The very late Angel reviews...
Nov. 30th, 2003 11:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakNow I didn't get any Turkey in recent days - we're more for goose in November here in Germany - but I did get, thanks to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
estepheia whom I met on Friday (and who was delightful), the last three Angel episodes. Which I now had occasion to watch. Before I go on squeeing, here's an article about Peter Jackson, apropos the impending premiere of RotK.
Given that I have a soft spot for the whole Mexican Day of the Dead thing - which rewatching Frida a month ago reminded me of - I enjoyed Jeffrey Bell's ep. Not in a "wow, what an episode" manner, but somewhat similar to Gingerbread in BTVS, season 3 ("neat use of folklore, nice points about some characters, but won't rewatch until years later"). Obviously, the big one in terms of continuity is Angel bringing up the "father will kill the son" prophecy accidentally (?) with Wesley, who of course can't remember it, and Wesley realising that there has to be more to Angel's disconnectedness (kathyh, they used the word quite a lot) with everyone than just the new Wolfram & Hart environment. Which was a good prologue to the even stronger reminder of Wesley's season 3 and 4 storyline that came in Lineage.
Now wonder Drew Goddard received marriage proposals all over the lj world (again) when that one got broadcast. It certainly gets my vote for best Wesley-centric episode since... does Salvage count as Wesley-centric? And AD just shines, getting to play all the facets of Wesley in one episode, from the take-charge-ruthlessness to the extreme vulnerability and awkward clumsiness. The desperate yearning for approval and the violent hate of a lifetime all at the same time. My one complaint would be that Wyndham-Price Senior turns out not to have been the genuine article... but I don't know what the writers have in store. (When Ted in Ted turned out to have been a robot, I thought at the time that it meant the impact of the accidental killing of a human being was lost and wasted, but of course then we got season 3 and Faith's arc.) This being said, and bearing in mind that Wesley assures us he was exactly like the genuine article, I have to say they're getting better at this evil father business all the time. Virginia's dad and Bethany's were odious jerks, as was Tara's, and Harris Senior. And then we've got boo-hiss-worthy Quentin Travers who might not have been literally anyone's father but certainly functioned as condescending, ruthless patriarchy embodied. Roger Wyndham-Price is drawn somewhat more subtly. For starters, he's competent and no fool. Secondly, the cruelty to Wesley is all the more cutting because he can place his insults in a way that's not apparent to anyone else but him and Wesley. Take the story about the bird. Fred hears a charming childhood tale; Wesley hears yet another reminder of failure. Thirdly, there is an uncomfortable question mark here - just whom is Wesley's ruthless pragmatist mode modelled on? Because I can so see Wyndham-Price Senior, as presented here, get Faith to take the Orpheus drug to take Angelus out or torture the hooker to find out the later's whereabouts.
The episode is chock-full of continuity nods (from the serious - Connor and Holtz - to the Buffybot), and incidentally answers a question people have wondered about - does Wesley remember Lilah or rather his affair with her or did that memory get wiped as well? No, it obviously didn't, as he mentions her to his father. I do wonder, though, whether he remembers the events of Supersymmetry correctly. Because back then he knew better than patronize Fred through protection, and could see first hand that "I killed someone for you" did in effect destroy Gunn's relationship with her.
What Angel offers at the end of the episode is understanding for something Wesley can't remember anymore, and as long as Wesley can't remember, that understanding can't have the meaning for him it should. I love the way Drew Goddard balances this, and the dark scene between Wesley and Fred earlier with the more humorous "hey, I killed my father/mother too" from Angel and Spike respectively. (Ah, the vampiric point of view on family relations.) Continuity hound Goddard also takes a nod to Waiting in the Wings and headboy!Wesley (and since this makes Spike use the Percy comparison again, I can't help but wondering whether Dawn lend him her HP books back between seasons 5 and 6), and at Intervention. "Sex with robots is far more common than people think." Yes, Spike, we know.
Destiny has no Wesley at all, but after the Wesley-centricness of Lineage, this can be forgiven. (Plus it does make sense he'd take some time off after what happened.) What it does have is ME's gift to all the Angel/Spike slashers who wrote ever since season 2 of BTVS. Given Angelus' reaction to getting presented with William by Dru, and the way the flashbacks ended with an invitation to a threesome, I'd say the subtext has rapidly become text. Incidentally, as Darla fan, I treasured the fact she wasn't just ignored but mentioned and an explanation for her absence was given. Note that the same Angelus who has sex with Dru in front of smitten young William just because he can and to torment the boy is still smarting over Darla going to visit the Master. And apparently had a physical fight with her about it. Jealousy isn't nearly as much fun if you're at the other end, is it, Angelus? Also, loved the eagerness with which Dru wants to present her new plaything to Darla just as much as to Angelus.
In all three episodes I watched, the fact that the Shanshu prophecy could refer to Spike just as well as Angel has been brought up, but in this one of course it's front and center. And while there is no oil involved, the verbal and physical fighting is a sight to see. As far as the insults are concerned, each vampire gets some slices of uncomfortable truth in, though Spike is still missing the crucial information of just why Angel accept Wolfram & Hart. But just as Angel is correct with supposing that Spike's sudden interest in the champion/Shanshu gig is just as much about taking it away from Angel as it is about anything else, Spike's pointing out what Angel sees in him is dead on the mark, imo. And it makes sense that this is the first fight (with no other party involved) in all their long history together that Spike wins. He's got his joie de vivre back (witness the reaction to getting a body - drinking blood, wanting to have sex immediately), and he's got all the incentive of the world from his pov - that trip to Europe to find Buffy again would be even better if he could tell her he could be human again. Whereas Angel, as has amply pointed out in recent episodes, most drastically in The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinquo, has lost the belief in happy endings together with Connor, and his existentialistic take of helping people because he can sounds dryer and less felt each time he has to verbalize it.
Bits and pieces before I get to that final scene:
- now that Spike's corporeal again, they'll have to find another justification for him to stay in L.A.
- poor Harmony; still a crush on Spike, still a replacement sex toy - but given that they let her bring this up herself, I
hope this will matter; Spike's treatment of Harmony ever since Harsh Light of Day arguably has been as bad
as Buffy's Gone to As You Were treatment of him
- which reminds me; what Harmony said Under The Influence was true, what Gunn said Under The Influence was more
true than not - does this mean there is some secret meaning in the toner *g*?
And now for the drumroll. Am I ever glad to be unspoiled. I really, really had no idea whom Eve was literary in bed with. Mind you, they've got a lot of explaining to do as to where Lindsey aquired the magical talents to disconnect the W&H building from the Senior Partners for a while and recorporalize Spike since last we saw him. Otoh, maybe he hired someone - he's bound to have dealt with lots of magicians in his time as W&H lawyer. And given that he has reason for enmity against both W&H and Angel, his being behind everything odd this season makes perfect sense. My, my. This should be very entertaining indeed.
estepheia whom I met on Friday (and who was delightful), the last three Angel episodes. Which I now had occasion to watch. Before I go on squeeing, here's an article about Peter Jackson, apropos the impending premiere of RotK. Given that I have a soft spot for the whole Mexican Day of the Dead thing - which rewatching Frida a month ago reminded me of - I enjoyed Jeffrey Bell's ep. Not in a "wow, what an episode" manner, but somewhat similar to Gingerbread in BTVS, season 3 ("neat use of folklore, nice points about some characters, but won't rewatch until years later"). Obviously, the big one in terms of continuity is Angel bringing up the "father will kill the son" prophecy accidentally (?) with Wesley, who of course can't remember it, and Wesley realising that there has to be more to Angel's disconnectedness (
kathyh, they used the word quite a lot) with everyone than just the new Wolfram & Hart environment. Which was a good prologue to the even stronger reminder of Wesley's season 3 and 4 storyline that came in Lineage.Now wonder Drew Goddard received marriage proposals all over the lj world (again) when that one got broadcast. It certainly gets my vote for best Wesley-centric episode since... does Salvage count as Wesley-centric? And AD just shines, getting to play all the facets of Wesley in one episode, from the take-charge-ruthlessness to the extreme vulnerability and awkward clumsiness. The desperate yearning for approval and the violent hate of a lifetime all at the same time. My one complaint would be that Wyndham-Price Senior turns out not to have been the genuine article... but I don't know what the writers have in store. (When Ted in Ted turned out to have been a robot, I thought at the time that it meant the impact of the accidental killing of a human being was lost and wasted, but of course then we got season 3 and Faith's arc.) This being said, and bearing in mind that Wesley assures us he was exactly like the genuine article, I have to say they're getting better at this evil father business all the time. Virginia's dad and Bethany's were odious jerks, as was Tara's, and Harris Senior. And then we've got boo-hiss-worthy Quentin Travers who might not have been literally anyone's father but certainly functioned as condescending, ruthless patriarchy embodied. Roger Wyndham-Price is drawn somewhat more subtly. For starters, he's competent and no fool. Secondly, the cruelty to Wesley is all the more cutting because he can place his insults in a way that's not apparent to anyone else but him and Wesley. Take the story about the bird. Fred hears a charming childhood tale; Wesley hears yet another reminder of failure. Thirdly, there is an uncomfortable question mark here - just whom is Wesley's ruthless pragmatist mode modelled on? Because I can so see Wyndham-Price Senior, as presented here, get Faith to take the Orpheus drug to take Angelus out or torture the hooker to find out the later's whereabouts.
The episode is chock-full of continuity nods (from the serious - Connor and Holtz - to the Buffybot), and incidentally answers a question people have wondered about - does Wesley remember Lilah or rather his affair with her or did that memory get wiped as well? No, it obviously didn't, as he mentions her to his father. I do wonder, though, whether he remembers the events of Supersymmetry correctly. Because back then he knew better than patronize Fred through protection, and could see first hand that "I killed someone for you" did in effect destroy Gunn's relationship with her.
What Angel offers at the end of the episode is understanding for something Wesley can't remember anymore, and as long as Wesley can't remember, that understanding can't have the meaning for him it should. I love the way Drew Goddard balances this, and the dark scene between Wesley and Fred earlier with the more humorous "hey, I killed my father/mother too" from Angel and Spike respectively. (Ah, the vampiric point of view on family relations.) Continuity hound Goddard also takes a nod to Waiting in the Wings and headboy!Wesley (and since this makes Spike use the Percy comparison again, I can't help but wondering whether Dawn lend him her HP books back between seasons 5 and 6), and at Intervention. "Sex with robots is far more common than people think." Yes, Spike, we know.
Destiny has no Wesley at all, but after the Wesley-centricness of Lineage, this can be forgiven. (Plus it does make sense he'd take some time off after what happened.) What it does have is ME's gift to all the Angel/Spike slashers who wrote ever since season 2 of BTVS. Given Angelus' reaction to getting presented with William by Dru, and the way the flashbacks ended with an invitation to a threesome, I'd say the subtext has rapidly become text. Incidentally, as Darla fan, I treasured the fact she wasn't just ignored but mentioned and an explanation for her absence was given. Note that the same Angelus who has sex with Dru in front of smitten young William just because he can and to torment the boy is still smarting over Darla going to visit the Master. And apparently had a physical fight with her about it. Jealousy isn't nearly as much fun if you're at the other end, is it, Angelus? Also, loved the eagerness with which Dru wants to present her new plaything to Darla just as much as to Angelus.
In all three episodes I watched, the fact that the Shanshu prophecy could refer to Spike just as well as Angel has been brought up, but in this one of course it's front and center. And while there is no oil involved, the verbal and physical fighting is a sight to see. As far as the insults are concerned, each vampire gets some slices of uncomfortable truth in, though Spike is still missing the crucial information of just why Angel accept Wolfram & Hart. But just as Angel is correct with supposing that Spike's sudden interest in the champion/Shanshu gig is just as much about taking it away from Angel as it is about anything else, Spike's pointing out what Angel sees in him is dead on the mark, imo. And it makes sense that this is the first fight (with no other party involved) in all their long history together that Spike wins. He's got his joie de vivre back (witness the reaction to getting a body - drinking blood, wanting to have sex immediately), and he's got all the incentive of the world from his pov - that trip to Europe to find Buffy again would be even better if he could tell her he could be human again. Whereas Angel, as has amply pointed out in recent episodes, most drastically in The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinquo, has lost the belief in happy endings together with Connor, and his existentialistic take of helping people because he can sounds dryer and less felt each time he has to verbalize it.
Bits and pieces before I get to that final scene:
- now that Spike's corporeal again, they'll have to find another justification for him to stay in L.A.
- poor Harmony; still a crush on Spike, still a replacement sex toy - but given that they let her bring this up herself, I
hope this will matter; Spike's treatment of Harmony ever since Harsh Light of Day arguably has been as bad
as Buffy's Gone to As You Were treatment of him
- which reminds me; what Harmony said Under The Influence was true, what Gunn said Under The Influence was more
true than not - does this mean there is some secret meaning in the toner *g*?
And now for the drumroll. Am I ever glad to be unspoiled. I really, really had no idea whom Eve was literary in bed with. Mind you, they've got a lot of explaining to do as to where Lindsey aquired the magical talents to disconnect the W&H building from the Senior Partners for a while and recorporalize Spike since last we saw him. Otoh, maybe he hired someone - he's bound to have dealt with lots of magicians in his time as W&H lawyer. And given that he has reason for enmity against both W&H and Angel, his being behind everything odd this season makes perfect sense. My, my. This should be very entertaining indeed.
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no subject
Date: 2003-11-30 10:45 am (UTC)Roger Wyndham-Price is drawn somewhat more subtly.
I can't get over my total fan-girl squeeing that he's played by Roy Dotrice. I saw him on stage in Brief Lives years ago and it was an amazing theatrical experience. Fascinating thought that Wesley in ruthless pragmatist mode may be basing it all on his father. Is he falling into the trap of accidentally becoming who his father wishes him to be without even knowing it?
which reminds me; what Harmony said Under The Influence was true, what Gunn said Under The Influence was more
true than not - does this mean there is some secret meaning in the toner *g*?
You haven't worked in an office have you? Believe me Toner Is Important.
Great comments.I wish I could have been unspoiled for the great Lindsey reveal, but I decided ages ago I couldn't do it if I wasn't seeing the episodes until January. If I didn't read it on the internet, SFX would undoubtedly reveal it by accident!
no subject
Date: 2003-12-01 02:38 am (UTC)I can't get over my total fan-girl squeeing that he's played by Roy Dotrice. I saw him on stage in Brief Lives years ago and it was an amazing theatrical experience.
I bet. He was really good in the part, though sadly the only thing I may have seen him im before was Hercules. (As Zeus.)
Is he falling into the trap of accidentally becoming who his father wishes him to be without even knowing it?
I think that is a very real danger.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-01 08:22 am (UTC)He was really good in the part, though sadly the only thing I may have seen him im before was Hercules. (As Zeus.)
He played Father in Beauty and the Beast which is probably where most people know him from. He did Brief Lives as a one man show for years, and on the evidence of that, deserves to be far better known as an actor.
Interesting that both Angel (when dealing with Connor) and Wesley are in some ways becoming like the fathers they both love and hate. They've both now "killed" their fathers too. Wes tried to save Lilah as Angel tried to save Darla, he nearly turned into a monster with Fred as Angel did with Buffy. I wonder what other mirrored actions there are in store for Wes?
no subject
Date: 2003-12-01 09:38 am (UTC)Whether Fred is the Buffy or the Cordelia in Wesley's life is not yet clear.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-01 10:22 am (UTC)Let me join you in squeeing!
Date: 2003-12-02 03:02 am (UTC)But now to Lineage. I belong to those who still remember Roy Dotrice as the benevolent, yet also somewhat ruthless father figure from the fantasy/romance series Beauty and the Beast and believe that his casting as Wyndham-Pryce Sr. was perfect.
In my opinion, Lineage cemented Wesley's status as one of the show's most consistently written characters. Every aspect of his personality was beautifully played out; his "I do what needs to be done, regardless of the costs" attitude we first saw in "Consequences" as well as the inherent tendency towards self-punishment. His rejection of a sympathy offering Fred was as heart-wrenching as the final phone conversation with his parents.
Re: Let me join you in squeeing!
Date: 2003-12-02 09:54 am (UTC)(BTW, wanna bet it will also mark the ressurgence of Misunderstood!Lindsey fic?)
Seriously, I'm happy, too. Now we don't have to consider the Sing-along-Dong as the happy ending for Lindsers, who was my second favourite W&H lawyer; I did like Lilah better, only now that everyone likes Lilah I backed off a little, strangely enough.
Wesley:
Every aspect of his personality was beautifully played out; his "I do what needs to be done, regardless of the costs" attitude we first saw in "Consequences" as well as the inherent tendency towards self-punishment.
Oh yes. (Considering he suffers beautifully, this pleases the fans.)
I bet if we went back and saw early Wesley with his physical clumsiness, it would make us wince in sympathy. Because Wesley becoming momentarily clumsy again around his father reconfirmed that this was the result of years of Wyndham-Pryce education.