Episode Discussion 1.03 "Stage Fright" - Aired 2/27/09 (FOX-USA)

I think the show is coming along nicely, it was another good episode.
Love the little pieces at the end showing how Echo is remembering stuff. And now even Sierra seems to becoming more and more aware.

Thought the creppy fan guy did a great job being, well, creepy.

About the neighbour. I was thinking pretty much the same as EmptyColours.
It would feel like a bit to much if she also is a doll. I was going for that option after last episode but now with Victor it doesn't seem very likely to me anymore.

Oh, and I'm also a bit lost on what Sierra's role was in this episode. It could have made sense if they knew that Rayna had contact with the crazy fan and they wanted to shake things up by adding another "biggest fan".
But as I understood it no one knew about that and she was there just in case anything went horrible wrong. Its just that when it went wrong she still didn't really do anything.

Overall a great episode, I will continue watching.

/SK
 
It'd be too obvious if the neighbor was a doll. I think Joss wants us to believe she is, because she's so strange... but knowing the way his mind works, i don't think she is.

LOVED that Victor is a doll! way to go covering that up, because all over the internet prior to the show it said the actor was no longer a doll and just a russian mob guy. haha Joss had everyone fooled!

And i did an OMG face when Echo shook her head to Sierra at the end. Yup. this show is awesome.
 
I very much enjoyed this episode, though not so much for the main plot (which was decent) as for the tiny little things they keep throwing us to show that Echo's shaking off her programming. Like "friends help each other out," and the head-shake at Sierra at the end. Although, I would have expected more of a reaction from Sierra. Not much of one, being supposedly personality-free, but maybe some confusion. I thought her overt excitement at getting to see/talk to Echo and then her understanding expression when Echo told her "no" meant that something's going on with Sierra and her programming, as well. Although it could just be that being all tabula rasa leads to an "oh, okay!" reaction to that sort of thing.

And I agree with somebody up there ^^ who said that it's cool that Echo's not only self aware but realizing that she's not supposed to be. That adds an awesome layer to the whole thing.
 
The "Attic" is, I assume, where one puts dolls one no longer wants to play with.

It could be a comatose state they get put in until the Dollhouse people figure out what to do with them, or until the 5-year term runs out. Or it could be some kind of Matrix-like virtual reality program where they try to "fix" damaged dolls.

Doesn't sound like much fun, whatever it is.
 
The first episode that i thought was good.
The basic plot was naff. I have a problem with celebrities complaining about being celebrities anyway, so it was never going to do much for me anyway. And when she started complaining about mints, i wanted someone to shoot her. 🙂
But, there was a lot of good points. Throw Amy Acker with another actor and what do you get, a good performance. Topher was great tonight.
And Boyd and Dr Saunders, together in a scene. All good. Still the best characters for me, and Laurence.
Eliza was very good as well. A more natural performance.
Sierra was great. Her fan girl was very well done. And that look between her and Echo at the end was nice.

Bad Points: Echo is still too similar in every episode so far. It's pretty much the same person, with a different career. They really have to give Eliza, a major extreme now, and see what she can do. Take Sierra. We only got a glimpse of her before. A cold killer. Now she's all geek girl. That's what we need to see with Echo. Drastically different persona's.
Again, Adelle and Paul Ballard, aren't having any impact.
 
As much as I love Eliza, did anyone else cringe at her acting during the scene where she was accepted as a backup? I think she made up for it throughout the episode, but for some reason it reminded me of her role in that cheerleader movie..

Lou said:
While I agree about the "surprise" effect wearing off. But, that neighbor IS a doll. There is no way they aren't ALL over this, besides she's super creepy.
If Victor is a doll, then she is too.
In fact, seems like she would be easier to plant than the Russian.
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As much as I know I may be wrong, I have to disagree. The creepiness of her might have be thrown around as a decoy, to make us believe she was actually a Doll when she wasn't.. maybe to divert speculation away from Victor's true identity. I believe she's going to play a different role later on, like a possible damsel in distress for Ballard.
 
That was an awesome ep. IMO it's only second to The Target.

I got chills at the end, when Echo shook her head at Sierra. That was awesome.

And did anyone else realize that in both Dollhouse 1x03 and Buffy 1x03 a girl caught on fire? I thought that was kinda cool.
 
definition of insane
definition of insane
Dude...you are crazed with the connections! :p
AndrewCrossett said:
The "Attic" is, I assume, where one puts dolls one no longer wants to play with.

It could be a comatose state they get put in until the Dollhouse people figure out what to do with them, or until the 5-year term runs out. Or it could be some kind of Matrix-like virtual reality program where they try to "fix" damaged dolls.

Doesn't sound like much fun, whatever it is.
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I agree with your attic statement. Keep in mind that this is the second time that the 'attic' has been mentioned. i have a feeling echo may find some allies up there ;-)

also, i give this episode a 8.8/10. the reason that it didnt get a higher rating is that the 'rayna' actress was horrible. everytime i got into a scene, she took me right out. bad acting, no emotion. frankly, echo should have just let you dangle on that rope for eternity.
 
This episode was much better than the previews made it out to be. I was pleased But I was confused at the end though i have two questions


1 Why did Echo shake her head at Sierra?

and

2 Where was the Victor Doll in this whole episode? I saw him get his mind wiped, but thats it.
 
marukisu2 said:
1 Why did Echo shake her head at Sierra?
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They recognized eachother but saw that the handler was nearby so she didn't want him to see that they were becoming self-aware.

marukisu2 said:
2 Where was the Victor Doll in this whole episode? I saw him get his mind wiped, but thats it.
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You must not have been paying much attention. 😛 He talked to Paul quite a bit and then called him and told him to go to that deserted building.
 
I don't think this episode was as good as The Target, don't get me wrong the episode was amazing but the Target was better i think. I really liked the ending to Stage Fright however, Echo thinking outside the box....oh oh and Amy Acker was in it slightly more then previously, which is always a good thing :lol2:
 
S
silentxautumn
Agreed! As a matter of fact, I came to post just about the same thing!
Friendly Lurker said:
They recognized eachother but saw that the handler was nearby so she didn't want him to see that they were becoming self-aware.
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I don't think they recognized eachother in the self-awareness sense... at least thats not what I took from it. I mean Sierra and Echo know eachother, they are "friends", as superficially as dolls can be friends, so its not odd for them to aknowledge eachother when they walk past eachother, we've seen them do it before in the pilot I think when Sierra was leaving the shower and Echo was walking in. I think the reason Echo shook her head at Sierra is because she can sense that Sierra's handler doesn't want her associating with Echo.... which is further evidence that Echo is becoming more and more self aware, but it doesn't neccesarily mean anything about Sierra. I for one hope that Sierra isn't and doesn't start becoming self aware for a while. I mean she's a brand spankin' new active, for her to ALREADY be self aware would point to her being 10 times more "special" than Echo, and well, that just can't be, its Eliza's show 😉
 
Good episode, though not quite great. Agent Ballard continues to be the weakest link on the show, in my opinion. Some interesting things happened with him this week (more so than the first two at least) but I can't help but feel there's nowhere that interesting for the character to go in the longterm. He can't bring down the dollhouse because that would effectively end the show. And it won't be interesting to have him shaking people down each week saying, "How bout you? You heard of the Dollhouse?" And I don't know that his neighbor is a Doll, because it just seems too predictable.

A little more Amy Acker in this episode, and hey, I can't complain about that. Kind of hope they don't have Dr. Saunders and Boyd get too close though, because this is a Joss Whedon show, which means they'd probably kill off Amy at that point.

The main storyline was at least good enough to keep me interested throughout. Like others though, I didn't see the point of Sierra being involved other than as a plot device. In terms of keeping pop star girl safe, she just didn't seem to bring anything to the table.

The way the show is set up may prevent me from getting what I want, but I'd like to see some episodes that focus on secondary characters. Right now, it seems like Echo gets sent on a mission, and then we get a brief scene or two within the Dollhouse. Three episodes in, and we haven't explored many of these characters much at all (hence why I still forget some of their names).
 
Friendly Lurker said:
They recognized eachother but saw that the handler was nearby so she didn't want him to see that they were becoming self-aware.



You must not have been paying much attention. 😛 He talked to Paul quite a bit and then called him and told him to go to that deserted building.
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He was the guy with the accent then? and his purpose i guess was to lead him to get beat up and loose the trail on the dollhouse.
 
I liked this episode. It wasn't as action-filled as the Target, but it was good, and I liked the little twist with the popstar. What was also good, was Echo's finding herself thing was less obvious in this one. It was less wham! in your face than, for example, in the first eppy. And I liked boss-lady (I keep forgetting her name) siding with Echo. What made this episode for me, was not neccesarily the plot, but more the little jokes and references, Whedon-style. Like Boyd being nervous about Echos first performance, and ofcourse the singers 'are you produced in a lab?'. And I am beginning to seriously love Topher. I'm curious to see what his role will be.

Sierra's involvement seemed a bit useless, but the head shake thing at the end was great. And I am still not feeling the FBI-guy. I was glad to see a little more of him, but I still don't understand his role in all his (that is to say, I think I do, but I'm not sure, and what I think is a bit random)

Two more things: did anyone else think that Eliza was totally being Faith during that hostage exchange thing? Her attitude was soo Faith. Or at least, that's what I (and Cangel) thought.

Ans second, congrats for everyone who guessed that Victor is a doll 🙂
 
L
Lou
I thought she was VERY Faithy too!
marukisu2 said:
He was the guy with the accent then? and his purpose i guess was to lead him to get beat up and loose the trail on the dollhouse.
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I don't think it's as clear cut as that. Victor under the guise of Lubov or whatever his Russian name is, would have led him to that trap more on the side of protecting the human trafficking ring he's working for. Perhaps that's how they thought to take care of him. I somehow don't see the Dollhouse organisation setting up Ballard with a couple of thugs in a warehouse. It's too simple for their style.
 
All I know is that there was tooooo much of Rayna or whatever her name was. I was so bored I didn't know what to do with myself. Upside? No sex. Wahoo! Who'd of ever thought that would be an upside? Anyways. Again, I'm really interested in the exchange between Sierra and Echo at the end. I believe that only Echo has a true memory of things but Sierra is feeling a connection. Just don't know what that means yet! It would be really cool if like, Lubov (victor) Sierra, and Echo all started having a memory and then in turn went to take down the dollhouse with ballard, blah! But it'd have to be like Wolfram and Hart style tho. Where they are impossible to touch, even from the inside.

Sooo, yeah, those are my thoughts for now.
 
lol can we all agree that the funniest quote of the show was Eliza saying

" You can fire me, but bitch dont think you can take me"

also there was that Britney Spears reference made. The joss Whedon charm is slowly creeping back in. =)
 
I loved this episode 100%

-Eliza looked great
-Sierra was awesome in the ep
-Echo and Audra(Sierra)where great together this episode
-Victor was cool too.

The only bad or weird things are
-How the stalker was a mix of Topher and Jake Gylinhal
-The ending shot was mediocre
-And will Alpha please kill that "security guard in a suit"
 
I
itsxpaperdoll
Jake Gyllenhaal! So I wasn't the only one who thought tht! :)
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