To him, by wiping her mind of that mental disorder, he truly helped her.
However, a cryptic comment from Echo persuades Topher to dig deeper into the circumstances surrounding Sierra's recent repeat engagements with a certain Dr. Nolan Kinnard. He discovers to his horror that before she entered the Dollhouse, Priya was not psychotic, but instead had been drugged to appear that way. And who else would know more about simulating psychosis in the brain that the expert neuro-pharmacologist Nolan Kinnard.
What's more, Topher mentions a previous episode "Needs", in which Dr. Saunders and Adele deWitt allowed certain Actives to be partially imprinted with their true personalities so that they could relieve built-up emotional distress. In "Needs", Sierra heads for a mental health clinic with the doctor who diagnosed her. That clinic is also owned by Dr. Nolan Kinnard, who has a penthouse office onsite. Clearly, Sierra was trying to get to Nolan, and not Dr. Nikito.
Topher relays this information to Adele deWitt, who is furious with how she and her staff have unwittingly satisfied the wishes of what is essentially a serial rapist for months. She confronts the horrible doctor herself, and tells him that Sierra will no longer be his personal plaything. Dr. Kinnard, however, using his influence with the Rossum Corporation, instead forces Adele and Topher to permanently imprint Sierra with a "romantic" mindset and send her to him.
The next scene is a seamless transition to a flashback - nearly a year in the past, when Topher was first introduced to Priya in her drug-induced psychotic state. He clearly feels sorry for her, and Priya even manages to eek out a few lucid pleas to help her escape from the clinic (and Dr. Kinnard, the "expert" who has been feeding her psychotic drugs).
Back in the present, Topher still feels this responsibility for Priya, now Sierra. And we the audience realize just what Topher's sense of responsibility means. It turns out that he imprinted Sierra with Priya's original personality, along with all the knowledge of her past engagements with Nolan.
The results, however, are far from pretty. Priya is finally given the chance to confront her tormentor, yet Nolan is no stranger to physical intimidation and violence. A struggle breaks out, with Nolan attempting to force himself on Priya. Priya ends up stabbing Nolan in the chest to save herself. Priya calls Topher to tell him what happens, and Topher soon arrives at Nolan's penthouse with Boyd Langton. The two of them dismember Nolan's body and dissolve in acid, as well as removing all other traces of his demise from the scene. Topher all the while is still in shock at how badly things turned out because of him.
Priya, now in a state of mental anguish from both being repeatedly and recently sexually assaulted, as well as having killed a man, is returned to the Doll state by Topher, though as always a bit of Priya remains.
Next week, I'll end this little sub-analysis and wrap up my thoughts on Dollhouse. The show goes into so many ethical gray areas and compellive story arcs, but I will focus on why such a good show was doomed to fail from the beginning.
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