Angel.
Yesterday, Chris and I caught up with the three most recent episodes of Angel -- 'Smile Time', 'A Hole in the World' and 'Shells'.
This is where I note that I missed most of the middle of the season, okay? I saw the episode immediately after Spike returned, when he was still intangible. So 'meet the werewolf girl' was the last thing I saw before 'Smile Time'. I understand that this is a rather large gap, but for the most part, I've been filled in on what I missed. I'll see the episodes when the DVDs come out. (Hey, at this point, we're running so close that it's worth waiting.)
'Smile Time' was hysterical. It was also beautifully metaphorical -- you poke the big glowing thing, you become a puppet. Gee. You make deals and take over the law firm o' evil, and you become a puppet. In a way, it was a big honkin' club of symbolism, but the episode was good enough that it really didn't matter. Also, wee little puppet man.
Chris pointed out that Lorne heard the Jim Henson-guy singing, and didn't twig to anything. I say that Lorne was trying to read the puppeted man and thus didn't get the puppet's bad thoughts, but I'll admit that I'm sort of reaching with that. Opinions?
I love love loved the songs they wrote for the Smile Time show -- they really sounded like the sort of things you run into on kiddie-edutainment programs, and that was wonderful. And Spike calling Angel on the wee little puppet man thing! Bwehee! It's hard for me to find anything specific to babble about in this episode, because the whole thing pretty much kept me in a state of giggling madly. As a method of setting up the rest of the season, this was brilliant.
(I commented to Chris, right about the time we saw the 'Don't' sign, that this felt very much like an episode of The Tick to me. Given the author, this is perhaps unsurprising. But I'd pay to see Angel deliver the 'He stands...' speech.)
The set up for Gunn bringing about Fred's eventual death was beautifully done. I adore the fact that on this show, such bargains do have their downsides. (See also my rant about 'Chosen'.) It was subtle, and it could easily have been dropped. Yet it was hugely important, for all that they very nearly hid it in the middle of an episode with a different sort of focus. Beautiful.
'A Hole in the World'...mmmm. I'm more in ohimesamamama's camp than stakebait's on this one: I actually really like Fred, although this is at least in part due to my ability to be fond of characters on basis of character, not how people sometimes write them. Expect an entry about this at some point in the near future.
Seeing Fred happy because she was finally with Wesley was lovely. And then, when she started to sing, and Lorne whipped around, the hurting began. The coughing blood...I liked that as an immediate 'something is wrong', but frankly, they could have done that just as well by just having her collapse down the stairs (a beautifully boneless fall). I don't like that she coughed blood once, and then became passively, splotchily ill without oozing. Maybe I'm perverse that way.
The whole episode hurt. Watching Fred try to deny what was happening to her; the cavemen versus the astronauts; Wesley holding her, knowing she was leaving him, knowing that they always leave him. Poor guy's as bad as Xander for killing the girls he cares about.
Although I loved the plaintiveness of 'why can't I stay?', I almost wish Fred's last words had been 'cavemen win'. Cavemen win because we can't stop them, and because we are them. Eventually, astronauts become cavemen again, if they fall far enough. Technology has too many parts that can be broken.
I can't blame Illyria for taking Fred, and it sort of bothers me that Angel and Spike are blaming her. Wesley, I understand, but Illyria had nothing to do with choosing her vessel; she wasn't aware that she was taking a shell until she awoke inside of it. Yes, she's arrogant and alien and strange, but she didn't select Fred, she didn't target her or select her from a panel of options. Illyria didn't even ask to wake up. In a weird way, she's innocent in all of this.
Oh, her face when she saw her kingdom. I felt so bad for her. And the whole end of 'Shells'...ow.
More later, I'm sure, including thoughts on Harmony. But for now: ouch.
New episodes now, please?
This is where I note that I missed most of the middle of the season, okay? I saw the episode immediately after Spike returned, when he was still intangible. So 'meet the werewolf girl' was the last thing I saw before 'Smile Time'. I understand that this is a rather large gap, but for the most part, I've been filled in on what I missed. I'll see the episodes when the DVDs come out. (Hey, at this point, we're running so close that it's worth waiting.)
'Smile Time' was hysterical. It was also beautifully metaphorical -- you poke the big glowing thing, you become a puppet. Gee. You make deals and take over the law firm o' evil, and you become a puppet. In a way, it was a big honkin' club of symbolism, but the episode was good enough that it really didn't matter. Also, wee little puppet man.
Chris pointed out that Lorne heard the Jim Henson-guy singing, and didn't twig to anything. I say that Lorne was trying to read the puppeted man and thus didn't get the puppet's bad thoughts, but I'll admit that I'm sort of reaching with that. Opinions?
I love love loved the songs they wrote for the Smile Time show -- they really sounded like the sort of things you run into on kiddie-edutainment programs, and that was wonderful. And Spike calling Angel on the wee little puppet man thing! Bwehee! It's hard for me to find anything specific to babble about in this episode, because the whole thing pretty much kept me in a state of giggling madly. As a method of setting up the rest of the season, this was brilliant.
(I commented to Chris, right about the time we saw the 'Don't' sign, that this felt very much like an episode of The Tick to me. Given the author, this is perhaps unsurprising. But I'd pay to see Angel deliver the 'He stands...' speech.)
The set up for Gunn bringing about Fred's eventual death was beautifully done. I adore the fact that on this show, such bargains do have their downsides. (See also my rant about 'Chosen'.) It was subtle, and it could easily have been dropped. Yet it was hugely important, for all that they very nearly hid it in the middle of an episode with a different sort of focus. Beautiful.
'A Hole in the World'...mmmm. I'm more in ohimesamamama's camp than stakebait's on this one: I actually really like Fred, although this is at least in part due to my ability to be fond of characters on basis of character, not how people sometimes write them. Expect an entry about this at some point in the near future.
Seeing Fred happy because she was finally with Wesley was lovely. And then, when she started to sing, and Lorne whipped around, the hurting began. The coughing blood...I liked that as an immediate 'something is wrong', but frankly, they could have done that just as well by just having her collapse down the stairs (a beautifully boneless fall). I don't like that she coughed blood once, and then became passively, splotchily ill without oozing. Maybe I'm perverse that way.
The whole episode hurt. Watching Fred try to deny what was happening to her; the cavemen versus the astronauts; Wesley holding her, knowing she was leaving him, knowing that they always leave him. Poor guy's as bad as Xander for killing the girls he cares about.
Although I loved the plaintiveness of 'why can't I stay?', I almost wish Fred's last words had been 'cavemen win'. Cavemen win because we can't stop them, and because we are them. Eventually, astronauts become cavemen again, if they fall far enough. Technology has too many parts that can be broken.
I can't blame Illyria for taking Fred, and it sort of bothers me that Angel and Spike are blaming her. Wesley, I understand, but Illyria had nothing to do with choosing her vessel; she wasn't aware that she was taking a shell until she awoke inside of it. Yes, she's arrogant and alien and strange, but she didn't select Fred, she didn't target her or select her from a panel of options. Illyria didn't even ask to wake up. In a weird way, she's innocent in all of this.
Oh, her face when she saw her kingdom. I felt so bad for her. And the whole end of 'Shells'...ow.
More later, I'm sure, including thoughts on Harmony. But for now: ouch.
New episodes now, please?