Angel - Season 1 impressions (episode 3)

[thalia_seawood]

Today I was in an extremely cranky mood. Started to work at 7.30 and I'm emphatically not a morning person. I fully come awake in the evening hours. 10pm, 11pm, midnight, 1am, 2am - hey, I'm fully active. Ready to think and plot and plan. (Back at school, I sometimes slept in the afternoon after school and then did my homework in the early morning hours.)

At 8.00 am I felt like I was getting somewhere with a problem I was trying to solve - and then four of my collegues burst in and made a lot of noise and tried to *talk* to me! In the morning! Before 9 am. The nerve!

Plus there was so much stuff to do and I was tired and not that hungry so I ended up working 10 hours straight. No break, no food. Silly me. I just forgot about lunch and then I was stuck in a training.

So I was Miss Crankiness of Snark Mountains today. Thank heavens, there's Angel. Watching In the Dark cheered me up all right. Especially when I nearly suffocated on my pasta because I thought eating while watching Spike's antics would be a good idea.

Enough of the whining. Here's my take on In the Dark.


Spike's entrance scene was shiny. If I'd known it would crack me up, I would not have eaten my pasta while watching it, but alas... Anyway, here's quotage, because this scene rocks. It's the way, Spike times his playback comments for the rescue scene and the way he delivers his lines.

Spike in high voice: “How can I thank you, you mysterious, black-clad hunk of a night thing? (low voice) No need, little lady, your tears of gratitude are enough for me. You see, I was once a badass vampire, but love and a pesky curse defanged me. Now I’m just a big, fluffy puppy with bad teeth.

Spike's a dangerous villain and a bastard - but he cracks me up. We does he have to make comments like Because you are vampire detective now? What’s next? Vampire cowboy? Vampire fireman? Oh, vampire ballerina.. Now this picture of vampire ballerinas is stuck in my head and makes me laugh out loud at odd moments.

And Spike's such a geek as can be seen by this comment: Quickly, to the Angel-mobile, away! So true, Angel does the Batman routine. :-)

Spike likes getting into people's head and uses his knowledge for psychological warfare, so it fits that he enjoys mock-acting as well. He's a born actor. Also he's a drama-queen; he enjoys wallowing in his emotions. When he gets all upset about something, it's partly real emotion, but partly emotions he *wants* to feel because he gets a kick out of them. He simply needs to impress himself in some way, he needs to leave a mark.


You can see Cordelia's personality changing:
She's less self-absorbed, she tries to connect, but often does know how to. E.g. she's pleased to see Oz, because, hey, it's Oz, and they've shared some adventures. But then there's really not much they have in common apart from that. So we get this neat moment of embarrassed silence.

She also has become better at using a computer. Good for you, Cordy!

And I've noticed there are now moments when she bites her tongue and doesn't go through with all of her extremely blunt comments.
Cordy to Oz: “And she [Buffy] didn’t even send a note? Wow. That’s really – (Angel looks at her) – this is one of those times when I should just shy away from the topic, isn’t it?”

We get nearly shirtless Angel. In a lot of pain. Also we see Angel doing his erotic kata excercises. (I had to pour myself three drinks... Yeah, I've started to count the kata exercises as well.)


The torturer is related to Niska from Firefly. They share the philosophy that pain reveals the real you.
He has also has a touch of Fenrir Greyback.


Overall, the episode appears to deal with addictions:
The woman Angel helps in the beginning is addicted to her abusive boyfriend. Her story ends on a positive note, though.
Spike is addicted to things he wants to have. He also has a strangely obsessive relationship with Angel. He wants to impress him, he wants to hurt him, he feels connected to him (still calls him "my sire"), he hates him.
Marcus is addicted to causing pain.
And as Doyles phrases it: Angel has an addiction to the brooding part of life. It makes perfect sense that Angel wants redemption the hard way. The ring would make things just too easy for his taste.


I really like the ending of this episode:
The sun sinks below the horizon. Angel takes off the ring, picks up a brick and smashes it. Big green flash of light.
Doyle: “Oh, and that Rachel girl with the crazy boyfriend called. Said to say thanks, and that she found a little faith. Said you’d know what that means.”
Angel: “I don’t know about you, but I had a nice day. – You know, except for the bulk of it, where I was nearly tortured to death.”


Mostly unrelated post-scriptum: Spike and Joyce seem to share a love for manacles and chains.



Fic recommendation
Least Obeisance is a story set after the episode and features Cordelia and Spike. No, not in a romantic way. I like this story, because WesleysGirl perfectly captures the voices of Cordy and Spike.

Comments

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

this is a fun episode -- the only thing that doesn't quite click for me about it is Spike hiring someone to do the torture. I'd have thought he'd want to do it himself. the Niska parallel is interesting, though, I hadn't thought of that!

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

the only thing that doesn't quite click for me about it is Spike hiring someone to do the torture. I'd have thought he'd want to do it himself.

Oh, but Spike does torture Angel. We don't see any details, but we see him picking up the torture instruments about halfway through the episode. We then see the building from the outside and hear Angel scream. Cut to the next scene.

I thought the violence was only implied, because Spike's mostly supposed to be a fun character at this point, someone about whose antics we can laugh. Seeing him torturing someone would not be helpful in that regard. :-)
Looking at this from Spike's POV I think he'd not try to get too involved in torturing Angel. He knows he's not patient and might easily go to far.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Spike's opening monologue is an all time classic. Also somewhat ironic from Spike's pov due to future events. This episode is the last one on either show which uses Spike in his original role as villain; from this point onwards, his role in the overall narrative changes, so this appearance is a last hoorah to that original role.

(Which had to go. I mean, how often could Spike show up, try to kill Buffy and/or Angel and fail without losing all believability?)

Loved the moment between Cordy and Oz, too, and Cordelia in general at this state.

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

This episode is the last one on either show which uses Spike in his original role as villain; from this point onwards, his role in the overall narrative changes, so this appearance is a last hoorah to that original role.

(Which had to go. I mean, how often could Spike show up, try to kill Buffy and/or Angel and fail without losing all believability?)

I stumbled over the Buffy summary on a livejournal dedicated to multifandom recommendations (can't remember its correct name at the moment). I didn't read anything I didn't know yet (e.g. Spike gets a chip and Buffy will get a sister called Dawn).
This summary really annoyed me. In my opinion, summaries should provide information in a neutral way. Well, this author didn't do that at all. She *hated* the idea about the implanted chip and apparently couldn't stand any further development of Spike's character after this point. She seemed to think Joss Whedon had sold himself out to the audience.

She totally reminded me of Star Wars fans who only ever wanted to see Vader as big bad monster, but got upset when we learned about his backstory and saw that he was human.

I really shouldn't react so strongly to opinions like this, but for some reason they irk me greatly.
1) The opinion that the creator of the show just wants to please the audience and has gone soft, is insulting. Giving more room to a character that's popular is not per se bad. An interesting character will most likely become popular and it's perfectly all right to give this character more to do then.
2) If people deny fictional villains have a chance for redemption, it appears to me as if for them *any* redemption is impossible. (If you make wrong decisions at one time in your life, that's basically what you're stuck with for ever on.) That's a very sad view to take.

Sorry this is so long. I agree with you that Spike's role needed to change in order for him to stay on the show without becoming a silly disturbance.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

She totally reminded me of Star Wars fans who only ever wanted to see Vader as big bad monster, but got upset when we learned about his backstory and saw that he was human.

Oh, it's a definite parallel. I called it the "Evilista Furiosa" attitude in my Spike Wars guide. Mind you, the opposite extreme, the "Whedon, how dare you put Spike through that chip and (spoiler) business when he's so wonderful that he doesn't NEED redemption of any kind!" attitude annoys me as well.

Moving away from Spike, because it's about more than that, yes, there are purists who think only the first three seasons of BTVS are any good, much like the OT only purists in SW; now I love the first three but happen to think the later ones are somewhat more interesting, precisely because the characters get more complicated and less easily lovable as they get older.

Attitudes towards creators: I think it was Melymbrosia who summed it up best as the following process:

First stage: OMG, I love movie/tv show/book X! It's wonderful! I love creator Y who brought me this! He/She's a genius!

Second stage: Hm, this season/book/episode isn't liked by me. But it can't be the fault of Y who brought me perfection before, it must be his evil sidekick z/ the network/ the fans of another 'ship.

Third stage: No, it was Y all the time! That bastard/bitch has sold out! I hate Y! I understand the characters so much better! Y raped my original viewing pleasure! ETC.

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

Mind you, the opposite extreme, the "Whedon, how dare you put Spike through that chip and (spoiler) business when he's so wonderful that he doesn't NEED redemption of any kind!" attitude annoys me as well.

Spike clearly loves Drusilla, but that's his one redeeming feature so far. Fans forgive him more easily, because his antics and commentaries are very funny. It also helps that he's very handsome.

Anyway: If you want to be a hero in a good TV show, you *have* to go through some a lot of suffering. Otherwise you're not qualified for the position.

The three stages are everywhere: At the moment, some corners of the HP fandom are entering stage 2. The Harry/Hermione followers have, of course, reached stage 3 already.

Not sure what's behind all of this. Maybe it's the wish to be able to clearly divide the world in black and white and store everyone into nice little boxes. As this is so difficult to achieve in real life perhaps some people hope they will at least get their wish in the world of TV/movies/books. Then when things don't work out that way, illusions are shattered big time. - Just a theory, of course.

[lyore.livejournal.com]

The mutual obsession between Spike and Angel is, to me, one of the most interesting relationships of the show. Though I do agree with karabair, I was a little surprised that Spike didn't get in on the Angel-torture action. Maybe he thought he'd get too distracted, and so brought in a professional?

Spike's commentary - genius. Lapoons the show and the character, in such a comedic way. You'e right, Spike is a compete drama queen. In some ways, he reminds me of early Cordy.

For me, Season one is when we see Cordy at her best.

[lyore.livejournal.com]

That would be season one of Angel, btw

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

The mutual obsession between Spike and Angel is, to me, one of the most interesting relationships of the show. Though I do agree with karabair, I was a little surprised that Spike didn't get in on the Angel-torture action. Maybe he thought he'd get too distracted, and so brought in a professional?

Oh, but it is suggested that he does join in. I think it's after he comes back from meeting Cordy and Doyle. We then see him pick up some torture instruments and approach Angel. The scene is then faded out, but we hear Angel screaming.

Spike's commentary - genius. Lapoons the show and the character, in such a comedic way. You'e right, Spike is a compete drama queen. In some ways, he reminds me of early Cordy.

Yes, they both like to be in your face bratty and to make a production out of tiny things.
Spike is a totally fascinating character: Like my favorite character ever (= Anakin Skywalker) he seems to be made up of total opposites. E.g. the way he behaves is partly super-macho and partly super-gay. He can be both tough and very caring, a side we see when he's around Drusilla. He defies all type-casting. (I feel the urge of writing essays about him already. :-))

[berne.livejournal.com]

Spike in high voice: “How can I thank you, you mysterious, black-clad hunk of a night thing? (low voice) No need, little lady, your tears of gratitude are enough for me. You see, I was once a badass vampire, but love and a pesky curse defanged me. Now I’m just a big, fluffy puppy with bad teeth.

That bit cracks me up EVERY TIME. Without fail. I just... It's hilarious!

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

Yes, and I was totally unprepared for it! There should be a warning label attached to this episode: "Do NOT imbibe any liquids while watching the beginning of this show."

James Marster's delivery of these lines is priceless.