So my marathon see-every-episode-Angel-was-ever-in thing has finally left the world of BtVS and entered AtS.
Back in May, I had the thought of going back and reviewing all the AtS episodes I hadn’t yet reviewed in my LJ, but whoever told me that it would be boring to review old episodes that everyone’s seen long ago was probably right (dherblay?). So I’m just going to give general impressions on what I’ve watched so far, which is everything up to the middle of “Parting Gifts”. In short, all the Doyle episodes and the first appearance of Wesley.
I liked Doyle. He was a good character, and good for Angel. A demon-guy for Angel to hang with and talk to, someone to kick him in the butt when he needed it. I think Lorne took over this role in the subsequent seasons. Anyway, despite my love for Doyle, the show didn’t really take off until Wesley appeared. Which is ironic, because back when Season 1 of Angel originally aired, a lot of fans thought Wesley coming on the show was the worst.idea.ever. It was going to “utterly ruin the show”. I was one of these fans.
But think about it: what had we seen of Wesley except the close-minded wimpy little dandy from Season 3 of BtVS? I was posting at the Bronze in those days, and people weren’t happy to see the return of him. It was like bringing back Eve into a hypothetical Angel Season 6.
Nowadays, a leather-clad, scruffy, cross-bow carrying “Rogue Demon Hunter” doesn’t strike a fan as completely ridiculous the way it did when “Parting Gifts” first aired. You barely blink now. Wesley’s character development over the next few seasons was that good. And one of the reasons it was good? You see the Wesley of Season 5 of AtS, then go back and see the Wesley of Seaon 3 of BtVS, and you have no problem believing it’s the same person. The one-track-mind ruthlessness is still there. The book-man is still there. Wesley’s just become the thing he wanted to be in “Parting Gifts”, and it’s a delicious “Be careful what you wish for.”
Of course, we joked back then that Wesley wanted to *be* Angel. In retrospect, though, I think he just found other parts of himself through the angsty events of Pylea, Connor’s kidnapping, the gang’s rejection of him, etc, etc.
Watching the Season 1 episodes, though, it bugs me to realize that every member of Angel’s little family, including probably Angel himself, will all be dead within a few years. I look at how amazingly they were developing Cordelia, how much growth she was showing in just those first 10 episodes, and I’m like, “what’s the point? She’ll be abducted by an evil PTB within two years, and die without barely a blip of life again a year and a half after that.”
I’m not fond of how devoted Cordelia was to the PTBs in “You’re Welcome”. I wanted some bitterness. I wanted the episode to end by having her hang up her champion hat and walk out of Wolfram and Hart and go have a life somewhere, disillusioned but struggling to continue to grow as a person. [/end Cordelia rant]
I Will Remember You doesn’t go down as well as it used to. Of course, at the time, I was still a Buffy/Angel ‘shipper, and I found the idea of Angel getting to have the one (or two?) thing(s) he could never have very romantic. Because you knew he’d have it ripped away from him by the end of the episode–the humanity and the woman he loved.
(I always love Angel getting the things he thinks he can never have and then losing them. But that’s a story for another season.)
Now the happy!bedroom scenes in IWRY seem kind of sappy. I’m remembering people bitching about the episode and now I’m like, “I see what you mean.” Give me the angsty!sex scene of Angel and Darla in “Reprise”, please! But back when these first few episodes of Angel were airing, Darla was still a memory of a boring ditz in a Catholic school-girl uniform (OK, mostly, the alley way scene in Becoming did give her a *little* depth).
“Hero” still makes me cry, even though I also finally see the point of people who said the Scourge was a complete and utter anvil.
Methinks I was more forgiving of Mutant Enemy’s anvils and wish-fulfillment-plots in those days. Subsequent seasons made my standards higher.
Author Nancy E. Shaffer 
In terms of IWRY, I think I wind up liking aspects of the episode most people overlook and don’t think much about, as opposed to what folks talk about.
Namely, how mature Buffy actually seems to be about their circumstances. (See the sewer conversations.) And I think about how much she may have lost out on some growth of her own, because she doesn’t remember it.
The bedroom stuff is corny and sappy, and I don’t feel like I needed to see it to know that’s what was going on… It might be the happiest day of Buffy’s life and one of the last times we’ll see her genuinely relaxed and unguarded, but she doesn’t get to remember feeling that way. With the hindsight of S5-7, I find that sadder than what Angel gives away.
S1 of AtS may not be so great, but I’ll always look back on it fondly. And I’ll porobably always have a softer spot for Doyle than Lorne. And it does make me feel nostalgic for the time when the AtS universe felt hopeful.
Interesting thoughts.
I too have just recently re-viewed all the Btvs bits in which Angel appeared. One thing I noticed is how absolutely vicious Buffy can be if Angel isn’t giving her exactly what she wants….she can really put that knife in the right spot and twist. Gee….maybe the dysfunctional sex relatioship with Spike wasn’t just because of being ripped from heaven. Just kidding….Buffy’s great.
dlgood’s comments make me think…so they created a series about redemption which would imply that there is hope. Then ME got carried away with taking every character’s heart out and stomp, stomp, stomp…until they were bleeding pulps. Hmmmm….could be there’s more about the ME staff embedded in S5 than they’d like to admit. I hate to think that the summation of their view of redemption is, “why bother…enjoy the momentary pleasure of the addiction for tomorrow you die either way”. Or, did that message get lost in amongst the war on terror, the cancellation, etc. that their anger swamped the story?
Well, never mind…I did think they try to correct it by the last half of 5.22.
Re: Interesting thoughts.
I think the message of hope and redemption got mixed in with Joss’ tendency to equate “good drama” with “torment my characters, make their lives suck, and then kill them suddenly”.
When Jenny died in season 2 of Buffy, it was jarring and wonderful drama, a real risk–letting the main character’s love interest kill somebody. Even Joyce’s death as late as Season 5 of BtVS added to the story immensely (or Darla’s in season 3 of AtS). But all those character deaths started getting really *old*, especially when Joss had killed off not one, but *two* regulars in season 5 of Angel.
It’s like he ran out ideas and was spinning out his own personal cliche over and over for lack of any better ideas about how to advance the story line.
And it does make me feel nostalgic for the time when the AtS universe felt hopeful.
No kidding, LOL.
Buffy’s lack of memory of that day in Los Angeles was an issue for a lot of fans for a long time. I don’t think she lost anything important in not remembering it. Any growth she showed in that episode was growth she’d already been making over on her own show that season.
I think whatever brief happiness she had with Angel there she’s bound to find now, post-season 7. At least that’s what I think Joss wants us to assume.
Season 1 seems sort of awkward and naive now, but I have a sentimental attachment to it as well, because that was back when so many Buffy purist fans refused to watch it, saying they never liked Angel that much anyway, or David couldn’t hold his own show, or it would be cancelled before the year was out anyway, or yada yada.
Back then it was the *real* Angel fans who watched Angel.
Buffy’s lack of memory of that day in Los Angeles was an issue for a lot of fans for a long time.
Oh, I know. It’s just an issue for me in ways it isn’t for people I consider to be far more ‘romantic’ than I am. As for the Post-S7 ‘future’ thing – I understand … but in a sense it’s like the “Prom” episode for me. Having the memory of that one day, when you really did feel happy or fulfilled or appreciated – it can sustain you and give you some hope for another shot. (And unlike Angel, who knows ‘Perfect Happiness’ but is quite literally denied it as opposed to feeling metaphorically denied as Buffy did during the depth of her S6 despair.)
Back then it was the *real* Angel fans who watched Angel.
And what does it say about me if I prefer the original incarnation of W&H to the W&H of latter years, and find Kate underappreciated and Lilah overappreciated?
Re: Interesting thoughts.
Now if life were fair….this stuff would not be way more interesting than completing the business plan here that’s staring me in the face.
And what does it say about me if I prefer the original incarnation of W&H to the W&H of latter years, and find Kate underappreciated and Lilah overappreciated?
It says that we see eye-to-eye. W&H was delicious in seasons 1 and 2. The trio of Lindsey/Lilah/Lee was an interesting combination of moral ambiguity and and self-denigrating humor. Holland Manners was frightningly real.
I love Kate. Always have. Now I have to pimp my Kate essay to you. It explains in detail the ways in which I think fans misinterpreted her.
Lilah, well, I do sorta dig her, but she was never a *favorite*. More like icing on the cake.
Re: Interesting thoughts.
Word. I’m all the time slipping away from my work to post random-fandom thoughts.
I am bad, baddy-bad.
Angel Episodes 1-10
Masq:
Having seen “City of…” barely a week ago on one of NYC’s local stations, it doesn’t take much to bring back the Season 1 warm and fuzzies. After the pilot, the whole enterprise does seem to wander in the desert for a while, and doesn’t really get rolling again until “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” and the establishment of Wes as an interesting character, far beyond the ninny of the previous Buffy season.
Can’t say I liked Lonely Hearts that much, and I wish Joss and David Fury had been able to sell the WB on “Corrupt,” a much sharper and nastier script for the second ep. (Lost opportunity there.) We got Kate, though, and gosh darnit, I liked her from the beginning. Elizabeth Rohm actually played Kate like she was into the character–unlike Law and Order, where it looks like she was embalmed in a $1500 suit. “In the Dark” will always be loved for Spike’s opening monologue, and if that episode contributed to Joss’ decision to bring Spike aboard for S5, I will be forever in Petrie’s debt. Angel still seems like an overly earnest doofus for smashing the Gem of Amarra, but maybe that’s just me. (Oz: “Man, you’re REALLY white.”)
“I Fall to Pieces” was incredibly silly, and not even D’Hoffryn himself, Andy Umberger, could sleaze up this nonsense enough to make it remotely unsettling. “Rm w/a Vu” was pure Jane E. magic, and the best Cordy ep until “You’re Welcome” five years later. (Where Have You Gone, Phantom Dennis?) “The Bachelor Party” gave good Doyle, but the rumors of Doyle’s demise were already in the air, and I wasn’t prepared to get emotionally invested. Turns out, I knew Joss all too well.
Now we come to the trouble spots. IWRY was Angel’s big first season weepie, and I appreciate it as that, nothing more, nothing less. For me, what saved it from pure melodrama was Angel’s ego. As Joss said on his commentary to Chosen, anytime Angel is petty, it’s usually good times up on the screen. Angel’s inability to play second fiddle to Buffy, to step aside and let the big girls take care of the heavy lifting, gave the big guy a human dimension, a readily identifiable flaw that saves him from Sue-dom. We affectionately talk about how he can be a patronizing git, and there was no bigger “I have to make the decision for the both of us” moment than this one. (Makes me understand why Buffy could get so royally pissed off at him, even when it wasn’t completely warranted.)
“Hero”? Blurgh. This is one of those occasions (Firefly’s “Heart of Gold” was another) where the cliche went through the ME story breaking process undigested, and came out whole at the other end. It’s probably a personal bugaboo, but I didn’t like the deadly serious concept of “refugees fleeing the Nazis” played out as a cheesy supernatural melodrama. The A.I. videotape is the only thing worth saving here.
And now, Wesley. Hey, you’ve got “She” and “Expecting” coming up. Lucky you!
Back in May, I had the thought of going back and reviewing all the AtS episodes I hadn’t yet reviewed in my LJ, but whoever told me that it would be boring to review old episodes that everyone’s seen long ago was probably right (?).
Not to disparage whomever it was that told you that, if this were true then ‘s Angel Oddyssey would have been wasted effort. I think we can agree this was not the case.
I always think of S1 Angel as almost being a little more like Buffy (gathers a circle of friends, fights with established institutions — the law, the police — even has the promise of a normal life at the end with the shanshu) than Angel, if that makes any sense.
It hadn’t yet “found itself” as a show. But I think they were trying to break the Buffy mold as well.
First off, they were trying to be a big stand-alone-episodes show in season 1, get away from the arcyness of Buffy. That’s a laugh! Seasons 2, 3, and 4 of Angel shown brightly when they just gave into “turgid supernatural soap-opera” arcyness.
Second off, though they had a “big bad”, Angel didn’t defeat the Big Bad at the end of the season, unlike BtVS. That gave the show an edge BtVS didn’t have, ‘coz, Angel didn’t defeat W&H or Darla in Season 2, nor did he really defeat Holtz in Season 3.
It’s interesting to think of you as an Angel nay-sayer. I always think of AtS as Faith’s show, rather than BtVS, even though she spent more time over on BtVS.
Well, thank you both for slandering me.
My recollection is that Masq was worried that reviewing old episodes might bore her readers, and that my response was a more polite “Don’t be silly.” I don’t think anyone who knows me would suggest that it is even in my nature to ever discourage anyone from writing anything he or she might want.
Re: Angel Episodes 1-10
I loved “City Of…” in one hour, “Angel” became my favorite show and “BtVS” was second fiddle.
Lonely Hearts, “How many times can we squeeze the word ‘connection’ into one script??”
In the Dark: I still love Spike’s speech, even though the irony of it is blazing now. He became everything he condemned Angel for.
Oz: “Man, you’re REALLY white.”
One of the most pointless and un-funny lines ever. And repeating it? Huh?
I liked “I Fall to Pieces”. An episode that actually gets the politics and psychology of the stalker and the stalkee right.
Rm w/ A View – entirely skippable, IMO. Except for introducing Phantom Dennis (can we bring him back in Season 6?). Cordelia, out of character at the end there before she refound her inner bitch.
“Bachelor Party”, also skippable except for giving us long-promise Doyle back story.
IWRY – I liked it back then. And Angel’s patronizing-ness was so in character. I also *liked* the Oracles, and the expansion of Angel’s mythology with the PTBs.
Hero – I do like the heroic send-off they gave a character they were writing out. Very few get to go the way Doyle did.
And am I the only human in the universe who likes “She”?
Expecting was neither here nor there; whatever…. except in retrospect, Cordelia’s season 2 complaint about someone always trying to impregnate her with their demon spawn becomes her epitath.
Hmmm… that’s not the way I remember it, but perhaps I was thinking of a conversation with someone else.
I in no way wanted to slander you! ; )
I thought of cut-tagging it, but only for the avoidance-of-spoiler reasons, which seemed unnecessary.
Maybe I’ll go into even *more* detail in my next AtS review, to give people food for thought. And then I’ll cut-tag it for length! ; )
Ummm…I qouted what Masq wrote, and in my reply referred to ‘whomever’ said it, intending to imply that I wasn’t making any guesses. I apologize. I certainly didn’t intend to slander anyone.
[eats foot for dinner, yet again]
One of the things that made TCH’s review so special (other than TCH’s astute perspective) that I cannot duplicate here is that he was seeing all these episodes for the first time, and so reading his reviews was like watching it all over again for the first time.
I love being able to watch favorite shows with newbies. You get to see them through fresh eyes again. Not to mention the glee you feel as favorite parts approach and you wait to see their reaction.
In the present case, however, you just get my jaded, utterly spoiled re-hashing.
Re: Are you the bad slayer now? Am I the good slayer now?
Definitely agreed. I actually think the S3 arc was better than a lot of the arcs that were on Buffy
I love the season 3 arc, but then I loved the pregnant Darla story line, adored Holtz as a villian, and of course, was completely enamored of Connor from the moment he was born.
so it was a shame Angel S4 had to dial it back down to standalones….
Were we watching the same show? Season 4 was nothing *but* arc. From the first ep to the last. It did so poorly in the ratings *because* a newbie couldn’t leap in and hope to follow it.
As for Faith, yes, I think of “AtS” as her show because she found herself on AtS. Angel did much better with her than he did with people he cared more about–Buffy, Connor. She found the strength to go to prison and begin the work of redemption, and through “Salvage”-ing Angel in S. 4, she found her inner hero enough to be of help back on BtVS.
Faith had a great run through both shows.
I, too, also always wondered what became of Kate. I’d write little fan-fic scenarios in my head where she somehow got back into police work. But yeah, she probably had to move into another, related field. But only because the cops of L.A. are so *deeply stupid* about what lurks in their city.
Although, come to think of it, didn’t W&H “own” the cops? Maybe they kept them ignorant for a reason.
Re: just aimless babbling
Darla’s not so much the love of Angel’s life as she is “the first wife” with all that implies–she is the carrier of baggage, she is the love-interest who had the most influence on who he is now, she is the mother of his child, she is so *many* archetypal things to Angel–wife, mommy, mentor, yada, yada, yada.
And Buffy becomes the younger woman he “dumped” her for. We get that vibe in both the episode “Angel” and the episode “Dear Boy”.
And yet that perhaps Angel loved Buffy more (not in the least because he was capable of the emotion where Angelus wasn’t), Darla will always *mean* more to him and his (un) life.
I adore Angel(us)/Darla. Absolutely adore them.
I Will Remember You doesn’t go down as well as it used to. Of course, at the time, I was still a Buffy/Angel ‘shipper, and I found the idea of Angel getting to have the one (or two?) thing(s) he could never have very romantic.
It’s weird isn’t it? I had the same reaction. I loved IWRY when it first aired, cried with it. Was frustrated with it. But I was also into the B/A romance back then – this was way before Afterlife
in S6 of BTVs and Dear Boy/Darla in Season 2 of
Angel, where I discovered far more interesting
and painful romances. And maybe I was just a different person back then (shrugs)?
But I can barely watch IWRY now without rolling my eyes at the sappiness. And it just doesn’t work for me. My favorite episodes of Angel now? Are all after
Wes’ arrival – starting with Sonmabulist, Five by Five, Darla, Dear Boy, and like you I couldn’t see Wes working on the show or Darla for that matter.
Yet those two characters were amongst the richest and most interesting of the series. If anyone had told me way back in 1999-2000 that Wes would eventually become one of my favorite characters, I would have laughed.
What makes Wes so interesting is how wide and complex his arc is. He starts out geeky and becomes
ruthless and almost Ripperish towards the end, yet it’s all there in him. All in character. The story is pulled from his character and evolves his character psychologically and emotionally at the same time, very few tv shows manage that. Most just
create new adventure stories with the characters staying more or less the same throughout with minor changes. Whedon took the risk of deconstructing and reconstructing characters, pulling them apart and turning them inside out and making the story come
from that. Interesting process to watch, if emotionally grueling at times.
Of the episodes I reviewed here, IWRY is still my second favorite. I think it’s less for the B/A romantic aspects than the introduction of the Oracles and the early exploration of Angel’s relationship with the PTBs.
I also like the exploration of Buffy and Angel’s relationship outside of the sappy sexual stuff.
Parting Gifts is third for the introduction of Wesley. He was one of the best things to happen to the series.
Most of the best eps of Season 1 are in the second half, not the first, so my ratings don’t mean much. Also, most of the best episodes of the series aren’t in Season 1.
Re: just aimless babbling
I think Buffy/Angel is the OTP of her show, and Darla/Angel(us) the OTP of his
Oh! At least you didn’t try to say it was B/S on BtVS and A/D on AtS. B/S was way too messed up (in a good way) to be an OTP of the show.
the Darla arc in S2 is just shattering, moreso, I’d argue, than anything he went through with Buffy (well, there was that thousand years in hell, but still….). It’s interesting to compare “Becoming 1/2” and “The Trial” — Angel wins the right to save Darla, but he still can’t help her, while Buffy has to kill Angel right after he’s restored. I like the parallels.
Oooh, I like the comparison. In some ways, Buffy is the thing that did save Angel, brought him out of the gutter and put him on the Champion track. Angel wanted to do the same for Darla. I think he succeeded, or was on the verge of succeeding, before Lindsey interfered. If Darla was indeed saved in the end, it was by the accidental act of grace of mothering Connor.
Angel *did* return the savior-favor of Buffy, however, with Faith.
Re: Are you the bad slayer now? Am I the good slayer now?
How can I forget Justine??
Cranky, attitude-y and hot, just the way I like’m.
Much to love in Season 3. But some of the worse stand-alones of the series, too!
I just finished watching Season 1, and am starting on Season 2, so your reviews are timely and interesting. I agree with you on IWRY; I am way down deep still a Buffy/Angel ‘shipper, although I’m not totally invested in the relationship. I know it is a bit sappy in parts, but I still cry at the end. I like the foreshadowing: Angel is making decisions for others, without consulting them. He is a bit paternal in that regard (Daddy knows best), and that little character flaw follows him throughout the series.
I think Wesley’s addition to the cast was probably the most brilliant casting decision, and the fact that he is still recognizably Wesley throughout the series from first entry to last, is simply amazing character development.
Really enjoying this, Masq. Good way to bridge the gap between the end of Season 5, and all the greatness waiting for us in Season 6.
I did this to prepare for Season 6, buty truthfully, I’ve been meaning to re-watch these DVDs for a while now. I got both the Season 2 and the Season 3 set and haven’t even watched them yet! Mostly because I was very pessimistic about the show after the end of Season 4 and wanted to see how Season 5 came out before I re-watched (after all, the memory wipe at the end of Season 4 made Season 3 AND 4 seem moot.)
Now I can watch it all and enjoy it again. So I am. So many things I need to research this for, the Season 6 project, some essays I’m working on…. Fandom is hard work!
Actually, Angel was my LEAST favorite character on Buffy (just because of his acting; I think DB improved immeasurably on AtS)…
Heh, me too, who’da thunk that they could have done something so good with those characters, Cordy when from being severely annoying to one of my faves…
But back to Angel/DB… In season 3, when I started watching BTVS, Angel was a big wuss and the B/A was so nauseatingly romantic, what with the no sex and all* and so I was just like, “just leave Angel, you suck, stop hanging around whining about how you’re leaving”.
When AtS started, I was working Weds nights and so I kept missing eps, it wasn’t until late season two that I started watching on a semi-regular basis, and by then so much had happened that I went back and watched season one. So I’ seen all of BTVS season 4 with the disaster that was Riley, urk, and missed IWRY, and when I finally saw it it was a revelation. But yeah, Buffy and Angel always were horribly soppy, so no surprise about the sappy bedroom scenes.
*Of course, the bit where Angel feeds of Buffy in Graduation is just about sexy enough to make up for the rest of that series.
Re: Are you the bad slayer now? Am I the good slayer now?
Not to worry; you’re among friends.
Yep, I think seeing IWRY helped me understand how Angel was feeling when he crossed over to BTVS afterwards, especially when buffy’s with army boy.
Angel is all about renunciation
Absolutely.
Oh LORD yes. First time I saw that I was like “….hell, they allowed that to be put on TV?” I was surprised my television didn’t melt….
Yep, just watched it 3 nights ago, and ye gods! And there’s a lapping sound under the music that I’m sure I never noticed before – also watched in with new flatmate who I don’t really know yet and that was kinda interesting in the should I be feeling uncomfortable at sharing this experience sense of unconfortable. (He’s one of those people who stopped watching btvs after season 3, so I guess we can call it bonding)
Re: just aimless babbling
I do think SMG/JM had more chemistry than SMG/DB, tho.
Maybe I have a permanent mental block, but I just never saw that chemistry, beyond the mutual enemies thing. I always dug Spike/Dru.
Whoo! What’d he think of it?
He didn’t comment on the incredible sexiness if that’s what you mean…
Hmm, I guess you had to watch Buffy/Angel from the beginning to get what a great character Angel was. Granted, he always looked a bit bad in Buffy’s shadow, but his whole story–his mysterious past, the way it was laid bare and wrenching during the Angelus part of season 2, that all made me love him.
He sort of became peripheral in season 3, but I was still a B/A ‘shipper and rooting for them to find a way to stay together. I didn’t know what ME had planned–his own show.
I suppose if you didn’t see the depths I saw in Angel from the 7th episode of season 1, you couldn’t imagine him carrying his own show. But I was delighted.
The drinking scene in G2
One of the most erotic scenes in Buffy. While I find the dancing scene in Bad Girls sexier, I wouldn’t call it “erotic” like that scene where Angel drinks from Buffy.
Re: just aimless babbling
The interesting thing about “Something Blue” was that the idea of Buffy and Spike together at that point was so absurd as to make the episode giggle- and yak-worthy. This despite the fact that one of the sexiest scenes on the show was Spike stalking her in the Bronze in “School Hard”. You’d just come to think of them as bitter enemies, and the idea of them as moony fiances was ridiculous.
They had to build up the concept of Buffy/Spike very gradually and very differently.
Oh, he’d seen season 3 already.., he’s one of those people who stopped watching when it (a) changed timeslots and (b) started having more story arcs which required knowledge of previous eps.
He watched Earshot with me too, and liked that, I even made my non-buffy flatmate stay and watch the “You had sex with Giles! On a police car! Twice!” bit.
Also, Faith is his fave character, so there ya go
Re: The drinking scene in G2
Not that I’d find vampires kinda sexy in general, nope, not me 😉
The very early eps of season 3 BtVS, or season 1 Angel?
Also, Faith is his fave character, so there ya go
Naturally!
Re: The drinking scene in G2
Well, let’s see… eternally beautiful, the intimacy, pleasure and pain of the bite on neck or thigh… living a life without conscience or remorse….
And if you were never into sunshine and having children and dying of old age… well, of course it’s sexy!
DB displayed great visual acting skills with Angel
I suppose if you didn’t see the depths I saw in Angel from the 7th episode of season 1, you couldn’t imagine him carrying his own show. But I was delighted.
The introverted character of Angel requires a great visual actor (through body posture and facial expression)to allow the viewer to understand what is being communicated non-verbally. I often don’t find what DB does with his voice for Angel (except for Angelus) all that interesting; maybe it’s him and maybe it’s the character. Which ever doesn’t matter, it’s appropriate, but I can see that it could make understanding the character a real challenge for a lot of people.
I’m pretty good with reading people visually; although sometimes I have trouble with what people say – never mind email. Anyway, like you, I saw those same depths in the character right from Btvs S1 “Angel”. There really wasn’t a lot to go on before then.
he’s sort of a real shadowy man of mystery right at the v beginning of Buffy.
I rather liked that at the time. It was a mystery to uncover. And then when the truth came out in the ep “Angel”, it was really a stroke of genius. It seems so cliche now, the vampire slayer and her vampire thing, but at the time, it was tragic-romantic, alluring, especially after Angel went evil in season 2 and became a real threat.
They put him on the back burner in season 3, marking time in Buffy’s shadow. But he did some heroic things in that season, too, and of course, the sexy stuff like almost drinking her dry….
Why do I suspect if she’d died in “G2” she would have gone happy?
Re: Angel Episodes 1-10
And am I the only human in the universe who likes “She”?
No (although the “human” qualifier is debatable).
Every time “She” comes up in fandom conversation, I sit quietly and pretend to be invisible. People hate this episode with a passion. I kinda liked it. Never understood what makes everyone dislike it so much. Admitedly, I haven’t revisited it recently, so I couldn’t explain why I did enjoy it, but I remember being bored by “Expecting” right before it and having a much better time with this episode.
Re: Angel Episodes 1-10
Thanks for the support. I am about to watch it again here in my marathon, and maybe it’ll go down differently, but I like to support any attempt at an honest feminist episode, especially one where Angel hints he met Baudelaire.
See, folks I knew always suspected that in that moment where she crushed the metal pitcher and kicked the chair (or whatever it was), that she was having an orgasm.
I thought so too.
Some people at the time thought that Buffy was trying to push Angel off, but was too weak….yeah, right – so weak that she smashes the table and crushes a metal pitcher. Remember the French refer to an orgasm as “the little death”.
Other people complained that Angel should have only taken a little bit of blood, but the script has Oz saying that the cure requires the vampire to “drain the blood of a slayer”
Re: I thought so too.
People will always find something to complain about when they should just sit back and enjoy the macabre sexiness of it. Buffy chose to do what she did and came out of it fine.
Yeah, well….
I guess we all have those nasty taboos and external “shoulds” that weight heavily on us. You have to admire ME, they sure know how to scratch at the parts that make us uncomfortable.
It makes me laugh – look at how much ME accomodated the B/A ‘shippers needs. For a couple that wasn’t supposed to have sex after the first night (don’t know how many times) they sure got it on a lot. They had sex in Angel’s dream (Amends); it counts since they both experienced it as Buffy says in “technicolour”. They had kinky sex via the G2 vampire blood drinking thingy(even Spike didn’t get that). They had a nearly a day of sex in IWRY (lord knows how many times but enough to make Buffy “pleasantly numb”). Okay, Buffy didn’t remember the last day, but she could move on and Angel was the one in enforced celebacy. So if only one is to remember, Angel is the best choice.
Re: Yeah, well….
Now you got me wondering how many fanfics were generated by B/Aers who *had to have* Buffy remember that forgotten day.
*snerks*
Oh, I should talk! Hypocritical me. I almost committed fanfic myself in order to write a story where Connor remembered his old life after “Home”. Luckily, I got over the temptation, and ME eventually gave me “Origin”.
Isn’t all genuine fiction…
…about the psychological needs of the writer?
In that case we’re all hypocrits…so don’t worry! Hell is ever so much more interesting than heaven.