Birthday – Couplet
311 | Birthday
“So, let me get this straight: Angel gets the visions of people who are gonna die, and he tells you and you go out and slay and… this is how you make your living? This has got to be the suckiest job in the world.”
Andy: Everyone wants their own spinoff. I’m hanging out for “Connor: The early years.” Anyway it was a very interesting episode this week.
It was good to take the focus off Angel and Cordy is one of the more engaging characters. A couple of bad points though: the ‘on previous episodes’ bit gives clue to what will happen this week and gets annoying every week; Channel 7 put the voice over that is normally during the credits on over Cordy’s last speech with her guide (this is probably not Joss Whedon’s fault.); one fake dramatic bit is funny (Cordy’s speech) two in two minutes is lame (Wesley running in looking worried). Aside from these we see that Cordy is very much part of the group and has some new powers. I presume that vampire hunter from last week is biding his time until the end of the season.
Mattt: I liked the bit between Cordelia and Fred at the start. Skip kind of alternates between being funny and being irritating. I think Cordy is lucky she got to float instead of scales, and the alternate reality was nice and depressing.
Tom: I always enjoy ‘what if’ episodes, and this one was no exception. Cordy got a bit of a raw deal in her last one (being sucked dry by Xander and Willow in Buffy‘s ‘The Wish’), so it’s only fair that this time she gets to be famous and cool. Obviously the Powers that Be aren’t so good at rewriting history, ‘cos they missed that bit on the wall. Lucky. Skip was pretty cool, and I loved his explaining the Mall with reference to The Matrix. Other good things about this episode include: the flashbacks, the kiss, alt-Wes and Cordy talking about their kiss, and generally the (believable) revelation of how bad things would be for everyone if Cordelia hadn’t met up with Angel in “City of…”.
And the Half-Time Score…
Andy: Angel, unlike Buffy has been great from the get go. The episodes have consistently been stronger and more interesting with some great character insights. The larger range of characters in Angel than Buffy means more character interactions. The show does have a tendency to focus solely on Angel but that is understandable. I like the people on Angel more too. Angel feels like it has plenty of possible plots for the rest of the season.
Tom: There’s been a very high standard of television on Angel so far this year. Starting with a series of character based episodes and then showing a string of more arc-based stories where Angel gained a son, things have always seemed well-balanced. All the characters have recieved at least one episode focussing on their characters, and I hope this evenness lasts through the rest of the season. A bit more Wesley would be nice though… The introduction of Fred has worked well — once again the team on Angel show their deftness at creating new characters with both her and Daniel Holtz.
There have been a few problems though. Gavin Parke has proven himself to be a rather pathetic excuse for a character, as has Linwood — leaving Lilah the superior player on the dark side. If you’d suggested this to me last year I would have laughed. Lilah isn’t bad, but she lacks the, er, balls of Lindsey and Holland. Still, she’s gotten a bit to play with this year. I just hope she gets to win something soon, and prove her abilities. The death of Darla was a shock, although on retrospect it should not have been. It seems in all seasons of Angel, if you get to the ninth episode and your name has five letters and begins with ‘D’, you should run and hide.
312 | Provider
Andy: He he. How many people have died because of a wrong phone number? I hope Angel is feeling guilty. I’m impressed with
their paper quality. The ink doesn’t run and the paper doesn’t tear. Angel is rather gullible. If he wasn’t so greedy he might have
spotted the warning signs. He did try to save face at the
end though. He’s become mentally unstable since gaining a son.
Better watch out.
Tom: Ah, the moment we’ve all been waiting for — the first truly crap episode of Angel season three. Finally we have some decent stuff to bag the crap through — the lame plot, the greedy Angel who just doesn’t fit with the character we’ve seen before, the pathetic computer graphics on the demons’ iBook… I can’t be bothered mentioning all the pathetic aspects of this episode, so I’ll briefly mention the good bits — Angel and Cordy on the bed at the end, and Gunn and Wes getting all tense over Fred. And before I go, another word on the ‘Previously, on’ bits. Why go to the trouble of putting clips from “Birthday” at the start if you’ve got Cordelia basically explaining what happened inside the story anyway? Let’s please give the audience the benefit of the doubt, and only provide these recaps when they’re really needed.
313 | Waiting in the Wings
“I saw their production of Giselle in 1890 — cried like a baby. And I was evil!”
Tom: Not the kind of ‘event’ or gimmicky episode one might expect from Joss Whedon these days — just a solid one-off story. However, one of the things I like about Angel is that their one-off episodes tend to be very good, and this is no exception. Well realised tragedy/comedy monsters, a tragic plot, interesting fantasy ideas, ghosts, unrequited love… and getting to see everyone dress up for the ballet. Of course, neither of the couples that got together were the ones I wanted to in the end, but I suspect the jealousy will make for interesting watching in the weeks to come.
314 | Couplet
“Nobody in this office is ever going to get any.”
Andy: It was a good episode of Angel last night.
Angel is so much more interesting than Buffy. Angel has a very expressive face and he’s funny to watch to him being jealous. Gunn and Fred were a bit sappy but it was made up for by the conversation at the end with Wes. I loved Angel and Wes’ talk about Connor at the start. Cordy really doesn’t seem interested in Angel, especially with lines like “what woman could tempt you Angel” so he should give up hope. If Angel can keep this up it’s going to be a great season.
Tom: On paper, this weeks episode might look pretty average: a tree monster who meets food on the internet, the Angel/Groosallug rivalry, the paranormal prophylactic subplot… And yet it has some really good bits that raise it above mediocrity. Focussing on Angel’s jealousy both beneath and above the surface was a good idea — I was half expecting forty minutes of David Boreanaz being snitchy to the Groo, but they made his issues with him a little deeper, especially in the scene where Angel is forced to stand by helpless as the Groosallug fights off the demon that he couldn’t follow. Good on Wesley for noticing Angel’s pain, and telling him what he needed to hear. I would say that lines such as “what woman could tempt you Angel” seem to indicate that Cordy simply feels out of her depth romantically with him — especially considering the revelation that Angel and Darla had slept together, which we all remember affected her surprisingly strongly… Er, so there, Mr Andy.
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