In the Dollhouse
Okay. Mark Gatiss is capable of writing an episode that I enjoy. So far so good for the second half, here. If Tom MacRae can impress me, and Gareth Roberts keeps up to his level last year, this last stint may well redeem the show for me.
Someone I know made the comment that this episode is more or less “Fear Her” done right. It also strikes me as Gatiss trying to do his own “Girl in the Fireplace” insofar as it boils down and narrates the show’s themes as a fairy tale from a child’s perspective. Also, the awkward porcelain-faced antagonists from a window reality. Considering “The Doctor’s Wife”, which was overtly a pastiche of “Fireplace”, I guess this year we’re seeing the Moffat Style Guide in full force.
Come to think of it, from a distance MacRae’s episode also seems to draw on Fireplace themes — popping into a girl’s life at various times, while she rapidly ages and confronts awkward… not porcelain but opaque white antagonists. Hmm.
As with last week very little here stands up to the slightest analysis. A logical breakdown seems beside the point of the episode, though. Smith is on the best form since “The Lodger”. Decent direction, though I could lose a few of the horizontal wipes.
Anyway. A weird sort of status quo, executed well.