Angel - Season 2 impressions (episode 1)

[thalia_seawood]

Judgement

A summary can be found here


A very nice start for season 2.

- My one complaint would be that the plot about the pregnant woman is going nowhere. There is the final judgement scene, she gets a promise for protection -- and that's it. I checked imdb.com to see if her character ever appears again. Well, if the information is correct, she was just in this one episode and that's it. Feels a bit like a waste to me to introduce a woman bearing a child with a capital letter Destiny and then not follow up on this story.

- On the plus side, all interactions between Angel, Cordy and Wesley are wonderful!

- Also I like the title of the episode as it not only addresses the tribunal, but also the wrong decision Angel makes.

- The first scene is great: A very stylish introduction to Lorne and the demon karaoke bar. :-) As Wesley says: This establishment is a little outside the box..

- In the beginning, we can see that both Cordy and Wesley are doing great:
Cordy has become a convincing actress, Wesley is on the way to true coolness and gets the admiration of the ladies. However, for both of them, Angel and the work they do for him comes first.

The first scene of all three of them together... so funny! It's Batman and friends rescuing the world with efficiency and style.

What I found interesting is that Angel is behaving differently now. He's finally accepted Cordelia and Wesley as friends family and he is very relaxed around them. As a matter of fact, the way he acts when they talk about their cases, reminded me of Liam...

- Darla: Wow! Love the actress. The way she plays Darla makes little shivers run down my spine, she has such a presence. Both charming and deadly.

Lindsey: "Angel. He's here in town. You can feel him."
Darla: "Always could."
Lindsey: "He hasn't been much of a help to us."
Darla: "He killed me. (Laughs) I remember now - with a soul in his heart."
Lindsey: "He's taken from both of us - so when you feel ready - we'll
start thinking about giving a little back."
Darla: "Angel - it's been a long time. - I'd love to see that boy."

- Angel's credo:
"There are three things I don't do: Tan, date - and sing in public!"

- Angel killing the wrong demon was painful to watch. He's trying so hard to be good and then he makes this really bad error in judgement. It only makes things worse that he would have had things in common with the demon he killed, i.e. working for a good cause despite being an unlikely candidate.

- I like the interaction between Gunn, Cordelia and Wesley.

Cordelia to Wesley: "It's how they know you on the street, dorko. Gun. It really lets them know you mean business."
Gunn: "It's my name. Charles Gunn. Two 'n.'"
Cordelia: "Oh, lord, will no one shut me up?"

- Liked Cordelia trying to be supportive and not quite knowing how to go about it. Liked getting some insight into what Angel is feeling:

Cordelia: "You can't see everything. You're just a vampire like everyone else... That didn't come out right."
Angel: "I thought I was out of the tunnel."
Angel slumps down on the sofa.
Cordelia: "Sure you did... because the tunnel is - you know, it's something we all... Are we talking real tunnel or symbolic? Just give
me that much."
Angel: "I-I saw the light at the end of the tunnel - that some day I might become human. - - That light was so bright, I thought I was already out."

- Angel singing:
What can I say. It made me cry. I was trying not laugh out loud, because I didn't want to hurt his feelings. (Yes, I take fictional characters very seriously. :-)) So instead of laughing out loud, I was crying tears of silent laughter.
I'm glad I'm not part of the Angelverse, because whenever I had seen Angel after his stage premiere I'd have had to bite my tongue and start smiling dementedly in order not to burst into giggles. Angel's friends have all my admiration for keeping their composure.

Boreanaz really has a talent for comedy.
I think it's easy to underrate him, because Angel is so calm most of the time, but he really does a great job with the part and gives many different nuances to Angel, Angelus and Liam.

- Wesley has a talent for understanding Angel:

Angel: "Actually, we're starting over with no slate."
Wesley: "Of course. We shouldn't be keeping score. We're not running a race - we're doing a job - one soul at a time."

- Love the final scene with Angel visiting Faith.

- This episode made me realise that I've come to like Angel *a lot*. I never disliked him - well, unless he was Angelus -, but I wasn't a big fan either. Well, I really liked him in this episode. He's more approachable. We see that he can be relaxed, we see that he can make mistakes - and we have to experience that he was not meant for a singing career. :-)

- p.s. I noticed that all the main characters have a Harry Potter house colour assigned to them in the credits:
Angel's is Ravenclaw blue, Cordelia's is Slytherin green, Wesley's is Hufflepuff yellow and Gunn's is Gryffindor red. I have to say that these colours fit their characters quite nicely. Cordy is definitely Slytherin and Gunn very Gryffindor. Angel and Wesley could also be cast differently, of course, but if you want to assign them all to different houses this is the best fit. :-)

Comments

[lakrids404.livejournal.com]

Came here from link from Selena. And I have enjoyed going through your Ats and Buffy posts, it’s always nice to see a fresh perspective that is more or less a untainted, from others, view on the show.

Feels a bit like a waste to me to introduce a woman bearing a child with a capital letter Destiny and then not follow up on this story.
Please remember that line later on, enough said

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

Welcome to my LJ! I friended you back. :-)

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

this is almost my favorite season opener on AtS -- the one-off plot is not the greatest, though I do love the actress who plays the pregnant woman (Justina Machado, who later became a regular on Six Feet Under -- which might explain why we never saw her again)

Angel is very appealling in this ep, and I *love* your assessment of the karaoke scene. The Wes/Cordy/Gunn friendship is my favorite "relationship" over the course of the series, particularly in season 2, and they get off to a great start in this ep. Darla is also wonderful in this ep and throughout the series (and I'm not just saying this b/c I suspect that selenak can kill me with her brain). This is also the one storyline in which I really enjoy Lindsey.

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

though I do love the actress who plays the pregnant woman

I liked her, too. The character is sympathetic without being Mary Sueish. What miffed me slightly is that they give us a big destiny plot and then apparently abandon it.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

i think it was just supposed to come off as "all in a day's work" for Angel -- or maybe 17 or so years down the road, he'll find out how it goes :)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Pregnant woman with destiny child: what he said.

Darla: Wow! Love the actress. The way she plays Darla makes little shivers run down my spine, she has such a presence. Both charming and deadly.

I'm thrilled you like her. Believe it or not, but both Julie Benz (the actress) and Darla got bashed a lot when this was first broadcast. It took people a while to come around. Of course now in retrospect this has changed and she's seen as an integral part of one of the best storylines of the show, but I remember the nasty comments back then.

Angel singing: they really have great fun with this on the show. As for his friends and their composure, let's just say humiliation goes around.*g*

I think it's easy to underrate him, because Angel is so calm most of the time, but he really does a great job with the part and gives many different nuances to Angel, Angelus and Liam.

Yep. He doesn't get the same kind of credit James Marsters does, but in my heretical opinion, Angel is the more difficult part to play, compared to Spike the open extrovert.

Liking Angel as a character: I was okay with him on BTVS but he wasn't a favourite. When I saw him jumping into the wrong car in the AtS pilot, I said "aw", grinned, and warmed up. By the time you've reached, I definitely liked him very much indeed. This went on until the last third of season 2, when I disengaged for some reasons I'll explain once you get there. Then in hthe last third of season 3, I reconnected with a vengeance (which in this connection is an awful pun on my part) and loved him, and didn't stop for the rest of the show.

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

The fan reactions to Darla amaze me. Maybe it's simply that she wasn't Buffy and any woman who plays a big part in Angel's life was seen as intruding.

I'm always amazed by the high quality of the acting on Buffy and Angel. All the actors really become their characters. Well, most actors know when a part is good and try their very best with the chance they are given.

Yep. He doesn't get the same kind of credit James Marsters does, but in my heretical opinion, Angel is the more difficult part to play, compared to Spike the open extrovert.

I agree. I think they're both very good, but Boreanaz's acting can be easily overlooked, simply because he portrays a character that's very low key when expressing himself.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's simply that she wasn't Buffy and any woman who plays a big part in Angel's life was seen as intruding.

That, and two more factors (recalling the fan posts at the time): the way the show underlined her importance in Angel's life jossed some considerable fanon (most of the fanfic written about Angelus, Spike and Dru during season 2, 3 and 4 had been written under the assumption Angel and Darla parted ways soon after his siring and that she was never as important to him as the other two - and some of the crap tie-ins use that assumption as well, btw - but AtS makes mincemeat of that idea); and at that point, some fen were already shipping Angel with Cordelia.

However, as I said, Darla got reevaluated by fandom later on.

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

some fen were already shipping Angel with Cordelia.

I know they will get together at one point, but I'm not really looking forward to it. I love them such much when they "just" are friends.

Whedon not going the fandom interpretation: I have to admit I find his background story for Darla, Angel, Spike and Dru way more interesting than what canon came up with. It's more complex and less convenient.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I know they will get together at one point, but I'm not really looking forward to it. I love them such much when they "just" are friends.

"Get together" is the wrong term. Anyway, I can't speak of it without prejudice, so I shan't. But I did love the "buddy" friendship Angel and Cordy had in the first two seasons. A lot. Such a lot.

It's more complex and less convenient.

Quite. The second episode of the season, btw, which is a firm favourite of mine about which I have written recently and can't wait to hear your reaction, jettisoned another bit of fanon, which is that because we see Angel chasing rats in NY when Whistler shows up, he spent the entire century between Darla kicking him out in Romania and New York doing just that. There were a lot of cries about inconsistency, but nowhere on BTVS had it been said that had been the case - it just had been a fannish assumption. Same with Darla.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Yep. He doesn't get the same kind of credit James Marsters does, but in my heretical opinion, Angel is the more difficult part to play, compared to Spike the open extrovert.

I will go so far as to admit that the role of Angel requires more range -- I can't tell you how disillusioned I was when I realized how often Marsters relies on that head-tilt trick, which is the same kind of "acting" my mother's dog does when it wants some table scraps. Whether DB is always up to the requirements of the role is a bit of a different question; though he has grown on me over the years. Acting's subjective, of course, but IMO Denisof is definitely the head of the class -- after that, J. Richards is really my favorite, although he's also the AtS equivalent of Tony Head or Seth Green, in that (until the last season) he has to do his best with a lot of repetitive material.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Don't worry, I'd never dispute AD is the head of the class.*g* I'd like to put in a word for SMG is Vice Principal though, because leads often tend to get overlooked in the acting department in favour of sidekicks, and she has a great range, from comedy to tragedy, like AD does, plus she has it consistently for seven years. (I think nobody is disputing that his stint as Angelus did wonders for DB in the acting department, and yes, he sometimes does not deliver all, but that's outweighed by the time he does.) You look at her in season one's Prophecy Girl and the "Giles, I don't want to die" speech, and aren't surprised a lot of young actresses picked that for their auditions afterwards, and she can do things like the Faith-in-Buffy or the (spoiler) in a way that really sells them as different characters.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

no arguments there, as I am a big Gellar fan. (though Denisof and Richards are still the ones I'd be most likely to follow to other roles -- and yes, I'm currently watching "Veronica Mars" partly for Charisma; but that's mostly about the pretty :))

though I'm not always a Boreanaz fan, the next-episode-up for Thalia is definitely one of my faves that he is in, and showcases his strengths.