KT wonders whether you believe in ghosts. Raked wonders if Tru Calling was finally renewed by FOX.
DOLLHOUSE: 1.10 “Haunted”
KT:
Okay, here’s the thing. Margaret goes through a long, painful process to have her brain scanned by the Dollhouse because she’s been scared all her life that someone will kill her for her money. But, as Adelle says, Echo’s body is only ever a loan for Margaret. So yes, that’s all very well that Margaret has the Dollhouse as backup in case of murder, but all that backup gets her is a chance to play detective and the dubious pleasure of hearing what everyone really thought of her. She thought this was a good idea why, exactly?
Paranoia. Okay. Character trait. Whatever, moving on.
Here’s the other thing. Uh, where are the police? Surely the son couldn’t make it look so very natural that the police have given up on this mysterious death already?
Nitpicking aside, I do like a good who-dunnit, and I thought that this one succeeded at laying out the evidence so that I could think back and say, yup, it all adds up. And wasn’t it fascinating that Margaret’s son (who, I assume, had been working on Wall Street as his mother wanted) guessed Echo’s identity because he was a client of the Manhattan Dollhouse. That’s the first we’ve seen of how word of Dollhouse’s existence circulates among the super-rich. That also suggests that when Echo told Ballard in “Man on the Street” that there are 20 Dollhouses out there, she was giving him at least some real information.
But this week – oh, Paul. You’re completely divorced from the main plot yet again (though the preview for next week suggests that won’t last). Although Mellie continues to be charming, their sex scene was every bit as disturbing as I’m sure it was intended to be. And Paul’s self-flagellation is not going to stay interesting for long. However, despite my “he snuck into the FBI building…how?” skepticism, I did like the scene with his former colleague, Loomis. I liked her when she appeared before and I think she would be a good partner for Ballard – someone to help him but also keep him a little more grounded. Interesting visual in which the search results pop up and then disappear, but I’m not sure what we’re supposed to infer from this. Is someone out there digitally watching the search and suppressing that info just as the results are coming in?
Topher and Sierra’s play day was adorable. And of course Adelle would understand that Topher needs a little companionship from time to time, given what we learned about her in the last episode. It was interesting to me that Topher didn’t seem to care which doll became his buddy; a contrast to Adelle – it seemed to me that the Roger program belonged specifically to Victor.
Speaking of Victor and Sierra, I think I have to say that Enver Gjokaj and Dichen Lachman continue to out-act Eliza Dushku. I like Eliza, and I don’t think she’s a poor actress at all. But… Enver and Dichen have been putting out some really stellar performances and have been doing a great job of making each imprint seem like a completely different person, and I think they deserve some recognition for that.
Tangent from nowhere: I wonder what the Dollhouse does to give its actives necessary physical characteristics. I’m talking about Victor’s horse buyer character – if his hands didn’t have lots of calluses and a certain amount of dirt under the nails, wouldn’t be that be a flag to other horse people?
And although I liked the main plot, it seemed odd in such a short season to have a stand alone episode this close to the end. I wonder if there are more clues here than perhaps we realize. Did we ever learn where Adelle met Margaret? Something related to Adelle’s former job, which Margaret might have given funding to? Or perhaps a thematic contrast is being set up: someone who didn’t come nicely back to the Dollhouse to be wiped. Total speculation here, guys; I have no idea.
Raked’s thoughts after the jump.
Raked:
I will give this episode one pro: I think presenting the question of eternal life through the Dollhouse was a fantastic philosophical question. I think trying to pinpoint where Echo’s imprint ended and where Margaret began is something that could be analyzed for hours.
I just feel like this episode could have been so much more effective if they went the predictable route: Let Margaret suddenly want to continue her life and not return to the Dollhouse. Let Boyd have to handle that.
Instead, we have what seemed to me to be a bad episode of Tru Calling. Which is sad. I liked Tru Calling. While Eliza Dushku was completely effective as Margaret in the first scene–caked makeup and all–we seem to have lost it the further the show went on. And it wasn’t just Margaret’s changing feelings about seeing her family around her and discovering their hatred. It was honest-to-God fading of a realistic character.
Don’t get me wrong. The good-bye scene at the end was very touching and effective, but the entire “who’s my killer” storyline was weak, and I felt like Tru was trying to find out why the corpse said, “Help me.” Margaret was gone, and it was just another character lying about who she was to solve a murder. Tru Davies.
Which is really disappointing. I think that this episode could have shined if that philosophical question was brought out more–or at least brought out in the character of Margaret herself. She didn’t seem to have any qualms about ending her life, which seems false. Boyd seemed to realize the risk. Why wouldn’t the episode play with that?
Plus, the weakness of Eliza made me just want to ignore boring Ballard. He’s starting to turn into a whining puppy, and while I realize that he’s got a pretty rough thing going, I just want to have some story there again.
Topher and Sierra were great, but I felt that in a different episode, I could have enjoyed this a lot more.
In the end, I found this to be a very weak episode–possibly more than “Stage Fright.” It disappoints me. Remember when everyone said Eliza couldn’t do this show? I felt that this episode made that point true.
Oh, and one nitpick: Topher chides Boyd by saying that he’s not Echo’s handler anymore and how he shouldn’t be worrying about her jobs anymore. Where was her handler today? Wouldn’t he be the one to bring her back to the Dollhouse? Are we just assuming that if an imprint knows about the Dollhouse, they’ll just go back willingly? Where’s the “treatment” trigger? Just curious.
On the bright side, next week’s episode looks incredible AND Alan Tudyk guest stars. I’ll be looking forward to that one.
I’m glad you delved into the philosophical implications, Raked — I was thinking I should go there, but got tired and decided my part was long enough.
I also thought it was odd that such a supposedly stubborn and independent woman as Margaret came willingly back to the Dollhouse like a meek little lamb. The best explanation I can come up with is that, being an imprint, she still had the usual programmed reaction to “It’s time for your treatment now,” when her new (but annoyingly unseen) handler led her back to the black van.
Plus, it was kinda nice to see an engagement that didn’t end with “Send in the helicopters, we have to extract the active now!”
I think trying to pinpoint where Echo’s imprint ended and where Margaret began is something that could be analyzed for hours.
This. I would have loved to see it.
I hadn’t thought of this in Tru Calling terms. I saw the plot as a rather simplified version of your classic English country house mystery, so my brain went to more of a Dorothy Sayers/Agatha Christie kind of place — which makes this look like a pale shadow, but I guess I was feeling generous last night. It got the job done and didn’t pull any narrative punches, so I thought it was adequate. But as you point out, it could have been rather a lot better.
I guess my issue is that it really seemed like this episode belonged at the beginning of the series, when they had all the adequate episodes. Right now, we’re in the throws of Alpha and deception, so why the tame episode? One that seemed so far away from the story arc, with the exception of five minutes with Ballard. I was just really disappointed to be greeted with this episode after a week away from the show.
What’s odd is that I seem to be in the minority in my opinion. Other blogs and reviews seem to have liked the episode. Let me know if I’m just completely wrong in my opinion.
Bah, why follow the crowd?
I liked this brief review because the writer points out that Topher has essentially created his own imaginary friend. Awww.
He also points out the interesting similarity between Echo-as-Margaret solving her own murder and Echo’s hostage negotiator personality in “Ghost” exposing the man who abused her as a child. (For values of “her” that equal “one of the real people whose memories were in the melting pot that Topher used to create Eleanor Penn.)
I still enjoy the show but your critique is valid. Would Margaret go back willingly? Perhaps the truth about her family made her want to give up the body. I did love Topher and his fantasy friend.
Does he ever leave the Dollhouse? And a big question is where is the new handler? Even if he is not staying with the show he should be assuming Boyd’s place. The interplay between Echo and “not Boyd” could be very interesting.
I agree, the new handler’s relationship with Echo would definitely be something worth seeing. Especially if he doesn’t have as much of a caring relationship with her.
Haha, as for my critique, apparently I was a little harsher than expected. I dunno. For some reason this episode rubbed me the wrong way. I think KT liked it a little more than me. I guess I just wanted more after a week off.
Totally excited about next week’s, though. Should be awesome!
Here’s an interesting blog post that JC found. http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/4/25/724353/-We-interrupt-this-channel...
Something to think about.