Dollhouse - "Haunted" (Jane Espenson & Maurissa Tacharoen & Jed Whedon)
Eliza Dushku has a limited range has an actor (that’s okay, so did Doris Day) and that was quite evident in “Haunted”. Dollhouse isn’t a vehicle that suits ED but I am struggling to see what actor could manage it.
This episode was the Dollhouse meets Miss Marple. Jane Marple was always being parachuted into people’s homes to undercover a possible crime. I missed the part when Echo was invaded to stay in the dead woman’s bedroom. Rich people with large houses often find they have to accommodate strangers this way even with wills of introduction.
Oi, you two, be quiet
The funeral service scene was awful. I fully expected the other mourners to turn round en mass and tell these people to stop being so bloody rude and shut up.
I enjoyed the Topher and his best friend who is just like him for one scene but otherwise I find Fran Kranz hard to watch for more than a few seconds.
The problem with MOTW eps like this is the challenge to get you to care about the characters in the “mission” storyline who you are never going to see again. Neglected daughters, loser sons, and young husbands – it’s hard to care about such cardboard characters. Dead Like Me did MOTW (where the M stands for mortality (noun)) episodes much better – the gay couple episode called “The Bicycle Thief” was deeply moving.
“Haunted” was redeemed for me by the compelling Paul/Mellie storyline which was full of disturbing and revelatory things:
- November’s criminal record
- her programming as a passive doormat
- rough sex
- "I found one"
- Ballard wants to rescue Caroline but he doesn’t seem to be inclined to want to rescue Mellie. He’s using a woman who is right in front of him who is tangible and real (but not quite herself at the moment) in favour of someone who he has formed a picture of, a someone who is NOT there, someone like Laura in the film Laura.
[If you want a more considered analysis of Dollhouse, then Charles over at Heartache with Hard Work is doing a great job.]
Miracle Laurie seems to be the Amber Benson of Dollhouse – in lots of episodes but not in the opening credits.
Somebody in the costuming department has a stiletto heel fetish.
While "Haunted" is decidedly lackluster because of the recycled whodunit plot, I didn't think that it showed limitations of Eliza Dushku's range, though I agree with you that she does have a limited one. I actually thought she was pretty good as the rich dead woman. And I liked her interactions with Adelle, talking loudly a funeral notwithstanding. I'm really liking Olivia Williams in that role.
I think the first scene of Topher imprinting Sierra and the final scene of Boyd and Adelle discussing him would have been plenty for that little subplot, seeing as it is essentially a retread of Adelle and Victor's subplot from "A Spy in the House of Love." Maybe they could have been playing laser tag in the background of a scene with Adelle talking to Elizabeth on the phone, but that's as far as I'll go. I really can't stand Topher. I won't go so far to say that I can't stand Fran Kranz, but I think a different actor could have made this part more than just irritating. Someone like Adam Busch, as somebody suggested a few weeks ago.
Mellie and Paul were definitely the highlight of the episode, despite the disturbing undertones. I did appreciate that we got to hear Mellie say, "That was fun but not all the time," to Paul after the rough sex, so that she's not a complete doormat.
Hey, I just twittered that.
I'll only accept that ED gave a decent performance in "Haunted" if she was supposed to be a mix of Margaret and Echo because otherwise she failed to convince me that she was upper crust and middle-aged.
Thanks for the shout.
The funeral scene drove me crazy, too.
Agreed that ED was okay, but certainly did not sell me on the idea that it was literally the same personality in a different body.
The only thing I'm hoping for on that count is some exploration of the idea that being in a different body actually CHANGED the way she interacted with the world. It would make her ability to see her family in a radically different light feel a little more reasonable, too.
I have trouble making that call because Brenda Bakke says all of two lines before Margaret is killed and put into Echo. It's hard to make any judgements about her personality with that little to go on.