If only Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon wrote every episode of Dollhouse and they were all directed by Jonathan Frakes!
The best episode of season one was written by Joss Whedon’s brother Jed and Jed’s wife Maurissa . It never aired on FOX though. The pilot was shot twice, that counted as two episodes of the order from FOX’s perspective blah blah blah “Epitaph One” never made it to the air. A great episode that would’ve made a wonderful series finale had it come to that.
Tonight’s episode “Belonging” was also written by Jed & Mo. It was the best episode of the season and it was perhaps the best episode of the series. Except for maybe “Epitaph One”, so either way "Belonging" was the best episode ever to air on FOX!
“Man on the Street”? Sorry Joss, but I liked "Epitaph One" and "Belonging" much better. Ok, sure Jed & Mo also wrote “Stagefright,” the third episode of the first season. That one wasn't so hot, but I’m sure they were under some “no mythology!” edict at the time. They also wrote season one’s tenth episode “Haunted” with Jane Espensen of BSG (and now Caprica) fame.
I thought “Belonging” was wonderful.
It was probably way too late for good word of mouth about tonight’s episode to matter. But seeing how good tonight’s episode was it is unfortunate that there’s going to be such a long break between tonight's great episode and Summer Glau’s entrance into the Dollhouse.
It’s unlikely that I’ll wake up tomorrow to see that Dollhouse pulled a 1.4 adults 18-49 rating (or even a 1.2 for that matter) for tonight's episode. But I'm rooting for it anyway. And c'mon, it would be kind of fun to see it just for all the “FOX zigged when it should have zagged!” outrage that would produce.
I’m not outraged. We got a really good episode.
The best huh? Did that have anything to do with Dichen Lachman and not Eliza on the forefront? Just a guess… I watched SGU.
Or tried to.
Sierra (Dichen Lachman) was the focus of the episode.
I haven’t been watching lately due to Stargate Universe. Maybe I should catch up.
It was definitely the best episode of the season. But, it can’t beat, “Epitaph One.” I love, Echo, but this episode was… AMAZING!
I know Dollhouse will be canceled and will get a good ending, but I’ll be sad to see it go.
It was one of the most emotional episode of Dollhouse to date. Adelle, Topher, Sierra, and Boyd got the chance to shine. It just shows that an ensemble cast moves the plot and show a lot better than just focusing on Echo. Hopefully Dollhouse will continue to bring high quality episodes on the table.
Less to do with the Dollhouse pre-emption (although this week’s episode was kinda fantastic–they haven’t all been, but when they bring their A game, they do tend to be grand slams) but what’s to guarantee next Friday wouldn’t be occupied by baseball anyway?
The dollhouse seems to me to be a type of psychological, quasi-action series, with a strong feminine influence. This seems to make the show a bit odd, because it doesn’t completely appeal to men – and I’m not sure how well it appeals to women. The show appears to me to be in a kind of limbo appeal position. I (being a guy) think the show should be more masculinized with strong guy writers, having strong guy / action oriented perspectives. Or else it should be more feminized. In other words, I believe the show needs to focus on a particular gender, and then broadened to appeal to the other gender.
I think the Kill Bill movie series with Uma Thurman, show you can have a strong, feminine, kick ass character, that has strong appeal to men – and also women. I think the dollhouse should take a strong action turn and should be more masculanized, having a guy boss. Also I believe the dollhouse should get taken over by a government agency, which sends the dolls out as special operatives, who can be specially imprinted with appropriate personalities to accomplish espionage type missions. Also, de-emphasize all this emotional and psychological anguishing over the ethics of the dollhouse program. I believe many guys find this tedious. That’s just my 2 cents.
Thank you! I know this is primarily a ratings site and not a fansite per se, and in my heart of hearts I know that the ratings suck and we’ve reached the “very special 2 hour event burnoff theatre” stage of things, but thank you for a post validating what I was thinking when watching the episode. I’m a Dollhouse fan and so I consider myself predisposed to liking most of the episodes…but watching this one, I found myself thinking, “Ya know, this one is GOOD, and not like, ‘I’m a fan shilling for the show good’, but like actual good–great, even.” I proceeded to shed a metaphorical tear when I learned from the end promo and then here that it HAD in fact been yanked from sweeps and that they’re gonna start doubling. Probably too little, too late quality-wise, but until I hear official cancellation I’ll hope for miraculous turnaround in the demos and that an insane number of previously unaware people happen upon this show that, for whatever it isn’t, IS at least thought-provoking, imaginative, escapist fare.
greennogo: Besides the fact that next Friday is an off-day for the World Series? Well, unless the game on Wednesday or Thursday gets rained out… but as scheduled there’s no game there.
I must agree that this was a fantastic episode. I thought it was the best of the entire series, slightly edging out “Epitaph One”. I, a 29 year old(30 in December) man, cried through about 3/4 of the episode. Shows that can affect me this profoundly are exactly why I love television, and in particular, Joss Whedon shows.
I’ll be very unhappy when they cancel this show.
I just got to say. They really knocked it out of the park with Belonging. I know it would take a miracle for Fox or Syfy to continue this but if there were a show that deserved it, this ep proved it.
You know a the show is doomed when people are more excited about supporting characters than the one main character they all supposed to care and root for. Even worse, you got uneven writing throughout the show’s history.
P. Douglas: The show should do that. Except the opposite.
Agreed, best ep hands down. Hoping for a ratings increase against all logic and odds.
Robert, I am so in love with you right now (#0,0#) Dollhouse…. It’s a bug-hunt. So hard to nail down. And because of the screeners they sent out for S205, critics that have already seen the the first ep of the Summer Glau 2-parter in Dec. & all are saying it`s better than this one.
They don`t have much time left. Now should become the time where they duct tape a flame thower onto a pulse gun & blow them all away.
I watched it and thought it was weak from a continuity perspective. At best I’d call it average, which hasn’t been so great this season.
If this was the best DOLLHOUSE can do, I’m not sorry I checked out after the pilot.
ok so last time they aired dollhouse they said 2 weeks until summer glau episode …
now they pushed that one back to after sweeps for reruns of other shows? thats a bunch of crap … sorry but it is…
oh well
I havnt watched last nights episode yet … but I am not surprised its good since seirra is central in the episode … she and the other guy(doll)(cant think of his name at the moment) are very very good and have very likable characters
Are critics really saying the next ep is better? It’s just that the official ep descriptions of the next 4 don’t excite me all that much while since I read this ep’s description (months ago?) I was looking forward to it. Anyway, yes, best episode. EO is an A episode (Spy in the House of Love A-) but was not consistent in quality; the flashbacks were the main awesome, and then it was because of all the shocking things we learn rather than the raw emotions of each moment.
This episode, meanwhile, made me want to throw up because of the gross, disturbing, creepiness. It made Boyd & Topher (I thought I was helping her…which sounds a bit like the end of EO.) a lot more interesting and Adele more and less human. I was on the edge of my seat really not knowing what would happen next.
Echo’s scanty moments were awesome in acting and in moving the storyline forward more than the last few episodes devoted to her did together. Sierra/Victor = so cute; I didn’t remember until she rejoined him that he’d been waiting for her that whole time.
She doesn’t belong there./She does now…Best episode of TV I’ve seen this year. If the specter of cancellation makes episodes like these, sure, okay.
However, well, I’m not sure that in a place where American Idol, ABC soaps, countless procedurals, and 2.5 Men rule really has that many people who would really want to see a show like this. I think I read that The Wire’s finale had about 1 million viewers.
Actually, I suppose the kind of show I want Dollhouse to be has this kind of episode and maybe doesn’t really belong on a broadcast network at 9 PM…