That was a good episode, despite the fact that it has some inconsistency but still a good one. This show is the beginning for Altered Carbon and Westworld, almost the same idea especially with the Altered Carbon.
Important Edit
Must Read before watching
If you are gonna continue watching the series through season 2 (and it is worth watching), then don't watch this episode, and watch it after season 2 episode 12.
The song at the end is amazing, you can find it here:
https://www.what-song.com/Tvshow/63/Dollhouse/e/2635
You can see this was a rushed cancelation limbo kind of endgame, but it also sort of works, they've shown us the beginning all season, and now they played out a possible final result and the very very rough path to it.
Topher and DeWitts scene was fantastic, I'm getting more and more fascinated by their relationship.
Very odd episode. Nothing seemed to fit. Why flash to the future when nothing is resolved in the season.
The flashbacks are off kilter. Whiskey doesn't have scars, but she does in season 2? Do where the flashbacks of the future, even though they were portrayed as the original timeline.
Echo is now self aware with Paul? Where did that come from? Lots of new elements that just shouldn't have happened all of a sudden.
Review by dgwVIP 10BlockedParent2017-10-21T06:19:36Z— updated 2021-07-11T02:05:09Z
I did a little research after finishing this episode to see if I could confirm my hunches regarding the critique @d2dyno posted a year ago.
Whether I should be surprised or not that I was basically right, I'm not sure.
My overall hunch was that Dollhouse went into the end of season one "on the bubble", with a threat of cancellation hanging over it. That would explain why "Epitaph One" seemed like a rushed, hasty closure kind of thing. I also speculated that it was ultimately renewed—too late in the season to do a "real" season ender. The true events are actually much more interesting.
Dollhouse did indeed spend its first season in the "ratings challenged" category, so there was considerable doubt surrounding its prospects for renewal. But this thirteenth episode didn't come from that. It came from the production studio, without involvement from the network. FOX ordered thirteen episodes for the first season, but the first pilot episode out of the chute was never aired. (In true television fashion, much of the unaired pilot was reused for the "real" first episode.) However, FOX considered that unaired episode to be one of the thirteen ordered, and only committed to airing the following twelve.
The production studio filmed a thirteenth "real" episode ("Epitaph One") anyway, for purposes of rounding out a thirteen-episode DVD set for the season (and for international broadcasts). This final episode eventually premiered at Comic Con, almost three months after the broadcast finale ("Omega"). But it's not really part of the season's continuity because it was, essentially, produced to fill out the production contract with as minimal a budget as possible. (FOX, again, considered that they had already paid for and received the episodes ordered for broadcast.)
I could go into a lot more detail and summarize more interviews, but the short version of the story is: It feels like this episode doesn't fit the show's continuity because it doesn't fit the show's continuity, and it wasn't produced to do so.
Sources consulted:
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2009/04/dollhouse-omega-finale.html
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2009/04/dollhouse-joss-whedon-fox-eliza-dushku.html
http://armchairc.blogspot.com/2009/07/dollhouse-unaired-pilot-and-epitaph-one.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dollhouse_(TV_series)&oldid=800215447
https://tv.avclub.com/dollhouse-epitaph-one-1798217724
(I know these won't link, because Trakt only allows a small whitelist of domains, but I feel a need to cite my sources anyway for completeness—and maybe, my own future reference.)