Angel - Season 3 impressions (episode 18)

[thalia_seawood]

Double Or Nothing

selenak had given me the recommendation to skip this episode as there were only two good scenes in it. Because of this, I only read the episode guide here and fastforwarded through the episode to the Wesley scenes.


From what I've seen and read, I would not have been impressed by this episode: The idea that Gunn sold his soul for a *truck* when he was a teenager is so ridiculous and totally doesn't fit his character. Usually, I'm all for taking canon seriously, but here I can just go "huhh?????".
Plus I can't stand Cordelia's new hair style.

The two Wesley scenes are outstanding, however.

Wes makes a motion towards his throat as Fred sets the box down on a chair.

Fred: "Oh. It's not permanent though. - I brought you some of your stuff from the office. Things there... - Well, things. - Gunn and I found your notes about - the baby, the prophecy. You took him away because you thought Angel was gonna kill him. You were trying to protect 'em - both of them. I just wanted you to know I understand that. - And I also wanted to say, I thought what Angel tried to do to you was wrong - and I'm sorry. - But he was right to blame you, Wesley. You should have come to us. You should have trusted us instead of going to Holtz behind our back. You're supposed to be our friend and you didn't even... - If Angel sees you again, he'll kill you, Wesley. This time for real. Don't come back to the hotel - ever."

Fred turns to go, but stops with her back to Wes.

Fred: "The prophecy was false. Angel was never gonna hurt Connor. - It was all for nothing."

Wes watches as Fred walks out of the room.


The first scene shows Fred visiting Wesley in the hospital. Like the scene with Angel it begins on a gentle note, but ends with Wesley being rejected again.
Yes, she tells him that she understands why he did what he did, but then goes on to point out to him that he should have talked to his friends before making any decisions. So far I agree with her - but what she does then is quite cruel: Yes, it's definitely not a good idea if Wesley would stop by the hotel for now, but beyond warning him away she doesn't offer any help. There's no "Wesley, we will pick you up from the hospital." or "I'll stop by and see how you're doing." Instead Fred leaves directly after telling Wesley that the prophecy was false, not even giving Wesley more details. It's easy to picture that Wesley will stare into space for hours, trying to figure out where he made the wrong decisions and how the prophecy was faked. The only thing left to him so at this point is despair.

In the second scene, we see a doctor releasing Wesley from the hospital and Wesley showing no reaction whatsoever. Even if he could talk, what would he say? The way it seems there's noone he has left.
Looking back at what we've seen of Wesley so far, I'm convinced that he hates himself at this point. Finally, he had found people who cared for him and had moved up to a position in which he was respected. Now he's lost everything once again - and confirmed what his father must have told him repeatedly: That he's a failure.
I expext that Wesley will also come to strongly dislike his former friends. After all, they've deserted him - and that after he has looked out for them and assisted them so many times.

Comments

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Of course I'm dying for your thoughts on the "Sleep Tight" arc, but I can be patient! On rewatching these recently, I also FF-d through the Gunn plot.

Incidentally, Selena and I were discussing our dissatisfaction with Cordelia's reaction to Wesley's defection, in these episodes, which partly led to me writing The Hired Man.

[spacedoutlooney.livejournal.com]

This episode hardly one of my favorites. Mostly it feels like a necessary breather between the Loyalty/Sleep Tight/Forgiving trio and the New World/Benediction/Tomorrow trio. And it confuses the term "soul" which is mostly consistently defined as "conscience" the rest of the time.

However, I think that Gunn making such a bargain for a truck at that time is indeed believable. Orphaned, living on the streets, and leader of his crew, I think was not only vital but ordinarily beyond his means.

Also, in this episode, we can see how much has changed in Gunn's life since that time "when he didn't think he had a future."

Also, Angel's confusion about Gunn and Fred dating. Hee.

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

However, I think that Gunn making such a bargain for a truck at that time is indeed believable. Orphaned, living on the streets, and leader of his crew, I think was not only vital but ordinarily beyond his means.

I thought he was so dedicated to fighting demons that he would never make a deal with them. On the other hand, you could argue that he had to make this deal for the greater good.
Even though, my original impression had been that he and his gang made some shady deals in the human world, e.g. stole some cars, to be able to defend themselves and fight against demons.

[liliaeth]

I have to say that I find it a pity that you fastforwarded through big parts of the ep.
Then again, what can I say, I do the same with Wesley's scenes. (guy bores me)

It's pretty silly though that they finally give Gunn an ep, and then they waste it with something like this. It's a real pity, since to me for the first four seasons, JAR was the best actor on Angel. Unfortunately, they wasted far too much attention on Wes and mostly ignored Gunn.

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

Well, I do think Wesley's a very interesting character. Nevertheless, I also like Gunn and thought his friendship with Wesley at the end of season 2 was intriguing. Unfortunately, Gunn's characterisation doesn't seem very consistent to me. So it's hard for me to really connect to him.