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selenakBack from the weekend with the Agend P's, and what do I find? Damage, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cavendish be praised! Steven DeKnight and Drew Goddard were (together with Drew Greenberg) the last regular writers to join the BTVS staff (DeKnight in season 5, Goddard in season 7) . DeKnight moved to AtS last year, Goddard this year, and am I ever glad we didn't love them after BTVS ended. 'Twas a most glorious team-up.
And rife with continuity. I wonder what AtS-only viewers thought Dana was in the teaser; if you've watched Chosen, you knew she was a Slayer right away, of course. Incidentally, did someone check Restless recently, because I think the marks Dana makes on her face are the same ones Buffy makes in her dream before she covers her face with mud altogether?
It was also a given that after last week, it was Spike's turn to get his self-image crushed. I remember the heated debate after Lies my parents told me about whether or not the writers (David Fury and one Drew Goddard, the very fellow who co-penned this episode) wanted us to believe Spike's remarks to Robin Wood. Specifically the "your mother didn't love you enough to give up her job" taunt. Well, this, among other things, is settled here as Dana channels Nikki who longs to make it home to her son Robin alive (but as we all know won't because of Spike). It's the expected slap in the face for Spike, too. No, Nikki didn't want to die, and presumably the Chinese Slayer (who also gets channelled - and Spike gets to repeat his "I don't speak Chinese, love" line) didn't, either.
Spike and Angel's final conversation is arguably the most intimate and quiet moment they shared since Hellbound. Some of what they say isn't new. (Except for AtS-only viewers who didn't see Fool for Love - the whole death and destruction gig being an art for Angel, and one big fun rush for Spike.) But the mutual sad conclusion was. "She's an innocent." "So were we. Once upon a time." "Once upon a time."
The use of Andrew here works, for me, better than the use of Willow last year. (Partly because Willow had an ongoing storyline over at BTVS about being hesitant to use magic which had to be completely ignored for AtS purposes, whereas Andrew does not.) And not just because I like Andrew. They really made him look as much as human William as possible, and of course Andrew, geeky Andrew (who tried to dress up as Spike early in season 7) in many ways is a 21st century version of William. (Which must freak Spike out on a regular basis.) He's a blast from the past for Spike (and later for Angel) in another way, too. I loved the hug; note that while Spike is mortally embarrassed, he doesn't push Andrew away or insult him. Later, when the two of them are alone, you can see him being completely at ease with Andrew, too, and not just because he can quiz him about Buffy.
(Speaking of whom: I also love the idea of her and Dawn living in Rome, having been there myself for three months. It's beautiful, it's completely different from their earlier life, and it's so many cities rolled into one that it definitely counts as showing each other the world. And oh yes, it also has English-language schools, so Dawn being in one makes sense, too.)
If Andrew is only somewhat embarrassing but also a comfort for Spike (in an episode which otherwise pretty much bitch-slaps Spike about his assumptions), he's the most unexpected punch in the gut for Angel ever. Of course, given Andrew's past as a supervillain wannabe (who would have been a complete Angelus fanboy until having the misfortune of actually meeting Angelus), it's somewhat ironic that he gets to deliver the message that the Slayers, Buffy included, don't trust Angel the CEO of Wolfram & Hart anymore, at least not with another Slayer, but then the Jossverse loves these ironies. And it makes sense. Andrew got over the glamourizing of evil a season ago, and he got over self excuses at pretty much the same time.
The twelve Slayers he brought along for back-up should be enough to contain Dana for the short term; whether or not they can help her better than Angel with the W&H resources could is open to debate, but honestly, given W&H's record, the ever increasing casualness about killing Our Heroes show there, and Buffy's past experiences with large organizations - read: The Council -, if I were Buffy and the other Slayers? I wouldn't leave Dana with the L.A. crowd, either. "Who do you think my orders came from?" Ouch. Sucks to be Angel.
It also sucks to be Spike again. I have to confess, I thought Dana's first flashbacks featuring him were the real thing (it would have fit with what he told Buffy when he was trying to get her to kill him in Never Leave Me - another Ultimate Drew ep, right?) - but as he says himself, it was incidental that he didn't hurt Dana in the past, when he hurt plenty of other victims galore. Her taking his hands away has some kind of mythic resonance; he killed with those hands. He also saved lives with them, more recently. And so he gets them back, but not without pain, and utter and complete humiliation.
Tidbits:
- Andrew's aside about Mr. Giles possibly having been wrong about Wesley tells Wes (why not humiliate all male regulars while we're at it *g*) that yet another dissapproving Daddy sees him still as the inexperienced fumbling greenhorn
- Gunn refusing to do anything about Eve because of her connection to the Senior Partners is the most disconcerting sign yet of how much his mental alterations have changed him; methinks I smell arc-important material here
- loved Angel inadvertendly repeating Andrew's pronounciation of vam-PY-re (and his embarrassed look afterwards) .
cavendish be praised! Steven DeKnight and Drew Goddard were (together with Drew Greenberg) the last regular writers to join the BTVS staff (DeKnight in season 5, Goddard in season 7) . DeKnight moved to AtS last year, Goddard this year, and am I ever glad we didn't love them after BTVS ended. 'Twas a most glorious team-up.And rife with continuity. I wonder what AtS-only viewers thought Dana was in the teaser; if you've watched Chosen, you knew she was a Slayer right away, of course. Incidentally, did someone check Restless recently, because I think the marks Dana makes on her face are the same ones Buffy makes in her dream before she covers her face with mud altogether?
It was also a given that after last week, it was Spike's turn to get his self-image crushed. I remember the heated debate after Lies my parents told me about whether or not the writers (David Fury and one Drew Goddard, the very fellow who co-penned this episode) wanted us to believe Spike's remarks to Robin Wood. Specifically the "your mother didn't love you enough to give up her job" taunt. Well, this, among other things, is settled here as Dana channels Nikki who longs to make it home to her son Robin alive (but as we all know won't because of Spike). It's the expected slap in the face for Spike, too. No, Nikki didn't want to die, and presumably the Chinese Slayer (who also gets channelled - and Spike gets to repeat his "I don't speak Chinese, love" line) didn't, either.
Spike and Angel's final conversation is arguably the most intimate and quiet moment they shared since Hellbound. Some of what they say isn't new. (Except for AtS-only viewers who didn't see Fool for Love - the whole death and destruction gig being an art for Angel, and one big fun rush for Spike.) But the mutual sad conclusion was. "She's an innocent." "So were we. Once upon a time." "Once upon a time."
The use of Andrew here works, for me, better than the use of Willow last year. (Partly because Willow had an ongoing storyline over at BTVS about being hesitant to use magic which had to be completely ignored for AtS purposes, whereas Andrew does not.) And not just because I like Andrew. They really made him look as much as human William as possible, and of course Andrew, geeky Andrew (who tried to dress up as Spike early in season 7) in many ways is a 21st century version of William. (Which must freak Spike out on a regular basis.) He's a blast from the past for Spike (and later for Angel) in another way, too. I loved the hug; note that while Spike is mortally embarrassed, he doesn't push Andrew away or insult him. Later, when the two of them are alone, you can see him being completely at ease with Andrew, too, and not just because he can quiz him about Buffy.
(Speaking of whom: I also love the idea of her and Dawn living in Rome, having been there myself for three months. It's beautiful, it's completely different from their earlier life, and it's so many cities rolled into one that it definitely counts as showing each other the world. And oh yes, it also has English-language schools, so Dawn being in one makes sense, too.)
If Andrew is only somewhat embarrassing but also a comfort for Spike (in an episode which otherwise pretty much bitch-slaps Spike about his assumptions), he's the most unexpected punch in the gut for Angel ever. Of course, given Andrew's past as a supervillain wannabe (who would have been a complete Angelus fanboy until having the misfortune of actually meeting Angelus), it's somewhat ironic that he gets to deliver the message that the Slayers, Buffy included, don't trust Angel the CEO of Wolfram & Hart anymore, at least not with another Slayer, but then the Jossverse loves these ironies. And it makes sense. Andrew got over the glamourizing of evil a season ago, and he got over self excuses at pretty much the same time.
The twelve Slayers he brought along for back-up should be enough to contain Dana for the short term; whether or not they can help her better than Angel with the W&H resources could is open to debate, but honestly, given W&H's record, the ever increasing casualness about killing Our Heroes show there, and Buffy's past experiences with large organizations - read: The Council -, if I were Buffy and the other Slayers? I wouldn't leave Dana with the L.A. crowd, either. "Who do you think my orders came from?" Ouch. Sucks to be Angel.
It also sucks to be Spike again. I have to confess, I thought Dana's first flashbacks featuring him were the real thing (it would have fit with what he told Buffy when he was trying to get her to kill him in Never Leave Me - another Ultimate Drew ep, right?) - but as he says himself, it was incidental that he didn't hurt Dana in the past, when he hurt plenty of other victims galore. Her taking his hands away has some kind of mythic resonance; he killed with those hands. He also saved lives with them, more recently. And so he gets them back, but not without pain, and utter and complete humiliation.
Tidbits:
- Andrew's aside about Mr. Giles possibly having been wrong about Wesley tells Wes (why not humiliate all male regulars while we're at it *g*) that yet another dissapproving Daddy sees him still as the inexperienced fumbling greenhorn
- Gunn refusing to do anything about Eve because of her connection to the Senior Partners is the most disconcerting sign yet of how much his mental alterations have changed him; methinks I smell arc-important material here
- loved Angel inadvertendly repeating Andrew's pronounciation of vam-PY-re (and his embarrassed look afterwards) .
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no subject
Date: 2004-02-01 02:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-01 02:47 pm (UTC)*blushes*
Date: 2004-02-01 10:44 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2004-02-01 10:47 pm (UTC)