Dollhouse: Haunted

By Sonia Aurora

It is becoming more and more apparent that the strength in Dollhouse lies in its ensemble cast. Eliza Dushku, being pushed hard as the “Star” (aka, the “Draw” for the show) has shown chops as an actress, mostly adequate, but sometimes shining even brighter than that. There’s a relief to knowing that she isn’t just trying to coast on her sex appeal and looks (even though Fox infuriatingly keeps showing those Eliza naked “Dollhouse will be back in 90 seconds” promos). But I know I prefer what Ballard, Langdon, Dr. Saunders, Topher and DeWitt have to offer instead of Echo. And I’m constantly pleased by Sierra and Victor, whose job is like Echo’s in having to be chameleons (and more often, more successfully convince us of their new identity). What a revelation for an actor, and for these 2 actors to have been plucked from virtual obscurity and have that kind of opportunity for range, even if unsung from the ad campaigns. So this week’s episode had about a 50-50 showcase of Echo vs. ensemble, and while the Echo storyline was fun (seeing as I love a good mystery) the Topher and Ballard storylines were meatier (hey, I’m callin’ ‘um as I see ‘um).

DeWitt’s friend Margaret is killed, or suspected to be killed, as her death is a little suspect. Turns out Margaret had been visiting the Dollhouse to get her memories/essence preserved as she suspected someone might want to kill her. Her memories are up to 3 weeks prior to her death. It’s by far intriguing, the idea of life after death in another body. The understanding is Margaret gets to be in Echo to attend her own funeral and solve her own murder, but then die again. That’s even more interesting, that someone who died prematurely would allow that re-death. I’m pretty sure she won’t run (since she is, after all, in Echo) but I would’ve liked that to happen. (I’m hoping at some point, should this happen again, and the show stays around long enough, that it will).

My greatest problem with this whole Margaret-as-Echo is that Eliza can’t successfully pull off an aristocrat, which Margaret was. There’s a haughty inflection in her voice, yes, she walks with grace and poise, yes, and her brow furrows and Echo’s does periodically throughout the show to convey dismay, confusion, and the like. All the mechanics are there, but it just doesn’t meld for me. I still see Eliza-Echo-Caroline. I seen her more convincingly embody other engagements. Here, the execution falls just short and that’s the episode’s greatest weakness. And, honestly, I’m not sure how it could have been fixed. On paper, Eliza did everything right. It just didn’t translate 100%.

Because of all the recent goings-on, all the Actives are pretty much dormant, so the only ones activated for assignment are Echo, and then later Victor. Topher’s gotta run some kind of diagnostic on an Active, so after gaining Langdon’s permission (since he is head of security) they bring in Sierra.

DeWitt and Echo/Margaret attend the funeral as Julia, a ghost of a person that Margaret had starting setting up in name dropping and even putting in the will prior to her death, so her sudden appearance wouldn’t be so foreign. She points out her family, 2 adult children, a drunken brother, and a younger 2nd husband Jack, as well as the household staff, all suspects.

Sierra, meanwhile, is engaged to be a gaming friend for Topher, and throughout the episode they run around eating junk food, playing video games, chatting about playing with the “sleepies.” They opt for laser tag instead, and in that scene (later in the episode) I appreciate the levity that Joss brings to his heavier handed themes in his shows. You need the wit and laughter in the midst of the darker stuff.

Ballard, meanwhile, is with Mellie, drinking wine, eating a quiet dinner, him getting ready to clean up and being quiet and mysterious (i.e., freaked out he’s dating an Active) He preserves her wine glass for her prints.

In a reminiscing scene, turns out Margaret wasn’t as loved as she expected, as we’re introduced to the womanizing, broke, but favored son Nick; bitter, photographer daughter Jocelyn; and drunk brother Uncle Bill. She has a brief talk with Nick who tries to apologize to Julia for the picture they are painting of Margaret, but she was a “bulldozer” who pushed her son to aspire to Wall Street when he was 12. It’s about 30 seconds before the guy tries to kiss Julia and Echo’s reaction is a hilarious near-vomit. Crush the poor guy’s self–esteem, but how much worse would it be to explain the Oedipal repercussions?

Langdon’s also peeved about the eternal life issue with sending Echo out as a newly dead person (which makes me take pause and wonder, who DO they take memories and information from? Are they dead or dying people? Are they volunteers, or “volunteers”, like the Actives themselves?). DeWitt, in her icy fashion, rebuffs him, digging that he longs to be Echo’s handler again, but he presents that if it really was murder they need to figure out why, and they send Victor in as a horse breeder in case there is some money to be made there, and possible murder motive. After all, the easiest person to suspect is Jack, the younger husband, who might not have loved his rich wife for herself, and to whom she left her horses. (Margaret insists because they are what she loved most, so she left them to who she loved most; everyone else suspects she meant to stiff Jack). We also get another “clue” in the suspicion that Jack was a cheater.

Ballard breaks into the FBI to upload Mellie’s fingerprints with the help of his FBI female tough-as-nails colleague, and she puts her password in, a page comes up as Annabeth as Mellie’s real name, until several names for Mellie along with accompanying prison picture pop up before they all disappear and any record of those prints become non-existent. Sounds like another FBI member might start to believe Ballard’s paranoia.

Jack calls Julia out as a spy for the family and wants nothing to do with her, and Uncle Bill is a suspect briefly since he came to town before Margaret even died. We also learn about Nick’s addiction (to gambling, revealed later).

Mellie is nervously chattering away, knowing Ballard has his walls up, doesn’t want to talk to her about the Dollhouse, freaked because her emotions seems so genuine (I know they do to me). She holds his face in her hands when she tells him that she will give him what he needs, and not ask for anything from him. She’s basically calling out his freaked-outness and still wants to be with him (as she’s programmed to be, I’m sure he’s thinking). They start to kiss but the kissing gets angry-passionate, Ballard is intense and throws her around. It’s a pretty hot scene, but intriguing because it’s hard to tap into what Ballard is thinking. Is he pretending that by screwing her he can convert her into a real girl? Or justify something? Or still attempt to make that connection with someone that isn’t entirely human or alive (to echo back to the statements he’s made about the Dollhouse).

Julia/Margaret goes riding with King’s Ransom, the prized horse that Jack plans to sell, and a shadow emerges in the stable. It’s Nick, and he knows its Margaret in Echo’s body as Julia, because it seems he has frequented the Manhattan faction of the Dollhouse. She breathes a sigh of relief (made longer by his explanation that he tried to kiss her before he put it all together). He confesses his gambling addiction, breaking down in front of his mommy for forgiveness. Is it wrong of me to want to suspect him as the killer because he sports the douchey polo collar turned up look? Or more wrong to not want to suspect him because he kinda looks like Xander from Buffy?

Turns out Victor assesses King’s Ransom was on the juice and it turns out Margaret was killed with the same drug being injected into the horses. Since Jack inherited the horses, he’s the natural suspect. Nick and Julia are chased by Jack, who Nick stabs, and they run into the house where Nick tells Julia to write a letter in Margaret’s handwriting that implicates Jack as her murderer. Very clever, until Julia has enough time to wonder how Jack could have known to inject the horses when he didn’t know very much about them. Well, turns out it wasn’t Jack, it was Nick, since he figured he would need to juice the horses since he figured she would have left them to him when she died, and he needed the dough to pay of his debts. No matter, it turns out better since Jack can be the scapegoat. He tries to inject Julia but Jack saves the day. Turns out he did genuinely love Margaret, and genuinely mourns her death. Also, thanks to Nick’s idea, Julia/Margaret re-writes her will, leaving Nick out and expressing her feelings about her family and what they meant to her. She also writes a personal note to Jack.

Langdon makes sure DeWitt is aware of the “Topher Situation”, and she is. “Loneliness leads to nothing good, only detachment,” and there is a sadness that Topher needs to “create” a friend…but it only happens once a year (for his birthday).

Ballard, meanwhile, stands in a Shower of Shame as Mellie chatters away. Yeah, he’s found an Active, a Doll, and he’s miserable and completely f-ed up for it. No better sentiment works here than “Be careful what you wish for.”

DeWitt and Margaret say goodbye as Echo lies ready for her treatment. Yeah, she thought about escaping, but, knowing DeWitt, she’d have only gotten as far as the airport.

Grasping hands, Margaret asks: “Will I see my life flash before my eyes?”
DeWitt: “Every single moment.”

Then, she lets go of her hand as the procedure commences.

Again, good, not great episode. Not enough Langdon, too much Echo in a trying-too-hard-to-branch-out role. Next week delves back into the Dollhouse conspiracy plotline, with the reveal of Alpha. I’m seriously thinking Alpha might be Ballard, but I would really hate that. I’d feel cheated somehow, if he turned out to be that kind of cog in the Dollhouse wheel. It wouldn’t shock me in the least, and can I help wanting to be shocked? I want what this show can give, has been able to give. While the previews definitely lean in the direction of the “Man on the Street” and “Spy in the House of Love” veins, I am still approaching cautiously.

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About Sonia Aurora: Aspiring screenwriter and seamstress, Sonia’s dream is to write life-changing films while product-placing her own line of handbags. In 1999, she wrote, co-directed and co-starred in the short film Dr. Lovestrange, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bug, a satirical homage to Stanley Kubrick set amidst the panic of Y2K (Featured on ifilm.com & Coming Soon to YouTube!). While Sonia waits patiently for the Studios to call, she continues her selfless, humanitarian efforts (think Mother Teresa) through her scripts, short stories and sewing (a true triple-threat!), knowing all the while that someday her efforts will indeed save (or at least mildly tweak) the world. She still struggles with which picture to kiss before bedtime: her boyfriend’s or Bruce Campbell’s. And, in the interest of time, she’d like to start thanking the Academy now.

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