[Review] Dollhouse 1.03: Stage Fright

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Writer:	Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen
Director:	David Solomon
Actors:	Eliza Dushku, Tahmoh Penikett, Olivia Williams, Fran Kranz, Harry J. Lennix, Enver Gjokaj, Dichen Lachman, Amy Acker
Guest:	Jonathan Kowalsky, Michael Khmourov, Manny Guevara, Stephon Fuller, Kimberly Cole, John Brantley Cole, Cloie Wyatt Taylor, Sherida Mulrowe, Billy “Sly” Williams, Alex Quijano, Miracle Laurie, Kevin Kilner, Jamie Lee Kirchner, Jim Piddock, Graham Norris, Reed Diamond

Echo becomes a backup singer to watch out for a female singing sensation with a very overzealous fan. Agent Ballard's investigation takes a turn for the worse.


The opening song put me in mind of Britney Spear's song 'Womanizer'. Not that I've listened to the song or watched the video repeatedly. That would just be insane. All in all, Rayna seems like she's supposed to be a Britney type female, with the 'signing for the mouse' and craziness. Could just be me.

I'm loving the interaction between both Echo/Sierra and Langston/Dr. Saunders. The first shows that, even in that blank stage, we still reach out to each other and try to build relationships, while the second comes across as two people who are doing what they can to help the dolls. The call back to the 'friends help each other out' was nice, especially including the stumbling bit.

Dude, Lubov can tell the neighbor lady has the hots for Ballard but he can't? 60 watt bulb, I'm telling ya! And I just looked it up, neighbor lady is named Mellie. I'll try and remember that. Anyway, Mellie is smart enough to realize that Lubov isn't really Ballard's friend [he's a sucky liar]. I really like her. Also, 'Doris Freakin Day'... bwahaha! And the reveal of him being a doll made with no fanfare, I really like that. It kinda says 'it could be anybody'. So now we have Victor to go along with Alpha, Echo, and Sierra. I'm waiting until we have Foxtrot and Golf.

The question becomes, does DeWitt know that they were setting up Ballard, or was it all Laurence doing it and all on his lonesome? I could so see him pulling that on his own. However, it might actually not be the Dollhouse people at all. Ballard is bad-ass when he wants to be.

In other news, Eliza doesn't suck at singing! And they have her character as extremely overzealous in her protection of the singer chick. Rayna has a major death wish, makes you wonder if her manager guy knew that. The speechifying got to be a bit much in the dressing room, on both sides, IMO. I guess I'm just tired of the 'poor me, it sucks to be famous' characters. I liked the 'tough love' bit at the end.

Topher sucks, as per usual, and I'm liking Dr. Saunders and wouldn't mind seeing her and 'Boyd's' scowling babies. And Langton's worry on Echo's singing... he's such a father. He's obviously more attached to his doll than the other guy. I also like Saunder's warning Langton that it's not good for Echo to be special or to think outside the box. And it really shows up in the ending shot of how Echo warns off Sierra from acting like they're close at all. It's all very subtle.

So, the episode was good, IMO, even with the bit of speechifying and 'poor me, I'm famous' involved. The show just keeps getting better and better!