KORMOON

Now I can understand why Fox did not air the 13th episode Epitaph One, but I don’t understand why they didn’t air the pilot. Once again Fox shows it’s stupidity by wanting to jump right into the middle of all the sex and violence instead of building up something which is exactly what the pilot does.

The episode begins with Echo doing a number of jobs: helping a girl that used to be her, being in love with an old guy, dealing with Mexican gangsters, staying with a girl at the hospital. Interestingly, they are interspersed with the same conservation Adelle had with the man in Epitaph One where she explains that the dollhouse provides needs, not wants.

The next part has previously been shown in a later episode, where Ballard asks Victor about the dollhouse. We then see Sierra coming back with a cut on her forehead. When we see her eating lunch, she sits with Echo and Sierra, a problem that manifests itself in later episodes. Cut to the next scene, and Ballard finds the picture of Caroline on his desk, runs her through the database and comes up empty. I believe the next part is also the same as in a later episode where DeWiit and Mr. Dominic discuss how to deal with the problem.

Victor calls Ballard and tells him to go to an abandoned hotel. Instead of being shot by the Borodins, Echo is already there looking for her little sister.The next scene is kind of weird. Topher walks into Dr. Saunder’s lab who is oddly nicknamed “phantom” and talks to her about pro bono jobs which were hospital one and helping the woman breakup with some guy. I don’t quite understand who authorized them, but Dr. Saunders makes it seem like a clinical test used to make actives better. Topher tells her that extra work could be harmful.

Ballard takes Echo to his house and talks to her about the dollhouse. Eventually, he pulls his gun on her since the information she gave him seemed force fed. She easily strips him on the gun and shoots him twice in the abdomen. Ballard is still alive so Echo rushes to the hospital to finish the job. She sees the girl she visited in the earlier engagement and stops. Boyd brings her back to the dollhouse, airs his grievances about no being informed on the kill order, Echo climbs into her little pod and whisper the word “Caroline” like in the last episode.

I think this pilot explained a little more than Ghost did and went more into Echo. It seems like almost all of the first season’s storylines were condensed into this episode with Ballard meeting Echo, getting shot, Echo, Victor and Sierra fraternizing, and Echo showing inability to follow orders. I don’t believe not airing this episode was as egregious as not showing the episode “Serenity” in Firefly first, but I don’t think the audience would have any problem with this one.