Dollhouse

US, April 26, 2009 - While not terrible by any means, "Haunted" definitely wasn’t as engaging as the last couple of episodes of Dollhouse - returning to a more stand alone story, and once again showing that this is not a series that makes very compelling episodes of that sort.

The set up was intriguing, as we learned that Adelle had imprinted Echo with the memories of her good friend – who had just been murdered. This personality, "Margaret," attended her own funeral using Echo’s body, and then — in the guise of Margaret’s invented friend — attempted to find out who had murdered her, by spending time with the family.

Once more though, two recurring problems hurt this storyline. The execution of this storyline was just okay, and not particularly enthralling. And sadly, Eliza Dushku’s performance was lacking when it came to selling this as a fully formed character - that this was actually a woman in her early 50s, interacting with her own adult children and experiencing some truly amazing situations.

Some amusing moments did occur along the way – it was certainly both funny and simultaneously icky when Margaret’s son Nicholas (Jordan Bridges) kissed her, taking all of her mentions of what a great, handsome man he’d grown into as a come on. But the portrayal of Margaret’s family as a whole was pretty mundane, with all the requisite family drama that could hide murderous attentions – but mostly lead to very easy to pull off mending of fences with her daughter and brother, after years of conflict. And the ultimate reveal of Nicholas as the killer was predictable, especially as he was seemingly helping Echo/Margaret with her red herring husband pursuing them.

Back at the Dollhouse, we learned that Topher is allowed to use a doll once a year as his geeky buddy, playing video games and laser tag – and using Sierra as said buddy in this situation. The writers avoided having Topher have sex with her, adding to this storyline’s attempt to humanize Topher and say that deep down he just wants a friend. However, Fran Kranz’s smarmy delivery and the entire conception of the character so far has made it nearly impossible for this character to come off as sympathetic at all – though I did like the simple visual of he and Sierra tossing a football back and forth across the Dollhouse. Meanwhile, this storyline reminded us again that Dichen Lachman is a better, more natural actress than Eliza Dushku – and humorously infuriated me, as Topher was wearing the Boba Fett hoodie I own in his first few scenes. Don’t you just hate seeing someone you hate wearing the same clothes as you?

The best parts of the episode were those involving Paul Ballard – certainly an improvement for that character. His knowledge that November/Mellie is a doll puts him in a horrible predicament, as he knows that upsetting the situation could lead to dire circumstances – perhaps even his death. But now he’s trapped acting out a relationship he knows is not real with a person he knows is essentially a brainwashed slave, whatever her reasons for joining the Dollhouse (though Sierra’a backstory now calls into question how many people are truly volunteers, including November). We’ve seen other stories where the seemingly noble hero ends up doing the very thing he is trying to stop, but it still was quite powerful and suitably dark and nasty when Paul slept with Mellie again – turning it into angry sex, thanks to his knowledge of what was truly going on and how ugly it made him feel. Meanwhile, it was good to see Paul get Mellie’s fingerprints to try to learn her new identity and in the process get some new support from his old FBI boss, when an attempt to look up those fingerprints leads to files mysteriously being deleted.

Overall, "Haunted" was a reminder of how inconsistent Dollhouse has been all season. But as we go into the final two episodes (not counting the now infamous one FOX isn’t airing) and what is obviously a return to a bigger focus on the ongoing plotlines, it hopefully marks another bounce back for this chaotic series.