Marines: GUYS. I was not expecting this when we decided to start recapping Dollhouse. This customary dance is not only for finishing a thing, but for also for such a pleasant experience:
We’ve mentioned pretty much all of this throughout the recaps, but I think it’s safe to say that this has been the show most improved by the recapping process. It’s one thing for a show to simply withstand the scrutiny (Firefly, Veronica Mars) but I truly think this show is BEST when examined closely. When you think about what that means for plot, writing, world building and characterization? I’m just amazed by what Joss Whedon created here and pretty sad I spent so much time thinking this wasn’t good.
Even those first episodes which do start a little slow end up necessary when you consider how many plot lines it laid down for the future. It wasn’t even that they were bad, per se, just that they seemed to be doing double exposition work. It at least has the effect of really immersing you in the world before it starts hitting you with twist after twist.
This wasn’t easy to rank and not only because I suck at ranking. When I think back, I remember MOMENTS! and REVEALS! and I feel like such a cohesive story is probably best ranked that way. But, um, here are episode rankings anyway:
- Man on the Street – SO GOOD. It was amazing in the way it was set up, with the interviews about the Dollhouse, on top of Paul getting to see Caroline on top of the heartbreaking issue of Sierra on top of the Mellie reveal. PLUS, the main idea seemed to be finally laying out the ethical issues of the Dollhouse which is something that had previously only been danced around. This was pivotal in the season and brilliant.
- Epitaph One – Strange, at first, to be taken out of the main timeline, but in the end the glimpse into the future only made me more invested in the mystery at hand.
- A Spy in the House of Love – I love that this show gives us twists that you don’t expect and here we have Dominic as the NSA agent and Adelle with a soft side. What even.
- Omega – I kind of feel like this might be too highly placed here but between the Whiskey reveal and more Alan Tudyk I DON’T CURR.
- Needs – A smart way for a little backstory and FEELS. #teamfeels
- Echoes – Humor and character reveals and fantastic performances by more than one actor.
- Briar Rose – I want to love this one more because all of the Alpha stuff is THE BEST FOREVER and Alan Tudyk is a powerhouse, but Echoes side mission weighs it down and LOL Briar Rose.
- Haunted – A step down over the others above it and this episodes sections of the next part of the rankings which are all good, but suffered some misstep. Here, it was a case of the week that I didn’t love, though I could watch Topher and Sierra forever.
- The Target – Again, the premise of hunting people probably was a bit much, but this not only established the dangers of the operation, Boyd quickly becomes my favorite forever, his relationship with Echo is cemented and we get that little hint that Echo is super special.
- True Believer – Yeah, weird. I thought I didn’t like this episode, but looking back, the show was doing such a good job of stringing us along and all said and done, the cult episode wasn’t bad.
- Ghost – It was a solid pilot in terms of pacing and intrigue, though there were a number of loosey goosey plot moments, as well as some heavy handed bits, including Paul boxing FOREVER and anything having to do with asthma.
- Gray Hour – Even though I felt most frustrated by the speed of those first six episodes here, overall, it has a leg up on the final entry on this list.
- Stage Fright – The biggest #meh for me, as I didn’t care a lick about Rayna. The Echo/Sierra bits were nice and so was the Victor reveal. It’s amazing to consider that this not that bad episode is the worst of the season.
Stephanie: I had mixed feelings about Dollhouse before the recapping process. I remembered the tedium of the first 5 episodes, Eliza Dushku’s poor attempts at being different people, and a group of characters I simply didn’t care about. I’ve had conversations where I’ve said things like, “I adore Joss Whedon shows… except Dollhouse.” I suppose I have to eat my words now because this show is awesome. I don’t know if it’s coming into the series with familiarity with the characters and a whole different set of expectations, or if it’s getting a chance to examine the themes closely, but I love it now.
One of the things I’ve found most astonishing about this season is just how much plot is packed into so few episodes without it ever feeling rushed. And there are still so many more Big Things that haven’t even happened yet. How do you do it, show?
This is a difficult season to rank because I pretty much love the whole second half equally, but here we go:
- Man on the Street – I have to give this episode the top spot for being the turning point of the series. We finally move away from Echo at the center of everything and shift over to exploring inner workings of the Dollhouse. The Mellie reveal and the fight choreography between Paul and Echo are the best.
- Epitaph One – I can’t really talk about why I love this episode without throwing season 2 spoilers around. Let’s just say this is one that I would have ranked lower initially, and love now that I’ve got some hazy future knowledge in my brain.
- Omega – Because Alan Tudyk, who is brilliant and strangely delicious as an unhinged man of many personas. Also, the Whiskey reveal is the most WTF twist in the series, especially when you realize the clues have been there all along.
- Needs – I love character focused episodes, and this is the first one where we got to spend time with the other dolls.
- Briar Rose – Briar Rose metaphors aside, this episode picks up when Alpha and Paul break in to the Dollhouse. And we get another WTF twist in a season of WTF twists.
- A Spy in the House of Love – ADELLE FEELS. And I love having Dominic as the villain who actually kind of has a point? Even if he goes about every thing in The Worst way ever.
- Echoes – One of the few episodes in this series that’s packed with that Whedon humor we come to expect from his shows. Props for making me love Dominic for a whole 5 minutes.
- Haunted – I really don’t care about the murder mystery of Adelle’s friend. And it started my existential crisis. IF I DIE, IS ANY OTHER VERSION OF ME REALLY ME IF I’M NOT REALLY IN THERE CAUSE I’M REALLY REALLY DEAD? AAAAAAAH.
- The Target – Best of the first 5 for me because of the Boyd and Echo moments. I love you Boyd.
- Ghost – This isn’t the worst pilot ever, but I still don’t think it’s great, especially for a first time viewer. There’s just so much thrown out at once and Echo’s first engagement is not very interesting.
- Gray Hour – Slow to start but interesting once Echo gets mind wiped mid-episode.
- Stage Fright – This is probably technically the worst of the whole series, but it amused me enough to take a spot above the next one.
- True Believer – I dislike this episode because it’s so boring. I’m still mad I had to recap it.
Sweeney: I fucking love this show. I’m not sure what else there is to say because I wax philosophical on this at the end of every post and the other ladies have summed things up so brilliantly here. To reiterate the major theme, though, I truly feel that this is the first show we’ve ever done that’s actively improved by this method of watching and that’s awesome. I look forward to working on these recaps more than any others. Even the stuff in the beginning that everyone found so struggley wasn’t for me, with my knowledge of nothing.
I’ll be curious to see what happens when I rewatch the show in the distant future. I have a feeling that not much will be lost because you can’t unhave an experience like this – the fact that we’ve spent all this time together thinking all the thinky thoughts will likely forever color the way I see the show.
And I can’t wait to see what’s waiting for us in the second half. But first, my rankings:
- Man on the Street – I love this whole show but this episode is just so clearly the best by leaps and bounds. Many of their big existential questions were teased in brilliant ways, awesome reveals, and as a bonus! Patton Oswalt. This episode is utterly fantastic.
- Omega – This episode fucked with my mind something fierce. THE NUMBER GODS WERE SO GOOD ME,
- Needs – My Team Feels heart had to rank this pretty high – so many lovely little moments with the other dolls and their histories. Feels on feels on feels.
- Echoes – But then, you know, laughs are good too! I love how much range this episode offered up for the actors – it was great to watch.
- Epitaph One – I dug this episode, and I feel bad putting a finale this far down, but the jump out of the main timeline was jarring for me as a first time viewer. That’s really the only thing I struggled with. Otherwise, this episode is only down here because I loved the others so much, not because I didn’t like this one.
- A Spy in the House of Love – Dominic the NSA agent was an amazing moment of, “OF COURSE,” that, you know, I didn’t see coming. I especially loved the way it tied with his stuff in the finale.
- The Target – BOYD! Sorry, everyone said all the things and I liked all the episodes so I’m running out of commentary.
- True Believer – I like this episode’s thumbnail.
- Haunted – I like Stephanie’s existential crisis.
- Ghost – It’s weird that this ended up all the way down here because I loved this episode, but I don’t think it did anything particularly essential in setting the stage and so I have kind of forgotten about it.
- Gray Hour – I enjoyed this episode, but it was also kind of forgettable, which is the only reason it’s all the way down here.
- Briar Rose – I agree with the good stuff the other ladies said, but someone had to demote this episode for the stupid Sleeping Beauty bits. This isn’t really where I’d rank this episode, but I can’t see the title without giggling about how heavy handed and silly that stuff was.
- Stage Fright – The biggest #meh for me, as I didn’t care a lick about Rayna. The Echo/Sierra bits were nice and so was the Victor reveal. It’s amazing to consider that this not that bad episode is the worst of the season. This one was mine too, though, which is the price you pay, I guess.
I'm a 30-something south Floridan who loves the beach but cannot swim. Such is my life, full of small contradictions and little trivialities. My main life goals are never to take life too seriously, but to do everything I attempt seriously well. After that, my life goals devolve into things like not wearing pants and eating all of the Zebra Cakes in the world. THE WORLD.
I'm a miniature adult who still gets offered the kid's coloring menu at restaurants. I like to pretend I'm an illustrator, but mostly I spend my time complaining about TV on Twitter. My life dream is to have my consciousness placed into an android body so that I'll have more time to watch/read things.
Nicole is the co-captain of Snark Squad and these days she spends most of her time editing podcasts. She spends too much time on Twitter and very occasionally vlogs and blogs. In her day job she's a producer, editor, director, and sometimes host of educational YouTube channels. She loves travel, maps, panda gifs, and semicolons. Writing biographies stresses her out; she crowd sourced this one years ago and has been using a version of it ever since. She would like to thank Twitter for their help.
