Angel - Season 2 impressions (episode 17)
Jan. 15th, 2006 01:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thalia_seawoodDisharmony
A summary can be found here.
- This was an episode that made me cringe badly at times. However, the Harmony plot is mostly fun.
- The first scene left me with a bad aftertaste. Now the interaction between Angel, Cordy, Wes and Gunn would be totally enjoyable if this episode had taken place early in season 2. But since then Angel has done some morally questionable things and the tone of the episode just doesn't take this into account. Angel being punished by his team by having to take his notes with pencils and having to bring them coffee, is not my idea of making up for past crimes. Yes, Angel is not happy about having to perform menial chores, but still I feel cheated. Especially since the main issue is avoided: Angel fired his team and hurt their feelings. But does none of the writers remember why he fired them? He sent them away because they critized him for assisting Dru and Darla in killing the W&H lawyers! So why does noone in Angel's team bring this issue up?!?
I really hated this line: "Man. Atonement's a bitch."
Because no, Angel, making coffee for your co-workers does not count as atonement in my book.
- Cordy: "You wanna know how I am? Tired mostly - with sweaty running a close second. I'm also jazzed. Can't wait to get our business up and sputtering again - ready to help those helpless. - But, just so we understand each other - you and I? - We're not friends."
Cordelia's little speech to Angel reminded me that she isn't one to forgive betrayals easily. After Xander had kissed Willow, he never had a chance with her again.
I guess Xander should have told her he paid for her prom dress and she would have taken him back. [insert heavy dose of sarcasm]
- Angel: "Well, I though, you know, she looked so tired and - I mean, the vision took a lot out of her. Do-do you think, maybe, that I should - send her something? Some flowers maybe?"
Wesley: "Flowers."
Angel: "Yeah, uh, to say, you know, 'thanks.' Uhm. 'Sorry about the migraines.' Uhm, you know, '-II appreciate you?'"
Wesley: "Yes, by all means. And uh, while you're at it pick me up one of those 'sorry you were shot in the gut' bouquets."
Angel: "Right. Sorry."
Wesley: "You can't buy back her trust, Angel, - or her affections."
Angel: "She said, uh - she said we're not friends."
Wesley: "I know. - There is only one thing you can give her, Angel. And that's time. Cordelia has a lot of pain to work through."
What I find intriguing here is that Angel sees Wesley as the one member of the team who's still his friend. But while he's using Wesley as his confidante, Angel totally forgets that Wesley has also been hurt by his actions and that Wesley would be ever so pleased if Angel gave as much attention to him as to Cordelia.
- I was happy to see Harmony again. As far as I remember she and Cordelia weren't the best of friends when Harmony was turned into a vampire. After all, Cordy had lowered herself when taking Xander as her boyfriend. Well, some years have passed since then and their arguments are all water under the bridge. By now, they only remember the good times. :-)
Cordy: "Remember in ninth grade remedial Spanish - Donnie something."
Harmony: "Oh! Donnie Ray, yes."
Cordy: "That's him. He followed me everywhere."
There is a half-empty bottle of red wine on the table and both of them have wine glasses in their hands.
Harmony: "Oh, oh, and he wrote that love song to you. How did it go?"
Cordy and Harmony singing: "Oh, Cordeeelia, how I long to feel ya!"
They break into laughter.
Cordy: "Eww!"
Harmony: "Oh, god. We totally ruled."
- Not too fond of the scenes where Cordelia thinks Harmony is a lesbian who is coming on to her.
Now I find it very interesting that Harmony confides in Cordelia and values their friendship so much that she doesn't threaten her. (Actually I'm amazed chip-less, soul-less Harmony has so much willpower that she doesn't attack Cordy despite being hungry.) However, I thought the mixup "lesbian or vampire" went on too long and became too slapsticky.
- Wesley: "That is not your friend. That thing may have your friend's memories and her appearance, but it's just a filthy demon, an unholy monster. Uh, no offence."
Harmony: "About what?"
LOL!!
And Wesley, don't forget your friend Angel is a vampire, too.
- Cordy: "Hey, I told you, Harmony is my friend and I trust her completely."
Harmony smiles up at Wesley from the couch.
Cordy: "Harmony can stay here."
Harmony: "I don't wanna stay alone here with the ghost."
I don't think there are many vampires who are afraid of ghosts. But then this is Harmony, unicorn lover extraordinaire.
- Harmony interacting with the team makes for some great comedy, e.g when she rips out the page of an ancient book to wrap her chewing gum inside.
Wesley: "*What* are you doing!?! This book is twelve centuries old!"
Harmony: "Okay. So it's not like I messed up a new one."
Wesley puts the book down on Cordy's desk.
Cordy: "Wes, it's not like she did it on purpose."
Harmony: "That's right. And I could have. Because, you know, I *am* evil."
- Gunn is understandably confused by the situation. :-))
Wesley: "It's alright to speak freely in front of her. She's a vampire."
Wes gives Cordy a look.
Gunn, no longer smiling: "Don't we kill 'em any more?"
- We can learn a lot about Harmony when she sings "Memories".
Not only is she sentimental, but she has a lot of self-confidence. She sings really badly, but quite obviously doesn't notice it - or simply doesn't care. Harmony does things, because she enjoys doing them. She doesn't reflect a lot about what she's doing, instead she has an affinity for selfhelp books that take care of the thinking for her.
- So Cordy is supposed to be Harmony's guide. I wonder if this will again play a role at some later point.
Host: "You're already on it my little cacophony. Only I'm not your travel agent for this trip. (Inclines his head towards Cordy) Brown eyes here is. Stick with her and let your pal be your guide."
- Angel: "Because it's her nature. She's a vampire."
Cordy: "So are you."
Angel: "She doesn't have a soul."
Cordy: "Oh. That's it, is it? You're better than her because you have a soul?"
Angel: "Well, yeah."
Cordy: "I noticed yours didn't get in the way of betraying the people who worked with you, who cared about you."
Angel: "I never..."
Cordy: "*And* you know, you didn't just betray me, Angel. You didn't just hurt me. You gave away my clothes."
I would have liked this argument. But Cordy, do you really think the big problem is that Angel gave away your clothes?!? You really lost me there. I actually expected you to bring up the topic of the dead lawyers. Guess some dead people aren't that important compared to a bunch of dresses.
- Harmony decides to join the Angel Investigations Team, but then changes team when she meets Doug Saunders self-help group for vampires.
I can't make up my mind if I believe that Harmoy so easily changes sides. Yes, she has a weakness for anything that has got to do with self-help. On the other hand, she's really fond of Cordelia.
Personally, I think that her ties to Cordy and her urge to prove herself to the team, would have resulted in her staying loyal to Cordy. However, Harmony couldn't stay as a regular character so the writers had to make sure she left again.
- Cordy: "No, Harmony. We're not friends. Just get out of here."
Harmony: "Really?"
Cordy: "Not just here. I want you out of my city. You're gonna wanna be as far away from me as possible."
Harmony: "But I left a few things at your (Cordy raises the crossbow) Bye."
Harmony turns and runs up the stairs, looking back at Cordy once to see that she still has the crossbow trained on her.
The camera shows up Cordy with Angel standing a few steps behind her, ax still in hand.
Cordy: "Don't say anything. Not a word."
Angel glances up the stairs then looks in the direction Cordy just left.
Allowing a vampire to live is a problematic decision. If Harmony starts to kill people again, Cordy will in part be responsible.
On the other hand, I can understand Cordelia. If Angel deserves a second chance, so does Harmony who's by far less cruel than Angel(us).
- Angel gets Cordelia a lot of dresses and as a result is once again her friend.
Let's just say that I despise this scene! The weird thing is that it can be argued that both Angel and Cordelia are written in character.
Regarding Cordelia, we know that looking good is important to her. I'm pretty sure her dad used to give her presents when he wanted to cheer her up. Now if this scene took place in the early seasons (Buffy, season 1, 2, 3 or Angel season 1), Cordelia being excited about getting lots and lots of clothes would fit perfectly. However, after what happened at the end of season 1, I expected her to be a bit more mature.
Regarding Angel: I can so easily see him getting presents for Drusilla to buy himself back into her good graces.
I feel kind of detached from Angel right now. He reminds me so much of Angelus I find it a rather creepy. It's odd, but his "I don't care about the lawyers" self feels less like Angelus than his "I need to win Cordelia's friendship at all costs" self.
Anyhow, I've got the theory that this episode gives us some insight into what the character dynamic used to be liked in the Fanged Four family.
I'm sure there were times when Angelus played the good daddy for Drusilla, showering her with presents and delighting in her reactions to them.
At the same time, the way Angel treats Wesley could be a mirror as to how he treated Spike. All his attention is clearly on winning back Cordy's friendship, Wesley is taken for granted. Nevertheless, Wesley serves as Angel's confidante. Am pretty sure that Wesley's part was played by Spike in the past.
A summary can be found here.
- This was an episode that made me cringe badly at times. However, the Harmony plot is mostly fun.
- The first scene left me with a bad aftertaste. Now the interaction between Angel, Cordy, Wes and Gunn would be totally enjoyable if this episode had taken place early in season 2. But since then Angel has done some morally questionable things and the tone of the episode just doesn't take this into account. Angel being punished by his team by having to take his notes with pencils and having to bring them coffee, is not my idea of making up for past crimes. Yes, Angel is not happy about having to perform menial chores, but still I feel cheated. Especially since the main issue is avoided: Angel fired his team and hurt their feelings. But does none of the writers remember why he fired them? He sent them away because they critized him for assisting Dru and Darla in killing the W&H lawyers! So why does noone in Angel's team bring this issue up?!?
I really hated this line: "Man. Atonement's a bitch."
Because no, Angel, making coffee for your co-workers does not count as atonement in my book.
- Cordy: "You wanna know how I am? Tired mostly - with sweaty running a close second. I'm also jazzed. Can't wait to get our business up and sputtering again - ready to help those helpless. - But, just so we understand each other - you and I? - We're not friends."
Cordelia's little speech to Angel reminded me that she isn't one to forgive betrayals easily. After Xander had kissed Willow, he never had a chance with her again.
I guess Xander should have told her he paid for her prom dress and she would have taken him back. [insert heavy dose of sarcasm]
- Angel: "Well, I though, you know, she looked so tired and - I mean, the vision took a lot out of her. Do-do you think, maybe, that I should - send her something? Some flowers maybe?"
Wesley: "Flowers."
Angel: "Yeah, uh, to say, you know, 'thanks.' Uhm. 'Sorry about the migraines.' Uhm, you know, '-II appreciate you?'"
Wesley: "Yes, by all means. And uh, while you're at it pick me up one of those 'sorry you were shot in the gut' bouquets."
Angel: "Right. Sorry."
Wesley: "You can't buy back her trust, Angel, - or her affections."
Angel: "She said, uh - she said we're not friends."
Wesley: "I know. - There is only one thing you can give her, Angel. And that's time. Cordelia has a lot of pain to work through."
What I find intriguing here is that Angel sees Wesley as the one member of the team who's still his friend. But while he's using Wesley as his confidante, Angel totally forgets that Wesley has also been hurt by his actions and that Wesley would be ever so pleased if Angel gave as much attention to him as to Cordelia.
- I was happy to see Harmony again. As far as I remember she and Cordelia weren't the best of friends when Harmony was turned into a vampire. After all, Cordy had lowered herself when taking Xander as her boyfriend. Well, some years have passed since then and their arguments are all water under the bridge. By now, they only remember the good times. :-)
Cordy: "Remember in ninth grade remedial Spanish - Donnie something."
Harmony: "Oh! Donnie Ray, yes."
Cordy: "That's him. He followed me everywhere."
There is a half-empty bottle of red wine on the table and both of them have wine glasses in their hands.
Harmony: "Oh, oh, and he wrote that love song to you. How did it go?"
Cordy and Harmony singing: "Oh, Cordeeelia, how I long to feel ya!"
They break into laughter.
Cordy: "Eww!"
Harmony: "Oh, god. We totally ruled."
- Not too fond of the scenes where Cordelia thinks Harmony is a lesbian who is coming on to her.
Now I find it very interesting that Harmony confides in Cordelia and values their friendship so much that she doesn't threaten her. (Actually I'm amazed chip-less, soul-less Harmony has so much willpower that she doesn't attack Cordy despite being hungry.) However, I thought the mixup "lesbian or vampire" went on too long and became too slapsticky.
- Wesley: "That is not your friend. That thing may have your friend's memories and her appearance, but it's just a filthy demon, an unholy monster. Uh, no offence."
Harmony: "About what?"
LOL!!
And Wesley, don't forget your friend Angel is a vampire, too.
- Cordy: "Hey, I told you, Harmony is my friend and I trust her completely."
Harmony smiles up at Wesley from the couch.
Cordy: "Harmony can stay here."
Harmony: "I don't wanna stay alone here with the ghost."
I don't think there are many vampires who are afraid of ghosts. But then this is Harmony, unicorn lover extraordinaire.
- Harmony interacting with the team makes for some great comedy, e.g when she rips out the page of an ancient book to wrap her chewing gum inside.
Wesley: "*What* are you doing!?! This book is twelve centuries old!"
Harmony: "Okay. So it's not like I messed up a new one."
Wesley puts the book down on Cordy's desk.
Cordy: "Wes, it's not like she did it on purpose."
Harmony: "That's right. And I could have. Because, you know, I *am* evil."
- Gunn is understandably confused by the situation. :-))
Wesley: "It's alright to speak freely in front of her. She's a vampire."
Wes gives Cordy a look.
Gunn, no longer smiling: "Don't we kill 'em any more?"
- We can learn a lot about Harmony when she sings "Memories".
Not only is she sentimental, but she has a lot of self-confidence. She sings really badly, but quite obviously doesn't notice it - or simply doesn't care. Harmony does things, because she enjoys doing them. She doesn't reflect a lot about what she's doing, instead she has an affinity for selfhelp books that take care of the thinking for her.
- So Cordy is supposed to be Harmony's guide. I wonder if this will again play a role at some later point.
Host: "You're already on it my little cacophony. Only I'm not your travel agent for this trip. (Inclines his head towards Cordy) Brown eyes here is. Stick with her and let your pal be your guide."
- Angel: "Because it's her nature. She's a vampire."
Cordy: "So are you."
Angel: "She doesn't have a soul."
Cordy: "Oh. That's it, is it? You're better than her because you have a soul?"
Angel: "Well, yeah."
Cordy: "I noticed yours didn't get in the way of betraying the people who worked with you, who cared about you."
Angel: "I never..."
Cordy: "*And* you know, you didn't just betray me, Angel. You didn't just hurt me. You gave away my clothes."
I would have liked this argument. But Cordy, do you really think the big problem is that Angel gave away your clothes?!? You really lost me there. I actually expected you to bring up the topic of the dead lawyers. Guess some dead people aren't that important compared to a bunch of dresses.
- Harmony decides to join the Angel Investigations Team, but then changes team when she meets Doug Saunders self-help group for vampires.
I can't make up my mind if I believe that Harmoy so easily changes sides. Yes, she has a weakness for anything that has got to do with self-help. On the other hand, she's really fond of Cordelia.
Personally, I think that her ties to Cordy and her urge to prove herself to the team, would have resulted in her staying loyal to Cordy. However, Harmony couldn't stay as a regular character so the writers had to make sure she left again.
- Cordy: "No, Harmony. We're not friends. Just get out of here."
Harmony: "Really?"
Cordy: "Not just here. I want you out of my city. You're gonna wanna be as far away from me as possible."
Harmony: "But I left a few things at your (Cordy raises the crossbow) Bye."
Harmony turns and runs up the stairs, looking back at Cordy once to see that she still has the crossbow trained on her.
The camera shows up Cordy with Angel standing a few steps behind her, ax still in hand.
Cordy: "Don't say anything. Not a word."
Angel glances up the stairs then looks in the direction Cordy just left.
Allowing a vampire to live is a problematic decision. If Harmony starts to kill people again, Cordy will in part be responsible.
On the other hand, I can understand Cordelia. If Angel deserves a second chance, so does Harmony who's by far less cruel than Angel(us).
- Angel gets Cordelia a lot of dresses and as a result is once again her friend.
Let's just say that I despise this scene! The weird thing is that it can be argued that both Angel and Cordelia are written in character.
Regarding Cordelia, we know that looking good is important to her. I'm pretty sure her dad used to give her presents when he wanted to cheer her up. Now if this scene took place in the early seasons (Buffy, season 1, 2, 3 or Angel season 1), Cordelia being excited about getting lots and lots of clothes would fit perfectly. However, after what happened at the end of season 1, I expected her to be a bit more mature.
Regarding Angel: I can so easily see him getting presents for Drusilla to buy himself back into her good graces.
I feel kind of detached from Angel right now. He reminds me so much of Angelus I find it a rather creepy. It's odd, but his "I don't care about the lawyers" self feels less like Angelus than his "I need to win Cordelia's friendship at all costs" self.
Anyhow, I've got the theory that this episode gives us some insight into what the character dynamic used to be liked in the Fanged Four family.
I'm sure there were times when Angelus played the good daddy for Drusilla, showering her with presents and delighting in her reactions to them.
At the same time, the way Angel treats Wesley could be a mirror as to how he treated Spike. All his attention is clearly on winning back Cordy's friendship, Wesley is taken for granted. Nevertheless, Wesley serves as Angel's confidante. Am pretty sure that Wesley's part was played by Spike in the past.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-01-15 12:52 am (UTC)I am not sure how much you are into fanfic, but you have mentioned a couple of time that you read fanfic, so just want would like to give you some link that you might find interesting if you relative new to fanfic in Ats/BtVS universe
If Spike is a main character or if there if it’s a shipper fic with m/m, would I normally not read the story except if got it reced by someone that I do know. But with that said, will I still rec most of Wiseacress stories even if they are Xander/Spike based most of them.
Here comes a candle
Xander, Spike gen. Creepy, very.
Modus Vivendi
Xander/Spike: intriguing story, you are never sure were the novel is going.
Benaresq write short stories with a dark edge, often with more than just an edge.
Fix
Willow character study pre. Season 6
Slow
Xander character study. Note: the story was written in the beginning of season 6, but it can be read as a speculation or spoiler of some of the plot development later in season 6 on BtVS.
Aadler is writer you read if you want something different
Tip of My Tongue
Buffy father one irresponsibly no good piece of shit, or perhaps…
Yahtzee one of the best imo gen writers, and one few writers that try to include all BtVS/Ats characters more or less fairly.
For a good site to go hunting for fic in genral, would I suggest you take a look at the Better Buffy Fiction archive
no subject
Date: 2006-01-15 04:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-15 12:54 am (UTC)as for the lawyer issue, I'd honestly never thought about this string of episodes in that context before Selena brought it up recently, and I'm not sure there's a satisfactory answer beyond "the writers were ready to move on."
On the other hand, I'm not exactly sure what I would have wanted them to say. There's certainly no reason to think that Cordy, Wes, and Gunn approved of the wine cellar incident. (Lorne kind of shrugs it off but then demons seem to have different moral codes.) But is reading Angel a lecture going to do any good? Thinking of Wesley in particular -- just because he's the one I spend the most time thinking about :) -- I'm not sure that his personal feelings about others are particularly tied to whether they are good or bad people (more on that later in the series). He does talk about Faith being "evil" -- but that may just be an easier way for him to say "she hurt me". He might pay lip service to good and evil but what's really important to him is whether somebody he cares about got hurt (though I'm sure he'd be appalled if someone suggested this!)
As for "atonement's a bitch," I'm not sure Angel's ever sorry re: the wine cellar. What he is dealing with in this episode is the more mundane but tangible kind of atonement that happens when you screw over your friends. And maybe because I can relate to this better than "how do you feel when your friend locked some people in a wine cellar with a bunch of lawyers," I was more wrapped up in the internal dynamic of the gang.
But, yeah, looking back, they shouldn't have "gone dark" if they weren't willing to follow through on the implications (I promise you this won't be a problem later on in the series).
Finally, I love the Harmony parts of this ep (and I do think the eventual betrayal makes sense for both her vampire nature and human personality). And my heart aches for Wes throughout, especially as Angel's being so dense about the fact that he hurt Wesley too. I'm afraid Wesley is establishing a pattern that will NOT serve him well, of not expressing his emotions, and then being hurt when people fail to read his mind. It's one of those personality traits I very much recognize, and it's kind of endearing and fruatrating all at once.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-15 08:36 am (UTC)I think this might be because you started watching with the season 4 finale, then saw 5, then went back. Whereas a first time watcher doesn't know what's to come and finds this cheap way out frustrating to no end.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-15 04:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-15 07:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-15 10:16 pm (UTC)I don't think they should have preached about it day and night, but I would have been a lot happier if one of them had said to Angel: You know, it's not about us, it's about what you did when you assisted Darla and Dru. Or if Cordy had told him that you can't buy friendship.
It's just - the death of the lawyers is why the team argued with Angel in the first place. So there should have been a resolution.
And my heart aches for Wes throughout,
Yes, the final scene must really have hurt Wesley. Once again Cordy gets all the attention, whereas his own friendship with Angel is taken for granted.
the Fanged Four/AI parallel is kind of blowing my mind. hee!
I really see Wesley as a parallel to Spike and Cordy as a parallel to Dru. They have several things in common, most noticable is that Dru and Cordy share the vision thing.
oops
Date: 2006-01-15 02:32 am (UTC)and now I realize I meant to write "with a bunch of vampires."
Freudian slip, much? *cough cough* I'm a lawyer *cough cough*
no subject
Date: 2006-01-15 08:23 am (UTC)No one ever will, sad to say. Which frustrated me to no end and contributed to my emotional disengagement from both show and Angel the character until later season 3. Though as K. says below, I can happily confirm they learned from their mistakes, in as much as later dark actions, whether by Angel or other team members, are always followed through and reacted to till the end.
Harmony decides to join the Angel Investigations Team, but then changes team when she meets Doug Saunders self-help group for vampires.
I can't make up my mind if I believe that Harmoy so easily changes sides. Yes, she has a weakness for anything that has got to do with self-help. On the other hand, she's really fond of Cordelia.
I think Harmony always follows the strongest trend, that's all, and has nothing to do with her being a vampire - she did that as a human, too.
Personally, I think that her ties to Cordy and her urge to prove herself to the team, would have resulted in her staying loyal to Cordy. However, Harmony couldn't stay as a regular character so the writers had to make sure she left again.
Um. Ahem. Um. *gags self*
no subject
Date: 2006-01-15 10:04 pm (UTC)That's great! Am glad to hear it.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-15 01:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-15 04:10 pm (UTC)