Whedonesque : Comments on 20130 : What the papers say about Dolhouse episode 11.

This site will work and look better in a browser that supports web standards, but it is accessible to any browser or Internet device.

May 02 2009

What the papers say about Dolhouse episode 11. The A.V. Club gave it an 'A-', saying the special guest star was "f***ing gold". Zap2it said the episode was "outstanding" and TV Squad and Alan Sepinwall both liked it. iFmagazine thought 'Briar Rose' was "a pretty good episode". And there's a fab write-up at Cultural Learnings as well. Finally, the Pioneer Local blogger called it a "great, great episode".

Though the one common complaint was that the reviewers were spoilt for the big reveal before hand.

Simon | Dollhouse | 17:54 CET | 25 comments total | tags: briar rose, dollhouse

I thought this was the best episode yet. Unfortunately, as low as the ratings for T:SCC were, it was obviously a better lead-in than Prison Break.

Rusty626 | May 02, 17:56 CET

Loved "Brair Rose"

Brilliant tv making!

Krusher | May 02, 18:17 CET

I want to live in a world where more people are the A.V. Club.

The One True b!X | May 02, 18:35 CET

Man this episode kicked some serious ass esp with the surprise appearance of alpha and the finale is some slammin s@#t too only Joss can deliver a finale like that you rule man lf the fox execs can't see this show deserves a second season they are blind

zee | May 02, 18:37 CET

Another depressing duo of "Ratings Slip" + "Critics Rave."

jcs | May 02, 18:42 CET

Though the one common complaint was that the reviewers were spoilt for the big reveal before hand.

The episode was amazing, but knowing who Alpha was definitely lessened the impact of the reveal. This is why I hate spoilers.

electricspacegirl | May 02, 18:57 CET

When Victor wakes up from his five-year contract, he's not going to be happy about those facial scars.

miconian | May 02, 19:37 CET

Even though I knew the Alpha reveal.. it was still frakking amazing.

BrownCoat_Tabz | May 02, 21:25 CET

When Victor wakes up from his five-year contract, he's not going to be happy about those facial scars.

Yet, happier than the dolls who died on Alpha's first little slasher escapade.

I had lunch with a friend today who I didn't know watched Dollhouse. She thinks it's getting better and better. I told her now she needs to watch Firefly.

redeem147 | May 02, 21:56 CET

I just watched the episode, and man, that was awesome. Glad to see that the critics liked it.

Here's hoping that Fox takes that into consideration...

gchucky | May 02, 22:28 CET

Could they give Victors memories back + add in something to make him think he had those scars before? BUUUUURN! He got owned :(

Jes | May 02, 22:35 CET

Odd question, but do you think the dolls actually go back into their original bodies after their five years is up? And that's assuming they do go back to society in five years time to begin with. But really, how would they explain the disappearance? They would certainly have to add to the memories of the person to even explain where they could have been this whole time without revealing the Dollhouse....

There's waaaaay more to be explained....

didifallasleep | May 02, 22:41 CET

[Boyd]'s like a prison guard who's got a few choice inmates who seem like they can turn their lives around when they get out. He's not going to help them escape, but instead help them stay safe and keep their noses clean so they can be paroled.

I quite liked this insight. I knew I liked Boyd, and instinctively trusted his (somewhat battered) moral compass, but I couldn't verbalize why that was maybe okay.

Mercenary | May 02, 23:01 CET

Even though I knew the Alpha reveal.. it was still frakking amazing.

I was spoilt as well. But the anticipation was incredible. It was the televisual equivalent of waiting for a bomb to go off.

Also if you liked the AV Club review, you might want to check out the Cultural Learnings write-up. Worth reading.

http://memles.wordpress.com/2009/05/02/dollhouse-briar-rose/

Simon | May 02, 23:08 CET

I have my review at my my website. Please take a look.

impalergeneral | May 03, 00:10 CET

Well, I loved it.

Anyone agree that the fights are better, more in-earnest, than the fights in Buffy? This ep's was great, but the best so far was Paul and Echo. That was top-notch.

Different action choreographer, I'm thinking?

filops | May 03, 01:04 CET

I hear you, filops. Really digging the fight scenes over here. Tamoh with the fighting and the sweating and the...

I'll be in my bunk.

WhoIsOmega? | May 03, 01:32 CET

Anyone agree that the fights are better, more in-earnest, than the fights in Buffy? This ep's was great, but the best so far was Paul and Echo. That was top-notch.

Absolutely. These fights seem more... raw. Or maybe 'intense' is a better word.

I keep thinking back to when November fought off that guy. Her finishing him on the table was pretty ridiculous.

gchucky | May 03, 06:32 CET

It's not tough to best fights in Buffy, they were never the strong point of the series. The few important moments were good, Faith fights for example, but most of the generic combats with vampires were pretty bad. That said, fights in this series are good, even without the comparison with the poor buffy fights.

Eerikki | May 03, 08:12 CET

Stunt guy is the stunt guy from Angel, I think.

One (other) thing I really loved about this episode was the direction during the Paul and Loomis (FBI lady) scene. They had the camera outside the room, peeking in through the window, with the sound normal. It was like peeking into some kind of secret FBI meeting.

gossi | May 03, 10:34 CET

"Intense" and "raw" are good words, too, gchucky. I particularly like fights that don't look choreographed, that look more like "Crud, if I don't win this, I'm toast."

The approach of the LOTR fight-choreographer was similar - not a series of posed interchanges but do-this, reply-to-that, reply-to-THAT, and so on. Like the fight between Aragorn and Lurtz.

Loved Angel, but don't remember any of the fights having that desperate, must-win feel, except maybe the final match of Angel and Adam Baldwin's character.

filops | May 03, 16:02 CET

yah, while i was spoiled, all it actually made me do was a) yell YES when the pic of mr tudyk showed up on the fbi monitor and b) spend the next 25 minutes waiting in incredibly tense anticipation for alpha to go utterly nuts and cut someone.

edit: i also recall something about dr saunders actually electing to keep the scars. that kind of thing could be taken care of with plastic surgery, especially with the amount of money that the dollhouse has floating around. i expect we'll see victor back good as new at some point. in season 2. PLEASE.

[ edited by jazza on 2009-05-03 17:14 ]

jazza | May 03, 17:11 CET

Yeah, Mike Massa has reprised his role as stunt coordinator from (at least the later seasons of) Angel on Dollhouse. The Spike/Angel battle in "Destiny", earlier in season 5, really impressed the hell out of me, personally. Other standout fights on the show which immediately come to mind, besides that one and the aforementioned "Not Fade Away", include the first battle against the Beast in season 4, Faith vs. Angelus, and several of the Illyria fights. I believe there's a featurette on Massa in the season 5 set, including mention of how dynamic Mutant Enemy found his fights to be.

LKW | May 03, 17:28 CET

One way the fights are better is they are "real" fighting, not supernatural/superpower fights. When Angel throws someone twenty feet onto a wall it looks cool superficially but we know, deep down, that it's not realistic. When Ballard and Boyd were fighting we could believe those punches were real.

zz9 | May 03, 17:45 CET

Amazing episode. Sad that I was spoilt by that casting news months ago :(

[ edited by Angel TheVampire on 2009-05-03 17:56 ]

Angel TheVampire | May 03, 17:55 CET

You need to log in to be able to post comments.
About membership.

« Older Ratings for episode 11 of Dollhous... | Dr. Horrible now available on Xbox... Newer »