Dolhouse: The Target

With low premier ratings and Joss Whedon talking about how he's going to focus on the Internet the future doesn't look great for dollhouse but this episode was good. There were a couple old friends on the show for fans of Joss.
Amy Acker from Angel is playing the a doctor on dollhouse. I missed the first fifteen minutes of last weeks episode so i don't know if she was on then but seeing her was a treat. Mark Sheppard for Firefly was also on the show, a little less sleazy than in other roles you may have seen him on.
That leads me to a question, have Mark Sheppard and Tahmoh Penikett had lines together before?
I know that this episode is supposed to be an improvement over last weeks but I can't say I really agree. There were good parts and I'm interested in Alpha, but I didn't really like the psychopath hunting people angle. Perhaps I've simply seen to much science fiction but it felt old. I'm still assuming that these early shows are setting up the feel of the show and they can start being more different later but for now it doesn't feel all that solid.