What the papers say about Dollhouse episode 10 - Dollhouse

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April 25 2009

What the papers say about Dollhouse episode 10. The A.V. Club gives it a 'B+', admiring the concept but thinks the execution was "a little disappointing". Zap2it was less kind, calling it "lousy" and tv critic Alan Sepinwall wasn't too enamoured of it either. However, TV Squad described Haunted as "the sort of philosophical story that Joss and company excel at". And the Pioneer Local reviewer thought it was "one of the best episodes of "Dollhouse" this season".

Simon | Dollhouse | 04:04 CET | 21 comments total | tags: haunted, dollhouse

Haunted was the first Dollhouse ep that actually made me cry. The show started off iffy, but just keeps getting better and better in my book...

Volo | April 25, 04:55 CET

Im not much understanding the lack of love for this ep. Oh my god, there was one week with no mythology? PICNIC TIME.

Sheesh.

edcsLover9 | April 25, 04:59 CET

I think that Haunted was probably the best standalone episode of the first season. I didn’t expect much from it, but really liked it in the end.

Anuris | April 25, 05:11 CET

I would say that it's the best standalone episode so far, but I liked episodes 6 to 9 better.

J.I.G. | April 25, 05:17 CET

The problem with the episode was that the main story was just another episode of "Ghost Whisperer". The whole concept has just been done to death in recent years.

eyeboogers | April 25, 05:56 CET

I thought this episode was absolutely ace. Just watched it now with some friends and we all loved it. I'm quite surprised to find the negative reviews

The Topher bit was heartbreaking. He's now joined Adelle and Boyd in my favourite characters list

Let Down | April 25, 06:23 CET

I've disliked a few episodes so far, but I loved this one. Far and away the most audacious to date. I think it's emblematic of the potential this series has - there are flaws, there are stumbles, but the creativity is there in spades. I really, really hope Fox gives them a chance on a second season to let them stretch and grow.

KariAri | April 25, 06:44 CET

iF Magazine liked it http://ifmagazine.com/review.asp?article=3203

flugufrelsarinn | April 25, 06:50 CET

I really liked this episode. I think Eliza's acting in it was superb. Loved the Topher story. The Ballard stuff creeped me out a bit. But overall a good episode.

madmolly | April 25, 06:54 CET

I really liked Echo's storyline for this episode but the Topher scene at the end broke my heart. Great episode!

Irrel | April 25, 07:32 CET

I'm with madmolly. Ballard creeped me out as well...not my favorite character at the moment.

Spacegirl3200 | April 25, 07:48 CET

Wow. I definitely did not expect those reviews. I thought the episode was amazing. It's the first one I got my parents to watch and they liked it.

VeryVeryCrowded | April 25, 07:49 CET

Excellent episode. I liked the mini-mystery, horses, and Topher's birthday. And the idea that no one should be alone for long.

And the episode gave the Ice Queen some more opportunity to show her softer side. And some of the ethical problems with the Dollhouse technology in other applications.

BrownCoat_Tabz | April 25, 09:53 CET

I totally agree with this reviewer's take on the Echo storyline. The mystery part was not interesting, what I loved was the idea of coming back from the dead or rather living forever. So many layers to this idea and I wish Joss and his troupe would have taken taken it further than a whodunit.

luv4whedon | April 25, 19:37 CET

Overall, I'm going against the generally negative reviews and say I enjoyed the episode. I didn't love the A story, specifically the WhoDunIt aspect of it. However, I thought Eliza was good, and I liked the more philosophical questions it asked (IE the concept of living forever).
I really liked the part with Tahmoh, the whole angry sex thing proved as interesting (not in a creepy way) as anything Paul has done.
But the best part was Topher. I found the ending wonderful, and when it turned out it was his birthday I nearly cried. Which isn't easy for me, as I'm extremely manly.

chayes | April 25, 20:32 CET

This was the espisode that I've liked least so far, because in so many ways it was simply a murder mystery. BUT: I LOVED Topher's antics (which of course turned out to be his birthday party to himself.) Topher is my absolute favorite character on this show---he reminds me in so many ways of my own son and his friends, at least when they were in high school. And by a funny coincidence, my son too is named Christopher---and we sometimes call him "Toph" :)

GreenElfMom | April 25, 21:01 CET

For those of you who cried over Topher's birthday, I think maybe you're looking only at the empty part of the glass. Yes, Sierra was basically his "imaginary friend," but he truly did seem to be having an absolute blast. Topher is basically a child, and children often enjoy their imaginary friends as much as they do their real ones. Topher reminds me of Tigger: if you sent him to hell, he would happily have a marshmello roast! You can cry for every other character on the show, but you don't need to cry for Topher.

GreenElfMom | April 25, 21:13 CET

Seems to me that crying for someone so broken that he's that old, still has an imaginary friend, and spends his birthday with said friend, is a fairly reasonable thing to do.

@theonetruebix | April 25, 21:18 CET

Well, ok, if we need to cry about something, I want to cry over my disappointment with Mellie (sp?) aka November. I watched the episode today on Hulu.com, so I was able to keep frame-freezing the images from when Ballard and his friend at the FBI were looking at the search results of Mellie's fingerprints, and she had a LOT of aliases going in those mug shots! She had been one of my favorite characters, so it was a downer for me to find out that she had apparently been one VERY bad little girl in her former life!

GreenElfMom | April 25, 21:33 CET

Topher is a spoiler child but that doesn't mean we can't feel sorry for him. Most spoiled children are spoiled because their parents never had time to give them love and attention, just gifts. All these children really want is love, then they grow up to be self involved and egotistical. I may be annoyed with Topher but I feel bad for the little boy in him who just wants a human connection.

luv4whedon | April 26, 17:02 CET

Have to give props to the Zap critic for one of the headlines, tho: "Julia, child." That's pretty brilliant.

Rick Gershman VII | April 26, 21:40 CET

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