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cavendish. Okay, first impression: This new Angel writer is as big a geek as Andrew.
What with Angel hallucinating a la John Crichton, a keeper about, and Lindsey doing his best Mr. Morden impression. (Though I don't think he literally asks Spike "What do you want?"; it didn't go that far.) All of which makes for an entertaining ep. Lindsey calling himself Doyle, pretending to have visions and setting Spike up as a parody of first season Angel (complete with the apartment with tunnel access and the "be nicer to the people you save and interact with them" stick) is downright brilliant, and you just know that once Angel hears about "Doyle", it's going to be that much more of a slap in the face. Meanwhile, we get it confirmed that those Santeria marks are the only think keeping Lindsey from the Senior Partner's radar, and that he's gunning for them and Angel both. Spike is incidental and not really of interest to either Lindsey or Eve. (Which makes sense in terms of his character. One reason why Lindsey's farewell ep in season 2 really fell flat for me was that the issues between him and Angel were just dissolved too neatly into a humorous rivalry. )
Simultanously, the one who's made to feel incidental, as nothing more than a tool that has served its purpose, is of course Angel. It seems Lindsey remembers how much Darla succeeded in manipulating Angel via dreams in season 2, and puts this knowledge to good use. (I wonder whether Wesley will also remember?) Now the dreams themselves don't tell us that much new about Angel's psyche, though they do confirm some bits that were only guesswork before - Angel does expect Wesley to betray him again for the greater good, he expects Gunn to turn on him what's now inside of Gunn. He feels hollow, with a little dried-up heart, a dirtied soul and no passion left. And the repeat chorus: the existence of Spike or rather of souled Spike really, really bothers him.
Best is-it-still-subtext moment, though: Angel hallucinating himself in bed with Spike and Buffy at the same time. The use of SMGs voice from past episodes plus a blonde whose face is covered by Spike was an inspired way to get around the obvious casting problem here. Leaving the threesome implication aside, the textual stuff is good enough - "you are taking Buffy to the Prom"? Because that was when Angel decided to call it quits way back when, and you just know Spike would never have done that, and Angel knows he wouldn't. Besides, he doesn't know Spike didn't leave for Europe and assumes Spike and Buffy are together again, thus proving that the entire reason he gave for leaving Buffy in The Prom was faulty. It could also indicate that Angel still sees Buffy as the girl she was back then, the high school girl writing their names in her school books. (Not the Buffy Spike fell in love with at all.)
The most alarming moment to me regarding the state of Angel's psyche came before the entire chain of dreams really started - his "let's kill them all" suggestion in the office with Wesley and Gunn. Because tired and stressed out as he was, you just know this is something Angel could actually do. This is the true danger of what W&H is doing to him. Since the start of the season, he has killed with ever increasing casualness. And now he does have the possibility to kill from afar. To kill not in combat, but to kill dozens, hundreds of - evildoers? Demons? People? Wesley and Gunn were talking of an evil Magus; they never mentioned whether he was human or not. And whenever one of the good guys in the Jossverse doesn't care about killing humans, you know he/she's in deep trouble.
- was the Blue Fairy a direct Pinnochio homage or A.I. inspired? Either way, 'twas fun
- why do I get the feeling that a new slash subgenre (Lindsey/Spike) has just been born?
- Especially when Spike tells Lindsey he's not his type and that he's not going to be Lindsey's rent boy
- Did I mention that Angel dreaming himself in bed with Spike and Buffy (though significantly not taking part in the sexual action - can we say "eunuch"?) cracked me up?
- Poor Cordy; she doesn't even show up in Angel's dreams anymore (and the availability or lack of same of CC is not an issue; they got around the no SMG problem)
- Otoh, we had a Connor reference with Angel freaking about cult members sacrificing their children.
andrastewhite reviews an old favourite of mine, Born to the Purple, here. It's so much fun (and pain, in the good sense), going back to these old episodes.
cavendish. Okay, first impression: This new Angel writer is as big a geek as Andrew. What with Angel hallucinating a la John Crichton, a keeper about, and Lindsey doing his best Mr. Morden impression. (Though I don't think he literally asks Spike "What do you want?"; it didn't go that far.) All of which makes for an entertaining ep. Lindsey calling himself Doyle, pretending to have visions and setting Spike up as a parody of first season Angel (complete with the apartment with tunnel access and the "be nicer to the people you save and interact with them" stick) is downright brilliant, and you just know that once Angel hears about "Doyle", it's going to be that much more of a slap in the face. Meanwhile, we get it confirmed that those Santeria marks are the only think keeping Lindsey from the Senior Partner's radar, and that he's gunning for them and Angel both. Spike is incidental and not really of interest to either Lindsey or Eve. (Which makes sense in terms of his character. One reason why Lindsey's farewell ep in season 2 really fell flat for me was that the issues between him and Angel were just dissolved too neatly into a humorous rivalry. )
Simultanously, the one who's made to feel incidental, as nothing more than a tool that has served its purpose, is of course Angel. It seems Lindsey remembers how much Darla succeeded in manipulating Angel via dreams in season 2, and puts this knowledge to good use. (I wonder whether Wesley will also remember?) Now the dreams themselves don't tell us that much new about Angel's psyche, though they do confirm some bits that were only guesswork before - Angel does expect Wesley to betray him again for the greater good, he expects Gunn to turn on him what's now inside of Gunn. He feels hollow, with a little dried-up heart, a dirtied soul and no passion left. And the repeat chorus: the existence of Spike or rather of souled Spike really, really bothers him.
Best is-it-still-subtext moment, though: Angel hallucinating himself in bed with Spike and Buffy at the same time. The use of SMGs voice from past episodes plus a blonde whose face is covered by Spike was an inspired way to get around the obvious casting problem here. Leaving the threesome implication aside, the textual stuff is good enough - "you are taking Buffy to the Prom"? Because that was when Angel decided to call it quits way back when, and you just know Spike would never have done that, and Angel knows he wouldn't. Besides, he doesn't know Spike didn't leave for Europe and assumes Spike and Buffy are together again, thus proving that the entire reason he gave for leaving Buffy in The Prom was faulty. It could also indicate that Angel still sees Buffy as the girl she was back then, the high school girl writing their names in her school books. (Not the Buffy Spike fell in love with at all.)
The most alarming moment to me regarding the state of Angel's psyche came before the entire chain of dreams really started - his "let's kill them all" suggestion in the office with Wesley and Gunn. Because tired and stressed out as he was, you just know this is something Angel could actually do. This is the true danger of what W&H is doing to him. Since the start of the season, he has killed with ever increasing casualness. And now he does have the possibility to kill from afar. To kill not in combat, but to kill dozens, hundreds of - evildoers? Demons? People? Wesley and Gunn were talking of an evil Magus; they never mentioned whether he was human or not. And whenever one of the good guys in the Jossverse doesn't care about killing humans, you know he/she's in deep trouble.
- was the Blue Fairy a direct Pinnochio homage or A.I. inspired? Either way, 'twas fun
- why do I get the feeling that a new slash subgenre (Lindsey/Spike) has just been born?
- Especially when Spike tells Lindsey he's not his type and that he's not going to be Lindsey's rent boy
- Did I mention that Angel dreaming himself in bed with Spike and Buffy (though significantly not taking part in the sexual action - can we say "eunuch"?) cracked me up?
- Poor Cordy; she doesn't even show up in Angel's dreams anymore (and the availability or lack of same of CC is not an issue; they got around the no SMG problem)
- Otoh, we had a Connor reference with Angel freaking about cult members sacrificing their children.
andrastewhite reviews an old favourite of mine, Born to the Purple, here. It's so much fun (and pain, in the good sense), going back to these old episodes.
