The one week late Power Play review

[selenak]

From sabine101:

selenak

londo_mollari


join the HERD:
1. Copy and paste this: [font color="username"][b]username[/b][/font] into your journal.
2. Replace square brackets with html brackets

And might I say Londo is put out that he's not in purple?

Meanwhile, thanks to bimo, I've watched Power Play. I find myself out of tune with general fandom again - after gurgling with delight at that defiant last outburst of comedy, The Girl in Question, which ticked many people off, I'm somewhat coldly disposed towards the very serious Power Play, which most people seem to have enjoyed. Not that I hated it; it just was a distant experience for me.



Personally, I blame Terry Prattchet. Guards! Guards! made it impossible for me to take any secret society seriously again. Mind you, with the society in question transforming into a cocktail party once Angel got accepted, methinks Mr. Fury might have read Prattchet as well, but still, in order to buy the menace of the Black Thorn, we have to be impressed at first, and I wasn't.

Now, the concept makes sense to me. We've seen this before, btw. With the Senior Partners as the cunning opponent in the background, you're stuck with the problem that there can be no physical showdown, due to them being incorporeal. (And while this wasn't explicitly stated before, it was implied by Holland Manners in Reprise.) So you need a second level physical opponent or two which Our Heroes can take out. Sounds familiar? Hello, First Evil, Ubervamps and Caleb.

Angel going on the offensive also makes sense, though I wish that we had seen some hints of the plan before the end of Time Bomb. Angel being able to hack into the books less so, but okay, let's wave that aside. Let's also wave aside trying to figure out Lindsey's motivation. He really is a walking plot device this season, which is a pity, though I never was a fan of Lindsers. What's highly interesting is that faked evilness re: Fred aside, he still did kill Drogyn, did agree to ruin Whatever The Senator's Rival Was Called's reputation and did ignore the proverbial girl in the alley in order to convince the Senior Partners. What with Angel determined to go out in a blaze of Black Thorn destruction with all his friends, there is no reason to suppose he made contingency provisions in order to rectify any of the above. (Aside from providing for Nina and her family, of course.) So these were sacrifices for The Cause. Human sacrifices. Which comes down to the age old "does the end justify the means?" question, which usually gets answered with "no" in the Jossverse. Hm.

Okay, clearly all the Wesley/Lilah'shippers and Wes/Gunn'shippers upset about Wesley's canonical Fred obsession were going for the wrong target in their ire. Compare and contrast: Wesley thinks Gunn is responsible for Fred dying a gruesome death. Gunn, meet blade in the gut. Wesley thinks Angel is responsible for Fred dying a gruesome death. "We must save him. He would do the same for us."

Yes, Angel still outranks everyone else currently alive in the scale of Wesley's affection. And of course Wesley signs on to the "let's go to hell by taking out the Senior Partner's primary lackeys" plan at once. It occurs to me that this switch from vengeance to mercy (also seen re: Illyria in Time Bomb) might be the product of his restored memories. In any case, for Wes, it's downright healthy.

Speaking of Illyria, her scenes with Spike and later Drogyn were downright adorable. (But I'm not sure what it says that I felt more for Illyria in this episode than for any of the regular gang.) My Amy Acker admiration continues to grow. And thank you, Mr. Fury, for the BTVS continuity shout-out by letting Spike point out the parallels to his season 4 situation. If Hamilton has killed the Blue One, I shall be most disgruntled, but I'm reasonably sure he hasn't.

Hamilton: is obviously posed to be the opponent in the big one-to-one fight in the finale. As I said: Caleb, revised.

And lastly, Spike's line about being intimate with Angel ("only the one time...well...") should make slashers simultanously happy and angry (whaddaya mean, once?).

Comments

[livinglaurel.livejournal.com]

My lj user name wasn't red. I remain baffled.

I like your points. -- One thing about Lindsey is if you (OK fully admitting Lilah obsession here, but this is an actual point) plug in Lilah a lot of the plot suddenly makes more sense. Who apparently really sold her soul to get some kind of power? Lilah (Lindsey was the one who dropped it all and went off to play guitar somewhere in East Texas). Who would have reason to try to get Angel dark so she could get closer to the SP? Lilah. Who was morally ambiguous enough she could either turn good or bad at the -- well you get my point. I think Lindsey the Plot Device + Eve = part of a Lilah arc they had to scrap. -- Even if that's nuts (which it probably is), yeah, clearly Lindsey's being plugged into the plot. Boo.

clearly all the Wesley/Lilah'shippers and Wes/Gunn'shippers upset about Wesley's canonical Fred obsession were going for the wrong target in their ire. Compare and contrast: Wesley thinks Gunn is responsible for Fred dying a gruesome death. Gunn, meet blade in the gut. Wesley thinks Angel is responsible for Fred dying a gruesome death. "We must save him. He would do the same for us."

HEH. Yeah, I saw some of my W/A shipper friends do a little dance.

It occurs to me that this switch from vengeance to mercy (also seen re: Illyria in Time Bomb) might be the product of his restored memories. In any case, for Wes, it's downright healthy.

harmonyfb said something quite a while back about wanting to look at the first ep of the series and see if was at all foreshadowy (as it usually is), and it's interesting that Angel says mercy is more powerful than conviction, but "you've just seen the last of it."

Speaking of Illyria, her scenes with Spike and later Drogyn were downright adorable. (But I'm not sure what it says that I felt more for Illyria in this episode than for any of the regular gang.) My Amy Acker admiration continues to grow.

I love Illyria. And I also now love Amy Acker.

And lastly, Spike's line about being intimate with Angel ("only the one time...well...") should make slashers simultanously happy and angry (whaddaya mean, once?).

Hee, I saw mingled joy and pain -- "YES! They admitted it! It's canon! -- wtf do you mean, ONCE?" I had to think it was a tiny, affectionate mindfuck by ME.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Lilah would definitely make more sense than Lindsey, yes. Though did it occur to you that if said Lilah arc would have taken place, you'd have still seen Wesley and Fred get together, with Lilah around? (No dying Fred and Illyria otherwise.)

HEH. Yeah, I saw some of my W/A shipper friends do a little dance.

As I have a soft spot for the combination myself, I can well imagine.

Hee, I saw mingled joy and pain -- "YES! They admitted it! It's canon! -- wtf do you mean, ONCE?" I had to think it was a tiny, affectionate mindfuck by ME.

Absolutely. Messing with the fannish mind, they were.*g*

[livinglaurel.livejournal.com]

Though did it occur to you that if said Lilah arc would have taken place, you'd have still seen Wesley and Fred get together, with Lilah around? (No dying Fred and Illyria otherwise.)

Actually I think it would've been better if Lilah had been around in some capacity (but then again I wanted Lilah in S5 so badly I could barely stand to watch Eve, so). I did think this year was testosterone-heavy and with Fred's death, it was just our boys....

As I have a soft spot for the combination myself, I can well imagine.

It says something too that Angel trusted Wesley enough to drop the clues in front of him and that he would reach the right conclusion. I liked that. (Although I do think Wesley went from batshit buggy to borderline normal in about sixty seconds, but that was probably the time crunch catching up with ME.)

Absolutely. Messing with the fannish mind, they were.*g*

They do like to do that, don't they? The interactivity that goes on now between television writers and fanfolk amazes me (I saw it happen a bit with the jms mailing list during B5, but I don't think the fan's reactions influenced his storyline to the extent they did ME's). Granted it's a small portion of the fanbase that's usually dealing with the creators on the net, but the interaction gets pretty intense.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

One thing about Lindsey is if you (OK fully admitting Lilah obsession here, but this is an actual point) plug in Lilah a lot of the plot suddenly makes more sense.

I don't think this *does* make sense, since we're talking about the same people who had to come up with the Jasmine arc in quick order when faced with CC's pregnancy -- and even if the arc was initially planned for Lilah, which I'm not sure of, they've known they couldn't get her since September, which was more than enough time for alteration.

I agree the Lindsey motivation is fucked.

The other problem is that I can imagine Lilah instead of Eve as more entertaining, but it actually makes the gender dynamic (which you know I've had issues with) even *uglier*. You get a bit of interesting commentary if it's a woman masterminding the Angel/Spike rivalry (which I've argued is represented by but not really about women), but then try to integrate this with the Illyria plot, and things get very nasty indeed. Lilah presumably offs her ex-lover's new girlfriend in order to (a) get more power; and/or (b) possibly for revenge.

This is pretty typical femme fatale trope, and, my god, is it ugly. The only women you have in the season are Fred (innocent victim) and Lilah (scheming femme fatale), unless you're counting Illyria, which is problematic in itself.

mostly rambling

[livinglaurel.livejournal.com]

even if the arc was initially planned for Lilah, which I'm not sure of, they've known they couldn't get her since September, which was more than enough time for alteration

Oh, I'm not saying I know for sure based on insider information or what that I know that arc was intended for Lilah....it just makes more emotional sense to me than bringing back Lindsey. I think if that happened they did alter the arc, but the seams show.

I agree the Lindsey motivation is fucked.

Yeah, he's basically S5's Walking Plot Device....I would have been happier if there had been a new character brought in (we certainly had enough new characters this season, what with Nina, Hamilton, Eve, &c).

I can imagine Lilah instead of Eve as more entertaining, but it actually makes the gender dynamic (which you know I've had issues with) even *uglier*.

Well, in my imagination the Lilah-not-Lindsey arc portrays her more as a Romeo is Bleeding type -- someone who's in it for power, and as such she would be sort of a shadow foil for Angel, which I think would have made both characters more interesting (and avoided the to me at least really unbelievable last-minute Angel's-going-corporate storyline). It may sound bad, but I would rather have a femme fatale type and up the female cast by one (especially if the player's as good as Stephanie Romanov) rather than be stuck with one-dimensional sidekick women (Eve, Harmony, Nina). Sort of like Halle Berry saying she'd rather play a maid than be a maid -- and I have to admit I would've liked just once to have seen an ME female growl "Fuck it, I'm going to kick out the jams and show the boys how to run things."

But I was essentially sort of putting forward a personal thing, not an airtight theory, so YMMV. It's interesting how Illyria is gendered as female (cause she's still in Fred's shell) although the emphasis is on how Fred's dead and gone forever (I still think that "destroyed soul" business would've come up somehow in S6) and in the past Illyria was apparently male or neuter. I wish they'd played around with pronouns a little more and gone for a slightly more androgynous look rather than have her be a comics superheroine type. (For all that, I think Amy Acker did an amazing job as Illyria, as Illyria-in-Fred's-body and as Illyria-playing-Fred, and it actually makes me sort of angry at Joss that Fred's arc went the way it did.)

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

HA! I say to you. Londo is such a crackead. (http://www.livejournal.com/users/londo_mollari/14365.html)

Yep, I was surprised. *g*

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I hoped you'd be, but that threesome thing was an appropriate revenge.

For the record, on one level he asked because he's incredibly lonely and quite close to a breakdown and just not in the mood for empty sex with a stranger, plus he does admire Delenn. On another level, it's also about getting back at G'Kar, because G'Kar said he wouldn't have the patience for a Minbari, because he knows G'Kar admires Delenn as well, and because the head of the Rangers clearly tops someone in the lower ranks. It's a guy thing.*g*

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

Heh, I figured as much. G'Kar will be appropriately peeved; he always thought he was the patient one. And if anyone's going to take the Entil'zha to bed, it'd be him!

Well, he'll just have to seduce Sinclair away from Garibaldi when he gets home. *g* Fat chance.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Well, you know, the Great Maker simply has blessed the Centauri with more, and Londo did say on the show G'Kar was premature.*g*

Yes, I think Sinclair, being a good Catholic boy, will probably want to remain faithful.*g*

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

*snort*

G'Kar resents that remark!

And as for me, I'm going to sleep. Will catch you on the other side. Delenn responded.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

It's still canon.*g*

When you wake up: I think lj acted crazy, again. Would you believe I only now got Delenn's "never our principles" reply, whereas her other "after observing Londo's extended silence..." reply arrived this morning? Doesn't matter, Londo being silent at that point, i.e. me not having gotten the answer, actually works quite well for the dialogue.

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

Excellent points. Found myself nodding happily.

In any case, for Wes, it's downright healthy

*g* Absolutely. Geez.
Never ever been a Wes/Angel shipper, but Wesley's actions-- not merely his forgiveness but his renewed trust in the man who has violated him repeatedly-- towards Angel cannot be seen as reflecting anything but love.
In my eyes, of course, it's not romantic, but hey. Still.

And lastly, Spike's line about being intimate with Angel ("only the one time...well...") should make slashers simultanously happy and angry (whaddaya mean, once?).

Hee. My thought exactly.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Not romantic works for me as well. Not all love has to be. I'm also reminded of Wes feeding Angel his own blood in the season 4 opener. In one fashion or the other, he's been doing that before and after and probably always will.

[owl]

I see you as a sort of dark purple, you know. Weird synaesthetes. :-P

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Clearly, livejournal works in mysterious ways.*g*

[cadesama.livejournal.com]

So you need a second level physical opponent or two which Our Heroes can take out. Sounds familiar? Hello, First Evil, Ubervamps and Caleb.

Man, I've been teary eyed since I got up but that's making me wimper for *entirely different reasons*.

Human sacrifices. Which comes down to the age old "does the end justify the means?" question, which usually gets answered with "no" in the Jossverse.

Weelll, I think that's they message they send when they think of it, but in practice the ends justifying the means is frequently how things gets done (see, Giles suffocating Ben, Wes with the stabby stab (erm, in Release, not Shells), Angel with the mindwipe). However, since they're thinking of it now, I think that it's safe to assume that Angel was angling to get Wes/Spike/Gunn/whomever to pick up the slack with the girl in the alley, Drogyn may or may not be dead (or have agreed to it), and all the agreements he made won't make much different after taking out the Black Thorn.

Oh! And Lindsey. I agree with the not making sense, but I had a theory where it did. Basically, if you assume that (for whatever reason) he cares about the SPs, then his strategy is basically Angel's at current, but with a back up plan. So he tries to make waves by killing Angel to get the notice of the Black Thorn and then infiltrate and kill yadda yadda, but at the same time he sets up Spike as S1!Angel (because that's what he thinks heroism is) to help out on the street level while he goes for the big guys.

"We must save him. He would do the same for us."

Ignoring the time that Angel *didn't*, of course. Heh. Shades of Salvage there, AKA the last time killing Wes's girlfriend led Wes to save Angel. And I totally buy this as (another) turning point in Wes's sanity. He has always been defined by his loyalty, especially to Angel. The temporary loss of that was really the loss of himself (which I still maintain he has none too tight a grip on).