When Adelle's friend Margaret (Brenda Bakke) dies of an apparent heart attack, Adelle keeps a promise to her: She uses the brain scans she had made of Margaret to bring her back as a doll. Ostensibly, this was so that Margaret could attend her own funeral and wrap up the loose ends of her life. In reality, the revived Margaret-in-Echo confides to Adelle that she is certain that she was murdered, and she intends to use this extra time to solve her own murder!
CHARACTERS
Doll of the Week: "Julia" is Margaret's persona to attend her own funeral, and to attempt to sniff out the identity of her killer. Her attempts to disguise herself as someone else frequently break down, as she cannot let go of her old mannerisms or her prejudices regarding her children's choices.
The Ice Queen: Adelle is not a woman who shows her emotions easily, but we do get glimpses of how attached she is to Margaret. The scene in which the two of them visit Margaret's funeral together, with Margaret making caustic observations about everything in order to make Adelle laugh, may well be the most relaxed we've seen her - including during last episode's bedroom interval.
The Genius: In an amusing subplot, Topher takes advantage of the relative stillness within the Dollhouse to turn Sierra into a playmate. No, not that kind of playmate - He uploads a videogame/sci fi/laser-tag geek persona into her, and then spends a full day just playing. These scenes are the most purely enjoyable of the episode, as Fran Kranz shows Topher having pure, innocent fun. The coda to this subplot is rather touching, and ties in well with the themes of the standalone plot.
THOUGHTS
After a run of episodes that really moved plot, concept, and characters forward, it was probably time for another standalone. After this episode, it will probably be a run of heavy "arc" episodes to the season finale, so a last chance for a breather is entirely reasonable.
It should be said that Haunted is a competently crafted piece of television. The story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. It presents a mystery with a reasonable gallery of suspects, and the solution to the mystery makes sense. It is an absolutely professional, competently-turned hour.
It is also quite dull. It's not the worst episode of the series. I would still give that title to The Target. But it is the most tedious. The story is nothing that we haven't seen a million times before, albeit with the twist of Margaret actually being present to investigate her own death. And since we only see Eliza Dushku playing Margaret, with no flashes of "Echo" or Caroline, it really does feel like we're spending an hour watching a character in whom we have no ongoing investment. It seems an odd choice to end the previous episode by telling us that Echo is evolving in a way that not even Adelle can predict... and then follow that up by effectively giving us an episode that Echo isn't even in.
Overall, it's entirely passable fare, but more than a little listless. It only really comes to life in the Topher scenes, which Fran Kranz and Dichen Lachman play with an enthusiasm and energy the rest of the show sadly lacks. Thoroughly expendable, and a disappointment after the run of very strong episodes the show has been presenting.
Rating: 4/10.
Previous Episode: A Spy in the House of Love
Next Episode: Briar Rose
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