When fans of Dollhouse mourn its inevitable cancellation this month, we will point to three episodes as evidence of what might have been. “Briar Rose”, this week’s excellent entry and the penultimate episode of the season, will be one of them.

When Dollhouse misfires, this is how it does it: fascinating philosophical and moral questions tossed between the type of storyline we’ve seen a thousand times before. But at least Paul Ballard remains a wonderfully tragic character.