Life of the Party
Ever since I started working on finishing an old Angel fic that I never posted the ending to, I've been concerned about writing the different characters' voices again. I haven't written them in so long that I thought maybe I needed a refresher, and because the fic is set at some ambiguous point during season five of Angel, I decided to rewatch a few episodes of that season just to get back into the right headspace. I sort of joined another fandom for the last eight years or so, and even though no fannish thing can ever come close to topping my love for Angel, I haven't rewatched the show regularly or anything in the meantime and so these first few episodes have been an absolute delight to come back to - it's been the exact perfect amount of time since I've seen them! Like, I remember the storylines of each episode but I'd forgotten most of the actual dialogue exchanges and facial expressions of the actors, and I swear coming back to them is like coming home. I'm remembering so many of the reasons I love this show and these characters so hard in the first place.
Today I started disc 2 of the season five boxset, which begins with the episode Life of the Party. It's the one where Lorne has his sleep removed and because he's an empath demon, that makes his subconscious manifest physically as a sort of King Kong-type violent alternate version of himself. Which is... apparently what happens when you remove an empath demon's sleep? Just go with it. (Btw, this is the type of logic I love in this show. "Hey, we as the writers want to see a certain thing happen just for fun, so here's a completely arbitrary new rule of the universe!" Which is pretty much exactly my standard approach to writing Angel fanfic and probably why this source material lends itself so easily to creative derivations.)
Anyway, I just loved so many of the character moments in this episode that I wanted to jot down a couple of notes about it, mostly for myself to keep in mind while I've got these people all living in my head for fanfic purposes.
So I know this is a Lorne-centric episode, and believe me I love Lorne, but I really think Wesley is the standout character here. Alexis Denisof's in-character drunk acting is so good! The thing where he's completely wasted but acting like he's not. It's so realistic! And he's just incredibly sweet in this episode. At least, to everyone but Knox. I love season five Wesley so much (pre-Lineage) because without his memories of what happened with Connor, his temperament is much more like the way he was in the first three seasons - which is to say, he's interested in/fascinated by the mystical things they encounter but without the dark cloud of doom hanging over him, and he's polite and thoughtful without being resentful or depressed (well, not as depressed as he was, anyway) and he's back to quietly loving his friends without being burdened by the way they treated him the previous season. BUT. He's still season four hot! And season four confident in himself, which I love. Have I ever mentioned that Wesley's my favorite male character after Angel? I mean gosh, I love all of them but Wesley has always felt like he has the most layers. Like some kind of delicious but heartbreaking lasagna.
Anyway, the way he looks after his friends in this episode while trying not to be drunk is so adorable. One of my favorite Wesley moments happens in the background of the scene where they're talking to naked Angel and Eve behind the couch. It's just this two-second throwaway bit where Gunn starts peeing in Angel's office and Wesley tries to stop him.
There's not any dialogue between them here, but the way Wesley hurries over and is clearly just reminding Gunn that this isn't something he actually wants to do is just so funny and sweet. He's trying to look after his friend! It's even cuter that Gunn is the sober one here but Wes still feels responsible for him. And he does the same thing with Fred. A demon at the party bumps into her and she immediately turns and picks a fight with him while Wesley gently pulls her away.
I think it's actually pretty telling that in this scene, Fred is yelling at the demon, "You walk alone! You walk alone!" with the implication being that she isn't walking alone because she's got her friend there with her, a friend whom she trusts to back her up if the confrontation came to blows. And meanwhile that friend is protecting her by removing her from the situation altogether.
More on Alexis Denisof's acting: the speed with which he's able to go from pure joy, thinking Fred finally understands his feelings for her -
to the tragedy of realizing she's not thinking of him the same way at all -
is just so beautiful and heartbreaking. How is this man able to pull off everything about his character so perfectly? There is no emotion that Wesley doesn't experience at some point in his incredible arc, and every little expression and line delivery is spot-on every single time. I believed all of it, which is why it's so hard for me to watch now. Knowing what he goes through.
So! Wesley stole the show. Moving on to important matters, why doesn't Angel have armpit hair? I've always wondered.
Is the idea that he just doesn't grow any? Or are we supposed to believe he's shaved it off? My impression is that we're supposed to think he naturally doesn't grow chest hair (which is such a weird standard for male actors, btw. What's supposed to be wrong with having chest hair? I think it's sexy) but are we supposed to think Angel's completely hairless below the eyebrows? I know it's not important to the show, but in terms of fanfic, I always give Angel armpit hair. I mean not like big bushy weird hair, but a respectable tuft. Pubes too. And I do the same for Spike even though he appeared bizarrely hairless in the previous episode. They were supposed to be in their twenties when they were made vampires, right? Guys in their twenties have pit hair. Does vampire body hair fall out????
Also, Eve slapped Angel's butt...
...and he didn't hate it. Filing that one away for later.
Another Angel moment from this episode that I find really interesting is that when Eve shows up in his apartment and he comes out of the shower naked, he doesn't cover himself. I think I used to believe that it was indicative of a sort of exhibitionist streak, but on this rewatch, it absolutely came across as simply a power move. There wasn't anything sexy about it really, aside from the fact that he's a physically attractive person, although I do think we're supposed to detect some sexual tension between Angel and Eve while he's standing in front of her naked (which, when combined with their conversation about Angel needing a release, is setting up the later scene of Lorne telling them to 'get a room' because of that so-called tension). I never really felt any sexual tension between those two characters, though. Ehhh, well she did give him a look, but Angel so clearly despises her that it's difficult to detect any attraction on his part at all. And standing naked in front of her without bothering to cover himself is like saying, 'I don't think you deserve the respect that I would offer literally anyone else. You're nothing.' In fact, it very much reminds me of the way Angelus would fool around with Drusilla in front of Spike. That, of course, has always been a lot sexier because of the tension between those characters, but at the same time it was definitely always more about power than about being turned on by being watched. (Though I suppose an argument could be made that the power is what turns him on in the first place, which is quite often an aspect of the Angel I write in fanfic, but that's still not exactly the same as having an exhibitionist streak. Which incidentally is also an aspect of my fic Angel.) Angelus was making it clear that he had no respect for Spike as a person. And Angel has no respect for Eve.
In fact! It just occurred to me that Angel is naked in front of the entire cast in this episode and he hides his nudity from ALL of the other characters, including Archduke Sebassis. But not Eve.
Moving right along, what is Spike's face here?
Hahaha, sorry, I get that Spike's whole thing in this episode is that he's supposed to be enjoying everything a lot more than he usually would, and this is him enjoying the dance beat of the music being played at the party... but who makes this face when they're listening to music? It just struck me as a really funny acting choice. I mean it definitely feels in-character for Spike as far as his usual facial expressions for different things, but I'm just trying to picture anyone making their mouth go like that in real life because they like a song. I like that this is his happy face though. It's so weird and interesting. James does so much facial acting as Spike and I think that's important to remember when trying to write him in fic.
Also! I didn't screencap this but Angel and Spike have a brief exchange in which they each acknowledge the other's aversion to parties/crowds. I find that to be pretty interesting because for some reason I always remember that Angel doesn't like being around a lot of people, but I never remember that about Spike. I think maybe that's because Angel likes to be - specifically - alone, while Spike does seem to like having at least one person for company. Like in the previous episode, Hellbound, when he's scared he even seeks out Angel's company rather than having to be by himself. But there's a big difference between wanting someone to talk to and wanting to be at a party.
Oh, and another Spike thing that I had forgotten about: he makes a comment in this episode about how no self-respecting demon would actually go out on Halloween, that they leave that to the posers. That's a sentiment that's been repeated in this universe before, but I find it interesting that Spike subscribes to that line of thinking, because it indicates that he has some respect for traditional demonic/vampiric values. I always think of his character as being one that bucks against the system in every way that he can, even breaking rules specifically for the sake of breaking them, but here we see a side of him that is disgusted with other creatures of the night for not respecting tradition. Kinda makes him sound old, like he wants to tell them to get off his lawn.
Okay, gonna finish off with the most important thing from this episode: After Angel delegates some tasks to Wesley, Fred, and Gunn, he then tells Eve to stay in the office with him and have more sex. Perfectly understandable (they did establish that he needed a release, after all). BUT. When Archduke Sebassis bursts into Angel's office later, we find Spike and Lorne still there, sitting like this, apparently having a conversation and startled to be interrupted by the door crashing open.
And then Angel and Eve pop up from behind the couch again, where they'd apparently been having more sex, as Angel had suggested. The couch in the same office where Spike and Lorne are just chilling. Like a few feet away. Enjoying each other's company. While Angel has sex in the same room.
???!
I... I mean I get that for the purposes of the scene, it's convenient to have Spike and Lorne present when Sebassis confronts Angel. But we're supposed to believe that Angel and Eve announce their intention to continue fucking behind the couch and Spike and Lorne are just like, okay cool whatever, and they settle in for a moment of bonding five feet away? Listening to the sex?? This is after they already know that Lorne is controlling everyone too, but Lorne doesn't even attempt to stop Angel and Eve from continuing their tryst, even knowing they're only doing it because of him. Like he could have just said, "Hey y'all can stop now" but... it doesn't even occur to him. And literally no one is bothered about any of this except Archduke Sebassis, who tells Angel to get dressed.
Fascinating.
Today I started disc 2 of the season five boxset, which begins with the episode Life of the Party. It's the one where Lorne has his sleep removed and because he's an empath demon, that makes his subconscious manifest physically as a sort of King Kong-type violent alternate version of himself. Which is... apparently what happens when you remove an empath demon's sleep? Just go with it. (Btw, this is the type of logic I love in this show. "Hey, we as the writers want to see a certain thing happen just for fun, so here's a completely arbitrary new rule of the universe!" Which is pretty much exactly my standard approach to writing Angel fanfic and probably why this source material lends itself so easily to creative derivations.)
Anyway, I just loved so many of the character moments in this episode that I wanted to jot down a couple of notes about it, mostly for myself to keep in mind while I've got these people all living in my head for fanfic purposes.
So I know this is a Lorne-centric episode, and believe me I love Lorne, but I really think Wesley is the standout character here. Alexis Denisof's in-character drunk acting is so good! The thing where he's completely wasted but acting like he's not. It's so realistic! And he's just incredibly sweet in this episode. At least, to everyone but Knox. I love season five Wesley so much (pre-Lineage) because without his memories of what happened with Connor, his temperament is much more like the way he was in the first three seasons - which is to say, he's interested in/fascinated by the mystical things they encounter but without the dark cloud of doom hanging over him, and he's polite and thoughtful without being resentful or depressed (well, not as depressed as he was, anyway) and he's back to quietly loving his friends without being burdened by the way they treated him the previous season. BUT. He's still season four hot! And season four confident in himself, which I love. Have I ever mentioned that Wesley's my favorite male character after Angel? I mean gosh, I love all of them but Wesley has always felt like he has the most layers. Like some kind of delicious but heartbreaking lasagna.
Anyway, the way he looks after his friends in this episode while trying not to be drunk is so adorable. One of my favorite Wesley moments happens in the background of the scene where they're talking to naked Angel and Eve behind the couch. It's just this two-second throwaway bit where Gunn starts peeing in Angel's office and Wesley tries to stop him.
There's not any dialogue between them here, but the way Wesley hurries over and is clearly just reminding Gunn that this isn't something he actually wants to do is just so funny and sweet. He's trying to look after his friend! It's even cuter that Gunn is the sober one here but Wes still feels responsible for him. And he does the same thing with Fred. A demon at the party bumps into her and she immediately turns and picks a fight with him while Wesley gently pulls her away.
I think it's actually pretty telling that in this scene, Fred is yelling at the demon, "You walk alone! You walk alone!" with the implication being that she isn't walking alone because she's got her friend there with her, a friend whom she trusts to back her up if the confrontation came to blows. And meanwhile that friend is protecting her by removing her from the situation altogether.
More on Alexis Denisof's acting: the speed with which he's able to go from pure joy, thinking Fred finally understands his feelings for her -
to the tragedy of realizing she's not thinking of him the same way at all -
is just so beautiful and heartbreaking. How is this man able to pull off everything about his character so perfectly? There is no emotion that Wesley doesn't experience at some point in his incredible arc, and every little expression and line delivery is spot-on every single time. I believed all of it, which is why it's so hard for me to watch now. Knowing what he goes through.
So! Wesley stole the show. Moving on to important matters, why doesn't Angel have armpit hair? I've always wondered.
Is the idea that he just doesn't grow any? Or are we supposed to believe he's shaved it off? My impression is that we're supposed to think he naturally doesn't grow chest hair (which is such a weird standard for male actors, btw. What's supposed to be wrong with having chest hair? I think it's sexy) but are we supposed to think Angel's completely hairless below the eyebrows? I know it's not important to the show, but in terms of fanfic, I always give Angel armpit hair. I mean not like big bushy weird hair, but a respectable tuft. Pubes too. And I do the same for Spike even though he appeared bizarrely hairless in the previous episode. They were supposed to be in their twenties when they were made vampires, right? Guys in their twenties have pit hair. Does vampire body hair fall out????
Also, Eve slapped Angel's butt...
...and he didn't hate it. Filing that one away for later.
Another Angel moment from this episode that I find really interesting is that when Eve shows up in his apartment and he comes out of the shower naked, he doesn't cover himself. I think I used to believe that it was indicative of a sort of exhibitionist streak, but on this rewatch, it absolutely came across as simply a power move. There wasn't anything sexy about it really, aside from the fact that he's a physically attractive person, although I do think we're supposed to detect some sexual tension between Angel and Eve while he's standing in front of her naked (which, when combined with their conversation about Angel needing a release, is setting up the later scene of Lorne telling them to 'get a room' because of that so-called tension). I never really felt any sexual tension between those two characters, though. Ehhh, well she did give him a look, but Angel so clearly despises her that it's difficult to detect any attraction on his part at all. And standing naked in front of her without bothering to cover himself is like saying, 'I don't think you deserve the respect that I would offer literally anyone else. You're nothing.' In fact, it very much reminds me of the way Angelus would fool around with Drusilla in front of Spike. That, of course, has always been a lot sexier because of the tension between those characters, but at the same time it was definitely always more about power than about being turned on by being watched. (Though I suppose an argument could be made that the power is what turns him on in the first place, which is quite often an aspect of the Angel I write in fanfic, but that's still not exactly the same as having an exhibitionist streak. Which incidentally is also an aspect of my fic Angel.) Angelus was making it clear that he had no respect for Spike as a person. And Angel has no respect for Eve.
In fact! It just occurred to me that Angel is naked in front of the entire cast in this episode and he hides his nudity from ALL of the other characters, including Archduke Sebassis. But not Eve.
Moving right along, what is Spike's face here?
Hahaha, sorry, I get that Spike's whole thing in this episode is that he's supposed to be enjoying everything a lot more than he usually would, and this is him enjoying the dance beat of the music being played at the party... but who makes this face when they're listening to music? It just struck me as a really funny acting choice. I mean it definitely feels in-character for Spike as far as his usual facial expressions for different things, but I'm just trying to picture anyone making their mouth go like that in real life because they like a song. I like that this is his happy face though. It's so weird and interesting. James does so much facial acting as Spike and I think that's important to remember when trying to write him in fic.
Also! I didn't screencap this but Angel and Spike have a brief exchange in which they each acknowledge the other's aversion to parties/crowds. I find that to be pretty interesting because for some reason I always remember that Angel doesn't like being around a lot of people, but I never remember that about Spike. I think maybe that's because Angel likes to be - specifically - alone, while Spike does seem to like having at least one person for company. Like in the previous episode, Hellbound, when he's scared he even seeks out Angel's company rather than having to be by himself. But there's a big difference between wanting someone to talk to and wanting to be at a party.
Oh, and another Spike thing that I had forgotten about: he makes a comment in this episode about how no self-respecting demon would actually go out on Halloween, that they leave that to the posers. That's a sentiment that's been repeated in this universe before, but I find it interesting that Spike subscribes to that line of thinking, because it indicates that he has some respect for traditional demonic/vampiric values. I always think of his character as being one that bucks against the system in every way that he can, even breaking rules specifically for the sake of breaking them, but here we see a side of him that is disgusted with other creatures of the night for not respecting tradition. Kinda makes him sound old, like he wants to tell them to get off his lawn.
Okay, gonna finish off with the most important thing from this episode: After Angel delegates some tasks to Wesley, Fred, and Gunn, he then tells Eve to stay in the office with him and have more sex. Perfectly understandable (they did establish that he needed a release, after all). BUT. When Archduke Sebassis bursts into Angel's office later, we find Spike and Lorne still there, sitting like this, apparently having a conversation and startled to be interrupted by the door crashing open.
And then Angel and Eve pop up from behind the couch again, where they'd apparently been having more sex, as Angel had suggested. The couch in the same office where Spike and Lorne are just chilling. Like a few feet away. Enjoying each other's company. While Angel has sex in the same room.
???!
I... I mean I get that for the purposes of the scene, it's convenient to have Spike and Lorne present when Sebassis confronts Angel. But we're supposed to believe that Angel and Eve announce their intention to continue fucking behind the couch and Spike and Lorne are just like, okay cool whatever, and they settle in for a moment of bonding five feet away? Listening to the sex?? This is after they already know that Lorne is controlling everyone too, but Lorne doesn't even attempt to stop Angel and Eve from continuing their tryst, even knowing they're only doing it because of him. Like he could have just said, "Hey y'all can stop now" but... it doesn't even occur to him. And literally no one is bothered about any of this except Archduke Sebassis, who tells Angel to get dressed.
Fascinating.