Angel - Season 2 impressions (episode 8)

[thalia_seawood]

The Shroud of Ramon

A summary can be found here.


- I really enjoyed the way the episode is told starting with Wesley being interrogated by the police and then learning bit by bit what has happened beforehand.

- Love the scene where Wesley and Angel notice that Cordelia got a new haircut some while ago. Especially Angel complaining on not being told about it, made me laugh.
(I have to admit that Cordelia had beautiful long hair and that I will miss it. :-))

Wesley: "Your hair. It's new... - it's great! (Cordy smiles) When did this happen?"
Cordy, smile gone: "Ten days ago."
Wesley: "Of course! I didn't want to embarrass you by..."
Cordy: "...noticing? [...]"

Angel: "I mean to your head. Your - your hair. (She gives him a look) It looks great. (Chuckles) When did this happen?"
Wesley: "Ten days ago! Pay attention."
Angel: "Why doesn't anybody tell me any of this stuff..."

- Angel pretending to be the extrovert Jay-don is fun. It's also a bit creepy, because his extrovert persona is strongly reminiscent of Angelus.

- Wesley and Cordelia realising how dangerous the shroud is and rushing in to save Angel is a nice moment. And things are going terribly wrong when they are immediately affected by the shroud as soon as they enter the building.
(Cordy is admiring her reflection in a glass case. Cordy: "My teeth are so - big! I - am - pleasant.")

- Angel biting Kate is an intense moment, full of sexual subtext. I'm curious to see how Kate will cope with this experience in the long run.

- What didn't convince me at first was that Angel managed successfully to not give in to insanity, e.g. doesn't bite Kate to drain her, but to save her life or remembers how to destroy the shroud. In the meantime, I've become reconciled to this scenario. After all Angel struggles every day against his demon, so his "must resist madness-muscles" are well trained. :-)

- And the final scene is brilliant. Cordelia and Wesley know what bugs Angel, but are unable to help him:

Wesley paces in front of the stairs in the Hyperion's lobby with his hands buried in the pockets of his gray sweat pants. He goes to sit down on the sofa beside Cordy, who has changed her clothes as well, but is still wearing the Native American necklace she out around her neck at the museum.
Wesley: "I don't think he's coming down."
Cordy: "Hmm."
Wesley: "I don't think recent events did him a lot of good."
Cordy: "Again a hearty - hmm."
Wesley: "We had every good *intention* of course."
Cordy: "Right. Sending him into the path of a crazy-making, one-way-ticket-to-evil-town death cloth. - Good plan."
Wesley: "It's not the shrouds effects on him that worry me as much as..."
Cordy: "As what? (Wesley looks over at her and she looks back at him with big eyes) My stealing? I returned everything. I swear."
Wesley frowns slightly: "Angel drank human blood, from a living person. - Something he hasn't done in a *very* long time."
Cordy: "So, on top of everything else we may have reawakened his bloodlust?"
Wesley: "Yes."
Cordy: "Hmm. - Full days work then."
Wesley: "I think so."
They both get up at the same time and leave, turning off the lights.

Angel sitting in a chair in his dimly lit suite - leans back his head with a sigh. He closes his eyes and we blend into a shot of him sinking his teeth into Kate's neck. We hear Kate pant as he drinks, and see his pale hand flex as he holds on to her shoulder.

Comments

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Have you seen the film noir, "Murder My Sweet"? I think the interrogation format in this ep is an homage to that film. Angel & Buffy managed to get by without ever doing a "Rashomon" ep (in which you hear the same story many different ways) but they did crib from the movies with this one. And of course I love it being Wes in this situation. I'm convinced that Wes occasionally narrates his own life in the style of a Raymond Chandler hero. Not that he would admit to doing this, of course --

This is a fun episode overall -- I love Cordy and Wes in the crazy scenes, and Angel as Jay-Don.

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

Have you seen the film noir, "Murder My Sweet"? I think the interrogation format in this ep is an homage to that film. Angel & Buffy managed to get by without ever doing a "Rashomon" ep (in which you hear the same story many different ways) but they did crib from the movies with this one. And of course I love it being Wes in this situation. I'm convinced that Wes occasionally narrates his own life in the style of a Raymond Chandler hero. Not that he would admit to doing this, of course --

No, I don't know "Murder My Sweet", however, I do know "Rashomon".
Telling a story in flashbacks is something I usually enjoy. "In the Pale Moonlight" on DS9 reminds me a bit of this episode. Here Sisko records what happened in his private log and feel guilt over the final outcome.
And word about Wesley narrating his life. He's totally the type who does this at times to become a bit more heroic or to stay more objective.

[spikendru.livejournal.com]

Wesley frowns slightly: "Angel drank human blood, from a living person. - Something he hasn't done in a *very* long time."
Cordy: "So, on top of everything else we may have reawakened his bloodlust?"

This line initially bugged me, because the writers seemed to be ignoring the continuity of Angel drinking from Buffy in Graduation 2, but in following along with your lovely impressions, I've come to realize that Wesley probably didn't know about that incident. Buffy had already fired him, so, although he "fought" (using the term very loosely) with them at Graduation, he hadn't been privy to the drama that led up to the big Graduation fight Thanks to your posts, I've decided that this isn't a continuity error, as I initially had thought. Yay, you!

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

Yes, none of the Scoobies would have told him about it. Buffy and Angel definitely wouldn't have mentioned it to anyone else. After all, it was the Orgasmic Feeding Scene (tm) and thus a rather private moment.